Mumbai bishop: the Annunciation for unborn children and the needy
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – On the feast of the Annunciation of our Lord, we celebrate Pro-life Day.
The Bible tells us that human life is a gift to us from God, who created us in his own image and likeness and breathed his very life into us. Therefore, every human person born on the face of this earth bears his stamp. Hence, every human person – young or old, physically or mentally challenged or not, ill or healthy – is to be respected and treated with dignity and love, precisely because they have the imprint of God in them.
However, sin distorts this image of God in each one of us and, at times, we are unable to recognise this God in others. Sin also deceives us into imagining that, with all the scientific and technological resources available to us, we are like God. It is the same temptation that Adam and Eve succumbed to, i.e., they wanted to be like God. And we know the consequence of their act: sin came into the world and, with sin, the culture of death.
In modern times, this sin has abounded so much, that often the life of an unborn child, the sick and the aged, the destitute and the specially challenged are seen in terms of their utility value. If people are viewed as no longer useful or if they are viewed as a burden, attempts are made to eliminate them.
On Pro-life Day, we focus our attention on the unborn child, the physically and mentally challenged, the sick, the aged, and those whose lives need to be nurtured and protected. We are challenged to discover ways and means to give the love of Jesus to all such people. The Church also needs to find ways and means of looking after and housing the physically and mentally challenged, particularly when their parents are no more. This is one of the many challenges that the Church would need to look into.
* Auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Mumbai and apostolic vicar with the Commissions for the laity, family and women
(Nirmala Carvalho contributed to this article)
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