While attending Saturday morning Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte last month, Fr. Frank Pavone, the director of Priests for Life, who visited Charlotte for our local March for life, showed me how indifferent I have become to the sad reality of widespread abortion in our contemporary society. Fr. Pavone led us into a novena for an end to abortion at the conclusion of the Mass. There was a part of that prayer that really resonated deep in my heart, “Today, I commit myself never to be silent, never to be passive, never to be forgetful of the unborn.” Jesus' words, “To whom much is given, much is required,” have kept echoing in my mind ever since that cold January morning at St. Vincent de Paul Church.
For the average Catholic in the pew, the topic of abortion is very delicate and difficult to speak about – an almost taboo subject. Nobody wants to rock the boat, myself included. After all, the woman sitting next to you during Sunday Mass might have made a desperate decision to abort a baby earlier in life, or she might be married to a man who fathered an aborted child.
There are three things we can do as practicing Catholics to get more involved in the pro-life movement. First and foremost, we should pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Pro-Life Movement. When Our Lady appeared to St. Juan Diego in Mexico in the 16th century, the locals were sacrificing close to 9,000 people a year to appease their gods. Our Lady of Guadalupe put an end to that human sacrifice within just a few years. Saying a rosary on Saturdays for the unborn and their mothers is a good starting point. Fr. Pavone stated most women have abortions out of despair; they lose hope and fear they will not be able to take care of their unborn child.
St. Ignatius of Loyola said, “We should pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended on us.” The bottom line is, abortion is big business – a billion dollar industry. Planned Parenthood is the biggest abortion provider in the country, and a staunch advocate of the incorrectly defined “reproductive rights.” It also receive federal funding every year. I feel we as Catholics are not vocal enough in the political arena concerning this issue. More of our legislative representatives need to hear of our disapproval of tax money going to Planned Parenthood.
Finally, let's us be conscious of the women and men, Catholic or not, in need of healing and forgiveness caused by the sin of abortion. They are also tragic victims, as are the aborted children. As part of the of the wounded Body of Christ, they need the hope of God's infinite mercy and healing in the Person of the Divine Healer, Jesus Christ. An organization called Rachel's Vineyard facilitates this type of healing and forgiveness with women and men affected by abortion through weekend retreats nationwide. In Charlotte, the folks at Room at the Inn and Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity provide rays of hope to pregnant women in need of help.
The time to be silent is long past. Let's pray to Our Lord and ask Him how He wants us to help put an end to the scourge of abortion, which has silently ended the lives of more than 50 million unborn babies since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion on demand in a U.S. Supreme Court decision issued on a cold January day in 1973.
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