Not long ago, a nephew of mine became the godparent of a newborn boy. There is a picture with the family relaxing before heading to the baptism. My nephew is holding the precious baby lying outstretched in his lap. The baby is looking up into the face of his godparent. Neither were wearing masks. In that moment of real humanity, both were radiant. In that simple, profound picture, we see the gift of life expressed as God intended it to be expressed.

It goes without saying that one need not be a Catholic, a Protestant, or a member of pretty much any other belief system, to fully appreciate the gift of life. Nor does one need to be immersed in any particular culture over the past 4,000 years since Abraham. Appreciation of the gift is intrinsic in all humanity, in all times and places. The rule is that there never has been any societal or cultural confusion about this gift. I only can be immeasurably hostile toward any contrarian who comes up with some obscure “exception” to the rule, as if that proves anything. The simple fact is that until the last century and the onset of communism/socialism, in all times and in all places, the gift of life was appreciated, reverenced, and celebrated.

It certainly was appreciated, reverenced, and celebrated 2,000 years ago when the Angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and proclaimed to them good news of great joy — for all people — that the Savior was born in the City of David. How can we possibly grasp the refulgence of that moment when the multitude of Heavenly Hosts appeared and joined the Angel in praising God, saying “Glory to God in the Highest!” The Heavens proclaimed the greatness of the newborn Messiah.

Surely that was among the greatest proclamations in history of the gift of life. But go back nine months earlier to the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel said to the Virgin Mary, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.” The Archangel certainly delivered a message specifically on the gift of life, a gift upon which human history would turn. Humanity would be transformed by Mary’s fiat, her assent to conceive a Son, to bear a Son, to give birth to a Son who is Christ the Lord.

We could go back further, to an example from the great King David. Remember how David was shaken upon hearing that his rebellious and betraying son had been killed. “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33) In his most profound lamentation, David bewailed what once was a gift of life to him, but was no longer.

We even could go back further, to Abraham, our father in faith, and the great appreciation, reverence, and celebration that he and his wife, Sarah, had for the gift of life for which they longed, and that was given in their beloved son Isaac, who begat Jacob, who begat 12 sons, including Joseph.

We have 4,000 years of appreciation, reverence, and celebration of the gift of life. Thus we only can be completely bewildered by the rapidity by which the godless, the selfish, the worldly not only do not appreciate, reverence, or celebrate the gift of life, but have so quickly succeeded in “legalizing” the slaughter of this great gift. Moreover, they have so quickly succeeded in denigrating those who conceive, bear, and give birth to precious children. Such denigration perhaps reached its epitome when even Pope Francis let it slip that Catholics “should not breed like rabbits.” Memo to Pope Francis: Go back and read about Jacob and his 12 sons. God plans parenthood, Francis. Each child, including Jacob’s 11th, has a purpose in God’s plan and it is not for mere man or woman to interfere with that plan through any artificial means, or through murder of innocents in the womb, or now, in the most staggering proposition, through infanticide after birth.

Since the days of Abraham, the entire Christian world had been in concordance with this premise until along came the Anglicans and their seventh Lambeth conference, which took place in 1930.

Memo to the godless who have taken control, however temporary: Get it straight. Almighty God, the Author of Life, decides when there are too many people on the planet He created, not you. Your corruption of data regarding the “impact” of humanity on the planet is as corrupt as those who promote the slaughter of innocents. It is telling to note that the loudest voices, and the money/power behind those voices, all emanate from the densest population centers. However, having traversed the country over the past five months, coast to coast, north to south, it is readily and abundantly clear that there is plenty of space to support those 60 million innocents already slaughtered, and countless more in the future.

Whatever fallacious and ridiculous arguments they try to make against the gift of life, the diabolical underpinnings of each are laid bare in the gaze of a newborn lying in the lap of his godparent.

Prior to becoming a priest, I wanted to bring the gift of life to 13 children — a baker’s dozen. It was not to be. God’s ways are above our ways, His thoughts above our thoughts. But I did not need to bring 13 children into the world to appreciate, reverence, and celebrate the gift of life. Kind parents everywhere graciously let me embrace their precious babies and bless them. Recently one little guy was wide awake at a family bonfire and then fell asleep in my arms. To me it was a gift from Heaven, dear family, an unexpected but profound gift — the gift of life in which I could share. You see God’s tangible glory in the gift of life of me holding that precious baby.

It is not a foolish approach to life to celebrate its true beginning — from conception — just as we celebrate Jesus’ conception in the womb of the Blessed Mother of God. As a chaplain at a high school, I taught this through the life lesson of the T-Rex. Jesus did not come as a T-Rex and eat us; Jesus came as one of us, and consecrated every aspect of the gift of life, verily from conception to death, to redeem us. How dare we presume to be like gods, taking upon ourselves control over life after conception, and cut it short! How dare we deny this precious gift from God through the terrible crime of abortion!

Of course, the godless do not have reference to the transcendent and thus have no reference to a specific “God is the Creator, we are the created, He commands, we obey.” But again, the entirety of human history, in all times and places, in all cultures, testifies to the sanctity of the gift of life.  This is known as the Natural Law, which, as we know, was written into our hearts. Thus there is no excuse for the modernist, selfish, self-centered, self-indulgent relativism that proposes each may decide for himself or herself what is true and what is false. The absurdity, the preposterousness, of moral relativism readily is apparent to anyone who uses his or her brain.  Perhaps it is most apparent in the utter disintegration of society, where the cohesion of Truth is lost. George Orwell well understood and elucidated this in his literary works of warning.

As to the gift of life, there is no relativism — only absolutes. We are conceived as boys or girls, and every cell in our bodies identifies us as such every moment of our lives. We celebrate the conception and birth of boys and girls — nothing else — and the modernist/relativist issue of gender identity and the use of restrooms and locker rooms instantly could be resolved by putting “XY” and “XX” on the doors. Boom. Problem solved. People with a brain celebrate two sexes and two sexes only, and do not, in any way, shape, or form, approve of self-deception and/or self-mutilation through faux transgenderism. Anyone who doesn’t understand that needs his head examined.

During the Advent season, through which we prepare our hearts and minds and souls once again to celebrate the conception and birth of God made Man, who dwelt among us, let us re-resolve to end the abomination that takes the gift of life and — without even needing to go into the incomprehensibly gruesome details — kills it before birth, or mutilates it after birth.

God bless you all this Christmas and always.

Fr. James Altman is a priest of the Catholic Church, ordained in 2008. He was admitted to the Bar in 1991, and as a lawyer constantly worked to rescue children from neglect and abuse.  He remains deeply devoted to protecting the most innocent.