Bishop Mark Davies Upholds Sanctity of Life in His Easter Homily


Torch of The Faith News on Tuesday 22 April 2014 - 14:51:12 | by admin

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In his Easter Sunday homily at Shrewsbury Cathedral, Bishop Mark Davies again called to mind the Christian roots of our English society.

Quoting the historian Sir Arthur Bryant, His Lordship recalled that those who came to Britain, armed only with a Cross and the faith and courage which that Cross gave them: 'converted a savage tribal people and their rulers to Christ's gentle creed of love and sacrifice, and to the revolutionary belief, inherent in Christianity, that every individual was a... soul of equal value in the eyes of God.'

Bishop Davies expounded that this was, 'indeed a change from darkness to dawn. In the light of the Easter faith, the English people came to recognise the eternal value and dignity of every human person.'

He noted that our society has taken the benefits of Christian civilization for granted. Drawing from Gaudium et Spes (GS 36), he lamented the fact that 'once God is forgotten we are left in darkness...and without this faith, respect for the inherent sanctity of human life and the God-given dignity of every person cannot long survive.'

His Lordship then applied these reflections to a Bill, which will be brought before Parliament in a matter of weeks, that aims to legalise 'assisted suicide.'

In response to this latest threat from the Culture of Death, Bishop Davies stated with Blessed Pope John Paul II: 'How much we need that ''ever new light'' shed by Christ on the true way of love and mercy ''which our common humanity calls for'' (Evangelium Vitae: EV 67).

Reminding the congregation of the words of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, that being a Christian is not the result of a lofty idea or ethical choice, but an encounter with the living Person of Christ, His Lordship made a concluding call to all his hearers: 'Christianity is that meeting, that encounter with Christ; the same meeting with His Cross and Resurrection to which the English people came at the beginning of their history. It is to this encounter that you and I are called anew today, as the light of our Baptismal candles are re-kindled and we stand together to profess the Faith we share with all the Church.'

Thanks be to God for Bishop Mark's continued reference to the Catholic roots of English society and to the God-given dignity of the human person. Let us pray that this latest attempt to further euthanasia in our already sin-darkened nation will be thwarted.

May Christ rule in all our hearts, memories, intellects and wills.    


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