FACTS FOR LIFE
A Canadian Students Pro-Life Paper
"Assisting and Encouraging Canadian Students in the Facts For Life"

INDEX

St. Joseph, a Pro-Life Example

Some Guarantees for a Happy Pro-Life Family

Resist and Triumph, an article by Fr. Jim Whalen

St. Joseph's Promise

What You and Your School Can Do

For Class Discussion

Ask Fr. Gerard

School Prayer

NEED A PRO-LIFE EXAMPLE?  ...CHECK OUT ST. JOSEPH How long Saint Joseph lived, no one knows. Saint Joseph was a just and humble man. In Sacred Scripture not one word is recorded that came from the foster father of Jesus. Probably he lived long enough to direct Jesus through His teenage years. We can be assured however, that St. Joseph followed The Great Commandment contained in Deuteronomy 6: 5-7, which indicates: “Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest.” On his deathbed, Saint Joseph was blessed with the reward of a happy death. He died resting in the arms of Jesus and Mary. His death was probably like his life, an acceptance of God’s will, even though it contained mysteries beyond his comprehension. He died as one of the most content men that ever walked the earth. That is why today the Church honours St. Joseph with the title “Patron Saint of the Dying”. Others seek him out as “Patron of Life and Youth.” Why can Youth ‘look to Joseph’ for their inspiration?   … because Saint Joseph’s promise of virginity was probably made when he was a teenager. He therefore sets a powerful example for all youth to follow. … because Saint Joseph was rewarded with what could be called the happiest and most perfect marriage that ever took place in this world – this is the secret hope and aspiration of most youth. This marriage was one of the many rewards to Saint Joseph for answering his call to a life of charity, courage and chastity. He never settled for compromise, convenience or comfort.  … because Saint Joseph learned to understand youth through learning to understand Jesus when He worked for many years, side by side, with Saint Joseph in the little carpenter shop of Nazareth. … because in the Holy Family, Saint Joseph most closely resembled us. He was truly a human being capable of sin like us. We can imitate his noble, challenging ways. Jesus is the Incarnation, our God made man, our Messiah. Mary is the spotless one, the human being without the stain of sin. Saint Joseph filled the human role, that of guardian, provider and protector. He sacrificed his own needs and desires to accomplish it. He is our mortal, human model. … because Saint Joseph faced difficult situations at a young age, and always listened to God’s Will even when it made life potentially harder for him. Today’s youth face many difficult choices and need guidance in listening to God’s plan for their lives. By Jewish law, Joseph could have had the pregnant Mary put to death, but he listened to the angel of the Lord and assumed the responsibility of foster father, caretaker and protector of life.  What an inspiration for all of us! Any young person or adult can go to Saint Joseph to learn to follow Jesus.  Adapted from: An Introduction to the Promise of Saint Joseph,  By Rev. Bartholomew J. O’Brien - available from St. Joseph’s Workshop, 259 Traders Blvd. E., Unit 12, Mississauga, ON L4Z 2E5. Tel: 905-568-8777; fax: 905-568-2676.

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• Arrange each Sunday schedule so that the family worships together.
• Respect Sunday as God’s day and as the family’s day. Do things together as a family.
• Make time for each other. “Mom and Dad, when can I talk with both of you?”
• Develop the family practice of receiving the Sacrament of Penance each month.
• Honour each bedroom with a Crucifix. Honour other rooms in the house with religious pictures.
• Each month, on a Sunday, bless the home with holy water.  Make this a family ceremony.
• Express love through encouragement. Encouragement in sports, in kindness, in word and in deed.
• The Rosary – Plan to pray the Rosary regularly as a family. Encourage everyone to carry a Rosary at all times. A Rosary a day keeps the devil away.
• If at all possible, ensure that there is one breadwinner and one homemaker in the family.
• The art of heart-felt listening is one of the great keys to happiness within a home. Encourage all family members to listen attentively to other members of the family.
• Have a prayer corner in your home and display items such as: the Holy Bible, Holy Candle, Pro-Life bulletin board, etc.)
• Youth should learn to regulate their desires and inclinations to be Pro-Life Disciples.
• To be Pro-Life and Pro-Family, youth should constantly strive to develop Christian  virtues and values that help with self-control.
• Encourage youth and families to work together on Pro-Life activities.
• Strengthen your moral support by having Pro-Life families and youth as friends.

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Youth must learn to regulate their desires and inclinations to be Pro-Life Disciples. The words of Jesus are true for all who wish to resist and triumph: “If any man wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mk 8:34). To deny oneself means a change of heart, to become a new person. It consists in living with charity, courage and chastity. In our Lord’s instructions, ‘deny oneself’ comes before ‘follow Me’. The self-will must be crushed first by giving a deathblow to one’s evil inclinations and evil desires. Self-denial requires that the individual practises mortification. Before we can be of real Service to Life, one must be empty of self and grace-filled.

Given that the origin of evil temptations is inconstancy of mind and lack of confidence in God, youth must first keep the door of the mind closed to evil suggestions, stay open to truths of their faith, and have a consistent daily prayer life. There can be no ‘playing with fire’ (e.g.: pornography); no seeing ‘how far one can get away with’ (e.g.: heavy necking); no careless or sloppy ‘letting one’s guard down’ (e.g.: drinking and driving). The Gift of Life is to be treated with generosity and thankfulness.

The time to conquer evil thoughts or dangerous occasions of sin is the instant they come. If the enemy is met on the threshold at his first knock, he will be overcome more easily. Long and frequent delays in resistance lead to irretrievable harm. Youth need a definite defense strategy: “Resist beginnings, all too late the end” (Imitation of Christ). The slippery slope agenda is dangerous; first a mere thought, then a strong impression, afterwards pleasure, evil action and consent. By slow degrees, the malicious enemy obtains full entrance, if we do not resist him at the outset.

To be Pro-Life and Pro-Family, youth must constantly strive to develop the Christian virtues and values that help with self-control. Humility wins purity for us. Pride often engenders the sin of impurity. King David acknowledged this as the cause of his fall: “Before I was humbled, I offended” (Ps 119:67). The stronghold of chastity is humility and its custodian is charity. To try to conquer the revolts of one’s lower nature through continence or abstinence alone without humility is like a drowning man who tries to save himself by throwing out one hand.

Keeping oneself in the presence of God constantly is a powerful means of being a Pro-Life witness, manifesting a Pro-Life presence as well as bridling the passions and overcoming temptations: “All the days of your life have God in your mind” (Tb 10:14). St. Thomas taught that if we were at all times mindful of the presence of God, we would displease Him very seldom. St. Jerome remarked that the thought of the presence of God closes the door to sin. St. Teresa taught that all our faults arise from not thinking of God as present to us, but imagining Him as far away. Making a pledge or promise to St. Joseph to practice one’s faith fully, to live a chaste life, can be a decisive turning point for Youth.*

The greatest means for avoiding sin is persevering prayer. Youth need divine assistance in the violent conflicts with habitual sin and occasions of evil. Jesus gave clear directions to all: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation”. If youth, when facing the enemy, discard their armour for even one day, that is the day they will be overcome. So it is with the soul. The whole of life is a continual struggle. For the unborn it begins at times before conception, before birth. For the handicapped, it is a question of support and survival. For the chronically ill or elderly, it is a question of sharing and caring. Youth must reach out in their communities and be Pro-Active in the Pro-Life Ministry. They are needed in the volunteer service of life - to be living signs of faith, hope and love. They are needed to be present signs of friendship to the poor and needy. Start a Pro-Life team in your school.
Youth, in accepting Pope John Paul II’s call to build a “Culture of Life and a Civilization of Love” must never lose sight of Pro-Life virtues and values or they will walk in the dark, in the shadows of the culture of death evident in today’s contraceptive mentality, abortion clinics, mercy-killing strategy or sterilization camps. YOUTH must say NO to the false teachings that recreational sex is acceptable - that abortion is safe. YOUTH must say YES to objective truth and Christian values, to God’s loving plan for YOUTH, for ALL HUMAN LIFE, from conception to natural death. This means nothing less than ‘Total Commitment to Christ’. It means RESISTING EVIL AND LIVING TRIUMPHANTLY, A LIFE OF CHARITY, COURAGE AND CHASTITY.

*See St. Joseph’s Promise in this edition of The Facts of Life.

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• Begin planning now to ensure that your school has a pro-life group in place next year.

• Make sure that Pro-Life is always visible in your school. Contact your local Pro-Life office for posters and other Pro-Life information.

• For Ontario schools, plan now to send a busload of students to the Ontario Students Pro-Life Conference in London, October 26-28, 2000.

• Talk your school authority into adding a permanent Pro-Life statement to your school sign.

FOR
CLASS
DISCUSSION

Situation: Mary Jane goes to Church every Sunday and often on weekdays. You can tell by speaking to Mary Jane that she is obviously close to God and takes her faith quite seriously.

For Class Discussion: Should we ignore Mary Jane’s stand on contraception, abortion and chastity because they are based on her religious beliefs?
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Situation: Fred says that he is ‘personally pro-life’ but has no business imposing his views on others.

For Class Discussion: How many students in your class think this way? Is being ‘pro-life’ imposing your views on others? How does this differ from other laws against such things as killing innocent people?
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Situation: A Toronto nurse, originally charged with murder in the death of a two-day-old infant, whom she had left to die after the child was born with gross deformities, was set free due to lack of sufficient evidence.

For Class Discussion: Should children born with gross deformities be left to die rather than face the challenge to live a courageous life for both the child and parents?
 

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A good thing I can say about the TV show The Simpson’s is that it has made writing about temptation much easier. Quite often when Bart is trying to make a major decision they depict him with a little devil on one shoulder and a little angel on the other. Although we can’t see either the little devil trying to get us to do what is selfish, mean-spirited, abusive, deceptive, etc., or the little angel trying to encourage us to do what is selfless, charitable, helpful, honest, etc., doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. When a teenage girl is dealing with issues of life, like the child in her womb, she can be filled with conflicting choices. Some choices give life and others cause death. But just because we can’t see the child in the womb doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist either.

As a matter of fact, what we can’t see means more to us than what we can see. Love is a perfect example. We can’t see love. Whether it is the love two friends have for each other; or the love family members have for each other; or the love a husband and wife have for each other; or the love a mother has for the child in her womb, we know that it exists, we know that we would miss it if it ceased, yet we can’t touch see or touch it.
Unfortunately, temptation is as real as love. Usually temptation is leading us to destroy love. Anything that could be considered a temptation would cause harm to another human being or ourself, and our relationship with God.

Jesus has given us TWO commandments that summarize the TEN commandments and called us to a Pro-Life commitment. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and all your strength; and your neighbour as yourself or love each other as I have loved you. Many people take these commands very lightly, predominantly because they haven’t reflected on what they truly mean.

First, in order to LOVE we must be free. Love is something we freely give to another human being that manifests itself in trust, fidelity, honesty, and a genuine desire for the good of the other. We know this is how God loves us. Therefore, our challenge is to respond to God’s love for us by loving Him and loving each other as Jesus has loved us. He gave His life. He asked us to be ‘Life-Sharers’.

Jesus showed us that the love that brings about the most good for the whole world and ourselves is a selfless love - a love that would inspire Him to offer His life on the Cross for us.

In a society that believes that we should do what we like, when we like, and where we like, the message of the Gospel is counter-cultural. The Gospel calls us to think of how our actions and words will affect others, and not just whether we can derive pleasure from an action.  This concept is called self-denial, a Pro-Life principle. We have all experienced the inner satisfaction that comes from doing an act of charity even when it meant giving up something that we thought would give us more pleasure. We have also experienced the boredom, pain, or suffering that comes from doing something we thought would give us pleasure even if we knew it wasn’t right.

Quite often temptation seems to be very attractive, just like in Bart’s situations, whether it is the easy way out that includes dishonesty; the selfish choice that desires to keep all that is good for oneself; or the using of another human being as a source of pleasure rather than respecting their human dignity; or letting someone else receive punishment for our actions.

One way we learn to overcome temptation is through practicing self-denial. Quite often during Lent people will give up something they really like as a way of showing God that they love Him more than they love the things in this world. By practicing small acts of selflessness we are training ourselves to deal with temptation. Because quite often they seem very interesting or enjoyable at the moment, with a little reflection we see the negative consequences our actions could have.

Just like Bart Simpson we not only have someone tempting us to do what harms  us, we also have a Guardian Angel who is our personal messenger from God who helps us do what is right and what will bring us that inner happiness and joy that only comes from doing God’s Will. Unfortunately, as the world yells and shouts, God’s messenger only whispers to us in the silence of our hearts. Therefore, if we want to hear the voice of God when we need to make serious decisions that involve life and death, we need to be people of prayer who are as willing to listen to God as we are to tell Him what we want. In trying to live according to what we believe, we know that we can experience inner peace and joy even in the midst of difficult situations.  Jesus has promised to always be with us until the end of the world, and He has sent the Holy Spirit as our helper and advocate to guide us with God’s grace.
 
 

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• World overpopulation is a myth.  Alberta alone hs enough room to house the world population in single family homes.

•  Birth control pills fail at least 3% of the time.  They also often kill the child already formed (abortion).

• Condoms have a 10-30% (30% for young people) failure rate in controlling pregancy.  Condoms have natural tiny holes in them.  These holes are at least 500 times larger than the HIV-1 virus.

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