“Filipino Family: Cradle of Synodality”

Nowadays we are confronted with many anti-life issues namely; suicidal cases, abortion, murders, and the continued crimes related to drug abuse and cause of human trafficking. As Church people we are challenged to look at where we are now in our mission to promote the Gospel of Life. We may ask ourselves whether or not we fail to inculcate in the minds and hearts of people about the sanctity of human life from conception until its natural death.

The Sacred Scriptures reveal to us the loving design of God for every human life. This life is created by God according to his image and likeness. (cf. Gen. 1: 26). Hence man receive the highest dignity as the crowning glory of creation, who is entrusted to become steward over other created beings according to the will and loving design of the creator. The value of human life is shown even to a person who may have committed a notorious act, for the Bible said: “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” (Ezekiel 33: 11) Moreover, human life is elevated to highest level of existence, through the incarnation of the Son of God. The Gospel of John summarizes it by saying: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3: 16)

The Pro-life celebration of this month of February 2023 echoes the spirit of synodality that the Church wants to embrace at present. The theme which says: “The Filipino Family: cradle of synodality” captures the truth of what the family is all about and what it should be. Why is the family a cradle of synodality? It is because it is in the home that communion begins. It is in a life long partnership of a man and a woman, who made a solemn vow of journeying together “for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, and sickness and in health until death” that synodality is concretely expressed and lived.

Furthermore, the family is the cradle of synodality because it is the sanctuary of life and it is where the journey of every human being begins. The womb of the mother is the first human environment and the Christian home is the first community of social belongingness and connectedness. It is in the family that life is welcomed, valued, nurtured and protected amidst different circumstances in life. It is in the family that the first experience of humanization happens. It is in the family that the newly born child learns to participate in the life and mission of being part of the bigger society.

Human life may have been under constant attack from different forces that threaten to diminish its worth and value. However there is no anti-life agenda and sentiments that can ever weaken the truth of the sanctity of life as willed by God. It remains to be an inviolable gift that must be protected and fostered at all cost. Happy Pro-Life Month to all! Cheers to life!