{"id":481,"date":"2015-03-25T23:15:24","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T03:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/?p=481"},"modified":"2015-03-26T06:38:10","modified_gmt":"2015-03-26T10:38:10","slug":"twenty-years-of-evangelium-vitae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/?p=481","title":{"rendered":"Twenty Years of Evangelium Vitae"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"jp<\/a>Today, Thursday, March 25th, the solemnity of the Annunciation, marks the twentieth anniversary of Saint John Paul II’s promulgation of Evangelium Vitae<\/em>, his powerful and foundational encyclical on the dignity of human life.\u00a0\u00a0 As with his other writings, the Pontiff chose the day wisely, on which we celebrate the conception of Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and thus the beginning of the Incarnation, which changed not only the world, but all of human nature.<\/p>\n

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We are living in what John Paul even twenty years ago called a ‘conspiracy against life’, and, to put it mildly, things have not improved in the two decades since.\u00a0 In the midst of a superficial affluence, the reek of death is all around us.\u00a0 We have free-for-all abortion in all stages of pregnancy, contraception, a demographic death spiral and, soon, open access to euthanasia.\u00a0 Those on the side of the culture of death have far more resources, and almost complete control of the mainstream media, of the educational establishment, and of the culture in general, than the smaller, under-funded, beleaguered and scattered groups trying to defend the ‘culture of life’.\u00a0 Despondency, despair and compromise are constant temptations, especially when many members even of the official Church, as well as other religions, do not seem to be fully on board, and at times even antagonistic to the Holy Father\u2019s clarion call to support and promote the Gospel of Life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We may be tempted to give up hope, but that would be to set our sights on this world alone, which is, by and large, under the dominion of the Evil One.\u00a0 Rather, our hope should rest on eternal realities, as Pope Benedict reminded us in Spe Salvi<\/em>.\u00a0 It is this supernatural <\/em>hope, founded on a spiritual foundation, that should spur us on in our own work to defend life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have read Evangelium Vitae<\/em> many times, as I teach it in class year after year, and I am beginning to get the strong impression that Pope John Paul, for all of his optimism, may not have expected much victory in the pro-life battle here on earth.\u00a0 Perhaps, just perhaps, he had in mind that curious phrase in the Catechism that “the kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course, I am not sure if we are living in the midst of this ‘final unleashing of evil’ (I rather think many things have yet to happen before the end of the world!), we can all agree that evil is certainly in the ascendant.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Regardless of what was in the Pontiff’s mind, his emphasis in the Gospel of Life is on the ‘Gospel’ and ‘life’ in the spiritual and eternal sense.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here are some of his thoughts:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First, John Paul begins by founding the dignity of value of human life \u00a0on its relationship to God, and its eternal destiny.\u00a0 We do not value life because it is worthwhile, or enjoyable, or because euthanasia and abortion, once admitted, could get out of control.\u00a0 Even lives that are filled with suffering have worth, in fact, perhaps more ‘worth’ than those without, for suffering is redemptive, while complacency is not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Second, the Holy Father writes that our temporal existence here is not an ultimate, but a penultimate reality, and our full existence begins only after death, in the life hereafter.\u00a0 In fact, all that happens to us in this life only has value, for good or for ill, insofar as it affects our eternal destiny.\u00a0 As Saint Francis of Assisi declared, ‘what a man is before God, that he is, and no more’.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Third, and following from this, in all the crimes against life, John Paul teaches that \u00a0\u201cmore harm is done to the perpetrator than the victim\u201d.\u00a0 This may sound odd when we consider the great suffering caused by late-term abortions, to give just one example of many, but we must remember that moral evil far outweighs physical evil, and the guilt on the soul of the one doing the evil, without repentance and conversion, will lead to his eternal separation from God, a fate far worse than physical death.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fourth, we are called to avoid any compromise with evil, including any formal cooperation with laws or actions against life, even if we think the outcome may be beneficial.\u00a0 We may never do moral evil\u00a0so\u00a0that good, regardless of how much good, may come from it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally, the Holy Father states that it is through culture that we will best evangelize.\u00a0 This cultural change, however, occurs on the level of the individual conscience, through education and spiritual formation in all its levels, whether formal or informal. \u00a0The witness and spiritual sacrifice of doing one’s daily duties well, especially familial ones, is one of the best ways to build the culture of life. \u00a0The value of mothers, is particularly indispensable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Saint (Mother) Theresa of Calcutta (whom John Paul II canonized) wisely stated, ‘we are not called to be successful, but faithful’.\u00a0 \u00a0Even if the culture of death seems to be triumphing, we should never despair, for ultimately our hope is not in this world, \u00a0the form of which is already passing away.\u00a0 That is not to say that we give up the fight, but rather fight with all the more hope and zeal, to bring as many souls as possible to the kingdom.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The conception of Christ in the womb of the Virgin should give us that hope, for “God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” \u00a0And, in the end, He will triumph over all the evil, and His mercy and justice manifested to all, when the end of time does indeed arrive, in its, or rather His, own good time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Solemnity of the Annunciation<\/p>\n

Twentieth Anniversary of Evangelium Vitae<\/em><\/p>\n

March 25, 2015<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, Thursday, March 25th, the solemnity of the Annunciation, marks the twentieth anniversary of Saint John Paul II’s promulgation of Evangelium Vitae, his powerful and foundational encyclical on the dignity of human life.\u00a0\u00a0 As with his other writings, the Pontiff chose the day wisely, on which we celebrate the conception of Christ in the womb […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=481"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}