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Leap for Joy for Life
This weekend marks the end of September which, of course, brings us into October, which the U.S. Church observes in a special way as Respect Life Month.
All respect for life begins with the unborn child in the womb. And so, the theme chosen by the U.S. bishops for this year’s campaign is “The Infant in My Womb Leaped for Joy.”
We know the story. The Archangel Gabriel had announced to the Virgin Mary God’s invitation to become the mother of the Messiah. As further evidence that nothing is impossible for God, Mary’s elderly cousin Elizabeth, thought to be barren, was also expecting a child, John the Baptist.
Both Elizabeth’s pregnancy and Mary’s – despite their unusual circumstances – are cause for rejoicing. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the unborn child Jesus announces his presence to John, his unborn cousin.
To be sure, most parents love their children generously and even unconditionally. But today the inherent, priceless value of every child – as a unique individual created and loved by God – is no longer universally accepted. Before birth at least, a child’s worth seems to depend on his parents’ attitude toward him. A Planned Parenthood ad illustrates this point well: “Babies are loud, smelly, and expensive, unless you want one.”
Unborn children are routinely dehumanized by the abortion industry. The author of a widely-used textbook on abortion techniques describes pregnancy as a “parasitic illness.” A well-known columnist writes: “A goldfish resembles a human being more than an embryo does.” One author has described the unborn human being as “protoplasmic rubbish,” a “gobbet of meat.”
A Princeton professor has followed this thinking to its logical conclusion, to demean the newborn child: “Human babies are not born self-aware, or capable of grasping that they exist over time. They are not persons.”
Therefore “the life of a newborn is of less value than the life of a pig, a dog, or a chimpanzee.”
Such attitudes have crept into people’s behavior. Many of us seem to spend much of our adult lives trying to avoid the inconvenience of having children, and we don’t like surprises in the children we do have.
Consider:
• Despite their many risks and harmful side effects, hormonal contraceptives exceed $24 billion in annual sales worldwide.
• The abortion industry claims that half the children conceived in the United States are “unwanted,” and half the “unwanted” children are aborted – over 1.3 million annually.
• We are often told how costly it is to raise a child.
• Conversely, some couples who have difficulty conceiving will pay tens of thousands of dollars to have a fertility clinic create a son or daughter for them. How many parents realize that for every IVF-created child who survives to birth, many others die in the process? And if that custom-made embryo is found in the lab to have a “defect,” the clinic will readily recommend scrapping the “faulty” child and ordering up another.
In all these ways we are being urged to stop seeing human life as God sees it. From the moment of our conception, God does not see us superficially as a microscopic, unformed cell. In every child, born or unborn, God sees the individual He created to love, and be loved by, for all eternity.
At the other end of life, as well, the bonds of love between generations are being stretched thin. Some doctors and ethicists claim that patients with dementia or in a so-called “persistent vegetative state” are no longer really persons, and that families should deny them even the most basic forms of nourishment and care.
Each of these vulnerable persons is given to us so we may learn to love as God loves – generously, sacrificially, unconditionally.
May we never tire of proclaiming the dignity and worth of every human life. May we never tire of serving the vulnerable and their caregivers with generous hearts. And may we never cease to pray for the day when all people, and all societies, will defend the life of every human from conception to natural death.
40 Days for Life
Starting this weekend in 89 cities in 33 states across this nation, people just like you are speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves. The 40 Days for Life campaign – a unique and intensive pro-life effort designed to raise awareness, save lives, bring healing and prepare America for the end of abortion — has begun.
This national campaign is running from Sept. 26 to Nov. 4. Locally, you will see representatives from Expectant Mother Care-EMC FrontLine Pregnancy Centers praying, fasting, distributing literature and counseling passersby outside a dozen abortion mills on the streets of Flushing, Corona, and Jackson Heights. At night, they’ll keep vigil in front of at least one abortuary but hope to have a round-the-clock presence at more sites.
Volunteers are still needed to assist the FrontLine team. Find out more by calling Chris Slattery, EMC founder, at 718-884-9210.
If you’re homebound and cannot provide a public presence, remember that your personal prayers and fasting are equally valuable in the fight to end abortion and bring healing to our world.
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