Rañin, Manilac Melissa Salcedo ReEd20 1:30- 2:30PM MWF Sr.

Mary Martha Fe

1. Give reflections about the said statements found in the book.

Luke 9:60-62, James 2:17, 1 Cor 8:1, Luke 22:2ff, Mth.28;19-20

That verse tells us that “following” Jesus suggests a fundamental meaning of

mission or apostolic vocation. The place, time and distance really do not matter.
Just “being” with Jesus is the foundation on which every motivation for doing
mission stands. This verse also tells us to help those deprived people by sharing
what we have to them. In that little way, we were following God’s footsteps. We
may not have the capability to give them shelter but we can do little things to them
lovingly.

Indeed, motivation does not only consist in having the capacity to produce, to
accomplish, or to travel a distance. But it also consists in just having Jesus- walking
with Him, listening to Him, and spending time with Him. Thus, mission is not only
having done much for the Lord, but also having the Lord doing much to one’s life.
We must thank God for the gift of faith we received from our loved ones. Let us then
treasure this faith and let it grow.

2. What is the central message of the different passages in the Scripture?

Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17

This passage connects to our reality nowadays. “You shall not kill!” – pushing
the reproductive health bill violates one of the commandments of God. We don’t
have the right to kill the unborn child. If this bill will be successfully passed then our
morality and dignity will be lost. Supporting this is like committing a murder.

Genesis 9: 5-7 and Acts 17:28

 This is the best passage I have read so far. This really talks how important
one’s life is. This shows that God is the one who only have the authority to take
one’s life (nothing else). God has the purpose in creating us, so this means He is the
one who really holds our life. We must reflect on this with regards to reproductive
health bill. The bill somehow corrupts the mind of the child’s youthful innocence. Let
us oppose the RH BILL. Let us all enjoy the fruits of the earth especially the greatest
gift that God gave to us- which is our life.

John 10:10

In our day to day living, we hear many voices that invite us to follow them.
Some of the voices are familiar, but from time to time there are also new voices in
the horizon. In the gospel today, Jesus told his disciples that, indeed, there will be
many who only pretend that they are “shepherds” but there is only one who is
good, sincere and righteous. A good shepherd is the one who knows his sheep and
the one whose voice the sheep will easily recognize. A good shepherd has a good
relationship with his sheep: he knows them and they know Him. Lastly, each one of
us is called to become a shepherd and today we received from Jesus the criteria on
how to become a good one.

John 11: 25

Martha, is portrayed in the passage as a person of action. She is presented as

the one who would not sit complacently just doing nothing. In this passage, we see
her going out to meet Jesus even if circumstance and propriety demanded that she
stayed home. Her brief dialog with Jesus illustrates her tremendous faith that is
rooted on a solid understanding of who she is considered Jesus to be the- Messiah
and the Son of God.

Martha becomes an example of all of us- who acts not only because she was
a workaholic or she had to keep herself busy but because she had things to
accomplish and not just rely on her faith and wait for things to happen. We must
have faith -as if everything were depended on God and then work as if everything
depended on us.

Mt. 5:43-45

Perfect as we are called to be- as the heavenly Father is perfect. On my point,

being perfect means to set no bounds to one’s love. Christ was then right when He
said that we love only those who love us: we greet only those who greet us and
even fear strangers. We are thus pagans, when our love is bounded by race, culture
and narrow interests.

Thus, the call that Jesus gives us in the gospel is for us to learn to broaden
our capacity to love so that Christ can continue his mission in us- first, by
experiencing his love, and then by making his love a reality in, with, through, and
by us. With this, Christ becomes present in our midst and all people will know that
we belong to Him.

1 John 3:15

We all have our crosses to bear on our external situation, other people, and
our own disabilities, weaknesses and fears. For this, the gospel shows that God
shows concern for humanity in having Moses lift up the serpent to cure the people
who had been bitten, and now the Son of Man is lifted up to draw all of us to
himself. This means that we are very important to God. If God believes so much in
us, then we should also believe in ourselves. Accepting the cross and seeing the
Lord’s victory in it will become an instrument of our healing and growth.

3. Why is the Church against contraception?

As what stated- Contraception is wrong not because the church says it’s
wrong; it is wrong because God himself, through the revelation of his Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ, had declared to be wrong.

RH Bill entailed lots of unethical ideas. This must NOT be passed to Congress
because it does not only violate our moral ethics but also this will contribute to the
downfall in our economy.

This is very immoral because it ruptures the relationship between the mother
and the child. As what I have researched, countries like Singapore have proven that
large population is better for gaining services. Their past policy which is STOP AT
TWO is now evolved to HAVE FOUR BABIES AND MORE. This is all because -their
birth rates is lower than death rates, which are making the old people as the
minority.

I am firm to my belief that contraception doesn’t improve the quality life of

those depressed, deprived and marginalized sectors in our society. Contraception
doesn’t make Philippines a richer country. It also doesn’t curb poverty.
Contraception or the RH Bill is not the key because what the poor people need
nowadays are skills, jobs, education, profitable opportunities and essential
substances NOT the contraception in which it threatens the lives of the women.
 Lastly, contraception is wrong not because the Church has banned it; the
Church banned it because it is wrong. I hope they will all realize the effects of this
bill.

4. Copy Salient Provisions No. 5, 6 and 8.

• No. 5 Hospital- Based Family Planning

Tubal ligation, vasectomy, intrauterine device insertion and other

family planning methods requiring hospital services shall be available
in all national and local government hospitals, except in specialty
hospitals which may render such services on an optional basis.

• No.6 Contraceptives As Essential Medicines

Reproductive health products and supplies shall be considered under

the category of essential medicines and supplies which all form part of
the National Drug Formulary and the same shall be included in the
regular purchase of essential medicines and supplies of all national and
local hospitals and other government health units.

• No. 8 Mandatory Age- Appropriate Reproductive Health Education

Reproductive Health Education in an age-appropriate manner shall be

taught by adequately trained teachers starting from Grade 5 up to
Fourth Year high school.

5. Compare the movement of USA regarding the Planned Parenthood and

the RH

Bill proposed in the Philippine Congress.

Planned Parenthood in the U.S. allows abortion as LEGAL. According to their

blogsite (www.plannedparenthood.org), these services are intended “ to prevent
unwanted pregnancies through contraception, reduce the spread of sexually
transmitted infection through testing and treatment, sexual education and etc.…”.
 On this site you can read about the FACT SHEETS of the Planned Parenthood
in America and their corresponding numbers of many people who aborted their
babies(http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/PPFA/PP_Services.pdf). All of these
are all evil doings because its about killing the unborn child in which it loses our
moral and dignity.

This is MORE LIKELY the same with the RH Bill in the Philippines. I have read
this full text about the RH BILL in this site
(http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/reproductive-health-bill-5043/text-of-rh-
bill-no-5043/), even though it doesn’t tell about ABORTION but it tells that
“Contraception are essential medicines.” Essential means it’s okay to have abortion
because it is essential. I disagree this bill because even though we live in a free
country –still we don’t have the right to kill human beings.

“THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH bill in the House of Representatives is being

presented as a health bill and an antipoverty bill at the same time. - -This is not
true. The reason is not valid. Why do they have to blame the overpopulation as the
number one reason why poverty existed in our country? They must look closely at
this case. We are number 1 exporter of rice to other countries. Does that mean that
we are in poverty? Maybe they should blame it to those corrupt officials who make
the country and Filipinos live below the poverty line.

All in all, this Planned Parenthood and it’s sister the Reproductive Health Bill
is just about killing human beings in the womb for a PROFIT. This bill rests on a
flawed premise; it is unnecessary, unconstitutional, oppressive of religious belief
and destructive of public morals and family values. Its enactment into law will only
deepen the already frightening ignorance about the real issues. It should be
rejected.

6. As a student of University of San Carlos, how can we be true Christian

Witness to the Word especially on the issue of RH Bill?

I am the witness to the word. I can show that by participating and by being a
pro-life advocate. I’m pro-life not just because -to gain extra points in this subject
but because I’m one of those thousands who considered life- a precious one.

Even if the world is falling apart, I can still say that there is more to life than
this. I am a true Christian Witness because I’m willing to pay the price and that is
willing to sacrifice for the good of everyone. Sacrifice in terms of protecting the lives
of women against contraception.
 This is a great mission to do but I can do this by waging awareness to people
about its effects in our life. I have the ability to write (blogging- facebooking), in
which through this, I can reach people from different provinces and convincing them
not to support the RH Bill. These are some REALISTIC ways I can do to help trash out
this said bill.