The Evangelical Pope | Children, the Springtime of Life

Each week we let Saint Pope John Paul II share meaningful signposts to spark socio-economic resolves through justice and righteousness combined with mercy and compassion; in short, love

"The United Nations Organization has proclaimed 1979 the Year of the Child. 

I wish to express the joy that we all find in children, the springtime of life, the anticipation of the future history of each of our present earthly homelands. No country on earth, no political system can think of its future otherwise than through the image of these new generations that will receive from their parents the manifold heritage of values, duties, and aspirations of the nation to which they belong, part of the whole human family.

Concern for the child, even before birth, is the primary and fundamental test of the relationship of one human being to another. 

What better wish can I express for every nation and the whole of humankind, and all the children on earth?

               A better future in which respect for human rights will become an absolute reality! "

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Our Children – Jewels More Precious Than Stone

We at the Building the Bridge Foundation dedicate our work to all the children in the Region. Too many are now imprisoned. Too many are being emotionally, mentally, and spiritually molested. Too many kids are killed, beaten, and kidnapped. Our future generation should be in school, not foregoing their optimism, innocence, and youth in tyrannical and exploitive military jails.

Some slap a soldier in the face. Others throw stones. Many are in jail for no reason at all, other than they fit the profile, not necessarily the crime; or, their brother or sister might just have been picked up.

If the baseball pitcher in Yankee Stadium throws a stone, it is lethal. But kids? Israeli Journalist Larry Derfner reports that 99 percent of the time, stones thrown by kids land on other stones, on the street, or against a building. If a stone strikes a soldier in the most unlikely event, rest assured the soldier wears riot gear, protected with a helmet and a bulletproof vest.

Nonetheless, the reprisals are 1,000 Eyes for 1 Eye.

On the other side are children who do not know better. They follow in the footsteps of their role models. They, too, are traumatized for life.

We dedicate our work to all children, the future of our planet, especially those presently in anguish, separated from their parents, because of a regime that knows no better. They fix blame rather than fix problems.

Isn't it time to unbridle our moral imagination? Our hearts are with all the children, everywhere.

van Kempen, Abraham A. Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf - 2nd Edition: Evangelicals Rediscovering New Testament Revelations (pp. 9-10). Fast Pencil Publishing. Kindle Edition.

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John Paul II: "Are the children to receive the arms race from us as a necessary inheritance?

How are we to explain this unbridled race? 

It must be our solemn wish here for our children, for the children of all the nations on earth, that this point will never be reached. And for that reason, I do not cease to pray to God each day so that in his mercy, he may save us from so terrible a day.

I wish to express before all the high representatives of the United Nations a word of esteem and deep love for all the nations, all human communities. Each one has its history and culture.

               I hope that they will live and grow in the freedom and truth of their history. For that is the measure of the common good.

               I hope that each person will live and grow strong with the moral force of the community that forms its members as citizens.

               I hope that the State authorities while respecting the just rights of each citizen, will enjoy the confidence of all for the common good.

               I hope that all the nations, even the smallest, even those that do not yet enjoy full sovereignty and those that have been forcibly robbed of it, will meet in full equality with the others in the United Nations Organization.

               I hope that the United Nations will ever remain the supreme forum of peace and justice, the authentic seat of freedom of peoples and individuals in their longing for a better future."

Excerpted from:

Apostolic Journey To The United States of America Address Of His Holiness John Paul II
to The 34th General Assembly of The United Nations, New York, Tuesday, 2 October 1979.

https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1979/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19791002_general-assembly-onu.html