In 1995, when Pope John Paul II released his encyclical letter, Evangelium Vitae, (The Gospel of Life), he wrote of “lights and shadows” in the dramatic cultural clash between life and death.
The lights were the signs of hope for a renewed culture of life. The shadows were the new and expanding threats to human life itself. The signs of hope included “movements and initiative to raise social awareness in defense of life,” “daily gestures of openness, sacrifice and unself care” in defense of life, “a new sensitivity ever more opposed to war,” “a growing public opposition to the death penalty,” “the growing attention to the quality of life and to ecology” and “the emergence and ever more widespread development of bioethics.”
On the shadows side, Pope John Paul II saw, among other things, crimes assuming the nature of rights with legal recognition and state funding, the production of pharmaceutical products capable of killing the fetus in the mother’s womb free from any controls or social responsibility, prenatal diagnosis used as an opportunity for proposing an abortion, temptations at the end of life to resolve the problem of suffering by hastening death, the criminal spread of drugs and the spreading of death caused by the reckless tampering with the world’s ecological balance.
As we move closer to the 30th anniversary of that great encyclical, it is astonishing how accurate Pope John Paul II’s analysis remains. Yet, in our day, we have our own lights and shadows, echoes or further developments of the ones that Pope John Paul II identified.
In the past two months, I have been encouraged by the signs of hope I have witnessed. At the March for Life in Washington, D.C., I saw thousands of people publicly stand up for life in the nation’s capital, including our bishop with many of his brother bishops and some 400 from our diocese, most of whom were young people. I saw a large crowd on Jan. 22 at our diocesan Respect for Life Mass who prayed and then moved to the Ohio Statehouse to witness for life. I have seen the hard work and commitment of the many organizations and parishes in our diocese that support mothers through pregnancy and beyond. I have seen bills pending in both chambers of the Ohio legislature to eliminate the death penalty. I have seen the work of hospitals, chaplains and the staff of the Villas at St. Therese and Mother Angeline McCrory Manor to accompany those suffering at the end of life.
There are still many shadows too. Issue 1, the amendment that enshrined abortion in our state constitution, became law on Dec. 7, 2023. Alabama just executed a man on death row using a new method, nitrogen hypoxia. The 22-minute execution and the extended convulsions of the dying man led both the European Union and the United Nations to condemn the execution as cruel. A number of politicians have indicated a desire to try this method of execution in their own states. War continues to rage in the Ukraine, the Middle East and in many other parts of the globe with no end in sight.
How do we respond to what we see? We must start with prayer. Prayer is not a last resort. It is the place we begin because it can guide our thoughts and actions and make them fruitful by uniting us to God and to His will. It is in prayer that we can discern where God is calling us to action.
The Gospel of Life is not a second Gospel, it is the Gospel, and we are called to be witnesses to it. Our words and our actions must demonstrate our commitment to the gift of human life, to the sacredness and dignity of every person, even our opponents. We are called to support truth and the often-difficult path of living it, individually and communally.
We can support with our time and our treasure the organizations that uphold the sacredness and dignity of life and help those who are vulnerable. We should publicly support legislation and candidates that reflect our values. We can do so now by supporting both the House and Senate versions of the bill to eliminate the death penalty in Ohio. We can lovingly be ambassadors of the Gospel of Life to our family, friends and those who have not yet embraced it. Most every light reveals some shadows. Be a light.
