Michael Hahn
From the Jan/Feb 2006 Issue of Lay Witness Magazine
Barely a week after the 10th anniversary of Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”), its author, our beloved Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, surrendered his spirit, saying, “Let me go to the house of the Father.” While he will certainly be remembered for this encyclical, what strikes so many is how heroically he lived out its call, which is the call of the Gospel itself.
John Paul II issued Evangelium Vitae largely in response to “the extraordinary increase and gravity of threats to the life of individuals and peoples, especially where life is weak and defenseless.” Although specific focus is given to the grave evils of abortion and euthanasia, the encyclical also has much to say regarding the Christian perspective on human life, both in the Church’s understanding and in the practice of her faithful. It is to
these that we turn.
“That They Might Have Life”
There is a quip attributed to writer Oliver Wendell Holmes that is often used to caricature and reproach Christians: “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.”
The form of this world is passing away, and, as Christians, our citizenship is in heaven. However, all mankind is “entrusted to the maternal care of the Church” (EV, no. 3) and, as members of that Church, we are called by Christ to be disciples to all nations. For this reason, John Paul II highlights the need for the Gospel of Life to be proclaimed. He says, “The Church knows that this Gospel of Life, which she has received from her Lord,
has a profound and persuasive echo in the heart of every person—believer and non-believer alike” (EV, no. 2).
Living, as we do, in the midst of a culture in which life is given little more than a utilitarian price tag, our affirmation of the dignity of the human person is, indeed, a radical witness. But a witness to what? Earthly life isn’t our final goal, so why emphasize it?
The answer, it seems, is threefold. First, although man is called to the supernatural end of heaven, life on earth is a necessary stage of that journey, one that is imbued with its own innate goodness. In Evangelium Vitae, we read, “The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatness and the inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase” (no. 2, emphasis in original). Second, the Church cherishes natural human life because it is the condition in which man is able to respond to grace and turn to God. Third, fostering reverence for life presents the opportunity for others to recognize this valuable character of natural life, hopefully leading them to Christ. Thus, the Church also cherishes human life because her witness helps to bring the world to conversion.
It is in no small part because Jesus’ kingdom—our ultimate destination, God willing—is not of this world that the Church so strongly affirms the value of human life. Our life on earth is truly good. Furthermore, it has been given to us as the means through which we are brought to something infinitely better. Finally, this truth is affirmed for its own sake, but also for the purpose of leading others to life in Christ.
In other words, Holmes had it backwards: Not only is the Church of the utmost benefit to the world (as its only means for salvation), it is specifically her heavenly mindedness that calls Christians who remain in the world to witness to life so as to bring all men to Christ.
Spreading the Gospel
The duty of respecting life is shared among all members of Christ’s Church, for “she exists to evangelize” (Evangelii Nunciandi, no. 14). It must be asked, then, in what concrete ways are we to live out this somewhat abstract notion of the value of life? John Paul II lists three distinct but inseparable ways in which we are to witness: preaching, celebration, and the service of charity.
Preaching is the fruit of reflecting on God’s gift of life, which should cultivate in our hearts a burning fire of joy and gratitude that cannot be held in. It can take the form of catechesis, educational activity, and, especially for the laity, “personal dialogue.” For while most of us will never give a homily, we must nonetheless preach the Gospel of Life, proclaiming the “living God who is close to us, who calls us to profound communion with himself and awakens in us the certain hope of eternal life” (EV, no. 81).
The celebration of the Gospel of Life takes place primarily in the liturgy —especially the sacraments—and secondarily in our daily lives. Although we are called to rejoice always, liturgical celebration presents a unique opportunity to give thanks to God for offering us the eternal life in which our natural life receives its significance. Furthermore, because it is through the sacraments that Christ deigns to make us partake in His divine life, we honor Him greatly by receiving the spiritual strength that the sacraments provide.
Indeed, this strengthening enables us to continue the celebration of the Gospel of Life in our daily living, “which should be filled with selfgiving love for others” (EV, no. 86). In his praise of “everyday heroism,” John Paul II makes particular note of the unique role of mothers, who bear a special witness to the Gospel of Life in their sacrificial love of their families.
It is precisely this service of charity that makes up the third component of the Christian response to the Gospel of Life. The Church expresses great encouragement at the many “positive signs at work in humanity’s present situation” (EV, no. 26). These include: the openness to life on the part of many married couples; the generosity of families in taking in the abandoned, the handicapped, or the aged; the increase of organizations that offer
alternatives to abortion; and the growing presence of movements that lead society to a greater respect for life. Finding expression through personal witness, volunteer work, social activity, and political commitment, the service of charity directs us to consistently aid those brothers and sisters most in need, especially those who are unable to defend themselves.
Passionately Loving the World
John Paul II lived what he wrote, but it was his suffering and death that proved to be his most powerful witness to the Gospel of Life. In the midst of a self-serving world that shuns hardship and inconvenience even to the point of welcoming abortion, euthanasia, and other elements of the culture of death, John Paul II, like Christ, strove “not to be served but to serve,” laying down his life for love of Christ and His Church, and loving them to the end. Not only did he show us how to live, suffer, and die, he rejoiced in those sufferings for our sake, completing in his flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions (cf. Col. 1:24).
As Christians, we are the salt of the earth, a city set on a hill. As Christ said during the Sermon on the Mount, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father” (Mt. 5:43–45). Indeed, this love is shown by living the Gospel of Life, for it “is not for believers alone: it is for everyone” (EV, no.
101). We are called to draw men to Christ, loving the world in imitation of God, who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).
It is to this hope that John Paul II witnessed, both in his life and in his death. We must be imitators of him, as he was of Christ, living the Gospel of Life and passionately loving the world, so that we, along with those to whom we witness, can together “go to the house of the Father.”
Michael Hahn is the associate editor of Lay Witness. He resides in Steubenville, OH, where he is a graduate student in theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville.
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