Thursday, January 22, 2015
Throwback Thursday
"I do not hesitate to proclaim before you and before the world that all
human life—from the moment of conception and through all subsequent stages—is
sacred, because human life is created in the image and likeness of God.
Nothing surpasses the greatness or dignity of a human person. Human life is
not just an idea or an abstraction; human life is the concrete reality of a
being that lives, that acts, that grows and develops; human life is the
concrete reality of a being that is capable of love, and of service to
humanity.
"Let me repeat what I told the people during my recent
pilgrimage to my
homeland : "If a person's right to life is violated at the moment in which he
is first conceived in his mother's womb, an indirect blow is struck also at
the whole of the moral order, which serves to ensure the inviolable goods of
man. Among those goods, life occupies the first place. The Church defends the
right to life, not only in regard to the majesty of the Creator, who is the
First Giver of this life, but also in respect of the essential good of the
human person" (8 June 1979).
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| Loving Earth, "Baby Feet II" is licensed under CC by 2.0 |
"Human life is precious because it is the gift of a God whose love is
infinite; and when God gives life, it is for ever. Life is also precious
because it is the expression and the fruit of love. This is why life should
spring up within the setting of marriage, and why marriage and the parents'
love for one another should be marked by generosity in self-giving. The great
danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure,
comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and
become selfish. The fear of making permanent commitments can change the mutual
love of husband and wife into two loves of self—two loves existing side by
side, until they end in separation.
"In the sacrament of marriage, a man and a woman—who at Baptism became
members of Christ and hence have the duty of manifesting Christ's attitudes in
their lives—are assured of the help they need to develop their love in a
faithful and indissoluble union, and to respond with generosity to the gift of
parenthood. As the Second Vatican Council declared: Through this sacrament,
Christ himself becomes present in the life of the married couple and
accompanies them, so that they may love each other and their children, just as
Christ loved his Church by giving himself up for her (cf.
Gaudium et Spes, 48
; cf. Eph 5 :25)."
-- St. John Paul II, Mass at the Capitol Mall in Washington, DC, 1979
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