Nearly 10 years after a stunning photograph of his tiny hand traveled the world, Samuel Armas has a firm grip on what “The Hand of Hope” means to him.

“When I see that picture, the first thing I think of is how special and lucky I am to have God use me that way,” Samuel told FOXNews.com. “I feel very thankful that I was in that picture.”

On Aug. 19, 1999, photographer Michael Clancy shot the “Fetal Hand Grasp” — his picture of a 21-week-old fetus grasping a doctor’s finger during innovative surgery to correct spina bifida. Nearly four months later, on Dec. 2, Samuel Armas was “born famous.”

The photo, which first appeared in USA Today on Sept. 7, 1999, quickly spread across the globe as proof of development in the womb and was later cited during congressional debates on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which passed in 2000.

“It’s just a miracle picture, a miracle moment,” Clancy told FOXNews.com. “It shows the earliest human interaction ever recorded.”

(See the link for the rest of the story, including the famous picture)

Truly a picture is worth a thousand words. The photographer, who was pro-abortion at the time, was himself transformed and became a strong pro-life advocate. With the advancement of medicine and technology, it is a scientific fact that what we are dealing with is a matter of human life! The abortion issue is not an issue of “choice,” but of preserving human life at it’s earliest stages.

The Church wants us to get the message of life out, and simply sharing these kinds of stories with your friends is a perfect way to evangelize. Many who are pro-abortion don’t know what is really at stake here, their attention is focused in the wrong direction (e.g. “choice”), but they can be transformed if they are simply shown that the unborn are people too!

It’s times like these which we should stop and give glory to God and offer up prayers, especially a Rosary, for the advancement of the Pro-Life cause.

On November 12, 2008, Cardinal George gave a public statement “written at the request and direction of all the Bishops” concerning the upcoming administration’s duty to protecting the life of the unborn, and the disasterous consequences if pro-abortion legislation is passed.

I believe it is best to let the Cardinal speak for himself (with my emphasis):

“In the last Congress, a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was introduced that would, if brought forward in the same form today, outlaw any “interference” in providing abortion at will. It would deprive the American people in all fifty states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. It would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government and others of good will to reduce the number of abortions in our country.

Parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed, as would be laws banning procedures such as partial-birth abortion and protecting infants born alive after a failed abortion. Abortion clinics would be deregulated. The Hyde Amendment restricting the federal funding of abortions would be abrogated. FOCA would have lethal consequences for prenatal human life.

FOCA would have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities. It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil.

On this issue, the legal protection of the unborn, the bishops are of one mind with Catholics and others of good will. They are also pastors who have listened to women whose lives have been diminished because they believed they had no choice but to abort a baby. Abortion is a medical procedure that kills, and the psychological and spiritual consequences are written in the sorrow and depression of many women and men. The bishops are single-minded because they are, first of all, single-hearted.”

The full document (about one-page long) is available here, and I encourage all to read it.

It is very refreshing to see our Bishops standing up for this very important cause and making it clear where Christians need to focus their attention. We as lay Catholics should do our duty to spread the word to our neighbors about the devastating consequences of FOCA and we should continue to pray and fight (peacefully) for an end to all abortion. We especially need to pray for our upcoming President and Congress that they will do the right thing when it comes to protecting innocent life.

There is no doubt about just how devastating FOCA would be for our nation, especially for the unborn, and that is why it is our duty as Catholics to speak out for those who have no voice.

In response to all those people who have already given up hope…we must move on. Obama will become our next President, and there’s nothing we can do to stop that. The evil one would love to use this as an opportunity to make us fall; to make us weak; to make us dispair.

Alas, we cannot let him. We must increase in prayer, and continue to pray unceasingly, increase in adoration, ask for the saints’ intercessions for our country, for the lives of the unborn, for the lives of those near death… God is faithful. God answers prayers. We need to continue to believe that, especially in times like these.