The Gift of Life

As Pope John Paul II told us, we are living in a culture of death. Children are no longer considered a gift from God but a burden or, as our current president put it, "a punishment". Couples get married but do not see a baby as an expression of their love for one another but more like the latest gadget they buy. "Let's see, we have a Wi, an LCD TV, 2 dogs, a house. What's missing? Oh, I know, a baby!"

But this is not the purpose of marriage. Marriage is the joining of two people who promise to love each other and the result of this love is supposed to be new life. In Paul Anka's song, "Having my Baby", he extols how wonderful it is that the woman he loves is having his baby. Yes, their love brings new life to the world.

Just the other day, I heard that John Travolta and his wife had another child. As we know, they tragically lost a son a few years ago. You may think they are trying to replace this son but I prefer to think otherwise. I choose to believe that they wanted to show their renewed love for one another by bringing another child into this world to love.

And let us not forget that mankind was created out of love by God. We expand that love through children. Just as God created us out of love, we create new life out of love. We are born to love and the love between a parent and child is the greatest love of all.

But those on the dark side do not want us to believe that. They want us to think that we are put on this earth to satisfy our own pleasures. We are the ultimate god and our wants and needs come before all else. Why do you think so many marriages fail? "You are not satisfying my needs" is so often heard.

And, of course, as we consider ourselves god, we can do whatever we want including the life growing inside of us. How dare that "glob of cells" interfere with the satisfaction of our base desires? Thus, life is not cherished but considered an inconvenience. But how often does a mother who didn't want her baby suddenly fall in love as soon as she sees the infant? And this is probably why the abortion mills do not want pregnant women to see sonograms of their children. They know it is all over then.

Love and life - they go hand in hand.