Our life…God’s loving gift of hope

It seems such a short word…’life’. A Simple word but so strong, yet taken for granted. One word that describes many things. 4 letters that describe a whole cycle. Life…yours and mine…same word, different meanings.

The Start

It all starts very simply….two persons loving each other. It is such a strong emotion that it is able to create another life. A same human being as the two persons that became one. It is difficult to contemplate the creation of man without thinking that it is a miracle. Even if you don’t believe in God, it is still difficult not to be awestruck by the marvelous process of how life starts from a seed sown in a women’s womb, to become a child, an adolescent, a man or woman.

It is love that creates life. It is not simply the love of a man and women, but most importantly is the love of God that makes it possible for a human being to be created. This is the great miracle and it is a daily miracle. Every day thousands of children are born around the world. It all starts the same. The same start, different lives, different futures.

And the miracle goes on every day of our life. What makes us go on everyday? To wake up in the morning and still being here to cherish what we have and to discover new things we still don’t. It is the miracle of life. Many people think that miracles are something out of this world, extraordinary, people starting walking, blind seeing, and so on…yet forget that a miracle is something as simple as waking up in the morning and living.

Yes, life is taken for granted. This has become a cliché. But it is true. And yet we don’t do much to start really cherishing our life and other’s lives. Do we truly believe that life is the greatest gift? Do we really appreciate that if there was not life, we would not have anything? We would not have met the people in our lives, the lessons we learnt, the experiences we had. True, we might have passed from bad patches of life or we are at this time passing from a bad period, but it is life that keeps us going and hoping for a better future. We can sometimes come to hate our life, we all pass from these moments, but what makes us go on? It is hope. And hope comes only from life.

Culture of Death

In today’s world we are faced with the “culture of death” as Pope John Paul II put it “a new cultural climate is developing and taking hold, which gives rise to crimes against life…broad sectors of public opinion justify certain crimes against life in the name of the rights of individual freedom, and on this basis they claim not only exemption from punishment but even authorization by the State, so that these things can be done with total freedom and indeed with the free assistance of health-care systems” (Evangelium Vitae, 1995).

It is not only death itself, or anything that causes death, but also any type of action, or lack of action that goes against the dignity of life. Even our indifference towards poverty, child labour, prostitution, selling of women and children, goes against life.

Abortion

One of the crimes that goes against life in the name of the rights of individual freedom is abortion.

Abortion is not a simple topic, nor a simple act. Yet it is done in many countries without much ado and it has become part of the daily life.

On this very day there are about 126,000 abortions being done around the world. Through this year, in the entire world, 46million fetuses would be destroyed. Even if one does not agree that life is being killed, but it is easy to see that 46 million future lives are not going to be given the possibility to be started. In India it is estimated that over the last 10 years, 10 million girls should have been born, but because of abortion, this was not possible…and the numbers go on, and behind the numbers, lives.

The issue of abortion is a hot issue. With people agreeing and others don’t, whilst others have no opinion. We can put it down to religion or politics. But all in all it boils down to ‘life’ and how much we cherish this life and the future of life. It is not a topic of whether it should be legalized or not….but whether it goes in favour or not of life.

Are we able to decide who shall live and who shall not? Who shall be given the possibility of building a future and who not? As Mother Theresa puts it “it is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish” and she continues in saying that “…I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child – a direct killing of the innocent child – murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?”

This is exactly the culture of death. A culture whereby life is destroyed with the excuse of living a better life. A contradiction within itself. And these are the paradoxes that make life complicated. From the simple act of love, it becomes the complex struggle of war within ourselves and with our pairs.

It is love that creates life and it is the lack of love that destroys it.

It is not merely abortion itself that destroys life, even the indifference and lack of consideration not only for our life, but also for that of others is also a lack of appreciation of this gift of life. What are we doing? Are we doing something? Do we know about what is attacking life today? Are we active in cherishing it? It does not take much. It only takes a bit of our time and energy to give something….even listening to a friend, doing voluntary work, not being judgmental, not having prejudice. All of this instills a culture of life.

Life and love….into eternity

It is by starting to really understand the concept of life that we can really cherish it, believe in it and see it as something great. Understanding that it is a divine gift we are freely and unconditionally given. If we understand this, then we are able to appreciate life and really live it. And even if living by its natural meaning, means also dying, then it will not mean the end, because this loving gift goes beyond our earthly existence. “Man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God” (Pope John Paul II – Evangelium Vitae).

It is easy then to see that through love, life goes on and so hope goes on. It is in the resurrection of Christ that we ourselves see life as an ongoing process that essentially does not end merely by the destruction of the body. This is so because love itself is not dependent on the body and love comes from God, and so life. Love and life are united, and through the infinite love of God, we find the reason why we are called to live life eternally.

If we view life as one with love, than it is easy to see why it is through loving that we live. It is through loving the dignity of our body, the dignity of life from its start, through its whole cycle, and having faith that life continues in unison with God.

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