INTRODUCTION
1. The Gospel of life is at the heart of Jesus' message.
Lovingly received day after day by the Church, it is to be preached with
dauntless fidelity as "good news" to the people of every age and
culture.
At the dawn of salvation, it is the Birth of a Child which
is proclaimed as joyful news: "I bring you good news of a great joy which
will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a
Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:10-11). The source of this
"great joy" is the Birth of the Saviour; but Christmas also reveals
the full meaning of every human birth, and the joy which accompanies the Birth
of the Messiah is thus seen to be the foundation and fulfilment of joy at every
child born into the world (cf. Jn 16:21).
When he presents the heart of his redemptive mission, Jesus
says: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10 ). In truth, he is referring to that
"new" and "eternal" life which consists in communion with
the Father, to which every person is freely called in the Son by the power of
the Sanctifying Spirit. It is precisely in this "life" that all the
aspects and stages of human life achieve their full significance.
The incomparable
worth of the human person
2. Man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the
dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very
life of God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatness
and the inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase. Life in
time, in fact, is the fundamental condition, the initial stage and an integral
part of the entire unified process of human existence. It is a process which,
unexpectedly and undeservedly, is enlightened by the promise and renewed by the
gift of divine life, which will reach its full realization in eternity (cf. 1
Jn 3:1-2). At the same time, it is precisely this supernatural calling which
highlights the relative character of each individual's earthly life. After all,
life on earth is not an "ultimate" but a "penultimate"
reality; even so, it remains a sacred reality entrusted to us, to be preserved
with a sense of responsibility and brought to perfection in love and in the
gift of ourselves to God and to our brothers and sisters.
The Church knows that this Gospel of life, which she has
received from her Lord, 1 has a profound and persuasive echo in the
heart of every person-believer and non-believer alike-because it marvellously
fulfils all the heart's expectations while infinitely surpassing them. Even in
the midst of difficulties and uncertainties, every person sincerely open to truth
and goodness can, by the light of reason and the hidden action of grace, come
to recognize in the natural law written in the heart (cf. Rom 2:14-15) the
sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its end, and can
affirm the right of every human being to have this primary good respected to
the highest degree. Upon the recognition of this right, every human community
and the political community itself are founded.
In a special way, believers in Christ must defend and
promote this right, aware as they are of the wonderful truth recalled by the
Second Vatican Council: "By his incarnation the Son of God has united
himself in some fashion with every human being".2 This saving event reveals to humanity not
only the boundless love of God who "so loved the world that he gave his
only Son" (Jn 3:16 ), but also
the incomparable value of every human person.
The Church, faithfully contemplating the mystery of the
Redemption, acknowledges this value with ever new wonder.3 She feels called to proclaim to the people
of all times this "Gospel", the source of invincible hope and true
joy for every period of history. The Gospel of God's love for man, the Gospel
of the dignity of the person and the Gospel of life are a single and indivisible
Gospel.
For this reason, man-living man-represents the primary and
fundamental way for the Church
For full Encyclical go to; Vatican - Encyclical Evangelium Vitae - Bl .John Paul II
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please be respectful in your comments. Thank you.