A Letter to People of Life

Dear Friends Who Teach Natural Family Planning and Defend the Sanctity of Marriage,

It was good to read in your artistically designed letters, the manner in which God is working in your marriage and bringing the "Gospel of Life” to other couples in the Tucson and Phoenix Dioceses.

The contraceptive culture has such a strong grip on people both inside and outside the Catholic Church; functioning almost like an “anti-Eucharist” among catechized non-Catholics and non-catechized Catholics. I read so many articles by people of faith idolizing artificial contraception as “manna” from heaven. Jesus said, “Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and died.” (John 6:49) What a poignant message to modern society. 

Effects of The Contraceptive Mentality

By your choice to support a “Culture of Life,” there will be persecution. I would say the car accident you suffered through is one such persecution. Be not afraid, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) 

The secular culture pervades our way of thinking and acting in many unrecognizable ways. It is only when a person collects the mind of Christ revealed in His Sacred Words, the lives of His Saints, the Doctrines of His Catholic Church, and abides in Him sacramentally that a person’s conscience is established. What an abused word “conscience” has become.

Every shepherd unwilling to take a stand for Christ floats the phrase “we must respect personal conscience.” A choice between two objective goods is a work of conscience. A choice emphatically rendered by the Church

identifying what is good and what is evil is an objective expression of Christ’s conscience. A person who argues, “my conscience supersedes the conscience of Christ as revealed in His Church” is simply rationalizing the power of sin, which stems from ignorance, weakness, fear and indifference.

Susan and I have a friend in Albuquerque, who gave up all forms of media. She said, “Watching and listening to the passions of the world drains my soul, leaving little passion for Christ.” I think it is in Mark’s Gospel, that Jesus tells His disciples to “listen and watch” while they were on their way to Jerusalem. It is interesting that the entertainment genre “Walking Dead” has become so popular today. The Walking Dead are people with no direction. What a terrible condition.

Another fruitful way of collecting the mind of Christ is by observing God’s creation through the gifts of reason and faith. Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have both written so much on the necessity of humanity to rediscover the complimentary natures of reason and faith and integrate both within all aspects of human life. The secular world values “reason alone” and so many non-Catholics value “faith alone,” both giving birth to “personal conscience alone.”

It sounds -- based upon Susan’s recent visit -- that the Lord is asking you both to support another project, dealing with, “discovering the image of the Most Holy Trinity within the created human body.” I guess it could be called, “God’s Image Project.”

Susan purchased a lily plant for Easter. It is in our kitchen and every so often aromatically speaks to us, asking for water. I thought about Jesus’ words, “Do you not see the lilies of the field? I tell you not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these.” (Matt. 6:29) 

Beguiled by a Lily

One day for a brief moment I could see within the delicacy of the lily the literal reality of Jesus’ words. It was as if Jesus (the master designer) was saying, “You have no idea how much care went into the design and development of that plant. If you could only see the joy that the beauty from that one lily plant brings creation, you would learn the meaning of the purpose of life, God’s plan for each person, and how to trust in His Mercy.” 

Tragically, a materialist dissecting, measuring, and quantifying lily stem cells would only discover defects and evidence that the

A materialist's idea of a good time

universe is not the result of intelligent design. Your ministry of teaching couples about the gift of fertility is a formidable response to materialists like Alice Roberts, physician and anatomist, who argues in her book, The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us, that aesthetics demonstrates inefficiency and lack of intelligent design. 

For people like Alice Roberts -- who are now dominating so many medical professions – beauty is amoral with no ethical reality but efficiency is the only ethic the matters and the only reality that demonstrates intelligence. “If you are the son of God, command these stones to turn into bread.” (Matt. 4:3) (Satan’s words to Christ.) Such is the thinking behind euthanasia, abortion and contraception, and the increasing practice of hospitals to issue “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR) orders even for children chocking on meat.

It is our prayer that God continues to protect you both as He shepherds your family, parishioners, co-workers, and students through your ministry.

Yours in Christ Jesus and Mary,

Lorenzo  Fox