Our challenge today is not that society has grown deaf to truth, but that we refrain from accommodating that moral deaf ear with too much acceptance instead of a zealous desire to help others see truth for what it is.
Each of us must have a personal understanding of what God meant when He commanded “Thou shalt not kill.” While this is a negative commandment, it is also a message of God’s love for the human person.
St. John Paul II told us in The Gospel of Life: “In giving life to man, God demands that he love, respect, and promote life. The gift thus becomes a commandment, and the commandment is itself a gift.”
The message here is that—from his biological beginning—every human being comes from an expression of God’s love. Each individual must be respected and welcomed, not shunned or destroyed. As we carry this message to others, our challenge is to be assured that God is with us to help us, to strengthen us, and to give us courage.
Today’s challenges are too numerous to list in this brief column, but let’s take one simple example: sin.
What is sin? How often do we hear a preacher or a religious educator instruct others about why sin offends God? Does the average person even care that some acts are so evil that they could condemn him to hell if he does not repent in the proper way? If we truly care about our fellow human beings, seeing them as people God loves, we will do our best to help them see the need to repent even when they laugh at us, scoff at our words, or shun our company.
Our job as pro-life advocates for the innocent is challenging, but the Lord never promised us a rose garden!
We live among people who have chosen not to believe or to admit that they know that aborting a child is an evil act—a crime against God. This means that we are the ones who must share this truth and that we must do so with a desire to help others see this truth. After all, God loves every human being, even those who ignore Him, say they hate Him, or curse Him. God never stops loving us, but often we stop loving Him.
In a “me first” world, we have to be the “God first” people who love others into seeing truth from our example—from how we live, how we talk, and how we accept rejection with a loving attitude that compels us to fight another day.
Nobody ever said this would be easy, but God calls us to do it nevertheless.
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