This Sunday, we hear from Mark’s Gospel the account of Jesus and the leper. While we are all probably familiar with the healing of Christ and, when it comes to leprosy, His healing of the ten lepers, this healing is particularly profound for several reasons and carries a number of lessons that apply to the way we live in the modern day.

Having cast out a demon in the synagogue, healed Simon’s mother-in-law, and preached, healed, and cast out demons throughout Galilee, Jesus is now out, presumably in a place isolated from the town. A leper approaches Him seeking healing. Here is the full account from Mark’s Gospel:

And a leper came to him begging him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter. (Mark 1:40-45)

It’s a beautiful account of healing. To fully comprehend it, however, it is important to provide some background on leprosy.

In the Biblical times, leprosy accounted for a wide range of diseases of the skin. The context is therefore broad in just exactly what condition someone had when they were considered leprous. If we look back to the Old Testament, the first person to be afflicted with leprosy was actually Moses. In Exodus 4:6-9, when God is providing Moses with assistance for his mission to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, we see how Moses is provided with a sign for the people so that they might believe:

Again, the LORD said to him, “Put your hand into your bosom.” And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. Then God said, “Put your hand back into your bosom.” So he put his hand back into his bosom; and when he took it out , behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or heed the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or heed your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it upon the dry ground; and the water which you shall take from the Nile will become blood upon the dry ground.”

Moses did have leprosy, however he was healed by God so that the people would believe in the Lord and listen to Moses.

The next time we see leprosy is in the Book of Numbers (12:9-16), where Miriam is punished by God for speaking against Moses. Moses intercedes for her, asking the Lord to heal her, which He does, but not without punishment. Miriam is cast out and shut up outside the camp for seven days in isolation, and is then brought in again healed.

We also see a leper in Naaman, an army commander who we meet in the second Book of Kings. He learns from a maid of a prophet in Samaria who can heal him. He comes to the house of the prophet Elisha, likely expecting to see the prophet and be healed by him. However, Elisha sends a messenger to Naaman, who tells him to go and wash in the Jordan seven times. Naaman, in spite of his anger at the prophet not coming out to cure him in the name of the Lord, goes down and dips himself in the Jordan seven times, and his flesh is restored. He then returns to Elisha and gives thanks to him and to God, seeking to give the prophet a gift, which he refuses to take. However, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, goes to Naaman and takes the gift for himself. When he returns to the prophet, Elisha punishes him by bringing upon Gehazi the leprosy of Naaman.

The final time we see a case of leprosy in the Old Testament is in the second Book of Chronicles (2 Chronicles 16-23), where King Uzziah enters the temple and burns incense on the altar of incense, something that only the priests were permitted to do. King Uzziah becomes angry when reproached by Azariah the priest and, upon becoming angry, leprosy breaks out on his forehead. He is then cast out and lives as a leper until his death, dwelling in a separate house.

In each of these manifestations of leprosy, it is either related to sin, or is used for the glory of God. In the cases of Moses and Naaman, their leprosy glorifies God by showing His gift of healing. In the cases of Miriam, Gehazi, and King Uzziah, leprosy is a punishment for their sinfulness.

In the Biblical times, leprosy was not just a disease. It was a sentence of punishment and isolation. The leper would lose his family, would be isolated from the community, and would not be able to enter the temple (ie. unable to go to church). It was more than just a physical disease. The psychological aspects were profound.

So when the leper approaches Jesus, he has likely undergone significant physical and psychological suffering. It is important to note how the leper approaches Jesus. We are told he kneels before Him. In Biblical times, particularly in the Old Testament, kneeling was something that was only done before God. It can thereby be inferred that the leper had faith that Jesus was God.

What is most profound are the words the leper speaks to Jesus:

“If you will, you can make me clean.”

If you will.

He does not demand that Jesus heal him. He does not say, “heal me.” He kneels before the Lord, with great humility and in what could be seen as an act of adoration of the Lord, and essentially surrenders himself to Jesus, putting it all in His hands, saying “if you will.”

He makes a request of the Lord, but he leaves it up to Jesus to choose to heal him.

Oftentimes we can get so caught up in our own will, in what we want, that we can begin to practically make demands of God. We can try to conform Him to our will, rather than surrendering to Him and allowing His Will to be done. The leper’s words are like a prayer in themselves. They echo the Our Father, when we say “Thy will be done.” But they also act as their own prayer, one that we can make our own:

“Lord, if you will, you can help me.”

“Lord, if you will, you can (insert request).”

We know that Jesus did will for the leper to be healed, and He has the power to Will our requests in prayer to be brought to fruition.

But we must take heed of what occurred after the leper was healed. Jesus sternly told the leper not to tell anyone but to go and present himself to the priest and follow the Mosaic Law. He tells him to do this because while Christ is not the Mosaic Law, but rather God Himself who makes clean and remains clean, He wants the people to follow the Law of the Covenant. He does not yet want to upset the priests, and He does not want to merely be seen as a healer-man, but wants the people to listen to and understand His preaching, His message.

The leper, however, did not do as the Lord asked, going and telling everyone what had happened. He may well have also broken the Mosaic Law. It is, in a sense, ironic, given that now Jesus would be viewed as unclean given He touched the leper in healing him. The leper was an outcast and has now been restored, but now Jesus, after having healed him, is an outcast Himself.

Many may wonder why we are told Jesus ‘sternly’ charges the leper not to tell anyone about his healing. There are only a few times where we see Jesus showing great emotion, becoming troubled – for example, in the Garden of Gethsemane. The most likely reason Jesus sternly charged the man is that He knows that what the man has asked for, God has delivered, but what God has asked for, the leper has not delivered. The leper’s actions following his healing contain echoes of the disobedience in the Garden of Eden, of sin. It is a demonstration of how, when we have our prayers answered and get what we wanted from God, we forget Him. We do not do His Will. We do not do as He asks.

While the leper acknowledges the providence and all-powerful Will of God, while he is a model of prayer for us, he does not end his story rightly.

We too can fail to do what is right. While leprosy is not so much a focus of the modern world, there is another kind of leprosy that is rife throughout the world. Biblically, leprosy was not just a physical disease, but also had a spiritual component – sin. That spiritual component is all too common today.

What we have now is a spiritual leprosy. When an individual contracted leprosy in Biblical times, they were cast out of their community. When we sin, we become isolated from God. Leprosy was a contagious disease. Sin also has a contagious effect. Leprosy as a disease affects the nerves, causing a loss of sensation. Likewise, the more we sin, the duller we become to sensation. Leprosy also disfigures the affected individual. So too does sin disfigure us, just not physically.

But there is healing for this spiritual leprosy. Just as in the old days of the Bible when lepers would be sent to the priest after healing, we too go to the priest for healing from our spiritual leprosy. This is not a physical healing, but a spiritual healing, a healing from sin, found in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We are healed through the priest by the great High Priest Himself, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Just as He physically healed the leper, He wants to spiritually heal us.

But, just like the leper, only people who come to Jesus and meet Him can be healed.

Like the leper, we should also acknowledge the Will of God, falling on our knees in prayer if we have a request to make of Him. We should humble ourselves before Him. One of the most beautiful times to do this is in Eucharistic Adoration, when we are in the True Presence of Jesus Christ. As we humble ourselves before Him, we should, like the leper, in making our request, say those beautiful words to Him: “If you will.”

The Lord is all-powerful. He is Almighty, all great, all loving. He can do all things. We can do all things through Him. If we are seeking something, maybe certain graces or something else, He can Will for them to be granted to us. He can Will this for His glory, for the glory of His Kingdom.

But if God does give us something we ask for, when God gives us what He deems right for us, we must do what the leper failed to do and give thanks and praise to Him and follow His Will.

Like the leper, may we seek His Will.

Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, if You Will, let it be done.

In today’s reading from the Second Book of Samuel, we hear of how King David danced before the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark, a golden chest with cherubim on its cover, contained within it the manna from heaven that was given to the Israelites in the desert when they were complaining and asking for food during the Exodus, the two stone tablets upon which were written the Ten Commandments, and the Rod of Aaron. It is a precursor to the new Ark of the Covenant, Mary, the Holy Mother of God, who contained within her womb the Bread of Life, the Word of God made flesh, and the High Priest Himself.

The Ark of the Covenant could not be touched by human hands. When it was transported, it had to be lifted using rods that went through either side. If one was to touch the Ark, they would be struck down and die instantly.

In the reading today, we only hear from the point that King David went up to Obed-edom’s house to bring the Ark to the City of David. When those carrying the Ark had walked ‘six paces’ David takes on a priestly role, offering sacrifices, wearing a linen ephod (loincloth), and blessing the people. He dances before the Lord ‘with all his might.’ As David enters the city with the Ark, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looks out and sees David leaping and dancing before the Lord. David is clearly in a state of great joy and elation.

However, if we go back a little and take a look at what happened before David brought the ark from Obed-edom’s house to the City, we see how not everything was so rosy throughout the entire journey of transportation of the Ark. When David went to the house of Abinadab with all the chosen men of Israel, he brought the Ark out of the house with Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, driving the cart containing the Ark and all the men of Israel praising the Lord with songs and instruments. Everything was going well until the oxen leading the cart stumbled and Uzzah put his hand out to steady the Ark. As soon as he did this, he was struck down and died.

We read:

And David was angry because the Lord had broken forth upon Uzzah; and that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David; but David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

It was only after King David heard of how the Lord had blessed the household of Obed-edom that he went and took the Ark to the City of David.

One might wonder how David could have danced before the Lord given what happened to Uzzah.

While David demonstrated some anger and fear because of what had happened to Uzzah, he came to realise the glory of the Lord, and wanted to honour the Lord and bring Him into his City. David may have struggled to understand why Uzzah was struck down, and this no doubt contributed to his leaving the Ark in the house of Obed-edom. But the Lord once again helped him to see His great glory, and David and the people of Israel rejoiced in the Lord.

Like David, we all face difficult moments in our lives. At these times we can become upset, angry, fearful, anxious. We can experience times of desolation, times when we struggle to understand where the Lord is leading us or wonder if He can hear what we are saying to Him. It is at these times that we must stay close to the Lord and continue to bring our concerns to Him.

Even at such moments, we can demonstrate great faith and trust in the Lord and lean on Him, asking Him to take over and guide us. He may be using these moments as occasions on which to test us, to test our faith, and to bring us closer to Him.

We must remember, even in trying times, even when we don’t know what God is doing in our lives, when we are trying to discern where He is leading us, what He has planned for us, that God is good. And we should dance before the Lord with all our might, with all our joy. Like David, we should whirl around, leaping and dancing with great love for the Lord. God is so good, and He deserves all our praise. When we dance, it elicits great joy within us, even if we’re not great at it.

While the Ark of the Covenant is of old, and the Ark of the New Covenant, as well as the New Covenant Himself, both now sit enthroned in the Kingdom of Heaven, we can still dance before the Lord every day of our lives, and this is something that we should strive to do, even if we find ourselves in darkness. Because when we dance before the Lord like King David did in the days of old, the Lord will rejoice with us and illumine the darkness, even if it is just for a while.

So be like David and dance before the Lord. Rejoice in Him and be glad. For the Lord is good, and He will never abandon you. Even when you think He is not with you, He is right there beside you, watching over you. Dance for joy, honour and praise the Lord. For He will always lead us out of darkness into His great light.

May our hearts and souls dance before Him always. May our prayers be songs of praise to Him. And if it be the Lord’s Will, may our hearts and souls one day be entwined with another’s in an eternal dance of love before the Lord.

An act of surrender is probably one of the hardest things for a human being to do. There are a great deal of reasons for this, but a few come to the forefront. Our pride could be getting in the way, our desire to do everything ourselves as we want it to be done. We could be so caught up in trying to conform the wills of others to our own that we actually drive them away, disrespecting their own independence.

But I think the most profound reason for which we struggle to surrender is fear.

Surrendering the will is a beautiful thing, especially when we are surrendering it to God. God has given us the gift of free will. He is not a tyrant that is trying to rule over us and force us to do what He wants. He is not some puppeteer that is pulling the strings of our lives constantly, directing our lives like they are a piece of theatre. When God created us, He created us with the ability to choose. And how wonderful it is, how joyful He is, when we use our free will, the will that He has given to us, to choose Him.

While we have been given free will, which we can use however we like (albeit, not without consequences, which arise from all actions we choose, be they good or bad), we can make a conscious decision to give that will back to God. In giving our will back to Him we are not rejecting His gift – rather, we are perfecting it, we are showing Him how much we appreciate it, how much we love Him.

When we surrender our will to the Will of God, we are telling God that we have complete trust, faith, and confidence in Him. We are following the model of Our Blessed Mother Mary and St Joseph when they were asked to take on the greatest task of all – being the earthly parents of the Living God, the Word made flesh, the Saviour of the World, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Both were incredibly humble. Both demonstrated great faith, trust, and confidence in God. St Joseph in particular, who was going to leave Mary and move on with his life, surrendered his will to God’s Will when the Angel appeared to him in his dream. This great act of surrender brought St Joseph great rewards. His complete trust in God led to his being part of the life of Christ and being the spiritual father of us all. The Blessed Mother’s complete trust in God led her from a life as a humble handmaiden of the Lord to becoming Queen of Heaven and Earth, Mother of the Church, Mother of us all, and the most powerful intercessor we have in the Kingdom of Heaven.

But if surrendering our will to God’s Will is so wonderful, why do we struggle to do this?

Surrendering our will to God does not mean that we are giving up hope. And I think this is key in the discussion of why surrender can be so difficult.

We often struggle to surrender our entire will to the Will of God because our fears, our worries, our anxieties get in the way. Fear of the unknown is not uncommon. We often want to know what is going to happen next because it brings us some comfort. But this is not necessarily true comfort. True comfort is found in the Lord. And we can take great comfort in entrusting ourselves entirely to Him. Yes, it seems paradoxical, but I think we’ve come to learn by now that the ways in which God works tend to be as such.

I think that the prospect of surrendering our will to God’s Will scares us because we don’t know what God’s Will is. We worry that we are not going to get what we are hoping for, that the outcomes we wish for will not come into being. It can be incredibly daunting because we don’t have a guarantee of what might occur.

When we make an act of surrender to God, we are not just giving something that is holding us back and saying to Him, ‘here, take this, I don’t want it.’ We are giving Him everything, our entire will, all our worries, our anxieties, our concerns, our stress, our sorrows, our sadness, our joys, our heartaches, our hope, our love, our desires, our anguish, our feelings, our emotions, all of it. We lay it all down at His feet, and ask Him to take care of it all.

But God knows that we have hopes. And He assures us that when we surrender to Him these hopes are not destroyed.

One of the most beautiful prayers that Jesus has given to us is the Surrender Prayer. I discovered this prayer at the beginning of this year and I think we are truly blessed to have it.

The Surrender Prayer was given to a Neapolitan Priest, Father Dolindo Ruotolo. Fr Ruotolo had a great devotion to God and to the Blessed Mother Mary. He often called himself “the Madonna’s little old man” and the Holy Rosary was his constant prayer. The name ‘Dolindo’ means ‘pain,’ and this humble priest experienced much pain and suffering in his own life. He came from a family that had man financial struggles, and he suffered from several health conditions that made him weak. In the early years of his priesthood, accusations of heresy were brought against him, accusations which took years to clear. Yet no matter what trials this Servant of God faced, he surrendered himself to God, and Our Lord took care of him.

In private revelations, Jesus spoke to Father Ruotolo and gave him the words which he composed into the Surrender Prayer, a prayer we can pray as a Novena. In fact, Jesus said that “there is no other novena prayer more effective than this.”

Within the Surrender Prayer, Jesus tells us what we must do to surrender ourselves entirely to Him. He teaches us how we can stop worrying and thinking about all the problems we face and how to let go of trying to solve them all ourselves. He tells us how we should turn to Him, look at Him, and say to Him, “You take care of it.” He tells us how we need to close the eyes of our souls and rest in Him, surrendering completely to Him and trusting completely in Him. He says:

“If you say to Me truly, “Thy will be done,” which is the same as saying, “You take care of it,” I will intercede with all My power and I will resolve the most difficult situations.”

While the entire Surrender Prayer is so incredibly beautiful, I think one of the most striking parts is when Jesus says:

Close your eyes and let yourself be carried away on the flowing current of My grace. Close your eyes and do not think of the present, turning your thoughts away from the future, just as you would from any temptation. Rest in Me, believing in My goodness and I promise you by My love that if you say, “You take care of it,” I will take care of it all. I will console you, rescue you and guide you.

We can get so caught up in our worries, so battered and weighed down by our anxieties, that they can begin to take over our lives, even going so far as to overwhelm and incapacitate us. But Jesus wants us to surrender that to Him. Yes, He wants us to surrender our entire selves to Him, including our entire will to His own, but He promises us that He will take care of us. And Jesus has fulfilled every promise He has ever made. He fulfilled all the promises made to those in the Old Testament, and He continues to keep His promises to us to this very day.

The response to the Surrender Prayer sums up the disposition that Jesus wants us to have:

O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!

In surrendering to Him, we are giving ourselves entirely to Him. We are placing all our faith, trust, and confidence in Him, surrendering our will to His Will, His Divine Will. We may not know what that Will is, we may not know what to expect, what God has planned for us, but we trust that He will take care of us in every way, that He will guide us, that He will be there for us and never abandon us.

As mentioned earlier, this does not mean giving up the hopes that we have. Jesus tells us Himself:

Surrendering to Me does not mean to stress or to be upset, or lose hope.

We can still have hope that, in surrendering to God, in abandoning ourselves to Him, He will answer our prayers. If anything, I think we can take great comfort in knowing that Jesus Himself reassures us of this:

Why do you confuse yourselves by worrying? Leave the care of all your affairs to Me and everything will be so peaceful. I say to you in truth that every act of true, blind and complete surrender to Me will produce the effect that you desire and will resolve all your difficult situations.

Surrender yourself to the Lord, and He will work great wonders in your life. Give Him all you have, and He will give you His all in return.

God is so, so good.

(If you would like to pray the Surrender Prayer, here is a link to the prayer on Hallow: https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray-the-surrender-novena/. If you would like a physical copy of the prayer on a prayer card, you may be able to find some at your local Catholic church, or you can contact Mary’s Rosary Chain – http://www.marysrosarychain.org)

This weekend, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. By far, they are the greatest family in existence. If it were not for this beautiful family, mother, father and child, our world would be a much darker place than it is.

The Holy Family is one we must all do our best to emulate in our own lives. They are the perfection of what family is. Through them, Jesus Christ sanctified the family itself, making it beautiful and holy.

Family is so important. It is essential to our humanity, to who we are. Each one of us is only here, living and breathing, because two others committed to each other and decided to start a family. We are only here because of the love of two people who became one, our mother and father, and their mother and father before them, and so forth.

This is the beauty of marriage. It is not just a procedure we go through, a ceremony with a bunch of documents to sign for the sake of making things official in the eyes of the world. It is so much more than that. It is an incredibly special bond, a commitment of love between two people who have found in each other someone they are willing to give their entire selves to. The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is that with Christ at the centre. The love that the two have for each other is expounded by their love for Christ and Christ’s love for them.

These individuals, once joined together in Holy Matrimony, are no longer individuals. They are one with each other. They commit to bringing new life into the world, and so bring forth children who they raise with love, care, and tenderness.

When Mary and Joseph were joined together, when they were betrothed to wed, everything was fine until the Angel Gabriel came to the Blessed Virgin to announce to her that she would bear a Son, the Emmanuel, the Light of the World, the Christ-child, the Son of God. She was told she would conceive of the Holy Spirit. Mary, with great faith and confidence in God, gave her fiat, humbly accepting the role with which the Father was charging her in the salvation of man.

When Mary told Joseph about this, he was likely struck with confusion and uncertainty. He was no longer certain that he could be with Mary, and was ready to end their relationship. Being a good and thoughtful man, he was going to divorce her privately so as to spare her from shame. But, just as he was preparing to do this, the Angel appeared to him and told him to take Mary as his wife and look after the child as his own. Joseph, again being a man of faith and placing his trust in God, gave his own fiat and did as he was asked.

Mary and Joseph both dedicated their lives to God and to raising His Only Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. They went through a great many trials, but both did so humbly and with great trust in God. I think it goes without saying that they would have experienced the challenges that any family would face. Take, for example, when Jesus was missing from their care for three days as a child. When they found Him in the temple, they were struck with relief, but you can imagine the anxiety, the fear that they must have endured at that time that their child was missing. I think this is something that many parents would be able to relate to. It would likely be the greatest fear of many parents that their child goes missing. Many would probably assume the worst right away. That anguish you would experience if your child, or even your brother or sister, went missing, is one that Mary and Joseph would have experienced over 2000 years ago.

But while there are always going to be trials and, no doubt, anguish and worry, family also brings with it the joyous moments that we can all hold onto with great fervour when we need them most.

Jesus’ earthly parents had such a great love for Him. Joseph raised Him as if He were his own son. He taught Jesus everything he knew about carpentry. Mary devoted herself to Him as if there were nothing else that made her happy. She knew that she would experience terrible anguish, that a sword would pierce her own Immaculate Heart when her Son was to enter into His Passion, but she agreed to take on that pain, that suffering, regardless, to unite it with His. Because she knew that this great sacrifice would be one that would bring about salvation for all of us, all Her children.

The Holy Family is the pinnacle, the perfection of what a family should be.

It is a husband and wife dedicated to each other, to growing in their faith, love, and holiness together, to worshipping together, praising together, glorifying together, honouring together, praying together, serving together, adoring together. Just as Mary and Joseph adored our Lord, so too should each loving couple, each engaged couple, each married couple, adore our Lord together. They should attend a Holy Hour together, or even visit an Adoration Chapel and just spend time in front of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament together.

It is a mother and father raising their children to know, love, and serve the Lord. It is this mother and father devoting their lives to their children, loving them like they love the Lord, doing all they can to take care of them and ensure their salvation.

It is children showing great love and devotion to their parents. Just as our parents dedicate their lives to us, so too should we dedicate our lives to them. We should take care of them, respect them, show obedience unto them. We should pray with them, grow in our faith and love of the Lord with them. We must remember that our parents made the greatest commitment of all when they committed to bringing new life, to bringing us, into the world. And just as they raise us with great love and devotion, so too should we do the same when we get married and have children of our own.

Family is what makes us who we are. We may have differences at times. We may fight, argue, irritate, or upset one another. But it is important for each of us to remember that no matter what may happen, no matter what may come between us, no matter what challenges we may face, no matter what hardships we may be made to endure, family matters most. Our family is so much great than all of these things. Differences can be reconciled. Challenges and hardships are better faced together than alone.

There is no point alienating family, because they are one of the greatest treasures we have. We have each been given a great gift in our families. God has blessed us immensely with love, His love, shown to us through our parents and families.

Family may bring challenges, but it also brings with it great joys, happiness, and, ultimately, love.

God is so good to us. He is so good to have given us all a family.

Even if we do not have a family, if we are alone, we can take comfort in knowing that we are part of His family, the Holy Family, the family of God.

So, on this Feast of the Holy Family, tell your family you love them. Thank your parents for all they do for you. Reconcile differences you may have with members of your family. Do all you can to emulate the Holy Family. And pray for those who do not have an earthly family. Pray for those who do not see their families.

And, above all, thank God for the family you have, for the great gift He has given you.

May God Bless us all, and may the Holy Family always watch over us, protect us, and keep us safe.

Human life is so precious, so valuable. Each one of us has been made perfectly in the image of God. Each one of us has been given the gift of life. We should be so grateful to God for such a wondrous gift.

And yet, a culture of death is pervading the world as we know it. Disregard for the value of human life is rampant. Those who promote this culture of death worship at the shrine of abortion and euthanasia. They seek to put an end to life either before it has the chance to truly live, or prior to its natural conclusion. In their worldview life is not valuable. Or they may see some life as of greater value than other life.

Abortion is a terrible thing. It ends a beautiful human life before it can even take its first breath. There are so many different views in the community of those who support abortion as to when human life begins. Some say when the preborn baby develops a heartbeat, others when it is able to sustain itself outside the mother’s womb. Some even think termination right up to the end of a pregnancy is perfectly acceptable.

Scientifically, life begins at conception. This is not just a religious view; it is a scientific fact. When a man and a woman conceive a child, as soon as the sperm meets the egg, and embryo is formed with a unique set of DNA, a unique genetic make-up. It is a unique human life at its earliest stage. As that little life grows, it will develop a head, a body, all the organs, blood vessels, everything it needs to survive. As early as five and a half to six weeks after conception, that precious little life will develop a heartbeat. That little life should be taken care of and protected so that it can enter into this world and live.

Each one of us has been uniquely designed, knitted together in our mother’s womb. Each one of us is here because we were protected and given the chance to grow so that we could be born into this world. So what gives any one of us the right to deny that opportunity to any other preborn baby?

Life is no less valuable in the womb than it is outside of it.

What is truly saddening is that some people believe that if a preborn baby is likely to have some kind of disability, for example Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Autism, or any other condition, then it would be better for that life to be put to an end before it can come into the world to save it from suffering. This kind of thinking is truly horrific and utterly disrespectful to the sanctity of human life. Just because a baby might have a disability doesn’t render its life any less valuable. It doesn’t justify taking an innocent human life. It’s the sort of thinking that could be considered genocidal.

The other major argument made by those who demean and disregard the value of life is that it is a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have a child. No one has the right to take an innocent human life.

This is why there is such value in the sanctity of marriage. When a man and a woman commit to each other in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, they are giving themselves fully to one another, with a commitment to bringing new life into the world in the form of children.

The problem in modern society is that hookup culture is rife. As a result, far too many individuals are devaluing sex and turning it into something that it is not. It was not designed for meaningless hookups, but for the purpose of love and procreation.

On the other end of the spectrum of life is its end. Everyone should be able to live their life to its natural conclusion. But the culture of death seeks to speed up that end and terminate human life prematurely.

Now I think it is important to note here that suffering is not something we may necessarily desire. But there is a beauty in suffering (I know, it seems paradoxical) in that we can unite it to Christ’s suffering on the Cross. We can offer up our suffering for others.

Saint John Paul II once said to the sick and the suffering:

“You can do very much by your prayer and your sacrifice, your suffering… you can obtain much from Jesus Christ for those who may not need physical help, but who often are in terrible need of spiritual help… Your role in the parish is not merely passive.”

Saint John Paul II noted how our suffering can be redemptive, just like Christ’s suffering on the Cross, the greatest act of redemption known to man. I highly recommend reading his Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris, which focuses on the Christian meaning of human suffering.

There are many in our world who are suffering spiritually. They may be struggling in their relationship with Christ, or struggling with sin. They might be having a difficult time approaching the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They might be struggling with spiritual dryness. They may have been away from the Church for some time and may be trying to return. There are so many ways in which people can suffer spiritually. When others offer up their suffering for them, it can be transformative, not only for those who need such prayer and sacrifice, but also for those enduring suffering, because they can be at peace knowing that their suffering is working for the glory of the Kingdom.

So when euthanasia is promoted for those who are suffering, even those who may have a terminal illness, it is depriving those people of offering their suffering up for the good of others. It is also important to note that doctors can get diagnoses wrong, and such an error may deprive someone of life if euthanasia is used to prevent them from suffering. An individual that euthanasia is suggested to may live for a much longer time than they are prescribed by a doctor. That is valuable time that they could be spending with their family, making memories to last well after they are gone.

It is a terrible tragedy to cut life short.

December 28^th marks the Feast of the Holy Innocents, a Feast day where we remember all those innocent lives who have been cut short before they could even truly live. We remember all the young boys, two years of age or less, who were slaughtered at the command of King Herod because of his obsession with power. We remember all the victims of abortion, all those who have died at the hands of euthanasia.

But we must also be wary that being pro-life, being part of a culture of life, does not end with praying for an end to abortion and euthanasia. We must also ensure that we take care of the poor and the needy, and that we treat our neighbours well. Our neighbours are each and every one of our fellow members of society. We should look after each other, pray for each other, and show the love and mercy of God to all.

When the Blessed Virgin Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with St John the Baptist, Elizabeth’s child leapt in her womb. One of the first people to rejoice at the life of Christ was a baby in the womb. It is so incredibly beautiful and clearly demonstrates the joy and the sanctity of human life.

Human life is sacred. All human life is valuable. No one life is more valuable than another. God has made us all in the image of His perfection. We must do all we can to protect life, to value it well. In order to preserve the sanctity of life, we must promote a culture of life.

Life is truly a gift from God.

May God Bless all human life, and may the Holy Innocents pray for us.