Franciscans of Life

Contemporary society is reaching deeper and deeper into the barrel of darkness, sentencing many more to death than did Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, and Castro.  Euthanasia has been identified as a human right.  While everyone has the right to die, no one has the right to take a life, except in self-defense from a dangerous aggressor.  The moral prohibition against taking a life applies to suicide and assisted suicide as well.  While we own our lives, we don’t own life.  Man did not create his life.  It is gift that only God can take away according to His eternal plan.

Today’s man has assumed the authority to euthanize anyone whose quality of life does not meet our standards.  Of course, such standards are not absolute.  They a different from one social group to another.  These include children with Down Syndrome, people with mental health problems, the elderly and the terminally ill.  Unfortunately, those who make such decisions use subjective judgement.  The fact that the judgement is subject and not absolute invalidates the authority and the right to take a life, no matter how distressing the person’s state.

Alongside the tragedy of euthanasia is the increase liberalization of abortion.  Some groups have determined that abortion on demand, from conception to the time of labor is a human right.  But what about the rights of the human being in the mother’s womb?  According to the law, the person in the womb has no rights.  Some go as far as saying that a child born alive after a failed abortion has no right to medical care and may be left on the side to die.

We have moved from the idea that the embryo in the womb is “glob” of cells to the extent that we approve of infanticide, because the person has no constitutional right.

Behind the defense of abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide and infanticide is not the best interest of humanity.  Those who attack restrictions on these heinous acts against human life have their personal goals in mind, not the best interest of the subject or the community.  Politicians will support anything that is currently fashionable, with no reflection on the morality of that for which they vote.  Women opt for abortion because the birth of a child complicates their life.  But they do not stop to remember that pregnancy is the result of a specific behavior.  We prefer to eliminate that which is the natural end and result of the sexual act, but we have no interest in exercising self-restraint and discipline.

The fallacy is that life goes back to normal after the death of the other.  Nothing is further from the truth.  Memories, guilt, remorse, psychological problems, and a sense of loss are the natural result of death on demand.

The hopes and beliefs of those who promote the killing of another human being are not grounded in absolute truths.  Were they grounded in such truths, the result for the person who remains alive would be inner peace.  Inner peace is the natural result of actions grounded in absolute truth, such as the inviolable dignity of human life.

The taking of another person’s life or that of a preborn child can be compared to the desire for wealth.  The individual believes that he will achieve happiness and peace when he reaches a certain standard of life.  What we see is that those whose goal in life is wealth and comfort are never satisfied.  They always need something else.  To believe that taking a life by abortion or euthanasia is will bring peace and satisfaction to the survivors is just as false.  Our lives are not happier, better, or healthier.  We continue to struggle with our human condition.

God who is the Absolute Good has built the desire for the good into the essence of every human being.  This desire makes it possible to find Him who is the Good.

Everything else that we believe is absolutely good for us, usually is not good enough to satisfy and lead us to a place of peace and happiness.  Terminating another person’s life is designed to rid the survivors of a burden.  Such is not an act of love.  It is a self-serving act.  We can delude ourselves into believing that we’re thinking of the good of the subject.  The truth of the matter is that the good of each individual is best served when humanity looks for and applies solutions that enhance life and guarantee the right to be born and to die naturally.

Love has nothing to do with the termination of life.  The termination of life is a violation of natural law.  Life is given to us through nature.  We do not create it.  The right to be born and the right to live until our life on earth is fulfilled is guaranteed to us by nature and violated by man.  Human rights stem from natural rights.

We must take an honest look at our choices, actions, and failure to act and as ourselves if these were true selfless love.If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll be quite surprised by our logical conclusion.