Every other combination of sperm and ovum would have been a different person.

The one moment in the whole history of the universe when any of them could have come into existence passed at that moment.

They will never exist.

And at the one moment when you could have come into existence, you did.

You might well ask: "why me?"

You really are one in a million!

According to the pioneers of IVF (Edwards and Steptoe), the fertilized ovum is already "a microscopic human being" even before it is implanted.

"It becomes magnificently organized, switching on its own biochemistry, increasing in size, and preparing itself quickly for implantation in the womb". (A Matter of Life and Death, 1981.)

That is accepted scientific teaching.

So when people say the newly conceived is only a part of its mother's body tissue - and not yet a distinct new human being - they are being unscientific.

It's a glib way of speaking, and usually agenda-driven.

When the Church teaches that abortion is wrong, it's not about control over women!

It's about taking science seriously and about love for the newly conceived child and its parents.

Whatever the circumstances in which your existence began, and whatever the circumstances in which your life will end, you always matter to God.

Each of us is personally called into existence, for a wonderful future with God.

That's why human lives are sacred, at every point between conception and natural death.

The womb is the child's first environment, where the wellbeing of the mother can affect the wellbeing of the child.

Some health issues arise even before birth; e.g. heart defects, spina bifida, Down syndrome, damage to brain development due to drugs or alcohol taken during pregnancy, etc. (The claim that we are "all born perfect", as a Hollywood star recently said, is just another example of glib non-scientific talk.)

It is wonderful that medical science is able to correct some of these disorders - sometimes even while the child is still in the womb.

We can truthfully name less perfect conditions - which is what we expect of the medical profession, for example.

No one is being "judged" or blamed when referring to dyslexia or gender dysphoria or autism or allergies; health and developmental issues are being named.

What matters most is that none of these conditions stands in the way of God's love, which is unconditional and the same for each and every one.

Moreover, God is working through each one's life - in and through each one's differences. Every person has their own special place in God's unfolding plan.

The ancient psalms were written before the sciences were thought of. They have their own poetic way of saying things:

It was you who created my being,
knit me together in my mother's womb.
I thank you for the wonder of my being,
for the wonders of all your creation.

Already you knew my soul,
my body held no secret from you
when I was being fashioned in secret
and moulded in the depths of the earth...

O search me, God, and know my heart.
O test me and know my thoughts.
See that I follow not the wrong path
and lead me in the path of life eternal. (Ps 139: vv 13-15)

• +Peter Cullinane was the first bishop of the Diocese of Palmerston North. Now retired he continues to be a respected writer and leader of retreats and is still busy at local, national, and international levels. Here he shares his reflections on sciences and Christian faith.
• This is the second in a series of chapters from his letter to senior students
• Image: Manawatu Standard.

Superficial understanding leaves us vulnerable to other people's spin - commercial spin, political spin, agenda-driven ideologies, etc.

Scientists work hard to establish facts.

They know we need to act on what is objectively true. Solving crimes, the judicial system, and research in every field are all based on the premise that truth matters.

Studies and exams are based on the premise that true and false are not the same.

All these activities - and most of human life - would be turned up-side-down if it were enough to say: "truth is whatever the individual thinks it is - it's true for her/him" and "right is whatever the individual chooses - it's right for him/her".

Those clichés belong to a way of thinking called "relativism".

The need for objective truth applies also to the big questions of life.

Some activities are true to human nature and some are not.

Some are consistent with human dignity, and some are not. That is what the commandments are all about.

Some actions are right and some are wrong whether the individual knows it or not.

Judgments about which activities are right and which are wrong are judgments we need to make - otherwise how could we say, for example, that rape is wrong?

Not to make such judgments is ultimately not to care.

But judging people's actions is one thing: judging their consciences is another.

They may be in good conscience or in bad conscience concerning what they are doing. They may be more blameworthy or less blameworthy or not blameworthy at all.

That is why Pope Francis could say: "who am I to judge"?

We need to know the difference between judging a person's actions (which we can rightly do) and judging their conscience (which we cannot.)

So too, explaining that some behaviour is wrong, doesn't mean we don't love the people who do it.

When Jesus said some behaviours involve exclusion from his kingdom, He wasn't "hating" anyone - in fact.

He was loving everyone because He wanted all to be included.

When parents tell their children that thieving, for example, is wrong, it doesn't mean they don't love their children.

And when the Church passes on the teaching of the scriptures, it isn't hating anyone.

The paramount law is love. But people who love still need to judge between right and wrong.

Learning the difference, and living the difference, between true and false, right and wrong, is all part of what kind of persons we become.

To opt out of judging the difference between true and false, right and wrong, is to remain less than we might have been - and less free.

As Jesus said, it is the truth that sets us free!

• +Peter Cullinane was the first bishop of the Diocese of Palmerston North. Now retired he continues to be a respected writer and leader of retreats and is still busy at local, national, and international levels. Here he shares his reflections on sciences and Christian faith. To conclude the introduction of this series he quotes Albert Einstein, "Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind."
• This is the first in a series of chapters from his letter to senior students
• Image: Manawatu Standard

Entitled It's All About Becoming, Cullinane says the letter is aimed at closing the gap that often exists between Church language and people's lived experience.

He believes it is easier for young people to experience the wonder and joys of life and easier to navigate its troubled waters if they understand life as a process of becoming.

The bishop says people don't merely live their lives on the planet as if on a stage, until time to exit. We are part of the life of the planet and the planet finds expression in us.

"Your life is not a chance in the long history of the universe. It is a calling, and it has a purpose.

"No other person could ever substitute for you.

"I hope you to be able to see that, and wonder at it!

"Each of us needs to come alive to the miracle of our own life and our place in the universe", he writes.

Cullinane proposes a theological understanding that comes from our being part of a universe that is still a work in progress; unfinished business.

"In various ways, we are all incomplete. The important thing is that none of the dents and kinks in our lives (the ones we don't choose) stands between us and God's love for us".

He concludes by citing the example of two young teenagers whom Pope Francis recently put on the path to sainthood; Alexia Gonzales Barros and Carlo Acutis. Each had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and rose above their sufferings to help others.

In living their lives to the full they were not defeated by their serious set-backs, he says. Seeing life as always unfinished, Cullinane encourages young people to talk about those disappointments.

"It's easier to talk about our set-backs when we see our lives as part of an unfinished world, and our life as a process of becoming".

It's All About Becoming examines twelve of the ways in which we become, including the significance of the choices people make.

Later editions of CathNews will feature chapters from "All about Becoming."

Sources

Supplied

Image: pndiocese.org.nz