"When the Founding Fathers of this great nation enshrined certain unalienable rights in the Constitution - and something similar exists in many countries and in many International Declarations - they did so because they recognized the existence of a "law'' - a series of rights and duties engraved by the Creator on each person's heart and conscience.
"In much of contemporary thinking, any reference to a "law'' guaranteed by the Creator is absent. There remains only each individual's choice of this or that objective as convenient or useful in a given set of circumstances. No longer is anything considered intrinsically "good'' and "universally binding''. Rights are affirmed but, because they are without any reference to an objective truth, they are deprived of any solid basis (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Threats to Human Life, I, iii). Vast sectors of society are confused about what is right and what is wrong, and are at the mercy of those with the power to "create'' opinion and impose it on others.
"The family especially is under attack. And the sacred character of human life denied. Naturally the weakest members of society are the most at risk: the unborn, children, the sick, the handicapped, the old, the poor and unemployed, the immigrant and refugee...
"Do not be afraid to go out on the streets and into public places, like the first Apostles who preached Christ and the Good News of salvation in the squares of cities, towns and villages. This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel (cf. Rom 1:16). It is the time to preach it from the rooftops (cf. Mt 10:27). Do not be afraid to break out of comfortable and routine modes of living, in order to take up the challenge of making Christ known in the modern "metropolis''. It is you who must "go out into the byroads'' (Mt 22:9) and invite everyone you meet to the banquet which God has prepared for his people. The Gospel must not be kept hidden because of fear or indifference. It was never meant to be hidden away in private. It has to be put on a stand so that people may see its light and give praise to our heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:15-16)."
"In much of contemporary thinking, any reference to a "law'' guaranteed by the Creator is absent. There remains only each individual's choice of this or that objective as convenient or useful in a given set of circumstances. No longer is anything considered intrinsically "good'' and "universally binding''. Rights are affirmed but, because they are without any reference to an objective truth, they are deprived of any solid basis (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Threats to Human Life, I, iii). Vast sectors of society are confused about what is right and what is wrong, and are at the mercy of those with the power to "create'' opinion and impose it on others.
"The family especially is under attack. And the sacred character of human life denied. Naturally the weakest members of society are the most at risk: the unborn, children, the sick, the handicapped, the old, the poor and unemployed, the immigrant and refugee...
"Do not be afraid to go out on the streets and into public places, like the first Apostles who preached Christ and the Good News of salvation in the squares of cities, towns and villages. This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel (cf. Rom 1:16). It is the time to preach it from the rooftops (cf. Mt 10:27). Do not be afraid to break out of comfortable and routine modes of living, in order to take up the challenge of making Christ known in the modern "metropolis''. It is you who must "go out into the byroads'' (Mt 22:9) and invite everyone you meet to the banquet which God has prepared for his people. The Gospel must not be kept hidden because of fear or indifference. It was never meant to be hidden away in private. It has to be put on a stand so that people may see its light and give praise to our heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:15-16)."
~ Pope John Paul II Homily, Denver 1993 ~
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