We Operate From Victory III

Details: 06 April 2012

In his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Blessed John Paul II identified and explained the origin and roots of what he called "the culture of death." The origin of death in our world was the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Death entered the world in a violent way when Cain killed his brother Abel.

"The Lord’s question, ‘What have you done?’ which Cain cannot escape, is addressed also to the people of today," John Paul II says, "to make them realize the extent and gravity of the attacks against life which continue to mark human history, to make them discover what causes these attacks and feeds them…"

One of those causes, according to John Paul II, is the distorted view that freedom means absolute license—do whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want. This distorted freedom is characterized by radical individualism (self-centeredness; viewing others as obstacles/burdens and not as opportunities to give/receive love).

Other characteristics of distorted freedom are relativism (no recognition of objective truth) and materialism (valuing possessions above people). The deepest root cause of the culture of death, or, as John Paul II calls it, the "heart of the tragedy being experienced by modern man," is "the eclipse of the sense of God and of man, typical of a social and cultural climate dominated by secularism."

"Those who allow themselves to be influenced by this climate easily fall into a sad, vicious circle: When the sense of God is lost, there is also a tendency to lose the sense of man, of his dignity and his life; in turn, the systematic violation of the moral law, especially in the serious matter of respect for human life and its dignity, produces a kind of progressive darkening of the capacity to discern God’s living and saving presence."

Blessed John Paul punctuates this point with this quote from the Second Vatican Council document Gaudium et spes: "Without the Creator, the creature would disappear…But when God is forgotten, the creature itself grows unintelligible."

"Man is no longer able to see himself as ‘mysteriously different’ from other earthly creatures," John Paul says. "Life itself becomes a mere ‘thing,’ which man claims as his exclusive property, completely subject to his control and manipulation."

It is pretty easy to see how these root causes lead to contempt (or at least utter disregard) for human life. And the attacks on human life seem to expand and deepen almost daily.

Abortion expands to infanticide and euthanasia/assisted suicide. Laboratory production of human life (i.e. in vitro fertilization) leads to eugenic screening and destruction of inferior embryos as well as research that treats embryos as "mere things" to be manipulated and destroyed in the pursuit of medical treatments.

Contraception expands to "emergency contraception" and is characterized, euphemistically, as women’s healthcare. And now, under "Obamacare," contraception is defined as "preventive services" that must be provided free of charge in every healthcare plan (including those sponsored by Catholic institutions).

As distressing and overwhelming as these attacks against human life can be, Easter reminds us that we Christians are a resurrection people. As the familiar Easter hymn says: "The strife is over, the battle won." Our Lord has defeated death, once and for all.

Therefore, as we battle against the culture of death, we do so with the extraordinary confidence and joy of knowing that we operate from victory, not just for victory. As the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus put it, "we have not the right and we have not the reason to despair if we understand that our entire struggle is premised not upon a victory to be achieved but a victory that has been achieved.

"If we understand that, far from despair we have right and reason to rejoice that we are called to such a time as this, a time of testing, a time of truth. The encroaching culture of death shall not prevail, for we know, as we read in John’s Gospel, ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’ The darkness will never overcome that light."

You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.