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(Vatican Radio) In this week's edition of There's More in the Sunday Gospel Than Meets the Eye, Jill Bevilacqua and Seàn-Patrick Lovett bring us readings and reflections for the First Sunday of Advent. Listen:

GOSPEL       Mt 24:37 - 44

Jesus said to his disciples:
“As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
In those days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage,
up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be out in the field;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

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(Vatican Radio) Colombia’s government is set to sign a new peace accord with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels as part of the latest effort to bring an end to the country’s decades-long civil war.

Listen to Ann Schneible’s report:

After more than half a century of conflict which has left hundreds of thousands of people dead, government peace negotiators and FARC leaders agreed on Tuesday to sign the accord and submit it to Congress for approval.

The new deal will be signed by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londono on Thursday in Bogota.

In a televised address Tuesday, the president said: "We have the unique opportunity to close this painful chapter in our history that has bereaved and afflicted millions of Colombians for half a century."

He added that: "This new accord possibly won't satisfy everybody, but that's what happens in peace accords. There are always critical voices; it is understandable and respectable.”

The agreement followed a seven-hour meeting Monday night in which government negotiators tried to persuade former president Alvaro Uribe and other skeptics to support the accord.

It comes a week after a revised peace accord was published by the government when the original draft was rejected in a referendum last month amid objections it was too favorable to the rebels.

The government and FARC rebels have been in talks over the last four years in an effort to bring an end to the 52 year civil war that has killed more than 220,000 and displaced millions of others.

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New York City, N.Y., Nov 23, 2016 / 12:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As the push for physician-assisted suicide continues throughout the country, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York is asking the faithful to step up in opposing anti-life measures.

“Catholics must join medical professionals, disability rights groups, and other concerned citizens in fighting for the authentic care of those facing terminal illness,” he said.

The cardinal, who heads the U.S. bishops’ committee for pro-life activities, reflected on recent ballot measures and legislative acts permitting assisted suicide.

“Seven jurisdictions in the United States have now opened the legal door to this dangerous abuse of medicine, an alarming trend that must be stopped for the sake of human dignity and the sacredness of life,” he said, adding that “doctor-assisted suicide must now be opposed with renewed vigor.”

Legislatures in Oregon, Washington, California, and Vermont have legalized assisted suicide, as has the Montana Supreme Court. On Election Day this year, voters in Colorado approved a ballot measure to legalize the practice. And a few weeks ago, the Washington D.C. city council passed a similar bill, although it will need to be approved by Congress in order to take effect.

The D.C. proposal, Cardinal Dolan warned, “is the most expansive and dangerous so far. It goes beyond assisted suicide by allowing third parties to administer the lethal drugs opening the door even further to coercion and abuse.”

“Every suicide is tragic, whether someone is young or old, healthy or sick,” the cardinal emphasized. “But the legalization of doctor-assisted suicide creates two classes of people: those whose suicides are to be prevented at any cost, and those whose suicides are deemed a positive good.”

“We remove weapons and drugs that can cause harm to one group, while handing deadly drugs to the other, setting up yet another kind of life-threatening discrimination,” he continued. “This is completely unjust. Our inherent human dignity does not wane with the onset of illness or incapacity, and so all are worthy of protection.”

Critics of assisted suicide warn that legalizing the practice sends a dangerous social message that suicide is an acceptable way to handle pain and suffering, particularly at a time when some areas of the country face epidemic levels of teen suicide.

Disability rights groups have also been vocally opposed to so-called “death with dignity” bills, saying that they discriminate against the disabled and can pressure them to end their own lives.

Furthermore, studies have shown the majority of patients who request assisted suicide will withdraw that request when they are treated for depression. Many proposed assisted suicide bills do not screen for depression or require treatment for it before deadly drugs are administered.

Opponents of assisted suicide measures have also cited abuses in areas where the practice is legal.

Parts of Europe that legalized assisted suicide years ago have now moved to involuntary euthanasia, where it is not the patients themselves, but family members or doctors who decide when they should be killed.

In several cases in the U.S., patients have been denied chemo treatment, but instead offered lethal prescriptions, because it is cheaper for the insurance company. There have also been reports of pills changing hands, either intentionally or unknowingly, with lethal results.

In his statement, Cardinal Dolan stressed that prescribing a fatal dose of poison “undermines the very heart of medicine,” particularly since doctors make a vow to “do no harm” to patients.

“What seriously ill – and often depressed – patients need is authentic support, including doctors fully committed to their welfare and pain management as they enter their final days,” he said.

Calling for patients to receive reassurance that they are not a burden, the cardinal said that they must be shown that “it is a privilege to care for them as we ourselves hope to be cared for one day.”

“A compassionate society devotes more attention, not less, to members facing the most vulnerable times in their lives.”

 

 

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