Reflections: Proclaiming the ‘Gospel of life’!

Sydney
7 July 2002

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Reflections: Proclaiming the ‘Gospel of life’!

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Reflections: Proclaiming the ‘Gospel of life’!

By Teresa Pirola

Sam and Lyn are expecting their fifth child. ‘That’s fantastic!’ I say. “Let me babysit the other children so you can have a night out together to celebrate.”

Lyn is both grateful and surprised. “You’re the first person who has responded positively,” she says. “Most people say we’re mad.”

How priceless is the gift of human life. How precious we are to God. And how tragic when we lose sight of the sacredness of this gift.

Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) reminds us of these basic truths which our society so desperately needs to make its own.

Let’s not deceive ourselves, says the Pope. Killing can never be a human solution to a social problem. We must never cause the death of an unborn child, assist a person to suicide, bring about the untimely death of a sick or elderly person, or reduce human embryos to mere ‘biological matter’ to be used as we will. Rather, human problems call for life-

giving solutions. Day by day we are called to ‘choose life’, to live with hope and trust in God’s love for us.

It is only within the context of a great ‘yes’ to life that we can fully appreciate the reasons for the Church’s repeated opposition to those actions which adopt death as a solution.

Evangelium Vitae points out the connection between the big issues of life and death and the little steps that take us there. The commandment “You shall not kill” outlines the extreme boundary that must not be crossed. It is the great law that protects life.

But there are many more ‘little’ words of life which go hand in hand with the moral law. People need to be able to look at the homes, relationships and work practices of Christians and be impressed by the love and respect they find there. Let them see us rejoicing in our children, revering the elderly, assisting families in their responsibilities, and working for life-affirming policies.

Let them see us opening our homes and hearts to the distressed and lonely, putting others before self-interest. This is the ‘Gospel of life’ that must permeate all our social interactions as Catholics, if our Church’s teachings are to shine forth and make sense to people.

We all agree about the unacceptability of the sexual abuse of children. Yet it is inconsistent to address such brokenness and wrong-doing while ignoring other anti-child attitudes deeply embedded in a society which regards the destruction of a child by abortion as somehow ‘acceptable’. Similarly, it is inconsistent to condemn the wrongdoing of abortion and yet do nothing to help women and men cope with the pressures of parenting.

At every turn, to be ‘pro-life’ is to be concerned for the human person.

Faced with the grave issues of our day, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless. But, says Evangelium Vitae, it is precisely at times like this that Christians are called to proclaim the Gospel of life. And this Gospel is something tangible and personal, for it proclaims the very person of Jesus Christ whose Spirit dwells within us.

The risen Jesus offers us life to the full and shows us the beauty of what we really are: God’s children. In the uniqueness of each man, woman and child we see the indelible imprint of God’s presence. This divine spark draws us to God and to one another. It opens us to the wonder of all creation, revealing our lives to be more than material existence, but a dialogue with God.

Teresa Pirola co-ordinates The Story Source, a writing/publishing ministry serving Catholic parishes and dioceses.