Posted on June 10, 2018 View all news
Laudetur Jesus Christus! Gelobt sei Jesus Christus!
Sia lodato Gesù Cristo! Praised be Jesus Christ!
A few weeks ago, we watched from this side of the Atlantic as Ireland voted to remove the constitutionally recognized right to life of the unborn child. It must be noted that there is no constitution under the sun that has the authority to give or take away rights. Rights are something, as we recognize in this country, given from above that are merely reflected by our legal documents.
Legal documents can, and often do error. It took a constitutional amendment to our constitution that recognized that African Americans were to be considered human beings with all the rights and dignity of any human being. The fact that the unamended constitution defined enslaved African Americans as only three-fifths of a human person for purposes of the census did not make it morally right. Just as the removal of recognized protections for the unborn does not mean that they should not be protected or that they do not have a right to life.
Perhaps what was most shocking by the vote in Ireland was the celebration that took place in the streets following the vote. No longer is the undesirability of abortion something both sides can agree. Now it is something that is celebrated and a condition of liberty.
Peter Kreeft said: “Abortion is the Antichrist’s demonic parody of the Eucharist. That is why it uses the same holy words, ‘This is my body,’ with the blasphemously opposite meaning.” While Our Lord said, this is my body to offer us salvation, a better way of living, and ultimately His very self. Today ‘this is my body’ is meant to be selfish, deadly, and the antithesis of everything Our Lord stood for.
We must be unapologetically pro-life. From the very moment of conception on up. If we do not have the fundamental right to life, then what exactly do we have? If even the right to life can be taken away by a government, what can’t be taken away? The majority has now become the new absolute monarch and arbiter of truth. And this becomes a dangerous realization of any democracy, because the moment we believe a simple majority can change whatever we want, decide whatever we want, do whatever we want, is the moment that democracy begins to die.
The founding fathers presumed a certain set of virtues and principles within us, and if those virtues and principles disappear, so will the republic. James Madison wrote: “if there is not sufficient virtue among men for self-government then only the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring each other.”
May we do all we can to promote the fact that each person has the right to life. This includes striving to make conditions in our country better for the raising of children and family life. We grow more and more selfish in our lifestyles, expectations, and incessant need for material goods. But what good is all of this without God and family?
Right at Old St. Mary’s we have a pregnancy center that seeks to promote and assist the right of life, before and after birth. Please support it monetarily and also by volunteering. Terri and the rest do a lot with a little. Imagine what other good it could do with your help or time!
