PRO-LIFE PEACEKEEPERS
by Fr. Jim Whalen
2001, Issue 4
Many claim to be peacemakers but few are peacekeepers. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, is both. When He first came to us few recognized Him, few accepted Him, and few followed Him. Today, he is recognized but many still do not accept Him or follow Him. Not only did He bring us the gift of peace, He also gave us the means to be peacemakers and peacekeepers. He came to share His life with us. He was born to die for us. He came to bring us the gift of life the gift of peace, to show us how to be pro-life peacekeepers.
The second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus Christ, God, became man, came to be one of us in all things except sin. Divinity arrived. The Prince of Peace arrived. "The word was made flesh" (Jn 1:14). God was given a body; a heart that began to beat in His mother's womb, a head with two eyes, two ears and a mouth. He was alive in the womb of the Virgin Mary - floating, kicking and growing. The Scriptural prophecies were fulfilled: "The virgin shall be with child and give birth to a son and they shall call Him Emmanuel" (Mt 1:23). From that moment in time, the world and all history began to revolve around the child of Mary - Jesus, the Prince of Peace. "Glory to God on high and on earth peace to men of good will" (Lk2: 14).
Peace on earth is possible only if the order of the Prince of Peace is observed and followed. The order that should exist among all humans is based on a foundational principle: every human being is a person with a nature that is endowed with intelligence and free will; with rights and duties which are universal, inviolable and inalienable (Pacem In Terris, 1963, p.9, cf. Pope Pius XII & Pope John XXIII).
Pope John XXIII outlined these rights clearly: the right to life and a worthy standard of living; the rights of moral and cultural standards; the right to worship God according to one’s conscience; the right to choose freely one’s state of life; economic rights; the rights of assembly and association; the rights to emigrate and immigrate; political rights. All these rights are necessarily linked with respective responsibilities and duties, finding their source and sustenance and inviolability in natural law (peace on earth).
The reality exists that these rights and responsibilities are not always recognized or adhered to. Accordingly, we have the world caught in a cycle of violence. It begins with poverty while the basic needs of people are ignored or dismissed. "When freedom is used to dominate the weak; to squander natural resources and energy; and to deny basic necessities to people, we will stand up and reaffirm the demands of justice and social love" (Pope John Paul II, Washington, DC). This denial of justice is paramount in the neglect and rejection of the needs of the unborn, the handicapped, the chronically ill and the elderly. This results in a demand for basic rights for all: the right to life for every human person from conception to natural death, the right to sanctity of life and the dignity of every human being. There follows fear of the loss of privilege by the powerful and, consequently, there is violent repression of the poor through false overpopulation propaganda, insufficient world food resources, compulsory unnatural family reproductive planning, birth control pills and abortifacient chemical pills (IPPF). ¤