My husband made an interesting observation today:
He remembered that, when my father died, I was so devastated that I made the comment, half-seriously, "Why is everyone acting like nothing happened!? How is it that the world is still just.... moving forward, going on, going about its business as usual?"
We feel the same stupefied shock when we consider the ongoing holocaust that is abortion today. Even in the light shed by revealing new Planned Parenthood videos, why have we all momentarily gasped in horror, then shaken our heads sadly and trundled on about our lives, business as usual?
And why is the Church doing that?
Wait a minute. Let's back up a bit.
Several years ago, my husband and I saw a sign at the annual
March For Life in Washington, D.C. (which is attended by hundreds of thousands of people annually and has been going on
for forty-three years!), which read:
"Every abortion clinic should have a sign out front that reads:
'This Abortion Clinic Open
By Permission of the Local Christian Churches.' "
Don't get me wrong. I wholeheartedly
believe in the power of prayer. There are many things which God alone can do. But, He welcomes our supplication. Countless hours of dedicated prayer by untold numbers of people (including our family) in front of their local abortion facilities (
like this woman, who was arrested for it) or on the Mall in D.C. on an ice-cold January day, are invaluable.
They save lives. Literally.
Prayer and fasting are the gateway to the heart and mind of God, Who alone can change the heart and mind of...anyone!
So, the Bible says, "Pray without ceasing," (
I Thessalonians 5:17).
But....
The Bible also says, "...faith without works is dead," (
James 2:26b).
So.
What works are we doing?
What works is the Church doing?
Really.
Remember the old nursery rhyme?
Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home.
Your house is on fire! And your children are gone!
All except one and her name is Anne,
for she crept under the frying pan.
My husband noted that our moral house in America is
on fire, good people. And when your house is on fire, you don't stop to finish painting a room or sweep the floor or mow the lawn or put the dishes away.
When your house is on fire, you grab your kids, and you go. You run. You RUN out of that house!
The house of our human family in America is on fire today, and it is up to
us to grab our children and run. This includes the silent children waiting patiently to be born within the previously assumed safety of their mothers' wombs.
Everything else is secondary.
Everything.
For me. For you. And for the Church.
The Catholic Church today is the single most powerful, worldwide, religious institution. The Church, this "Goliath for God," MUST do every
effective, tangible, practical thing to put
real pressure on the abortion industry, so that abortion's killing fields come to a screeching halt and are put out of business. Today.
I'm not talking about just continuing the individual (priceless!) efforts of indomitable old ladies offering their daily Mass. Nor of courageous reporters revealing the revolting reality behind the scenes of abortion practices. Nor of non-profit organizations like the
March For Life who spend
every day of the year beating the pavement to save every single life they can. Nor even of our Christian brothers and sisters in other denominations, who join the Catholic Church in this almighty fight.
All of these are important! All of these are actions that are supplications to God to end abortion.
But, I'm talking about the hierarchy of the Church. I'm talking about the strong arm, the muscle, the official power. The leaders. The deacons. The priests. The bishops. The Vatican. The pope.
The Holy Father, Pope Francis, is about to visit the United States for the first time. Is this the welcome mat that the Catholic Church in America is going to lay out for him? Miles of film footage showing the evils of abortion, which we continue to allow in our country under the guises of, "freedom," "choice," and the profit of, "line items"?
Is that it?
There must be
something more we can do, something more the Church can do.
I know the Church has pro-life offices. I know the Church has always, "condemned," abortion (the history of which viewpoint Father William Saunders articulates excellently
here).
But, abortion is a devastating
fire. It is a conflagration from the evil one. We are the ladybugs. And the Church has the potential to provide the shelter of the frying pan. We must fly away home and rescue the children, drop whatever else is occupying us, and get them safely under the protection of the frying pan.
And then we must pick up a fire extinguisher, aim it well, and smother the life-exterminating blaze of abortion until it ceases to exist.
But, what will our fire extinguisher be...?
Forget the spaghetti dinners and flower sales and church gift shop. All of that helps, yes. But, we
still haven't won.
What can we do to halt abortion? Now.
What can the Church do to halt abortion? Now.
Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home.
Your house is on fire! And your children are gone!
Our human home is burning to death. Abortion exists because, as human beings, we allow it. We turn our backs on women in unintended pregnancies and allow the murder of organisms which unarguably can only be
humans in their earliest nascent state.
Until abortion is stopped, until we put out the fire of this scourge on human life, every ounce of energy, resources, and column inches belonging to us and to the Catholic Church in America should be put to use eradicating abortion.
Without LIFE first, nothing else matters. And abortion is a deadly plague.
Are we so ineffectual? Is the Church? Is there
nothing more we can do in this country to protect LIFE so that abortion is recognized for the horror that it is!? What am I missing? Why is abortion still legal?
