Our reason and our faith enable us to know the content, the scope and the objective or our pro-life mission. Both lead us to know that all innocent human beings have a right to live that under no circumstances can be denied. In particular, we have to defend the most menaced of all, preborn children.
That is why we strongly supported a short-lived billboard in New York City that proclaimed, "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb." Two days after its placement last week, the image was ordered to be removed amid a clamor of outrage from liberal commentators and the city council. HLI congratulated the Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, who wrote a strong article decrying the "intolerance" that led to the tearing down of this billboard. We are grateful to the Lord for his leadership.
Two other recent episodes have again revealed the dictatorial tendencies of liberals. Former Kansas attorney general Phill Kline has been denied the equal opportunity to present his defense at a recently concluded ethics trial. We have also just seen a decision by the New York City Council to unjustly restrict the language available to pro-life pregnancy centers within the city. These three recent events show how it is high time to stand up against the totalitarian tendencies of contemporary democratic societies that have given up on true human values. As Venerable John Paul II noted with great wisdom, "a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism."
Our faith builds on this natural knowledge and tells us that this great dignity of human life is far larger than that which is accessible to us by reason alone. Human beings are created in the image and likeness of an omnipotent and loving Creator, and we have an eternal call to live with Him forever, in perfect happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven. Our reason leads us to see that man and woman are called to a faithful and stable unity in marriage with the intention of having and raising children; our faith teaches that this natural union has been elevated by Christ to the dignity of a Sacrament. Our reason tells us that we have no right whatsoever to put and end to the life of an ailing old person or a person who is severely disabled. Our faith strengthens this insight of our reason and shows us that we are the stewards of life and not the owners.
Regrettably, in our time, what has seemed obvious to past generations needs to be defended with great energy, because so many nations are now ready to destroy the lives of the unborn and the terminally ill, and to give the status of marriage to unnatural unions. This happens because natural reason is suffering universal erosion, and the faith seems to be passing away in many former Christians countries. This mutual collapse is no coincidence: again, our late Holy Father John Paul put it so elegantly:
Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth-in a word, to know himself-so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9; 63:2-3; Jn 14:8; 1 Jn 3:2).
In this collapse of faith and reason, we see both a sign of times, and a calling of God to proclaim the truths of reason and faith on life and family.
In the events that are pummeling us with greater force as the years go by we see ever clearer the reason of the global mission of Human Life International. As I write this commentary, I am receiving reports of the actions of our missionaries around the world. The attack against life and family is global, which is why our mission is global.
The Lord normally does not act directly in the world, He acts indirectly through His instruments. For that reason He established the Church as His main instrument of the salvation of all human beings. At the same it is evident that all groups or persons cannot do all the good that is necessary to be done. For this reason the Lord forms different groups for particular missions within the Church. So, in the last decades of the twentieth century, seeing that the menaces against life were growing exponentially world wide, the Lord called some good Christians to establish a pro-life apostolate. He called Fr. Paul Marx, a great son of Saint Benedict, to establish Human Life International to proclaim to the entire world His Gospel of Life. For more than thirty years HLI has continued forging ahead, preserving the great work of Fr. Marx, work which John Paul II called "the most important work on earth." Aware that we are the true inheritors of this great task, we are committed to staying faithful to this calling and building upon it.
We firmly believe in God's unfailing providence for the ones that have come to serve Him. We have full confidence that His overabundant graces will strengthen us in these difficult and trying times in which the Lord has permitted us to suffer so many trials and tensions. At the same time, these trials in a paradoxical way are a proof of our calling because, as St. Theresa of Avila so wonderfully put it, everything that is worthwhile in the Church grows under the shadow of the Cross.
So in the midst of these challenges, we are not thinking at all of reducing our efforts: On the contrary, we are expanding them.
- We are increasing our coordination of activities in Latin America.
- Our actions in Asia and the Pacific will rise up to the challenges that now are being placed by several governments, in particular by the new government in The Philippines that is trying to force the "Reproductive Health Bill" through to passage, which provides for the universal distribution of all methods of birth control, including abortifacient pills, injections, and IUDs. This bill also includes a mandatory program for sexual education. We have made the decision of sending more financial resources to the Philippines to help them during this difficult time and resources to Dr. Ligaya Acosta (Regional Coordinator for Asia and Oceania) so that she would be able to expand her outreach on that continent.
- In the Balkans and in Ukraine we are starting new programs to teach Natural Family Regulation.
- To complement our international activity, we are expanding the activities of our new program, HLI America.
In the next several months we will make important announcements on those expanded activities. We are completely certain that if we do with conscience and responsibility the concrete mission that Christ has given to us, He will give to us all the necessary means to go ahead. We know this because we are totally sure that nothing is impossible with God.
