Monday, April 26, 2010

4th Week of Easter, Monday, 26-04-10

Acts 11 : 1-18
John 10: 1-10

Back in 1968, Pope Paul VI issued an encyclical which was titled " Humanae Vitae".

An encyclical is a letter addressed by the Pope to all the bishops of the Church and the teachings contained in it are to be heeded.

The English title of that encyclical is this - The Right Order to be fulfilled in the Propagation of Human Offspring.

In that encyclical, Pope Paul VI taught about the dignity and the respect of the human life of the fetus, a teaching which was reiterated by the popes after him.

He urged against the use of contraception and artificial birth control methods, as well as fertility methods which violate the respect and dignity of the human person in the fetus.

At that time, this teaching of the Pope was criticized as being backward and out of touch with the current trends of society.

But now we see the consequences of not heeding what the Pope taught at that time.

Legalized abortion and safe-sex methods only resulted in higher teenage pregnancies and abortions.

Yet on the other hand, there is this contradiction of falling birth rates.

Experiments on the embryo have gone as far as cloning and other bizarre ideas and practices.

As the Church, let us listen to the one voice, the voice of the Good Shepherd.

The Good Shepherd still speaks through the Pope.

As we heard in the 1st reading, the Good Shepherd spoke through Peter and the Jewish Christians realized that God also wants to grant salvation to the pagans.

Let us listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd especially in the teachings of the Church.

Because it is a voice that calls us to life.