"We are Human Beings, Not Human Doings” (Fr. Trey Nelson: Reflections on Respect of Human Life) Up until this past November, a school stood on Acadian Thruway next to the Catholic Life Center for more than 70 years. Originally known as Walnut Hills Elementary, the Baton Rouge Center for Visual and Performing Arts, has been demolished and scheduled to be rebuilt from the ground up, to include state of the art technology and other education assets. As with many schools and churches, the school had a message board facing Acadian. Throughout the year, they would, at times, post various inspirational messages there. As I was driving by one day on my way to celebrate Mass at Catholic High, I took particular notice of the message. It simply read, “We are Human Beings, Not Human Doings.” Believe it or not, I scrapped my already-prepared homily for Mass and decided to center my reflections around that statement. As January is Respect Life Month in our church, and since I will be focusing my reflections this weekend on the gift of human life, I thought these words could, both, encourage and challenge us. To say the least, they remind us that each of us, each and every child that is born, each and every life that is conceived, is more than just a product of a biological, physical act of creation. As the opening prayer for this past Monday’s Mass beautifully reminds us, “God our Creator, we give thanks to you, who alone have the power to impart the breath of life as you form each of us in our mother’s womb.” Those words really strike me. “...who alone have the power to impart the breath of life…” into us. That’s where it all begins: respect for the life of an unborn child, for the person on the street corner holding a sign that reads, “please help me,” to the elderly, the inmate on death row, and the person who stops by your church asking for assistance with food, utilities, rent, and so on. Respect for all human life begins with each of us looking inward and remembering the dignity that is ours and the dignity that is every single person’s, from conception to natural death. It is true. We are much more than simply “a doing.” We are a “being, created in the image of the divine.” I urge all of us to believe this about ourselves and to impart this message of blessing to all others.