The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) has released on its website its annual message for the National March for Life, to be held this year in Ottawa on May 9, 2019. In its message entitled “You Give Life To All Things and Make Them Holy”, COLF writes that “We will not sit idly by; we shall continue to fight for the preborn, to aid mothers in need, and to support the suffering and the dying when they are most vulnerable. We shall continue to lift up our voices so that justice is restored once again in our land.”
The Full Message:
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the passing of bill C-150 which decriminalized abortion under certain conditions. Almost twenty years later, the Supreme Court of Canada’s “Morgentaler decision” struck down the legal restrictions on abortions as unconstitutional. Canada along with China, North Korea, and Vietnam are the only countries which have no restriction in law with regard to abortion.
The attack on human life in Canada is not only limited to preborn persons; with the passing of Bill C-14 in 2016 we have legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide. There is now a push to make available what the government euphemistically calls medical aid in dying (MAID) to mature minors, persons with mental disorders, and advance directives (i.e., to have MAID carried out when persons are no longer able to make decisions for themselves).
What can we do in the face of what seems to be an unstoppable evil? We truly are living in a “culture of death”. Yet God is the author of life; all that he fashions is sanctified by his saving love. Therefore, as Christians, we live in hope. Through Jesus, our crucified and risen Lord, the victory over sin and death has been won. This certainty impels us to persevere in all efforts to establish a culture of life.
It has been said that “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing.” We will not sit idly by; we shall continue to fight for the preborn, to aid mothers in need, and to support the suffering and the dying when they are most vulnerable. We shall continue to lift up our voices so that justice is restored once again in our land.
As we march for life this year let us remember the words of Saint John Paul II who said that “Human life is precious because it is the gift of a God whose love is infinite; and when God gives life, it is forever.”
