Facing Goliath

@StudentsforLife on Instagram

Could today's Mass readings be more appropriate on the day of the annual March for Life? I think not.

As tens upon tens of thousands (if not more; we'll never really know) descend upon Washington DC calling for the overturning of a long-established "right" (not to mention a huge moneymaker, besides), the Church's liturgy tells the old, old story of a little boy going mano a mano with a giant. The boy doesn't have much in the way of weaponry: a few rocks. He's clearly not the favorite in this confrontation. But he's there to save lives--to save the people Israel from the threat of war.

In the Gospel we have another face-off, and Jesus makes it very clear that this confrontation, too, is about saving lives, even though the laws in place would seem not to favor that. "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath... to save life rather than destroy it?" Jesus was
also not favored to win this: it was him alone against an established, entrenched, and very well-connected bloc.

@Katlynngrace on Instagram

In both cases, the "weapons" (a few rocks, a spoken command) wielded disproportionate results, because "It is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves." This is especially clear in today's Gospel, in which Jesus gave his life for the well-being of the crippled man before him. The US bishops ask all Catholics today to observe a day of prayer and penance: prayer for the defense of innocent life, and penance, something that costs us personally, in reparation for the evils legalized abortion has visited upon our country: millions of lives lost, women subjected to fear, violence and threats, fatherhood lost and manhood diminished--and how many marriages broken up, too, by secret abortions? All of these sorrows call out for the "sincere gift of self" in imitation of Jesus.

@Hey_Jude_1994 on Instagram shared
the Pope's tweet; as I post this, Pope
Francis has been retweeted 6,915
times, and favorited 5,938.

It is this attitude of Jesus that must permeate all pro-life efforts if they are to be really effective. It won't do to wield the truth like a sword (an approach that some still insist on taking, even though it can backfire fatally). Cardinal O'Malley, in his homily for the Vigil Mass last night, made it clear: "The antidote to abortion is solidarity"; "the only way we can save those babies is by saving the mothers."

Today I will be visiting a place where those mothers and babies are saved: over at Chicago's "Well of Mercy," mothers in need find a place to live, learn life skills, complete their education in a supportive environment. The director and I will be screening the movie "Gimme Shelter," and we'll be talking about that experience, and the real-life experience of the families of the Well of Mercy, on Friday when I host the "Winds of Change" radio program. (The movie opens Friday in limited release; if it is in a theater in your area, be sure to show your support!)

TOB Tuesday: What's new in Austin

Over the summer I shared an airport shuttle ride with a woman from the a special kind of pro-life center. The John Paul II Life Center is a kind of all-round women's health center, focusing not only on helping women through and beyond crisis pregnancies with a full range of obstetric care, but also treating infertility (with NaPro TECHNOLOGY, which is completely consistent with the Catholic Church's values). Women from adolescence to menopause come for routine gyn screenings. You know, women's health the way it is meant to be.

But wait, there's more! The center offers NFP training, birthing classes, even an infertility support group.

If you're in the Austin area, you probably already know about the fundraiser on December 5; if not, you might want to support what is hopefully only the first full-service center of its kind.

The News You Won't See (updated)

So today is the March for Life in Washington. Probably the evening news will feature a small group of counter-protesters while behind them a massive crowd will continue moving through the street, all but ignored. That's the usual way it goes. Of course, there will be a handful of real loonies with their bizarre or hateful slogans who might be singled out of the crowd to represent the whole.
Outside of Washington, where the pro-lifers are doing the extreme penance of facing the elements, all Catholics are called to make this a day of prayer and of penance: prayer that every human life will be reverenced and protected, and penance for the violations of human life through abortion, neglect, abuse, euthanasia, and every other way the worth of each and every person is violated, ignored or threatened. I think all this is harder than it seems because society has become so fixated on the individual in isolation that we hesitate to get involved in another person's need or offer them alternatives when they are making a serious decision of any kind. We can pull back, thinking "Who am I to butt in like this?" or we might be honestly aware that getting involved means getting committed, and we're just not ready or able to carry through.
Here in Chicago, Father Joe at Assumption wrote a helpful presentation about what it means to be pro-life.  One thing he mentioned that I'd like to underline is that here in the US there are more than 2300 pro-life "safe houses" where women can find a place to life, social services,  parenthood and job training during pregnancy and in the first months after their child's birth. I read a few months ago that the leading cause of death among pregnant women is murder: does that mean that pregnant women "need" access to abortion, or that they need help in dealing with unhealthy relationships and domestic violence? Contrary to the slogans about women "needing" abortion when they are homeless or facing a health-challenged child, what those women (and their partners) need is a helping hand. More safe houses and services are needed, but it is contrary to truth (and an injustice in itself) to say that pro-lifers only care about the child, but dismiss the mother.
There is still more to be done; no reason for anyone to sit at home, satisfied that that carrying a sign in a march is sufficient to save a life. Today the Archdiocese of New York announced the formation of a new support network for parents whose unborn babies have been diagnosed with severe health problems. Women considering adoption need particular support for the difficulties they will face along that heroic route.
But even more than these last-minute issues when a woman's life and choices have already led her into the area of an unexpected and unprovided-for pregnancy, we need to redouble our efforts in helping men and women appreciate the unique gifts of marriage and why the intimate expression of love that leads to new life deserves to be limited to that lifelong relationship of mutual self-gift. The Church takes a lot of hits over her insistence that the marriage of one man and one woman is not just the only ideal situation for raising children, it is the most protective of women (this is borne out by many independent studies).
We could probably all start to contribute to this change of values by developing a spirituality that recognizes and appreciates having "enough" even when "enough" is not "everything that would be convenient or appealing."

Here's a picture of what you didn't see: