Cheers to Life

Life is one of the most precious gifts we receive from God. From the moment of conception until its natural death, God has generously sustained every aspect of man’s life because if God withdraws His presence and sustaining love, all forms of life will surely cease to exist (cf. Job 34: 14-15). It is not only that God sustains every bit of life’s existence but he also elevates human life into its highest potentials by endowing man/woman all necessary graces, gifts, talents so that this life will be lived to the full. Jesus says: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10).

For this year’s (2023) pro-life celebration, the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life has chosen the theme of the celebration apropos to the spirit of “SYNODALITY” that the Universal Church is emphasizing at present. The theme “The Filipino Family: Cradle of Synodality”, has succinctly expressed the message which the Church nowadays wants to convey to the world. But what does this theme seem to suggest?

First, every family is the first locus of communion. When two individuals fall in love and desire to live together as husband and wife and commit themselves to receive the sacrament of matrimony, they become one and they live as one (cf. Gen. 2: 24). What sustains their married life is their constant journey towards a life of communion of mind, heart and soul, hence making the relationship a true expression of “synodality” in the spirit of listening, journeying together through thick and thin.

Second, family is the cradle of “synodality” because, the children born in the family learn the most basic form of connectedness from the moment of conception. When a child is born, one learns to see that one’s life does not revolve in the small place (inside the womb) of one’s mother but it expands to the bigger reality of life, allowing to see that one is now part of the greater place beginning from one’s own family then later to the neighbourhood and society at large. But the first of experience of walking together begins in the bosom of his family life. It is in the family that the child learns the value of participation with the life of other human beings around one.

Third, family is also the first place where the spirit of mission can be experienced. When parents teach their children the values of responsibility, like helping them appreciate the joy of working together in daily chores, in preparing for the food and setting up the table for meals, they learn to appreciate the beauty of being part of the family dynamics. Hence, the spirit of belongingness is deepened and children learn the value of sharing of what they are and what they have for the common good of the family and society.

Finally, since family is the sanctuary of life, all values we can think of to promote the sacredness of human life always has its foundation in the family. The parents, as the first stewards of life, receive a noble and serious mission, not just to transmit life but to protect it from the different stages of existence. In a way, parents in the Christian homes are the first guardians of life and human virtues that build up the character and the life of their children. May all Christian homes be true cradles of “synodality” through the spirit of communion, participation and mission expressed in the process of walking together as a Christian home. May parents and all Christian families truly become guardians and stewards of life! (Fr. Orlando A. Angelia | FLA Director)