Culture trivializes the gift of life
This is the homily given at Holy Rosary Cathedral during the annual pro-life Mass on the feast of the Holy Innocents, Dec. 28, 2015.
Culture of waste
Pope Francis, when examining the underlying causes for abortion and euthanasia, often refers to the widespread mentality of the “culture of waste” that today enslaves the hearts and minds of so many. It considers human beings as commodities, as units of production or pleasure.
Especially if they are physically or socially weaker, they can be regarded simply as a burden on society and so readily disposable, like so much waste.
“The victims of this culture are precisely the weakest and most fragile human beings: the unborn, the poorest, the sick and elderly, the seriously handicapped, et. al., who are in danger of being ‘thrown away,’ expelled from a system that must be efficient at all costs.”
Our response to this mentality must be a decisive and unreserved “yes” to life.
Frequently, as a way of ridiculing the Church’s effort to defend the lives of the weak, innocent, and defenceless, attempts are made to present our position as out of step with the times and hopelessly backward, yet this defence of unborn life is closely linked to the defence of each and every other human right.
It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development. Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of resolving other problems.
Once this conviction of inherent human dignity disappears, so do solid and lasting foundations for the defence of all human rights, which would then be subject to the passing whims of the powers that be.
Gospel
When we look at today’s Gospel, we see that when Jesus was still an infant, the dark shadow of death entered into the life of the Holy Family as a result of Herod’s cruel plan to murder the children of Bethlehem.
Herod wanted at all costs to stay in control; he just did “what he had to do” to maintain his power. He was a man afraid, fearful, and he acted in such a way that he disregarded the cost to others of his decisions. The harm done to them didn’t seem to matter.
We know only too well that Holy Innocents continue to be killed in our world through abortion. Here, too, it is often fear that drives the killing. How can we afford the baby? What changes will this baby bring that I cannot take?
Perhaps the prenatal tests show a possible defect. I cannot deal with this! How will this pregnancy affect my career? What if my father finds out I got my girl-friend pregnant!
Society joins the chorus, saying, What of poverty? What of overpopulation? What of deformity?
Thus fear drives the current bloodshed of the innocents. Fear makes us focus on ourself, such that we think too little of what we do to others. Abortion thus becomes an “abstraction,” an “issue” that is debated, a “choice.”
Abortion, to many, is anything but real. The reality of fetal pain is out of sight and thus less real than the fear. Fear desensitizes us, and thus makes the killing of the innocent plausible, a woman’s “choice,” reproductive “freedom.”
Reversal of fear
The only way to meet fear head-on is by trust, faith in God, and trust that others will not leave a woman alone in an unexpected pregnancy.
God alone can set us free from the awful fears that currently drive abortion. We must be realistic about the fears that many face before the mystery of new life, and we must provide reasons for hope and trust. Fear is a cruel task-master, and it drives us to do some pretty awful things.
One of the most common lines in the New Testament is “Do not be afraid.”
In the Jubilee Year of Mercy we have to redouble our wonderful efforts to combat both the theoretical arguments and the practical reasons which foster abortion in our country.
There is a wide web of people, forces and ideas that incline people to such acts and multiply their commonness and degree. All too often in our country, crimes against life are supported by government, certain professions, and public opinion.
That is why you have an irreplaceable role to play: we need – the Church needs, society needs – evangelists, heralds, of life, people willing to confront the weakness of a culture which has trivialized the gift of life.
As Pope Benedict said in 2008, “How can it be that the most wondrous and sacred human space, the womb, has become a place of unutterable violence?”
Ours is an enormous task, one fraught with difficulties and setbacks, and yet we dare not lose hope. The innocents slaughtered in our day should not occasion despair in us. We are part of a struggle that goes back to the murder of Cain, but we also have the palm of victory in our hands.
Each Christmas we hear again the Angel declare to the shepherds: “Do not be afraid; for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, Who is Christ, the Lord” (Lk 2:10-11).
“Christmas also reveals the full meaning of every human birth, and the joy which accompanies the birth of the Messiah is thus seen to be the foundation and fulfillment of joy at every child born into the world” (cf. Jn 16:21).
If there are bloody Herods in our day, there are also joyful angel choirs, singing for the birth of each child destined for eternal life. Thanks be to God, the Light: Christ, the Light of the World, has shone in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.
