The Preciousness of Human Life: Pro-Life Reflection

The following is a pro-life reflection offred by St. John Paul the Great, who reign as pope from 1978 until his death in 2005. Catholics are encouraged to do their part in protecting life from the moment of conception until natural death. 

The blood of Christ, while it reveals the grandeur of the Father’s love, shows how precious man is in God’s eyes and how priceless the value of his life. The Apostle Peter reminds us of this: You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Pt 1:18-19). Precisely by contemplating the precious blood of Christ, the sign of his self-giving love, the believer learns to recognize and appreciate the almost divine dignity of every human being and can exclaim with ever renewed and grateful wonder: How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he “earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer” (Easter Exsultet), and if God gave his only Son in order that man should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16).

Furthermore, Christ’s blood reveals to man that his greatness, and therefore his vocation, consists in the sincere gift of self. Precisely because it is poured out as the gift of life, the blood of Christ is no longer a sign of death, of definitive separation from the brethren, but the instrument of a communion which is richness of life for all. Whoever in the sacrament of the Eucharist drinks this blood and abides in Jesus is drawn into the dynamism of his love and gift of life, in order to bring to its fullness the original vocation to love which belongs to everyone.

It is from the blood of Christ that all draw the strength to commit themselves to promoting life. It is precisely this blood that is the most powerful source of hope, indeed it is the foundation of the absolute certitude that in God’s plan life will be victorious. And death shall be no more, exclaims the powerful voice which comes from the throne of God in the heavenly Jerusalem (Rv 21:4). And Saint Paul assures us that the present victory over sin is a sign and anticipation of the definitive victory over death, when there shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55).