Holy families essential to Culture of Life

Details: 03 January 2014

One of the questions I am often asked is “what can I do to help the pro-life cause?” Usually, those who ask this question are looking for some concrete form of activism they can embrace to fight abortion. Although I try to provide such concrete suggestions, I also challenge them to look at how they are living out their own vocation.
The deepest root of the culture of death is alienation from God, Pope John Paul II tells us in Evangelium Vitae (EV). This means that the most important pro-life activity, whether we are clergy or laity, single or married, is to grow in our relationship with our Lord and to help others do the same. The depth of our understanding and regard for the purpose and dignity of human life is in direct proportion to the depth of our understanding and regard for the God in Whose image and likeness human life was made.
In the shadows of the Feast of the Holy Family, I focus here on the particular role of the family in building a culture of life. John Paul II said in EV (#92) that the family is truly “the sanctuary of life: the place in which life—the gift of God—can be properly welcomed and protected against the many attacks to which it is exposed and can develop in accordance with what constitutes authentic human growth. Consequently, the role of the family in building a culture of life is decisive and irreplaceable.”
So one of the most critical contributions we can make to the pro-life cause is to work at forming and promoting healthy and holy marriages and families. Holy marriages are the foundation to forming “domestic churches” within which the family is formed and “summoned to proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of Life” (EV #92).
Married couples are “called to be givers of life…In giving origin to a new life, parents recognize that the child, ‘as the fruit of their mutual gift of love, is in turn a gift for both of them, a gift which flows from them.’” But John Paul II says that it “is above all in raising children that the family fulfills its mission to proclaim the Gospel of life.”
“By word and example, in the daily round of relations and choices, and through concrete actions and signs, parents lead their children to authentic freedom, actualized in the sincere gift of self, and they cultivate in them respect for others, a sense of justice, cordial openness, dialogue, generous service, solidarity…In raising children, Christian parents must be concerned about their children’s faith and help them to fulfill the vocation God has given them” (EV #92).
Therefore, in addition to working for holy marriages, parents can make a significant contribution to a culture of life by raising virtuous children who know and love our Lord in an intimate way. Virtuous and faith-filled children will have a healthier understanding of the dignity of human life and its meaning.
John Paul II also urges families to give special attention to the elderly by forming a “sort of ‘covenant’ between the generations, in fidelity to the divine commandment to honor one’s father and mother. In this way parents in their later years can receive from their children the acceptance and solidarity which they themselves gave to their children when they brought them into the world.”
“But there is more,” John Paul says. “The elderly are not only to be considered the object of our concern, closeness and service. They themselves have a valuable contribution to make to the Gospel of life. Thanks to the rich treasury of experiences they have acquired through the years, the elderly can and must be sources of wisdom and witnesses of hope and love.”
To be certain, forming holy marriages and families takes much prayer, sacrifice and effort. The Holy Family provides a model and source of strength for all Christian families. A custom in my family is to end the prayer before meals with this prayer: “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, help us to be a holy family.” As we ask the Holy Family for help we should take solace in the fact that the Holy Family experienced and understands all the struggles of family life.