Jesus, I trust in you!
Jesus said to us, his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors: You shall not kill and
whoever kills will be liable to judgment…”
Pope John Paul II said in Evangelium Vitae: “Human life is sacred
because from its beginning, it involves ‘the creative action of God’ and it
remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole
end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one
can, in any circumstance, claim for himself the right to destroy directly an
innocent human being.”…Donum Vitae sets forth the central content of God’s
revelation on the sacredness and inviolability of human life.
“Sacred Scripture in fact,
presents the precept ‘You shall not kill’ as a divine commandment…this
commandment is found in the Decalogue, at the heart of the Covenant which the
Lord makes with his chosen people; but it was already contained in the original
covenant between God and humanity after the purifying punishment of the Flood,
caused by the spread of sin and violence.
“God proclaims that he is the
absolute Lord of the life of man, who is formed in his image and likeness.
Human life is thus given a sacred and inviolable (banal, hindi maaring labagin)
character, which reflects the inviolability of the Creator himself. Precisely for this reason God will severely
judge every violation of the commandment ‘You shall not kill’…He is the
defender of the innocent. God thus shows that he does not delight in the death
of the living (Wisdom 1:3). Only Satan can delight therein: for through his
envy death entered the world (Wis. 2:24). He who is ‘a murderer from the
beginning’, is also ‘a liar and the father of lies.’ By deceiving man he leads
him to projects of sin and death, making them appear as goals and fruits of life.
“As explicitly formulated, the precept ‘You
shall not kill’ is strongly negative: it indicates the extreme limit which can
never be exceeded. However, implicitly it encourages a positive attitude of
absolute respect for life; it leads to the promotion of life and to progress
along the way of a love that gives, receives, and serves. The people of the
Covenant…progressively matured in this way of thinking, and thus prepared for
the great proclamation of Jesus that the commandment to love one’s neighbor is
like the commandment to love God: ‘on these 2 commandments depend all the law
and the prophets.’ St. Paul emphasizes that ‘the commandment ‘You shall not
kill’ and any other commandment are summed up in this phrase: ‘You shall love
your neighbor as yourself.’ …The commandment ‘You shall not kill’ stands as an
indispensable condition for being able ‘to enter life’. In this same
perspective…the Apostle John (says): “Anyone who hates his brother is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 Jn
3:15)
The Didache, an ancient document
of the Church coming from the Apostolic times said: “There are 2 ways, a way of
life and a way of death; there is a great difference between them…In accordance
with the precept of the teaching ‘You shall not kill’…you shall not put a child
to death by abortion nor kill it once it is born…The way of death is this:
…they do show no compassion for the poor, they do not suffer with the
suffering, they do not acknowledge their Creator, they kill their children and
by abortion cause God’s creatures to perish; they drive away the needy, oppress
the suffering; they are advocates of the rich and unjust judges of the poor;
they are filled with every sin. May you be able to stay ever apart, O children
from these sins.
“This should not come as a
surprise: to kill a human being, in whom the image of God is present, is a
particularly serious sin. Only God is the master of life! (Evangelium Vitae,
53-55.)
The Book of Sirach teaches us:
Before man are life and death, good and evil, whatever he chooses shall be
given to him.
Let us choose life. Let us choose
to stand by the commandments of God, even if we shall be persecuted and mocked
for this. (March for life on Saturday, Feb 18 at the Qurino grandstand at 4:30
to 7:00 am) There is no mistake in standing up for life. There is no mistake in
standing on the side of the God of life. If you keep the commandments, “they
will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live.”
O Mary Conceived without sin,
pray for us who have recourse to thee!
