3. About the Gospel of Life: Part 2
The second section of the encyclical is entitled, I Came That They May Have Life. It offers an extended meditation on what life means for the Christian believer. In fact, earthly life is judged to possess heightened value because it points to eternal life.
Life & the Believer
At the heart of the pro-life message is the person of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have been invited into the divine life of the blessed Trinity: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn. 10:10). To this end, the Holy Father writes: "In this way the human experience and reason tell us about the value of human life, accepting it, exalting it and bringing it to fulfillment" (#30).
Counter to this, can we really say in all honesty that contraception and abortion embraces and raises up life as an incomparable treasure? No. Thus, the Pope's words tell us where we ought to be on life, not actually where we are. The scandal is that many who are professing belief in Christ in church are working fervently against the Gospel elsewhere, particularly in the bedroom. Now, you might say that I have no right to tell you what to do behind closed doors-- and we can debate that another day-- but is not Christ suppose to be in all our bedrooms? Sure he is. As I have said many times, we have the sacrament of Confession for any who want to repent of their sins. But a great sadness of mine is that the sin of contraception, not even to mention abortion, is so rarely confessed. Our sexuality should not be reduced to a crass form of cheap recreation. It is the manifestation and the giving of our very selves, or at least it ought to be. The Church teaches that in marriage, the couple "become partners in a divine undertaking: Through the act of procreation, God's gift is accepted and a new life opens to the future" (#43). Out of a responsible parenthood and respect for Church teaching, the rectory phone should be ringing off the hook for referral to Natural Family Planning programs in the archdiocese. The phone is suspiciously quiet. Our families are even more suspiciously small. Your priests are not fools, and neither is the Pope. He asks, "How can anyone think that even a single moment of this marvelous process of the unfolding of life could be separated from the wise and loving work of the Creator, and left prey to human caprice?" (#44). We know what is going on and we weep that our people should reject life instead of being open to it as the Holy Father teaches. The money that our people spend on contraceptives, fuels and finances an industry that is daily fighting the traditional family and the Church in which we worship. Every penny spent on a condom or birth control pill is also a further incentive to racist organizations like Planned Parenthood to mock the Pope and bishops and to distort God's plans for you and me. If we do not love God enough to be faithful, then do we at least fear judgment? Why is it that we have become comfortable with this act of selfish rebellion-- have we forgotten that even one mortal sin will deprive us of God's presence and damn us to the fires of hell for all eternity? How can we teach our children what is right and wrong about the little things of life, when many of us fail to do what is right about those most important matters of our personal conduct and of the generation of human life? Think about that one.
Christ has broken our shackles of sin and death; do not try to put them back on. We can only be who God wants us to be if we recognize that we have been given "an indestructible dignity." All human history is rerouted and made sacred. Many of our fundamentalist brothers and sisters are very much involved in the creationist campaign; well, for myself it does not matter so much whether all was made in six days or whether we evolved from precocious fish-- our eyes should be set on the sacrament of the present moment and our high calling. Creation and re-creation are going on right now. The wonder of salvation history is the reciprocal finding of God and our own self-discovery. Only in God can we know ourselves and our purpose for living. With the infusion of immortal souls into our first parents, the human family was set upon a journey of discovery that finds its goal in the divine. Even though revelation progressively unveils God's plans for us, some of these truths had always been planted in the human heart. The promised land and posterity promised in the Old Testament points to the heavenly Jerusalem and resurrection in the New. How can I put this simply? Is there anyone who truly wants to cease to exist? Is there anyone who wants to be nothing more than a corpse in a forgotten grave? Most of us will be little remembered as soon as we are dead. Let's face it, if there was no Easter, you and I would have lived in vain. Our lives would have made little difference. It gives you a sickening feeling, does it not? Sure. Thank God, the proposition of atheists is a lie-- but it is a deceit that many people by their lifestyle assume. I am not talking about the elderly who pray for death. They believe-- they offer their sufferings in union with Christ's for the redemption of the world. No, they want to die so as to be with God in heaven. Many of them miss family and friends, wanting to see them again. They want an end to pain, but not at any price. All this is at the core of what the Holy Father is telling us: "This first notion of totality and fullness is waiting to be manifested in love and brought to perfection by God's free gift, through sharing in his eternal life" (#31). God's grace gives us a taste of what awaits us. In every one of us there is the cry, "I want to live! I don't want to die! I want to see my grandmother or my sister or my husband again! I don't want to hurt anymore!" These yearnings given us by God will be fulfilled. That is our trust. Suffering is not a cause for despair, but for enriched hope. We read: "Jesus sets forth the meaning of his own mission: All who suffer because their lives are in some way 'diminished' thus hear from him the 'good news' of God's concern for them, and they know for certain that their lives too are a gift carefully guarded in the hands of the Father (cf. Mt. 6:25-34)" (#32).
Of course, the mission of Christ was not simply for the sick, the suffering, and the oppressed. The moral and spiritual dimension of every life is touched by the Gospel. "Only those who recognize that their life is marked by the evil of sin can discover in an encounter with Jesus the Savior the truth and the authenticity of their own existence" (#32). The cry of the Baptizer still has merit, "Repent and believe!" Otherwise, the truth is unavailable. Sin blinds us. Selfishness prejudices our consciences. There are only two choices, rebellion or repentance. The former brings renewed slavery, the latter, liberty and life. We have an entire culture in bondage to the pill and condom. What does it say? We cannot control ourselves! We will have this pleasure when we want and with whomever we want! -- girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse, or somebody else's spouse! This mentality is all perverted. Unfortunately, I can shout the rooftops off with the Gospel challenge and I doubt some would listen. We only hear what we want to hear. But, as prophets of the Good News we must speak the truth all the same. Every man or woman who has sex outside of marriage is a thief. They steal the chaste love owed to God, the virginity that belongs to a future spouse, and the sanctity that would be theirs in a holy life. Every man or woman who has used artificial contraception is a liar. They go through the motions of openness to God and to one another while they have in actuality closed themselves to life and from the total self-donation they promised in marriage. They blaspheme the providence of God. Every man or woman who has cooperated in the procurement of an abortion is a murderer. Herod's soldiers now seek the Lord in the womb. The blood of the holy innocents continues to be shed. We read in Evangelium Vitae: "But there is also, from the start, rejection on the part of the world which grows hostile and looks for the child in order 'to destroy him' (Mt. 2:13); a world which remains indifferent and unconcerned about the fulfillment of the mystery of this life entering the world" (#33). I know these words are a heavy and stinging condemnation, but there is a sure hope if we repent. SEE THE SIN, do not dismiss it as unimportant! SEE THE SIN, do not say to yourself that you have time to change, the time is now! SEE THE SIN, do not say that you're good in a lot of other areas and that makes up for it, it does not. Supposedly good people who do a whole host of wonderful things, including going to church, can still suffer the loss of heaven on account of one serious sin-- one. A single act of contraception, for example, is the matter of mortal sin. While there may be mitigating factors like a lack of understanding, habit, passion itself, and coercion, both from a spouse and economic considerations-- it is still serious. A person might go to hell for it. How many of our people have contracepted so many times that they could not even dare put a number to it? Added to it the tens of millions of abortions and we have buried ourselves under a mountain of sins. The Church wants us to look at it honestly, admitting our fault, and altering our focus and behavior-- allowing God to change us into more perfect likenesses of his Son.
Jesus' self-donation on the cross is the reservoir for our new life. If Jesus can be so selfless, then cannot our married couples exhibit the same kind of sacrificial love for one another and for their children, born and unborn. I think so. In my own vocation as a priest, I have chosen a celibate love, not to repudiate conjugal love, but to exalt it. Precisely because I prized it so highly as a gift from God, I chose to forsake it as a sacrifice that would really be felt in my life. As a normal male, I very much liked girls. But, as a teenager I cared for my female friends too much to ever want to lead them into mortal sin. We also need to respect our own dignity regarding such matters. Many priests, religious, sisters, etc. surrender the sexual life so as to become signs of contradiction in a world that abuses this gratuity. We try to give ourselves more fully to the Lord and to the service of his people. If men and women can do this, cannot our married couples exhibit periodic restraint if they want to space the births in their families and avoid contraception? Sure. Discipline and the grace of God will come to those who really desire it. As for our single people, they need to know that fornication is only one step removed from adultery. Statistics prove it. Sin makes it so. Make your bodies sources of holiness, for your bodies are YOU. Your lives are great treasures. "Truly great must be the value of human life if the Son of God has taken it up and made it the instrument of the salvation of all humanity!" (#33).
Elevating us above all creation, God has made us able to know and to love him; indeed, we were made for God and have an eternal destiny. Despite progress and technological improvements, the perils of sin remain the same: "Through sin, man rebels against his Creator and ends up by worshiping creatures . . ." (#36). When God is not given his due, our own meaning is forfeited and indifference, hostility, and even murderous hatred compromise the unity between people. But, if we follow Christ, the divine image is renewed and restored. Existence is not just the occasion for self-expression or for forming relationships, it is where we encounter and come into communion with God. This is the meaning of life! The Holy Father states: "Man's life comes from God; it is his gift, his image and imprint, a sharing in his breath of life. God therefore is the sole Lord of his life: Man cannot do with it as he wills" (#39). The question for the Christian is, "What does God want me to do with my life?" Will we commit ourselves into the loving and nurturing hands of God's providence?
As it has been said before, contraception is the handmaid of abortion. When the pill fails, which it does at least 3% of the time, these couples, more so than not, abort. Even worse, it creates a climate in which abortion is more tolerated and utilized. The New Testament confirms the value placed upon human life even from its beginning in the womb. Giving you the Pope's exact words, he states: ". . . the value of the person from the moment of conception is celebrated in the meeting between the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, and between the two children whom they are carrying in the womb. It is precisely the children who reveal the advent of the Messianic age: In their meeting, the redemptive power of the presence of the Son of God among men first becomes operative" (#45). You cannot be pro-abortion and remain a true Christian. The pro-abortion agenda is the work of the anti-Christ.
I most move on now and mention with some speed the other matters that the Pope brings up in the second section of his encyclical. The commandment against killing, comes to full stature only in the course of time and under the illumination of the Sermon on the Mount. Thus, even today there are residual elements of the old law as found in penal legislation and the death penalty that the Holy Father believes we are to move beyond. The overall message of the New Testament ". . . is a forceful appeal for respect for the inviolability of physical life and the integrity of the person" (#40). Not only must we avoid killing our neighbor, we must love him. Not only must we protect widows, orphans, the sick, the poor, and the child in the womb (cf. Ex. 21:22; 22:20-26), we must turn enemies into friends by loving and praying for them. Such is the shift and heightened expectation of the new covenant. This development of doctrine is particularly pertinent in a day when fanatics will bomb abortion clinics. We want to protect the lives of both the innocent and the guilty.
Rushing forward to another issue, the Pope reiterates that old age is to be regarded as dignified and should be treated with reverence. From the womb to the tomb, all life is sacred. Euthanasia or mercy killing (particularly the Dr. Kevorkian type) is murder, pure and simple. We should neither kill our babies nor our old people. This should be obvious, but the nonsense is going on all the same. I can hear the devil now, "You might have survived the womb, but I'll get you yet!" Many who receive these words of mine may already be up in years and many others, like myself, have high hopes of getting there-- these murderous attempts at false compassion should unnerve us greatly. The Pope says that "Man is not the master of life nor is he the master of death. In life and in death, he has to entrust himself completely to the 'good pleasure of the Most High,' to his loving plan" (#46). Having said this, the Pope acknowledges that our current bodily life is not an absolute good. We might be asked to give up our lives for a greater good, like the martyrs who died for others and for the Gospel. However, this is not an arbitrary matter. Life has a meaning all its own. Forget this and we endanger ourselves and become a threat to everyone else.
Today, the Pope wants us to become like the prophets of old. We cannot allow ourselves to "go with the flow" of our society. Western culture is increasingly ignoring God's plan, we must forcefully remind all our brothers and sisters, by our words and example, that the Lord alone is the authentic source of life. If you are living in sin, then you are not alive at all. It is a contradiction in terms. Pope John Paul II reminds us that God will give us new hearts through his Spirit and that the law of God will bring us fulfillment. If you are single and a virgin, cherish it and bring it undefiled to a religious vocation or to the marriage bed. If you are living with someone and fornicating with them, make space for God and stop giving away that which the other has no right to receive. If you have been unfaithful to your spouse, distance yourself from the one who robs your spouse of his or her just due and find renewed fidelity. If you have used contraception, throw the junk away and find out how you can both be responsible parents and good followers of Jesus in his Church. If you have had anything to do with abortions, join the brave souls who march for life each January in Washington, D.C. It is embarrassing that so many believers stay home. If you have aging friends or family whom you have neglected, spend some time with them and let them know that they are still loved. And please, do not forget to come to a priest for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Allow God to forgive your sins in the Church. It is not enough to just say you are sorry in private. You need the mercy and healing that comes from Christ in his Church. As I said in the beginning, our physical life and eternal life are two sides of a single coin. The successor of Peter tells us: "It is the very life of God which is now shared with man. It is the life which through the sacraments of the church -- symbolized by the blood and water flowing from Christ's side -- is continually given to God's children, making them the people of the New Covenant" (#50). Follow in the footsteps of Christ -- it might lead to the cross; but, it will definitely take us to heaven.
The Pope ends this section with a prayer, make it your own: "Grant, therefore, that we may listen with open and generous hearts to every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. Thus we shall learn not only to obey the commandment not to kill human life, but also to revere life, to love it and to foster it" (#50).
Life & the Believer
At the heart of the pro-life message is the person of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have been invited into the divine life of the blessed Trinity: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn. 10:10). To this end, the Holy Father writes: "In this way the human experience and reason tell us about the value of human life, accepting it, exalting it and bringing it to fulfillment" (#30).
Counter to this, can we really say in all honesty that contraception and abortion embraces and raises up life as an incomparable treasure? No. Thus, the Pope's words tell us where we ought to be on life, not actually where we are. The scandal is that many who are professing belief in Christ in church are working fervently against the Gospel elsewhere, particularly in the bedroom. Now, you might say that I have no right to tell you what to do behind closed doors-- and we can debate that another day-- but is not Christ suppose to be in all our bedrooms? Sure he is. As I have said many times, we have the sacrament of Confession for any who want to repent of their sins. But a great sadness of mine is that the sin of contraception, not even to mention abortion, is so rarely confessed. Our sexuality should not be reduced to a crass form of cheap recreation. It is the manifestation and the giving of our very selves, or at least it ought to be. The Church teaches that in marriage, the couple "become partners in a divine undertaking: Through the act of procreation, God's gift is accepted and a new life opens to the future" (#43). Out of a responsible parenthood and respect for Church teaching, the rectory phone should be ringing off the hook for referral to Natural Family Planning programs in the archdiocese. The phone is suspiciously quiet. Our families are even more suspiciously small. Your priests are not fools, and neither is the Pope. He asks, "How can anyone think that even a single moment of this marvelous process of the unfolding of life could be separated from the wise and loving work of the Creator, and left prey to human caprice?" (#44). We know what is going on and we weep that our people should reject life instead of being open to it as the Holy Father teaches. The money that our people spend on contraceptives, fuels and finances an industry that is daily fighting the traditional family and the Church in which we worship. Every penny spent on a condom or birth control pill is also a further incentive to racist organizations like Planned Parenthood to mock the Pope and bishops and to distort God's plans for you and me. If we do not love God enough to be faithful, then do we at least fear judgment? Why is it that we have become comfortable with this act of selfish rebellion-- have we forgotten that even one mortal sin will deprive us of God's presence and damn us to the fires of hell for all eternity? How can we teach our children what is right and wrong about the little things of life, when many of us fail to do what is right about those most important matters of our personal conduct and of the generation of human life? Think about that one.
Christ has broken our shackles of sin and death; do not try to put them back on. We can only be who God wants us to be if we recognize that we have been given "an indestructible dignity." All human history is rerouted and made sacred. Many of our fundamentalist brothers and sisters are very much involved in the creationist campaign; well, for myself it does not matter so much whether all was made in six days or whether we evolved from precocious fish-- our eyes should be set on the sacrament of the present moment and our high calling. Creation and re-creation are going on right now. The wonder of salvation history is the reciprocal finding of God and our own self-discovery. Only in God can we know ourselves and our purpose for living. With the infusion of immortal souls into our first parents, the human family was set upon a journey of discovery that finds its goal in the divine. Even though revelation progressively unveils God's plans for us, some of these truths had always been planted in the human heart. The promised land and posterity promised in the Old Testament points to the heavenly Jerusalem and resurrection in the New. How can I put this simply? Is there anyone who truly wants to cease to exist? Is there anyone who wants to be nothing more than a corpse in a forgotten grave? Most of us will be little remembered as soon as we are dead. Let's face it, if there was no Easter, you and I would have lived in vain. Our lives would have made little difference. It gives you a sickening feeling, does it not? Sure. Thank God, the proposition of atheists is a lie-- but it is a deceit that many people by their lifestyle assume. I am not talking about the elderly who pray for death. They believe-- they offer their sufferings in union with Christ's for the redemption of the world. No, they want to die so as to be with God in heaven. Many of them miss family and friends, wanting to see them again. They want an end to pain, but not at any price. All this is at the core of what the Holy Father is telling us: "This first notion of totality and fullness is waiting to be manifested in love and brought to perfection by God's free gift, through sharing in his eternal life" (#31). God's grace gives us a taste of what awaits us. In every one of us there is the cry, "I want to live! I don't want to die! I want to see my grandmother or my sister or my husband again! I don't want to hurt anymore!" These yearnings given us by God will be fulfilled. That is our trust. Suffering is not a cause for despair, but for enriched hope. We read: "Jesus sets forth the meaning of his own mission: All who suffer because their lives are in some way 'diminished' thus hear from him the 'good news' of God's concern for them, and they know for certain that their lives too are a gift carefully guarded in the hands of the Father (cf. Mt. 6:25-34)" (#32).
Of course, the mission of Christ was not simply for the sick, the suffering, and the oppressed. The moral and spiritual dimension of every life is touched by the Gospel. "Only those who recognize that their life is marked by the evil of sin can discover in an encounter with Jesus the Savior the truth and the authenticity of their own existence" (#32). The cry of the Baptizer still has merit, "Repent and believe!" Otherwise, the truth is unavailable. Sin blinds us. Selfishness prejudices our consciences. There are only two choices, rebellion or repentance. The former brings renewed slavery, the latter, liberty and life. We have an entire culture in bondage to the pill and condom. What does it say? We cannot control ourselves! We will have this pleasure when we want and with whomever we want! -- girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse, or somebody else's spouse! This mentality is all perverted. Unfortunately, I can shout the rooftops off with the Gospel challenge and I doubt some would listen. We only hear what we want to hear. But, as prophets of the Good News we must speak the truth all the same. Every man or woman who has sex outside of marriage is a thief. They steal the chaste love owed to God, the virginity that belongs to a future spouse, and the sanctity that would be theirs in a holy life. Every man or woman who has used artificial contraception is a liar. They go through the motions of openness to God and to one another while they have in actuality closed themselves to life and from the total self-donation they promised in marriage. They blaspheme the providence of God. Every man or woman who has cooperated in the procurement of an abortion is a murderer. Herod's soldiers now seek the Lord in the womb. The blood of the holy innocents continues to be shed. We read in Evangelium Vitae: "But there is also, from the start, rejection on the part of the world which grows hostile and looks for the child in order 'to destroy him' (Mt. 2:13); a world which remains indifferent and unconcerned about the fulfillment of the mystery of this life entering the world" (#33). I know these words are a heavy and stinging condemnation, but there is a sure hope if we repent. SEE THE SIN, do not dismiss it as unimportant! SEE THE SIN, do not say to yourself that you have time to change, the time is now! SEE THE SIN, do not say that you're good in a lot of other areas and that makes up for it, it does not. Supposedly good people who do a whole host of wonderful things, including going to church, can still suffer the loss of heaven on account of one serious sin-- one. A single act of contraception, for example, is the matter of mortal sin. While there may be mitigating factors like a lack of understanding, habit, passion itself, and coercion, both from a spouse and economic considerations-- it is still serious. A person might go to hell for it. How many of our people have contracepted so many times that they could not even dare put a number to it? Added to it the tens of millions of abortions and we have buried ourselves under a mountain of sins. The Church wants us to look at it honestly, admitting our fault, and altering our focus and behavior-- allowing God to change us into more perfect likenesses of his Son.
Jesus' self-donation on the cross is the reservoir for our new life. If Jesus can be so selfless, then cannot our married couples exhibit the same kind of sacrificial love for one another and for their children, born and unborn. I think so. In my own vocation as a priest, I have chosen a celibate love, not to repudiate conjugal love, but to exalt it. Precisely because I prized it so highly as a gift from God, I chose to forsake it as a sacrifice that would really be felt in my life. As a normal male, I very much liked girls. But, as a teenager I cared for my female friends too much to ever want to lead them into mortal sin. We also need to respect our own dignity regarding such matters. Many priests, religious, sisters, etc. surrender the sexual life so as to become signs of contradiction in a world that abuses this gratuity. We try to give ourselves more fully to the Lord and to the service of his people. If men and women can do this, cannot our married couples exhibit periodic restraint if they want to space the births in their families and avoid contraception? Sure. Discipline and the grace of God will come to those who really desire it. As for our single people, they need to know that fornication is only one step removed from adultery. Statistics prove it. Sin makes it so. Make your bodies sources of holiness, for your bodies are YOU. Your lives are great treasures. "Truly great must be the value of human life if the Son of God has taken it up and made it the instrument of the salvation of all humanity!" (#33).
Elevating us above all creation, God has made us able to know and to love him; indeed, we were made for God and have an eternal destiny. Despite progress and technological improvements, the perils of sin remain the same: "Through sin, man rebels against his Creator and ends up by worshiping creatures . . ." (#36). When God is not given his due, our own meaning is forfeited and indifference, hostility, and even murderous hatred compromise the unity between people. But, if we follow Christ, the divine image is renewed and restored. Existence is not just the occasion for self-expression or for forming relationships, it is where we encounter and come into communion with God. This is the meaning of life! The Holy Father states: "Man's life comes from God; it is his gift, his image and imprint, a sharing in his breath of life. God therefore is the sole Lord of his life: Man cannot do with it as he wills" (#39). The question for the Christian is, "What does God want me to do with my life?" Will we commit ourselves into the loving and nurturing hands of God's providence?
As it has been said before, contraception is the handmaid of abortion. When the pill fails, which it does at least 3% of the time, these couples, more so than not, abort. Even worse, it creates a climate in which abortion is more tolerated and utilized. The New Testament confirms the value placed upon human life even from its beginning in the womb. Giving you the Pope's exact words, he states: ". . . the value of the person from the moment of conception is celebrated in the meeting between the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, and between the two children whom they are carrying in the womb. It is precisely the children who reveal the advent of the Messianic age: In their meeting, the redemptive power of the presence of the Son of God among men first becomes operative" (#45). You cannot be pro-abortion and remain a true Christian. The pro-abortion agenda is the work of the anti-Christ.
I most move on now and mention with some speed the other matters that the Pope brings up in the second section of his encyclical. The commandment against killing, comes to full stature only in the course of time and under the illumination of the Sermon on the Mount. Thus, even today there are residual elements of the old law as found in penal legislation and the death penalty that the Holy Father believes we are to move beyond. The overall message of the New Testament ". . . is a forceful appeal for respect for the inviolability of physical life and the integrity of the person" (#40). Not only must we avoid killing our neighbor, we must love him. Not only must we protect widows, orphans, the sick, the poor, and the child in the womb (cf. Ex. 21:22; 22:20-26), we must turn enemies into friends by loving and praying for them. Such is the shift and heightened expectation of the new covenant. This development of doctrine is particularly pertinent in a day when fanatics will bomb abortion clinics. We want to protect the lives of both the innocent and the guilty.
Rushing forward to another issue, the Pope reiterates that old age is to be regarded as dignified and should be treated with reverence. From the womb to the tomb, all life is sacred. Euthanasia or mercy killing (particularly the Dr. Kevorkian type) is murder, pure and simple. We should neither kill our babies nor our old people. This should be obvious, but the nonsense is going on all the same. I can hear the devil now, "You might have survived the womb, but I'll get you yet!" Many who receive these words of mine may already be up in years and many others, like myself, have high hopes of getting there-- these murderous attempts at false compassion should unnerve us greatly. The Pope says that "Man is not the master of life nor is he the master of death. In life and in death, he has to entrust himself completely to the 'good pleasure of the Most High,' to his loving plan" (#46). Having said this, the Pope acknowledges that our current bodily life is not an absolute good. We might be asked to give up our lives for a greater good, like the martyrs who died for others and for the Gospel. However, this is not an arbitrary matter. Life has a meaning all its own. Forget this and we endanger ourselves and become a threat to everyone else.
Today, the Pope wants us to become like the prophets of old. We cannot allow ourselves to "go with the flow" of our society. Western culture is increasingly ignoring God's plan, we must forcefully remind all our brothers and sisters, by our words and example, that the Lord alone is the authentic source of life. If you are living in sin, then you are not alive at all. It is a contradiction in terms. Pope John Paul II reminds us that God will give us new hearts through his Spirit and that the law of God will bring us fulfillment. If you are single and a virgin, cherish it and bring it undefiled to a religious vocation or to the marriage bed. If you are living with someone and fornicating with them, make space for God and stop giving away that which the other has no right to receive. If you have been unfaithful to your spouse, distance yourself from the one who robs your spouse of his or her just due and find renewed fidelity. If you have used contraception, throw the junk away and find out how you can both be responsible parents and good followers of Jesus in his Church. If you have had anything to do with abortions, join the brave souls who march for life each January in Washington, D.C. It is embarrassing that so many believers stay home. If you have aging friends or family whom you have neglected, spend some time with them and let them know that they are still loved. And please, do not forget to come to a priest for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Allow God to forgive your sins in the Church. It is not enough to just say you are sorry in private. You need the mercy and healing that comes from Christ in his Church. As I said in the beginning, our physical life and eternal life are two sides of a single coin. The successor of Peter tells us: "It is the very life of God which is now shared with man. It is the life which through the sacraments of the church -- symbolized by the blood and water flowing from Christ's side -- is continually given to God's children, making them the people of the New Covenant" (#50). Follow in the footsteps of Christ -- it might lead to the cross; but, it will definitely take us to heaven.
The Pope ends this section with a prayer, make it your own: "Grant, therefore, that we may listen with open and generous hearts to every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. Thus we shall learn not only to obey the commandment not to kill human life, but also to revere life, to love it and to foster it" (#50).
posted by Father Joe Jenkins at 6:57 PM
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