DEACON FOR LIFE

Were there to be no support in the whole history of ethical and moral thought, were there no acknowledged confirmation from medical science, were the history of legal opinion to the contrary, we would still have to conclude on the basis of God's Holy Word that the unborn child is a person in the sight of God. He is protected by the sanctity of life graciously given to each individual by the Creator, Who alone places His image upon man and grants them any right to life which they have.

Monday, January 25, 2010

"Aborted Children and the Beatific Vision"

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Man brings death into the world.

If abortion is the killing of one's child, and it is, we know that the great tragedy of abortion began in Eden wherein our first parents chose physical and spiritual death for all of their children. In their desire to be God they tried to be Masters and Lords over life and death. Every abortion that takes place since then is the echo of what took place in Eden in the hallways of time and place.

Yet, in spite of this, God gives life where man brought about death..

We know that the Catholic Church offers us hope that children of abortion are happy and that they are with God. And just as there are fundamentals regarding original sin and redemption in Jesus Christ alone, there are fundamentals about the incarnation and redemption that open paths for the restoration of families in the beatific vision of God, including unbaptized infants who have been aborted.

One of the reasons that we have not focused on the hope for the fundamental happiness of children who have been aborted, and their powerful role as advocates, is because it has been asserted that Scripture does not explicitly tell us about what happens to unbaptized infants. We shall see if that assertion is correct. Nevertheless, this assertion has resulted in much theological speculation and tension over the centuries about whether or not unbaptized children see God face to face in the beatific vision.

In fact, those things that gave rise to conflicting positions and tensions disappear when we look closer at Scripture and the teaching of the Catholic Church. So then, let us be clear at the outset, the Church has never taught that "Limbo" is to be held as a dogma of faith. And this means that we must look closer at the distinctions between what the Church Teaches as Dogma as compared to Common Doctrine (Which is not the definitive teaching of the Church), and Theological Opinion.

Before we look closer at Scripture to see if unbaptized children obtain the beatific vision we need to keep several things in mind that serve the purpose of this reflection.

Continue reading here: http://catholicseries.com/theologicalreflections.html