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A Pro-Life Profession of Faith
and
Reflections on the Visitation account from
the Gospel according to St. Luke;
with it's teaching on the sacredness
of Life within the womb
http://cpforlife.org/teaching_against_abortion.htm

by Kevin M. Jeanfreau, Founder
Christian Patriots For Life
August 28, 2001

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator and Author of all Life, and in Jesus Christ His Son, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
By His Passion, Death, and Resurrection- He destroyed death and restored Life.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life.

I believe human personhood begins at conception- is sacred and inviolable until natural death.

I believe each human person is made in the image and likeness of God, with intellect and will; that each person is of infinite value, is precious in God's eyes and so must be in mine.

I believe that each person from the moment of conception is infinitely loved and cared for by God each moment of their lives, that if they were the only person to ever exist, Jesus would die on the cross so they may have eternal Life.

I believe that at the Visitation, when John leaped for joy at the presence of the Lord Jesus; the unborn Christ taught, and the unborn Baptist proclaimed, the sacred inviolability of Life in the womb.

I believe that "whatsoever you do to the least of these you do unto Me", applies most especially to the unborn who are the unseen, just as the unborn Son of God was until His Nativity.

I believe that God judges nations and peoples by how they treat the weakest and most defenseless.

I believe that if I want the leaders of tomorrow to be strong in their Pro-Life convictions,
I must fully educate them on the sacredness of Life from their earliest days through to adulthood.

I believe that through God's grace and infinite Mercy, our world can one day be a people of Life.

Amen

About this Creed:

While it is self explanatory, some parts can be expounded upon.

People say that Jesus never taught about the sacredness of Life in the womb. These need to reread and pray over the first chapter of Luke. Not only did Jesus teach that life in the womb is sacred- HE TAUGHT THIS TRUTH FROM THE WOMB!

There are many places in scripture that teach about the sacredness of life within the womb, but perhaps none more beautifully than Luke's account of the Visitation.

Scholars believe Jesus was perhaps a couple of weeks along from conception and John the Baptist about Six months from conception at the Visitation.

Tertullian who lived 160-240 was one of the early Church Fathers. He teaches on the Visitation in his work De A ninta 26:4 "They [John and Jesus] were both alive while still in the womb. Elizabeth rejoiced as the infant leaped in her womb; Mary glorifies the Lord because Christ within inspired her. Each mother recognizes her child and is known by her child who is alive, being not merely souls but also spirits."

Consider this passage from The Gospel of Life by Pope John Paul II Section 45:
"The New Testament revelation confirms the indisputable recognition of the value of life from its very beginning. The exaltation of fruitfulness and the eager expectation of life resound in the words with which Elizabeth rejoices in her pregnancy: "The Lord has looked on me... to take away my reproach among men" (Lk 1:25). And even more so, the value of the person from the moment of conception is celebrated in the meeting between the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, and between the two children whom they are carrying in the womb. It is precisely the children who reveal the advent of the Messianic age: In their meeting, the redemptive power of the presence of the Son of God among men first becomes operative. As Saint Ambrose writes: "The arrival of Mary and the blessings of the Lord's presence are also speedily declared... Elizabeth was the first to hear the voice; but John was the first to experience grace. She heard according to the order of nature; he leaped because of the mystery. She recognized the arrival of Mary; he the arrival of the Lord. The woman recognized the woman's arrival; the child, that of the Child. The women speak of grace; the babies make it effective from within to the advantage of their mothers who, by a double miracle, prophesy under the inspiration of their children. The infant leaped, the mother was filled with the Spirit. The mother was not filled before the son, but after the son was filled with the Holy Spirit, he filled his mother too".[36]

Consider also this excerpt from footnote #60 of the same work:
"So too the Evangelist Luke in the magnificent episode of the meeting of the two mothers, Elizabeth and Mary, and their two sons, John the Baptist and Jesus, still hidden in their mothers' wombs (cf. 1:39-45) emphasizes how even before their birth the two little ones are able to communicate: The child recognizes the coming of the Child and leaps for joy."

Homily by Fr. James Gilhooley Fr. Gilhooley homilies (cycle C) available on CD. Send $10 to him at: 112 Patchett Way, Montgomery, NY 12549. 24 DEC 2000 Fourth Sunday of Advent -
Cycle C Luke 1:39-45 Father Gihooley states "Jesus has clearly taught us that abortion is wrong, He declares, by the decisive facts of His early days in Mary's womb."

Both of these unborn were manifesting their Personhood- their unique individual identity.

Pro-choicers say that the unborn are of the human species but are not "persons", and yet clearly from all Christian teaching the Unborn Person in the womb of Mary was none other than the Second Person of the Trinity. God became man, took on Himself the flesh of the Virgin. He became like us in all things but sin.

The paragraph from this creed on the Visitation basically distills several theological dogmas with this passage from Luke's Gospel:
All truth comes from the Father - through the Son - in the Spirit.
The Baptist is the precursor of the One Who is the Truth.

These two unborn children obviously communicated on some level. By Grace John knew Who was visiting he and his mother. Two distinct individuals-- Mary, Elizabeth's kinswoman and her unborn Son, Jesus the Messiah.

I believe that along with all the other teachings on the Visitation, one can see a particular lesson between the two Unborn of the passage. John by his leaping for joy at the recognition of the Unborn Christ through the Holy Spirit, relayed this truth to his mother. Luke 1: 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the voice of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

In all truth it can be said that the Baptist already was making known the coming of the Messiah! This unborn person was already living out his calling. John the Baptist who years later would be heard to cry out "Behold the Lamb of God" John 1:29 was already crying out Behold the Lamb of God-- silently, though both he and the Lamb were yet unborn.

By the Spirit John knew before his mother that Mary was pregnant with the Savior of the world. Elizabeth is acknowledging that Mary is carrying "my Lord." There can be no doubt whatsoever that Elizabeth knew the Lord was a person even if unborn.

What better place could Jesus have taught the truth of the sacredness of life in the womb than from inside the womb Himself. And how profound it is that the first person He would teach was also in the womb.

Here it must be remembered that the Lord taught in many different ways: With parables, from the scriptures, and through events around Him. But His greatest teachings were the ones where He taught not with words but by example- preeminently His holy Passion. So too the Unborn Christ most fittingly taught the sacredness of life within the womb not with words but by His own Sacred Life within the womb--which if prayerfully studied teaches volumes.

Regarding the second to last section of this creed: "... educate them on the sacredness of Life from their earliest schooling through to adulthood." is fully spelled out at http://www.cpforlife.org