Lessons from Christmas - Making a Straight Path

By Angela Eicher

As we have prepared our hearts and homes to celebrate the birth of the infant Jesus, we reflect in a special way on our continued preparations for His second coming. We recall the words of the prophet Isaiah, “A voice of one crying out the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.” John the Baptist fulfilled this prophecy; he called everyone to repentance in preparation for Jesus. “You brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves.  “we have Abraham as our father”.  For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Make straight paths, repent, bear good fruit!!  Jesus tells us “the Kingdom of God” is at hand, we are living in it now. He came to us taking on our humanity. Through His death and resurrection, He delivered us from the slavery of sin and death. He draws all who desire Him to Himself. Yes, the WAR IS ALREADY WON, darkness is defeated. The kingdom has come, but the battle for our individual souls persists until we each die or until the second coming of Christ, whichever comes first. And, He has his winnowing fan in hand.

Like the crowd seeking John’s advice on how to prepare, we also ask “What should we do?”  How do we prepare ourselves for the Lord?  John told the crowd to give to those who do not have. “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who has none.”  Preparing ourselves for Christ requires we share with those who do not have what we have.  We are alive; we have life.  In Colorado, an average of 66 children are murdered in the womb each day. They do not have life.  We are called to give a part of our lives to them. We must sacrifice time, money, energy, and talents so they may live just as we do.  Many Christians have heard and responded to this call. They work steadfastly in a variety of ministries to help children in the womb.

Many good fruits have come from the prolife movement, and we thank God for this. However, in regard to paths, there is a clear opportunity to improve. Currently, many of the paths within the pro-life movement are winding, some are mazes, and some are dead ends. How do we make a straight path for the Lord? The straightest path to life is to go directly to our goal. If our goal is to protect the lives of all children beginning at conception, then we go directly to that goal using what God has revealed to us in scriptures regarding our design and His desires. His Word makes known that life begins at conception, all humans are made in the image of God, children are always a gift from God, murder is forbidden, the spilling of innocent blood cries out to God for vengeance, and God’s grace and forgiveness is readily available through the death and resurrection of Jesus to all who are contrite of heart.

The path is straight because it is God's path. We are just repeating it to others to provide Him a straight path to their hearts as well. We have His words; they do not, yet.  We must share it with them.

According to the New York Times on Nov 3, 1992, reporting on Pope John Paul II before an audience in Spain: “it is on abortion, which the Socialists said they would liberalize to save the woman’s life if endangered, or if the fetus appeared abnormal, or if pregnancy was the result of rape, that the Pope issued his sternest condemnation ‘I speak on the absolute respect for human life, which no person or institution, private or public, can ignore. Therefore, whoever denies defense to the most innocent and frailest human person, to the human person conceived but not yet born, commits a most grave violation of moral order.  Nothing can legitimize the death of an innocent. What sense can there be on speaking on the dignity of man, of his fundamental rights, if one does not protect the innocent, if one goes as far even as to facilitate means and services, private or public, to destroy defenseless human lives?’”

In a humanistic, godless world that teaches children that they evolved from slime, enters the Christian with the knowledge that we are created as image bearers of the Divine. We know the true measure of a human being and our society is not 'survival of the fittest' as the Socialist proports, but rather, how we treat 'the least of these' that we are judged. So to make a clear and straight path for a crooked and perverse generation, we must repeat the truths from the One who cannot lie, we must push away the cobwebs, and roll away the stones that are causing people to stumble. We must speak plainly on the humanity of the child and the responsibility of his mother and the medical establishment to protect the child. And we must give of what we have of life for them to live. We must stop rationalizing that killing any tiny infant is helping them, or that killing any innocent is helping us. We must stand on the side of history that all human beings are created equal by their Creator and endowed the inalienable right to continue living. We must speak and act on the same truth that every child is worth saving.

Angela Eicher is a devout Catholic, seminary graduate, and teaches Catechism to youth at her church. She is a wife, mother, and Doctor of Physical Therapy who enjoys camping and spending time with her family. She helped with Prop 115, leads an annual community Walk for Life, and was the Co-Proponent of the last two prolife initiatives in Colorado in 2020 and 2024.