THE human family is often times referred to as “the cradle of life”, but with this title comes many responsibilities including procreating, nurturing, educating, feeding, protecting, praying and glorifying God, to name a few.
In light of the many issues confronting our people and communities today would it be correct to say or imagine that the average man or woman is without doubt aware of the issues threating human life on a daily basis here in Saint Lucia? Or is it that people are basically living isolated from the critical social factors until it affects them personally, or that many choose to remain in this quagmire until it goes away someday, if it ever goes away. To address all the social issues on the matter of human life our people must be well informed.
The real issues threatening human life in Saint Lucia include gun violence, murder, robbery, suicide, injustice, unfair distribution of wealth, abortion, weak family structures, a void of national leadership on social/moral issues and a serious lack of Christian values.
Evangelism Virtue states the following and I quote: “We are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the culture of death and the culture of life. We find ourselves not only faced with but necessarily in the midst of this conflict. We are all involved and we all share in it with the responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life.”
To move forward we must take a look at our history so as to understand our social realities. Today’s youth are forced to accept and grow up with the mistakes and moral degradations of previous generations, meaning 1960s and 1970s generations. Drugs, promiscuity, addiction, abortion and the culture of death flowed from the ill-conceived social revolution of the times. It is correct to say that divorce deprived many of parents of stability. Contraception deprived millions of brothers and sisters. Above all euthanasia has deprived many of the wisdom of age and reverence for suffering.
Nothing is more sensitively attuned to the mystery of faith than human life. The sacredness of human life is the most accessible common denominator between men of faith and men of no faith. Whether men believe in God or not, human life emerges as the first and last of those realities in which men have faith. A man of faith believes in life as he believes in God. He discovers God because he finds himself alive and believing in life he believes that it will not end. His heart cries out for God because of its hunger for life. In this way he attains God who rejects no man. God made man aware, thus the creating God is a God who creates awareness. The incarnation intensifies this awareness by revealing to us further experience into the nature of God and man.
Today, the Culture of Life however, cannot be strengthened only by reasoning and abstraction. The “Gospel of Life” as it is called is something concrete and personal for it constitutes the proclamation of the person of Jesus Christ. Through the words, actions and person of Jesus Christ, man is given the opportunity of knowing the complete truth concerning the value of human life. From this source man receives the capacity to accomplish this truth perfectly so as to accept and fulfil completely the responsibility of loving and serving, of defending and promoting human life.
The miracle of life depends upon awareness. Awareness of the divinity of life; that man was created in the image and likeness of God; knowledge that God is real and He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross to offer all humanity life eternal. Had God been a force unaware of His intent, undetermined by any goal, ignorant of the consequences of His own actions life would have been neither grace nor gift. Life would have been a perishable accident of nature with no inner harmony.
The time of birth therefore, is indeed a sacred moment. But the time of birth is also a time for making a promise. God who gave birth to man in the dust of the earth and beneath the stars of heaven made man a promise. The time of birth is made sacred when it includes a promise that this life given at birth has great value and should be appreciated, cherished, protected and defended.
The following scripture verses can help us understand our mission on the subject of life.
John 11:25-26: Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.”
John 5:25: “Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.”
John 3:16: “For God loved the world so much that he gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
God Bless You!