FOREVER ON HIS MIND | KAIROS GLOBAL | MAY 2022

Author: Chris Cammarata

Intro: We are forever remembered by God, and our lives have great value, writes Chris Cammarata.

‘You are an unrepeatable event. That is God’s gift to you.’ These were the words that a priest said to me many years ago in a homily, and the words remain with me still. He mused that when we look at the vastness of the universe and the long march of millennia, each of our tiny lives seems so incredibly small and inconsequential. Who will even remember our names in a thousand years? His answer to that question was simple: ‘God will remember. Your name will live on forever in the mind of God.’

There is something in us that longs to be seen, to be known, to be valued – in essence, to be loved. This is exactly what the priest was calling out to us in that homily; one needs only recall the words of Scripture: See, I have inscribed you on the palm of my hand (Isaiah 49:16). God has not just given you a life, set you down in this world, and walked away; he knows you. God sees you! Your life, and every detail about it, down to the number of hairs on your head, is precious to him. He looks at you as if you were the only person there. Your life is even worth dying for.

This theological truth is precisely what is encapsulated in a phrase which is a popular refrain of the Church’s social teachings: ‘the dignity of the human person.’ Every human life has dignity – that is, value. Even more remarkably, this dignity is not something acquired or earned through intelligence, talents, likeability, or the passage of years. Our dignity is inherent. Simply by the fact that we exist, our lives have value. Each of us is so valuable that neither you nor I nor the world’s most identical twin has ever existed or will ever exist again! Again, ‘that is God’s gift to you’.

This dignity of every human life has vast implications for the way we see the world and interact with one another. In fact, it is at the core of all the Church’s social ethics! We need not look far to see that we have a long way to go in building a just society that respects each person’s dignity. The tragedy of abortion – our modern-day genocide – immediately comes to minds, and rightly so, as there are hardly any issues more widespread, grave, or urgent. At the same time, the battle for the dignity of every human life is fought on many fronts. One of the most sinister diseases of our world today – and one of the most hidden – is the profound feeling of meaninglessness and despair that many ordinary people face, especially many youth. The shallow comforts given by the world cannot shake off the deep longing for meaning in our hearts. We see the consequences of this disease all around us: rising rates of depression, divorce, domestic abuse, and even suicide.

More than ever, we need to proclaim the message of life with boldness! More than ever, each and every person, from the unborn baby and her mother, to the poor man on the street corner, to the daughter of an abusive home, to the victims of senseless war and oppressive regimes, needs to hear from our lips and our actions: ‘You are loved!’

Chris Cammarata works as a clinical systems analyst in Houston and has degrees in Catholic theology and philosophy. He also writes for Catholic Cafe.