Ave Maria Meditations
The fortitude and conviction of the first Christians is what our Lord is also asking from His followers today, when, in certain environments, there breathes a climate of indifference or even direct attack, more or less veiled, on true human and Christian values. A well formed conscience will lead a Christian to be as law-abiding as the best of his fellow citizens, at the same time as he is ready to take a stand against anything contrary to the natural law. The state is not juridically omnipotent; it is not the source of good and evil.
It is an obligation for Catholics who are present in political institutions to exercise a critical role within their respective institutions so that their programs and activities correspond every day more to the aspirations and criteria of Christian morality. In some cases it would even be obligatory to object in conscience to activities or decisions that go directly contrary to some precept of Christian morality.
The effective protection of fundamental individual rights, the right to life from the very first moment of conception, the protection of marriage and the family… All form part of the common good for which Christians should be prepared to fight. Passivity in the face of such important affairs would really be a lamentable error and omission. They would form part of the sins of omission… The Christian should not leave his faith aside in any circumstance.
Fr. Francis Fernandez
