Respect Life Sunday

Yesterday about 75 of us, including a deacon, several Knights of Columbus, married couples, brothers, and priests Marched from a nine AM Mass to an abortion clinic on a street just behind the church. We took a long route, however, so that more people could see us and read the signs we were carrying. We settled on a neutral piece of sidewalk away from the entrance of the clinic, and a nearby hot dog business. Police were on hand for traffic control and to maintain order, if necessary. It was not necessary, although some negative and vulgar comments were shouted at us as we reverently prayed the Rosary and chanted the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. A motorcycler shouted, "Get a life!" Ironic; we were praying out of respect for life and for the preservation of life! Somewhere the value of life had been lost in this man's value system: his, and so many others, including the doctor who services several such abortion clinics.
The need for education in the family about the dignity of life from conception to natural death, as well as in our schools and churches is becoming more and more apparent. During this month of the Holy Rosary, it might be a prime intention to include as we pray to the Mother of God, the Creator of Life, that the gift of sharing in the creation of life might be restored to its proper place in our hearts and in the thinking and laws of our country. Also, that respect for life include help remove prejudices of all kinds; against greed, which so often destroys people in its path, and that ultimately love bring about the peace so apparently absent in the hearts of so many around the world. A huge task, but we might take courage from the words of St. Paul to Timothy:
"I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have.... For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord.,.but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.
"Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwell within us." (2Tim 1; 6-8, 13-14).
Bro. Rene