Have you ever slowed down to consider how much you value life? I will never forget an observation which made me aware of how different cultures and families within them value life. Years ago our son went on a soccer trip to Costa Rica and he came home with a very interesting observation. He was so moved by the behavior of the family who hosted him. He told us how they respected the life of each bug in their home. When they saw a bug in their home, they captured it gently and took it outside to live. He contrasted their behavior to our more callous behavior of killing spiders and bugs in our home. We had lost sensitivity for the lives of bugs. We justified killing them as they were merely “pests.” That observation has stuck with me and has raised my sensitivity to every life, especially for each human life. What must we do to promote an increased awareness of the preciousness of human life in our homes and in our culture?
As babies are being aborted, many hearts are being deeply harmed and becoming more callous towards the dignity of life. The very real effects of this on women are sometimes called “post-abortion syndrome.” A recent article in CNA (Catholic News Agency) tells that the Vatican is preparing a new document on the effects of abortion on women. This growing problem “was made manifest in all of its gravity when 20 years ago, after the devastating earthquake in Armenia (1989), a team of doctors from the Sacred Heart Catholic University traveled to the region to provide medical assistance and discovered that many women had undergone as many as 20 abortions or more. For them, having an abortion had become something like having a cup of coffee. Thus they talked about the dramatic phenomenon of completely erasing any moral sensitivity to the issue of abortion.” read full article.
Please take this moment to pray for increased sensitivity and awareness of the value and dignity of each and every human life. What can women of ENDOW do to help turn the tide from abortions becoming “like having a cup of coffee?” How can our culture be transformed into a culture of life? As Catholics, we are well instructed through the teachings of the Church on how to live lives which promote a culture of life. As we patiently wait for and look forward to new documents on these issues of love and life we can choose to look deep into the timeless teachings we already have on the dignity of life. One such encyclical, titled Humanae Vitae (On Transmitting Human Life), was written in 1968 by Pope Pius VI. The ENDOW study by this same name delves deep into this important instruction on the transmission of human life. To find out where ENDOW’s Humanae Vitae studies are being offered, click here.
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