“A Child has been Born for Us, Unto Us a Son is Given”

It is Christmas! Let us be glad and rejoice. The Son of God, who pre-existed time, emptied himself to take on our human condition. This mystery of Incarnation expresses the elevation of our human nature to the rank of the Son's deity. “The Son of God became man that we might become divine”, we read in the work of Saint Athanasius on the Incarnation. It reveals the sacredness of human life, a big challenge for our modern society.

Indeed, the gospel’s announcement of glad tidings “A child has been born for us” is echoed on the occasion of every birth. The image of the newborn gave rise to Hannah Arendt’s concept of natality: with every birth begins not only a story of another life but also a story of a new life, the promise of new initiatives and new beginnings. Each person is in himself a new beginning. Isn’t this fundamental character of natality obscured by reproductive technology, especially with genetic programming?

Of course, medically assisted procreation helps solve many problems related to birth. Thanks to the technology, our contemporary world solves issues like infertility and sterility. Even the impact of menopause is sometimes reversed. It is also possible to satisfy the desires of unconventional parenthood and prevent the transference of serious illness to the child. However, these feats also pose serious ethical challenges. Assisted reproduction provides access to basic cells of human life making medical professionals highly involved in the genesis of a human being. This genesis requires ethical vigilance in our time when a child is sometimes considered as a “human creation” whose right to life depends on the parents, especially while he/she is still in the womb. In this context, what implications should we draw from the biblical sentence “A child has been born for us, unto us a son is given?”

It is not given to the parents to “create” a child in their own image. A child is a gift from God, the Lord and giver of life. As a gift, a child is given to the parents and to humankind from conception to natural death. There is no need to discuss when the fetus becomes sufficiently human to have the right to life. As a baby on the way, the fetus is a human -living-being from conception. It is not fully developed yet, but it is fully human and therefore has a right to life from this time. “The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life” (Donum Vitae I,1). This right to life gives parents the duty and responsibility of welcoming the newborn into the family.

Even God needed a family to integrate into humankind. The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph was a natural family. It is the loving relationship between a man and a woman who welcome the gift from God in their midst. Every child is born into an already-existing world with its “traditions”.

The family helps him/her learn about those traditions, including the fundamental values of human existence. The family is therefore the basic cell of social life, the ideal place where the newborn starts experiencing the coexistence with others and with God. The child will learn about God, faith, prayer, and worship. That is why every Catholic family is called to be an Ecclesia Domestica, a Domestic Church.

In this time or Christmas, let us pray for life. May the birth of Jesus foster a consistent respect for human life, born and unborn; and may all expectant mothers enjoy the blessing of a safe delivery of a healthy child. And a joy in the gift of new life God has entrusted to them. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!