Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale556

made a dwelling place of his Spirit.19 Indeed, towards the conclusion of your

Baptism, the priest turned to your parents and those gathered and, calling

you by your name, said: "you have become a new creation".20

Dear friends, in your homes, schools and universities, in your places of

work and recreation, remember that you are a new creation! As Christians

you stand in this world knowing that God has a human face - Jesus Christ

- the "way" who satisfies all human yearning, and the "life" to which we are

called to bear witness, walking always in his light.21

The task of witness is not easy. There are many today who claim that God

should be left on the sidelines, and that religion and faith, while fine for

individuals, should either be excluded from the public forum altogether or

included only in the pursuit of limited pragmatic goals. This secularist vision

seeks to explain human life and shape society with little or no reference to the

Creator. It presents itself as neutral, impartial and inclusive of everyone. But

in reality, like every ideology, secularism imposes a world-view. If God is

irrelevant to public life, then society will be shaped in a godless image. When

God is eclipsed, our ability to recognize the natural order, purpose, and the

"good" begins to wane. What was ostensibly promoted as human ingenuity

soon manifests itself as folly, greed and selfish exploitation. And so we have

become more and more aware of our need for humility before the delicate

complexity of God's world.

But what of our social environment? Are we equally alert to the signs of

turning our back on the moral structure with which God has endowed

humanity? 22 Do we recognize that the innate dignity of every individual

rests on his or her deepest identity - as image of the Creator - and therefore

that human rights are universal, based on the natural law, and not something

dependent upon negotiation or patronage, let alone compromise? And so we

are led to reflect on what place the poor and the elderly, immigrants and the

voiceless, have in our societies. How can it be that domestic violence tor-

ments so many mothers and children? How can it be that the most wondrous

and sacred human space - the womb - has become a place of unutterable

violence?

19 Cfr 1 Cor 6:19. 20 Rite of Baptism, 99. 21 Cfr ibid., 100. 22 Cfr 2007 World Day of Peace Message, 8.