Love One Another as I Have Loved You

by Father Jim Whalen Priests for Life Newsletter, 2007, issue 2

When Jesus came into the world and gave us his new commandment of love, He turned our ideas about God and man upside down. God not only created the world and us out of love, He came to redeem us when we turned away from Him, by becoming Man, God's love made visible. To show the quality of His love He put Himself at risk by becoming first a simple fetus in the womb of Mary, an unborn child, then exposing Himself, without power, without wealth, to the hatred and ridicule of Government and even the Church authorities of His time, who condemned Him and put Him to death. All He wanted was Love, Justice and Peace for all.

Our times are not unlike those in which the first Christians lived and witnessed, worked and prayed. The abuse of God's great gifts of life and human sexuality was common then, as now, evidenced in abortion and euthanasia, the logical outgrowths of fornication and contraception, man's basic self!shness. It is not surprising that in our age, the "Culture of Death" should be characterized by pornog­raphy and recreational sex, divorce, same sex maniage, and against loving, responsible, procreational intercourse. It is not surprising that the Church then and now condemns these triple evils - contraception, abortion, euthanasia - as enemies of humanity, love, sexuality, marriage, family, personality, and ultimately society. We have our tasks cut out for us with growing militant humanism and relativism coupled with apostasy that continue to enslave man in medical homicide and medicated death.

There are no easy, pat answers. Pope Benedict XVI called on scientists, doctors, legislators, and politicians to contribute, "by teaching and by example", to "reawakening the clear and eloquent voice of conscience in many people's hearts" (Feb. 24/07, AC/Right to Life Conscience, Vatican Information Service 070226 (650). The remedies them­selves are not hard to prescribe: persevering prayer; center­ing family life on the Eucharist; following Mary's leader­ship as star of the new evangelization; rebuilding of respect for human life and human sexuality; the promotion of unselfish love as the essential basis of happy, holy, stable marriages and family life; renewal of the conviction that man does not live on bed alone (chastity); development and teaching of a truly human-Christian medical ethic and reli­gious revival. Man must once again strive to find our theis­tic roots and transcendence.

We are called to witness - to make God visible today: "They will know we are Christians by our love" (In 13:35).Mother Teresa's life has been such a Christian beacon of light to us. She went out into the streets of Calcutta finding those who were at the bottom, the most wretched and vul­nerable - those who were left to die in the gutter. She took them in and cared for them so they would die with dignity and respect. Her voice is a voice of love, telling people that the greatest gift of God to man is life, created in God's own image, to love and be loved, and the greatest development of human potential is to die in peace with God. She reminded us that there will be no peace in the world as long as there is abortion.

We are called to be co-creators, to be overlords of nature and build a more human and better world here on earth. True Christianity rejects the myth that the poor must patiently accept their poverty as the will of God. The pri­mary violence of today is man's injustice to man. We know that injustices between men must be resolved by man. Avarice is the most evident form of moral under-develop­ment. Christ wants us to live as befits men, neither sub­humanized by misery, nor dehumanized by riches. The chal­lenge to be Christian is clear. Man does not live on bread alone, and every man is our brother. We "will perform even greater works" (In 14: 12). Man infinitely surpasses man (Pascal).

To the young people of today the challenge is not alien­ation from God and the Church but to be ready to pave the way for Christianity to be tried. G.K. Chesterton pointed out that when people say that Christianity has been tried, found wanting and given up, they have the sequence slightly wrong. The truth is that Christianity has been tried, has been found difficult, and given up. It is much easier to flow with the major currents of an affluent society, accepting its standards, rewards, mobility, and its fears of loss, than to opt for modest standards and a measure of renunciation, so that resources, both personal and public, can be released to people in greater need. It is a question of facing the discipline of demanding less and giving more. This needs men and women of quality. We must not fear to practice our Christianity. Christianity is positive and dynamic: not merely concerned with fleeing from sin or binding wounds but sharing the Good News with the poor, proclaiming liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, setting the downtrodden free (Lk 4: 18, 19).

Every man, having received the gift of life from God, has unique infinite value. Man has the right to life, bodily integrity, and to the means which are necessary and suitable for the proper development of life. These are primarily food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care, and social services. Governments must protect the fundamental rights of all cit­izens, on the basis of the principles of justice for all, not only the privileged few. Nationals can help themselves only insofar as they succeed in helping one another. The truth is man does not need to have more to be more. Man must learn to be more, having less; we must learn what it is to have enough. Quality of life is not so much having things but caring more for people. It is not selfish or materialistic or anti-life. Quality of life is concerned with spiritual and material things in proper balance. It is not so much having the latest TV or car but having enough to share with others for human dignity. It is personified in Christ. It comes from God. It is a compassionate heart sensitive to the needs of others, which treats every man as a brother, especially those who are poor and oppressed. It is above all love of neigh­bour, as explained in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Society cannot keep going the way it has. People are more important and must be given priority over things. The right to life and justice for all is attainable. Pope John XXIII renewed the face of the Church. Pope Paul VI gave us Humanae Vitae to show us the way to unite the procreative and unitive aspects of conjugal love. Pope John Paul II chal­lenged us with Evangelium Vitae and Veritatis Splendor to become saints. Pope Benedict XVI has committed himself to deteat the dIctatorshIp ot rel­ativism. Christianity is still the greatest revolutionary way of life. Christ never had a private life. All he said was in public. The market place was His forum. It was where men con­ducted the business of life.

Quality of life depends on men. We must be responsible co-creators. Each time a man stands for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, crossing from a million different centers of energy and daring

These ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. We have the power of God on our side. God is pro-life. He is life. He is the way. "Life is the primary good we have received from God; the foundation of all others guaranteeing the right to life for everyone and in the same way for everyone is a duty upon which the future of humanity depends" (Feb. 24, 2007, Vatican City, Right to Life Conscience, VIS). The challenge is to know Christ as He is. It means in the forum of life to live Christ and insist on justice for all.-