By Msgr. James P. Moroney pastor, St. Cecilia Parish in Leominster
Excerpted from a talk at the Jan. 18 Pro-Life Morning of Reflection at St. Paul Cathedral.
“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” (Evangelium Vitae).
Thirty years ago, St. John Paul II wrote a remarkable encyclical letter on the Gospel of Life, under the title Evangelium Vitae. It has served as the guiding light for the pro-life movement in the decades that followed.
I would suggest, however, that the key to the next phase of implementing this remarkable vision can be found in a close reading of an equally prophetic letter, written by St. Paul VI some twenty years prior, under the title Evangelii Nunciandi, on proclaiming the Gospel to the modern world.
Proclaiming the Gospel, otherwise known as evangelization is among the fundamental mandates of the Lord who told us to “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). But how, precisely do we proclaim the Gospel, and especially the Gospel of Life?
I suggest that the key lies in St. Paul VI’s insistence that “Evangelical zeal must spring from true holiness of life.” It is not the video with the most hits, or the slickest print campaign or wittiest sign that will convert people to the Gospel of Life. Only the authentic witness of our lives will accomplish such a task for “modern man” who the Holy Father insisted, “listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”
That’s a good lesson for those who seek to effectively proclaim the Gospel of Life to the modern world. The first and fundamental qualification of the successful evangelizer is to be holy. Changing the laws of our nation or the attitudes of our representatives pales into insignificance compared to this primary task.
For we live in a world where everyone seems to be trying to sell us something all the time. The pro-lifer will never be successful until they are perceived as something else than just one more ideologue trying to get you to buy their wares. In the pro-life evangelist the world must meet Christ, who loves them and is willing to lay down his life for them in gentleness, humility and sacrifice.
How do we proclaim the Gospel of Life, every day and in every detail of our lives? How do we become holy? We might begin with a pro-life examination of conscience in regard to the Ten Commandments.
Think of the first two commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me” and “you shall not make for yourselves an idol.”
When St. John Paul II reflected on this commandment in the light of the Gospel of Life, he cautioned us against making democracy an idol. For, while the growth of democracy is certainly “a positive sign of the times,” democracy can sometimes be wrong, and the “will of the people” can never be a substitute for morality.
Just think of the “Catholic” countries that have legalized abortion. Just because they have voted to allow the killing of an unborn child does not make it right, for “the value of democracy stands or falls with the values which it embodies and promotes.”
Thus no idol is a good idol, even the popular will of the people, and you shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone.
And then there’s the fifth commandment, about which the Holy Father observes that “not infrequently … threats to life arise within the relationship between parents and children, such as happens … in the wider context of family or kinship, [when] euthanasia is encouraged or practiced.”
Each pro-life disciple must ask themselves how effectively they honor the dignity of all their kin. How about that uncle whom nobody wants to talk to at the wedding reception? What about the maiden aunt whose kids have disowned her and now sits staring at the “Price is Right” in the nursing home? How about the never-do-well son or nephew whom everybody else has given up on?
Are you the one member of your family who they know they can go to when everyone else has grown tired of them? Are you the face of Christ’s mercy when everyone else is scowling or lecturing them? Do they see Jesus in you, or are you just another one of those people who wish they would just go away?
For, in the end, euthanasia is nothing more than treating a person as a problem that we just wish would go away. But we cannot be like that, for we believe in the consummate value of every life, from conception to natural death, and we will love them with the love of Jesus, even unto death.
And then there is the seventh commandment, the one which pro-lifers take most seriously. But we must be careful, St. John Paul II warns us, to remember that this commandment is not just about homicide. Rather, it “prohibits all personal injury inflicted on another.” It “obliges us to be responsible for our neighbor as for ourselves.”
And then there are the last four of the commandments, each of which are an outgrowth of the command to love: You shall not commit adultery, steal, lie or covet.
Each of them is, in the words of St. John Paul II, a command to “show reverence and love for every person and the life of every person.”
Listen to the Holy Father: “A stranger is no longer a stranger, [indeed we must accept] responsibility for his life … Even an enemy ceases to be an enemy for the person who is obliged to love him … The height of this love is to pray for one’s enemy. By so doing we achieve harmony with the providential love of God …”
For, in the end, people will only come to believe the Gospel of Life by love, that is, love of the young woman who is contemplating abortion and the doctor who advocates for euthanasia. People must believe that the woman and the doctor share in the same dignity as the unborn child or sick person whose life will be threatened by their decisions.
To paraphrase St. Paul, if I have not love, I can never proclaim the Gospel.