By Mathew Ngoran Balanjo, STAMS Bambui
Abortion, the gruesome, intentional termination of unborn and defenceless babies, has assumed commonplace status in many societies in Cameroon and around the world.
In Cameroon the social conscience principle is pressing the moral valve more in favour of abortion especially with the recent supreme magisterial signature, graciously affixed to the Maputo Protocol. It would be interesting to know how many Cameroonians of every age group publicly and privately celebrated the advent of that great opportunity. It would seem the moral outlook that regards abortion as an intrinsic moral evil has lost the battle to conscienceless ethics.
With the advent of Christmas during which we celebrate the great and unique event of history, the Incarnation, God becoming man, it is hoped that the mystery of the Incarnation offers an invaluable opportunity to reflect on the issue of abortion from the perspective of faith, that is, in the light of God becoming one of us. Such an approach, I believe, can spotlight the intrinsic moral evil inherent in the abortion act and shed light on the dignity and value of human life with the Gospels’ torchlight.
At the annunciation, so we are told, the angel Gabriel made known to Mary God’s choice of her for the motherhood of his divine Son (Cfr. Lk 1:26-38). It is striking to learn, as the Tradition of the Church teaches, that Mary was only a young girl of between twelve and fifteen years of age. Here was a young woman at the threshold of youthfulness with future plans and with the new knowledge of her destiny; those plans had to cede pride of place to something of greater urgency. It becomes literally clear from the Annunciation text that when it becomes a matter of life, the duty to protect and nurture infant life is a matter of priority and utmost urgency. In this perspective, all utilitarian and hedonistic arguments in favour of abortion have no place.
As young as she was, Mary accepted the option for motherhood. More important is even the fact that this young girl, to whom the angel brought the tidings of would-be motherhood of the Messiah was indeed engaged to marry Joseph. In Mary’s days, Jewish society frowned at infidelity especially on the part of women and unfaithful wives were punished under Jewish Law by being stoned to death.
By saying ‘Yes’ to God, Mary was aware of the social implications of her choice, aware of the social danger she was exposing herself to, for that meant bringing forth an illegitimate child. Her pregnancy would be proof that she had been unfaithful to Joseph. In that ‘Yes’ she risked her life to the ignominy of stoning. Yet Mary was risking her life for life- the life she would bear. She considered the life that needed existence more important than preserving hers. When it came to pouring her own life like a libation to nurture and give life to another, no risk was too much for her to bear. In all these, Mary stands as an icon for contemporary society in the defence of infant life.
Although she was not prepared she suddenly found herself becoming a mother, and although the choice apparently involved greater risk to her life and dignity than any joy that was hidden in that choice, she believed that the commitment to life and the care of it was of greater value than egocentric self preservation. She believed in infant right to life, in the honour and glory of motherhood, and lived her ‘Yes’ to God as a testimony that life ultimately cannot be subject to arbitrary choices. Mary shows that even when pregnancy is gotten prematurely or unprepared, the joy and dignity of motherhood is by far incomparably greater than the comfort of singleness, especially if the latter is achieved through denying an infant life the right to live.
An example to contemporary man
She shows that motherhood is a courageous option and her courage is what the modern world sometimes terms variously as weakness, timidity or cowardice. This is unfortunate. Mary’s ‘Yes’ was a ‘Yes for Life,’ a Pro-Life ‘Yes’, not an arbitrary one or one uttered out of fear or reverential fear. It is the ‘Yes’ of one who understood the mystery of life, its value and dignity in its depths and, as such, arises from one’s inner conviction who knew that as immense as the gift of life is, it must be received, received in faith, tendered in hope and nurtured in love from the moment of conception until the moment God wills to withdraw it on His own unassisted authority.
Mary was free to say ‘NO’ to God, for God’s choice of her did not predetermine her freedom in any way. She chose for God ‘Let what you have said be done to me’ as one whose acute sense of duty, religious and moral obligation knew the moral primacy of good over evil and the supremacy of divine will over the will of man. Can men and women of our society see in Mary’s free choice the true response to God in matters of life? Can they see in ‘unwanted pregnancies’ God’s call too for responsible parenthood?
This write-up is titled, The Incarnation, the victory of aborted babies because the life of the infant Jesus was besieged from various fronts and yet it triumphed. First, the social pressure that would bear on Mary’s extramarital pregnancy could do away with the mother and the child under the penalty of stoning. Second, there could be, thank God there never was, a temptation for Mary to reverse her free choice to become Jesus’ mother and so eliminate him for other priorities. She undermined social pressure in favour of her child’s life, undermined the threat of Jewish Law to give birth to Jesus, and never tolerated for once the thought of doing away with him. Once she conceived, the babe in her womb became the focal point of her joyful expectations. She hurried off to share her joy with Elizabeth. For Mary, motherhood is good news and good news to be shared. Third, there was the lurking uncertainty about Joseph’s reaction in the event of Mary’s pregnancy. Scripture tells us that Joseph was ‘a man of honour’, a just and upright man. Unlike most men today, who would pressurise or convince and cooperate with their fiancés to destroy innocent infant life in the womb, Joseph, like his wife Mary, was an apostle of life, a pro-lifer. He had decided to spare Mary the public penalty by choosing to divorce her privately and informally. He did not put pressure on Mary to do away with the unknown pregnancy to save their union. And when the full truth was revealed to him, he happily took Mary home as his wife and accepted the responsibility for the child Mary bore. What a challenge for men!
The fourth threat to the life of infant Jesus was the wrath of Herod’s extermination of infants in Bethlehem in the hope of eliminating the infant threat to his kingship. In all these we see that Jesus’ safe refuge was always His Mother. In all the trials of Jesus’ infancy, Mary, a mother par excellence, distinguished herself as Protectress and Patroness of infant life under threat. How sad Mary must be when would-be mothers overlook her exemplary motherhood. How sad that in our days it is the mother, above all, who turns predator to her own child, or the father instead of being protector and guardian as Joseph was, cooperates in terminating a child’s life. How sad that some fathers and mothers would rather seek out Herod and handover their child to be decimated so that they could be “free at last.” No less than Herod, they too consider the issue of their own bodies, their very flesh and blood, as a threat to their well being. In Mary, Jesus triumphed over the evil of abortion, both biological and political, on the basis of true love. For this reason, his attacked and survived infancy makes him the victory of and the sign of hope for those unborn babies whose lives are under threat from their parents and those that never saw and never will see the light of day. Mary’s love for her child was true love, a love that sought not her good in her son but the good of her son in her thoughts, words, choices and actions. This love would sustain her son and their mutual relationship right to the cross.
Christian obligation
Perhaps we must ceaselessly insist on the right to life as baptised people who are not ashamed to profess their faith before the Antiochus Epiphanes of our age- the Dictatorship of Relativism, refusing to partake in the pork meal of apostasy or abortion which, against the immense value of human life, represents a new abomination of desolation in the temple of the Holy Spirit. (Cfr. 1Macc 6:18-7:42).
The Catholic Church’s Social Teaching, against all the surging waves of numerous anti-life philosophies and propaganda, has always upheld and defended the natural, inherent and God-given dignity of the human person. All human life, including that of yet-to-be-born babies, is sacred and must be recognised, respected, preserved and defended from the moment of conception till the moment of natural death, Not of Induced Death. The sacredness of human life derives directly from its transcendental source-God, who alone is the author of all life and reserves the prerogative to decide when an individual life should be and when it should cease to be. Reflecting on human life in the light of the Incarnation mystery Pope John Paul II, points to the immense, indispensable and irreplaceable value of each human life when he says the value of human life must be truly great if the son of God Himself has taken it up and made it the instrument of salvation of all humanity (Encyclical Letter, Evangelium Vitae nn. 33).
The paradox of aborted babies is the sad fact that they are “terrorists” without any potential for harm; they are guilty, crimeless people. It is hoped that men and women, through contemplating the infant Jesus in the manger, will come to realise the immense value of human life and respect the inalienable right of babies to live. At Christmas, more than ever, believers and all people of goodwill should realise that any government policy that directly or indirectly stakes the right to life of the unborn represents a national death warrant for millions of baby citizens who have already been and will continue to be silently sentenced to death.
As Christians the Incarnation teaches us that God chose human life, lived it without regretting a moment. The fact that he chose human life above all other forms of life points to the truth that any mentality, policy, propaganda and action directed against the lives of the unborn represents a culture of death unwilled by God and is thus inherently morally evil and unacceptable. God wishes life, not death for the unborn. These babies in the wombs of their mothers are the friends and brothers of Jesus who, in the womb of Mary, is waiting to be born just like them. They deserve to grow and know Jesus. To stand for them and to uphold their right to life is to be pro-Christ; to stand against their right to life is to be anti-Christ.
Lessons for our time
In our times, the imperative to denounce abortion and all anti-life propaganda acquires greater urgency in the spirit of Christmas. The Old Testament assures us that God has a special preference for the little ones in his design and Jesus cements this fact through his special love for children about whom he says it is to such that the Kingdom of God belongs and that their angels are continually in the presence of the Father in Heaven. How sad the baby Jesus must be that His little friends have become the subjects of a more deadly brand of terrorism. To some extent, it has been an unhealthy overemphasis on the emancipation of women that has given free vent to abortion. But how can the emancipation of one person be justly achieved through the unjust subjugation of another?
Abortion is at once a crime and a sin, because it violates the Natural and Divine Law recognised by every right reason and defended in every living, active, upright and well informed conscience, namely, that it is wrong and, hence, impermissible to kill another human life. The Divine Law is expressed in the fifth precept of the Decalogue- Thou Shall Not Kill. It bears no exceptions and covers the lives of those babies yet to be born.
At Christmas it is our hope that expecting mothers will find in Jesus, despite all odds, a reason to let their babies live and also a reason to anticipate their birth with expectant hope and joy as Mary did. It is our hope also that the infant Jesus will initiate in men and women who have directly or indirectly been involved in abortion a path to conversion filled with sorrow and renewed hope, and that He may set the hearts of all of us ablaze with the fire of the divine spirit to become pro-lifers, apostles for life to a perverse generation. May Mary and Joseph, the Couple Patron of infant and defenceless life intercede for the world. Amen.
Abridged version
With the advent of Christmas during which we celebrate the great and unique event of history, the Incarnation, God becoming man, it is hoped that the mystery of the Incarnation offers an invaluable opportunity to reflect on the issue of abortion from the perspective of faith, that is, in the light of God becoming one of us. Such an approach, I believe, can spotlight the intrinsic moral evil inherent in the abortion act and shed light on the dignity and value of human life with the Gospels’ torchlight.
At the annunciation, so we are told, the angel Gabriel made known to Mary God’s choice of her for the motherhood of his divine Son (Cfr. Lk 1:26-38). It is striking to learn, as the Tradition of the Church teaches, that Mary was only a young girl of between twelve and fifteen years of age. Here was a young woman at the threshold of youthfulness with future plans and with the new knowledge of her destiny; those plans had to cede pride of place to something of greater urgency. It becomes literally clear from the Annunciation text that when it becomes a matter of life, the duty to protect and nurture infant life is a matter of priority and utmost urgency. In this perspective, all utilitarian and hedonistic arguments in favour of abortion have no place.
As young as she was, Mary accepted the option for motherhood. More important is even the fact that this young girl, to whom the angel brought the tidings of would-be motherhood of the Messiah was indeed engaged to marry Joseph. In Mary’s days, Jewish society frowned at infidelity especially on the part of women and unfaithful wives were punished under Jewish Law by being stoned to death.
By saying ‘Yes’ to God, Mary was aware of the social implications of her choice, aware of the social danger she was exposing herself to, for that meant bringing forth an illegitimate child. Her pregnancy would be proof that she had been unfaithful to Joseph. In that ‘Yes’ she risked her life to the ignominy of stoning. Yet Mary was risking her life for life- the life she would bear. She considered the life that needed existence more important than preserving hers. When it came to pouring her own life like a libation to nurture and give life to another, no risk was too much for her to bear. In all these, Mary stands as an icon for contemporary society in the defence of infant life.
Although she was not prepared she suddenly found herself becoming a mother, and although the choice apparently involved greater risk to her life and dignity than any joy that was hidden in that choice, she believed that the commitment to life and the care of it was of greater value than egocentric self preservation. She believed in infant right to life, in the honour and glory of motherhood, and lived her ‘Yes’ to God as a testimony that life ultimately cannot be subject to arbitrary choices. Mary shows that even when pregnancy is gotten prematurely or unprepared, the joy and dignity of motherhood is by far incomparably greater than the comfort of singleness, especially if the latter is achieved through denying an infant life the right to live.
An example to contemporary man
She shows that motherhood is a courageous option and her courage is what the modern world sometimes terms variously as weakness, timidity or cowardice. This is unfortunate. Mary’s ‘Yes’ was a ‘Yes for Life,’ a Pro-Life ‘Yes’, not an arbitrary one or one uttered out of fear or reverential fear. It is the ‘Yes’ of one who understood the mystery of life, its value and dignity in its depths and, as such, arises from one’s inner conviction who knew that as immense as the gift of life is, it must be received, received in faith, tendered in hope and nurtured in love from the moment of conception until the moment God wills to withdraw it on His own unassisted authority.
Mary was free to say ‘NO’ to God, for God’s choice of her did not predetermine her freedom in any way. She chose for God ‘Let what you have said be done to me’ as one whose acute sense of duty, religious and moral obligation knew the moral primacy of good over evil and the supremacy of divine will over the will of man. Can men and women of our society see in Mary’s free choice the true response to God in matters of life? Can they see in ‘unwanted pregnancies’ God’s call too for responsible parenthood?
This write-up is titled, The Incarnation, the victory of aborted babies because the life of the infant Jesus was besieged from various fronts and yet it triumphed. First, the social pressure that would bear on Mary’s extramarital pregnancy could do away with the mother and the child under the penalty of stoning. Second, there could be, thank God there never was, a temptation for Mary to reverse her free choice to become Jesus’ mother and so eliminate him for other priorities. She undermined social pressure in favour of her child’s life, undermined the threat of Jewish Law to give birth to Jesus, and never tolerated for once the thought of doing away with him. Once she conceived, the babe in her womb became the focal point of her joyful expectations. She hurried off to share her joy with Elizabeth. For Mary, motherhood is good news and good news to be shared. Third, there was the lurking uncertainty about Joseph’s reaction in the event of Mary’s pregnancy. Scripture tells us that Joseph was ‘a man of honour’, a just and upright man. Unlike most men today, who would pressurise or convince and cooperate with their fiancés to destroy innocent infant life in the womb, Joseph, like his wife Mary, was an apostle of life, a pro-lifer. He had decided to spare Mary the public penalty by choosing to divorce her privately and informally. He did not put pressure on Mary to do away with the unknown pregnancy to save their union. And when the full truth was revealed to him, he happily took Mary home as his wife and accepted the responsibility for the child Mary bore. What a challenge for men!
The fourth threat to the life of infant Jesus was the wrath of Herod’s extermination of infants in Bethlehem in the hope of eliminating the infant threat to his kingship. In all these we see that Jesus’ safe refuge was always His Mother. In all the trials of Jesus’ infancy, Mary, a mother par excellence, distinguished herself as Protectress and Patroness of infant life under threat. How sad Mary must be when would-be mothers overlook her exemplary motherhood. How sad that in our days it is the mother, above all, who turns predator to her own child, or the father instead of being protector and guardian as Joseph was, cooperates in terminating a child’s life. How sad that some fathers and mothers would rather seek out Herod and handover their child to be decimated so that they could be “free at last.” No less than Herod, they too consider the issue of their own bodies, their very flesh and blood, as a threat to their well being. In Mary, Jesus triumphed over the evil of abortion, both biological and political, on the basis of true love. For this reason, his attacked and survived infancy makes him the victory of and the sign of hope for those unborn babies whose lives are under threat from their parents and those that never saw and never will see the light of day. Mary’s love for her child was true love, a love that sought not her good in her son but the good of her son in her thoughts, words, choices and actions. This love would sustain her son and their mutual relationship right to the cross.
Christian obligation
Perhaps we must ceaselessly insist on the right to life as baptised people who are not ashamed to profess their faith before the Antiochus Epiphanes of our age- the Dictatorship of Relativism, refusing to partake in the pork meal of apostasy or abortion which, against the immense value of human life, represents a new abomination of desolation in the temple of the Holy Spirit. (Cfr. 1Macc 6:18-7:42).
The Catholic Church’s Social Teaching, against all the surging waves of numerous anti-life philosophies and propaganda, has always upheld and defended the natural, inherent and God-given dignity of the human person. All human life, including that of yet-to-be-born babies, is sacred and must be recognised, respected, preserved and defended from the moment of conception till the moment of natural death, Not of Induced Death. The sacredness of human life derives directly from its transcendental source-God, who alone is the author of all life and reserves the prerogative to decide when an individual life should be and when it should cease to be. Reflecting on human life in the light of the Incarnation mystery Pope John Paul II, points to the immense, indispensable and irreplaceable value of each human life when he says the value of human life must be truly great if the son of God Himself has taken it up and made it the instrument of salvation of all humanity (Encyclical Letter, Evangelium Vitae nn. 33).
The paradox of aborted babies is the sad fact that they are “terrorists” without any potential for harm; they are guilty, crimeless people. It is hoped that men and women, through contemplating the infant Jesus in the manger, will come to realise the immense value of human life and respect the inalienable right of babies to live. At Christmas, more than ever, believers and all people of goodwill should realise that any government policy that directly or indirectly stakes the right to life of the unborn represents a national death warrant for millions of baby citizens who have already been and will continue to be silently sentenced to death.
As Christians the Incarnation teaches us that God chose human life, lived it without regretting a moment. The fact that he chose human life above all other forms of life points to the truth that any mentality, policy, propaganda and action directed against the lives of the unborn represents a culture of death unwilled by God and is thus inherently morally evil and unacceptable. God wishes life, not death for the unborn. These babies in the wombs of their mothers are the friends and brothers of Jesus who, in the womb of Mary, is waiting to be born just like them. They deserve to grow and know Jesus. To stand for them and to uphold their right to life is to be pro-Christ; to stand against their right to life is to be anti-Christ.
Lessons for our time
In our times, the imperative to denounce abortion and all anti-life propaganda acquires greater urgency in the spirit of Christmas. The Old Testament assures us that God has a special preference for the little ones in his design and Jesus cements this fact through his special love for children about whom he says it is to such that the Kingdom of God belongs and that their angels are continually in the presence of the Father in Heaven. How sad the baby Jesus must be that His little friends have become the subjects of a more deadly brand of terrorism. To some extent, it has been an unhealthy overemphasis on the emancipation of women that has given free vent to abortion. But how can the emancipation of one person be justly achieved through the unjust subjugation of another?
Abortion is at once a crime and a sin, because it violates the Natural and Divine Law recognised by every right reason and defended in every living, active, upright and well informed conscience, namely, that it is wrong and, hence, impermissible to kill another human life. The Divine Law is expressed in the fifth precept of the Decalogue- Thou Shall Not Kill. It bears no exceptions and covers the lives of those babies yet to be born.
At Christmas it is our hope that expecting mothers will find in Jesus, despite all odds, a reason to let their babies live and also a reason to anticipate their birth with expectant hope and joy as Mary did. It is our hope also that the infant Jesus will initiate in men and women who have directly or indirectly been involved in abortion a path to conversion filled with sorrow and renewed hope, and that He may set the hearts of all of us ablaze with the fire of the divine spirit to become pro-lifers, apostles for life to a perverse generation. May Mary and Joseph, the Couple Patron of infant and defenceless life intercede for the world. Amen.
Abridged version
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