|
Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26
1 Jn 4:11-16
Jn 17:11b-19 We are witnesses. Just as in the first reading we see that the apostles were witnesses to the Resurrection, and just as we learn from the Gospel passage that we are consecrated in the truth of God’s word, so we must stand before the world and testify to Christ (2nd Reading). What is this truth in which we are consecrated and to which we bear witness? It is the truth about the meaning of love. God’s love, and God himself, is revealed first of all in the love Christ showed on the cross, and furthermore in the concrete love we have toward one another. Love has a truth to it, a logic, that flows from the action of God in saving the world. As he gave himself for us, so we give ourselves away for one another. Taking innocent human life is a contradiction of love; it is also a contradiction of truth. To treat the human person as disposable is to say something about that person that is contrary to the truth of that person’s dignity and inviolable rights. It is to say something false about God, who alone owns that person. It is not only the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” that is broken when we depart from the Culture of Life. It is also the commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” We are witnesses – to the love of God and to the dignity of every human life.
|
