Blog | Subscribe | Free Trial | Contact Us | Cart | Donate | Planned Giving
Log In | Search
facebook
rss
twitter
  • CURRENT
    • Fall 2022 PDF
    • SUMMER 2022 ARTICLES
    • NEWSworthy: What’s Happening and What It Means to You
    • Blog
    • INSISTING ON LIFE
    • Pastoral Reflections
    • About Us
    • HLF In The News
    • LIBERTY TO DO WHAT? Hadley Arkes and Rusty Reno join George McKenna June 1, 2022 in New York
  • DINNER
    • GREAT DEFENDER OF LIFE DINNER 2022
    • HOST COMMITTEE Great Defender of Life Dinner 2022
    • Great Defender of Life 2022 Dinner Ticket
    • Great Defender of Life 2022 STUDENT or PREGNANCY CENTER STAFF Ticket
    • DINNER JOURNAL ADVERTISING 2022
  • ARCHIVE
    • Archive Spotlight
    • ISSUES IN HTML FORMAT
  • LEGACY
    • Planned Giving: Wills, Trusts, and Gifts of Stock
  • SHOP
    • Cart

Pastoral Reflections

0 Comment

Affirming the Divine Dimension of Every Human Life

16 May 2021
Rev. George G. Brooks
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

 

On May 13, forty days after Easter Sunday, most of the Christian world celebrates Ascension Day. Then begin the nine days leading up to Pentecost, the climax of the Easter season. These nine days, when the disciples prayed together in Jerusalem, are called the “Great Novena,” because it is the first, original nine days of prayer.

The forty days leading up to Ascension recall what we read in the Acts of the Apostles: “After his suffering, [Jesus] presented himself to [his disciples] and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3)

Then, on the day of his ascension, he told them to “wait . . . for the promise of the Father” that he had already spoken of: “the Spirit of truth [whom] the world cannot accept . . . because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17)

The Lord’s “going up” completes the circuit of his “coming down”: As we say in the Creed, he “came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” He came down so as to lift us up; he came into our world of time so as to bring us to his world of eternity. He returned to heaven to “prepare a place” for us. “I am going . . . to prepare a place for you. And . . . I am coming again [to] take you to myself, so that where I am, there you also may be. (John 14:2-3)

God the Son becoming man is the central truth of Christian faith, but apart from his ascension, it is incomplete: God the Son shares our humanity so that we can have a share in his divinity.  He showed us God his Father so that we could call God Father too. God rules his creation as man. His providence, which guides our lives, is mediated through a human mind and heart. That is an amazing truth, unique to Christian faith. At Pentecost, this truth “came home” to the disciples and gave them power to proclaim the gospel of salvation.

The value of human life—each and every human life—can be most clearly seen in the light of this gospel. Simply because we are human, we are naturally inclined to value human life—though perhaps not “each and every” life because we tend to judge the value of other lives in relation to our own. But Christ, true God and Man, crucified for us, rising from the dead and ascending to heaven to “prepare a place” for us, reveals our destiny. The “Spirit of truth” who came at Pentecost to be with the followers of Jesus guides us “into all truth” (John 16:13)—in particular the truth of heavenly, eternal life that our creator wants to give us in the end. So, the value of a human life is measured by a more than human standard.

For the followers of Christ, “pro-life” work is about more than making laws to protect human life, or providing practical alternatives to abortion, or even healing wounded consciences—important as those things are. In a secular society—where people try to live without God; with a public square that has no place for God—there is a need for the divine dimension of each and every human life to be affirmed: Each of us exists because God wants to share his own eternal and supremely happy life with us.

99 people have visited this page. 1 have visited this page today.
About the Author
Rev. George G. Brooks

Fr. George G. Brooks is a retired pastor.

Social Share

  • google-share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Comments will not be posted until approved by a moderator in an effort to prevent spam and off-topic responses.

*
*

captcha *

Get the Human Life Review

subscribe to HLR

Recent Posts

Minnesota passes one of nation’s most permissive abortion laws

01 Feb 2023

Hit and run violence after Roe: Can't we talk about the morality of abortion?

28 Jan 2023

Abortion activist attempts to expose crisis pregnancy centers—and fails

17 Jan 2023

CURRENT ISSUE

Anne Conlon Anne Hendershott B G Carter Brian Caulfield Christopher White Clarke Forsythe Colleen O’Hara Connie Marshner David Mills David Poecking David Quinn Diane Moriarty Dr. Donald DeMarco Edward Mechmann Edward Short Ellen Wilson Fielding Fr. Gerald E. Murray George McKenna Helen Alvaré Jane Sarah Jason Morgan Joe Bissonnette John Grondelski Kristan Hawkins Laura Echevarria Madeline Fry Schultz Maria McFadden Maffucci Mary Meehan Mary Rose Somarriba Meaghan Bond Nat Hentoff Nicholas Frankovich Patrick J. Flood Peter Pavia Rev. George G. Brooks Rev. Paul T. Stallsworth Stephen Vincent Tara Jernigan Ursula Hennessey Victor Lee Austin Vincenzina Santoro W. Ross Blackburn Wesley J. Smith William Doino Jr. William Murchison

Pages

  • Issues
  • Human Life Foundation Blog
  • About Us
  • Free Trial Issue
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
  • Planned Giving
  • TOPICS
  • GREAT DEFENDER OF LIFE DINNER

Follow Us On Twitter

Tweets by @HumanLifeReview

Find Us On Facebook

Human Life Review/Foundation

Search our Website

Contact Information

The Human Life Foundation, Inc.
The Human Life Review
271 Madison Avenue, Room 1005
New York, New York 10016
(212) 685-5210

Copyright (c) The Human Life Foundation.