On Murder

A word is a remarkable thing. It is something like a sacrament. Whether spoken or written, it consists of a material form (vibrating waves, or ink on a page), and bears to the intellect of the recipient a spiritual substance--an idea. An idea is also a wonderful and remarkable thing. It enters the intellect, and if it is an idea of great vitality or appeal it will be pondered, examined, comprehended, and then spoken to another, where it may also take root and effect some kind of transformation. An idea can inspire actions, and cause changes in the human soul and in the material world. An idea is a living an effective thing.

It is no wonder that St. James warns us of the power and the danger of the tongue. No wonder that we are cautioned to "keep a watch over our lips". The power of an idea expressed in word and passed to other intellects can cause great and sometimes damaging changes in society. We have all seen, or been guilty of, the destructive effects of gossip, libel, and slander.

But it must not be forgotten that the power of words and ideas can also be used for untold good. We remember the great example we have at the beginning of Sacred Scriptures. God Himself spoke, and so great was the power of what He spoke that is caused life and everything in the universe to come into existence. Our Divine Lord commissioned the Apostles to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel. And St. Paul asked how people would hear if no one preached to them. Above all, we remember that the "Word was made flesh, and dwelt among men", and that the Word of God is transforming the world.

And so, today, my friends, I wish to choose my words very carefully, for the subject of this essay is crucial. These are days in which it is vitally important to speak out, and to speak very clearly. It is my desire that the words written here will impress themselves upon the minds of those who read them; and I pray that the Holy Spirit, "the Lord, the Giver of Life", may cause them to be effective, to take root in hearts and minds, and to bear the fruit of Life.

Something is terribly wrong in the world, something that we can no longer ignore or fail to address, and we must do something about it.

January 16 marked the 38th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and the Supreme Court's abominable decision to legalize abortion on demand. Thirty-eight years ago the life of an unborn baby was legally declared to be not human and simply a part of its mother's body, a part which she could remove as carelessly as if she was undergoing cosmetic surgery. A child in the womb has no legal rights, not even the right to live, because it is not really a child. And these facts are made known to us with certainty, because the highest court in our country said so, and the Supreme Court is godly, and scientifically and morally infallible....

Last week we read the horrifying news of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who was arrested for his abominable and evil practices of abortion. Last night 15,000 people gathered for a Vigil Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Today they march for LIFE. Additional information on the Vigil Mass, including Cardinal Daniel DiNardo's powerful homily can be found at Rocco Palmo's marvelous weblog "Whispers in the Loggia" at http://www.whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/. Please listen to the homily. A few years ago, a group from our own parish, St. Martin of Tours, began a project to place Billboards for Life in the area. You've seen many of them now, I'm sure, dotting the highways and interstates of Kentucky and Indiana.

Much is being done, but it is not yet enough. I fear that even those of us who oppose abortion do not always comprehend the gravity of the situation. The six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and all the millions slaughtered in Communist Russia and China in the past century put together still represent a far, far, smaller number of deaths than the total number of innocent children killed by abortion. But somehow, these figures do not have as much impact on us as do the casualties of war. We have not yet compared Roe vs. Wade to the victorious revolution of the Bolshevists, nor seen Planned Parenthood in the same light in which we view the Nazi Party.

Why? Because we cannot see the victims. Pro-life activists who hold up gruesome signs are often criticized, even by other pro-lifers, but there is a reason (whether we like the tactics or not) that they do this. They want us to see. We need to know that these are not invisible embryos, or fetuses, hidden in wombs. These are our little brothers and sisters.

Perhaps someone who is pro-choice will stop me here and say that I have gotten my facts wrong. Perhaps someone will say that I am being emotional and indulging in sentiment. That science affirms that the embryo is not really human, is not really my little brother or sister. So, let me pause and address this briefly.

The story I mentioned above about Dr. Kermit Gosnell presents an important idea to us in understanding this matter. Among the atrocities that he committed was the fact that in several of his abortions he first induced labor in the mother, so that the child was actually born before he killed it. This fact enables us to see the delusion of the pro-choice movement. The illegality of Dr. Gosnell's actions amounts to saying this: that an embryo that could have legally (in some states) been aborted a few minutes earlier, because it was still in its mother's womb and was therefore not human, immediately becomes human upon exiting the mother's body. If it was human after labor, then why, in God's name, was it not human before? Or another example: many premature children born before the end of the second trimester (a time at which abortion is also considered legal in certain states), are considered human, and many of them have survived. Again, why are they considered human then, at less than six months, because they left the womb, but are not considered human even later while still in it? Apparently, the ability to breathe outside the womb is the only determining factor that makes a child human. Such an idea makes a mockery of human reason and human life.

We also know, scientifically, that Roe vs. Wade got it wrong. The baby is not part of the mother's body. Although it receives its nourishment, its body and its blood from its mother, it processes and makes them its own. A baby's blood, heart, organs, and DNA are its own. It is a passenger, not a part of its mother. I remember making this statement not long ago to a co-worker and was told in reply, "Technically, it's a parasite". So I ask now, what makes it a parasite, and how is a parasite different than a passenger? Apparently the fact that the baby takes from its mother certain nutrients, vitamins, etc., and is dependent upon the mother, whether the mother wants it or not, makes a baby a parasite. If this is so, then the baby is still a parasite after birth, dependent upon its mother's milk and constant attention for survival. It continues to necessarily draw upon its mother's resources, time, and energy after it has left the womb. So, in fact, do all members of society. A man serving a life sentence in prison is also technically a parasite, then, for he is dependent upon the tax dollars of the rest of society to feed and house him, though he offers remarkably little work in return. The mentally and physically handicapped, and those in comas, offer the same analogy. By following the logic of abortionists, all of these dependents should be done away with as well. Yet the liberals who support abortion ironically tend to oppose the death sentence, and pride themselves on their sensitivity towards the handicapped. Somehow, by some disgustingly ironic turn of events, those who are pro-choice are considered caring, and Christians who strive to save the lives of children are now considered bigots!

At a deeper level, even at the earliest stages of conception, a child is still human. Some years back the holy Bishop Fulton J. Sheen considered the following analogy. From the opening bars of a Beethoven symphony we know that it is a Beethoven (even before we hear the rest of it), because it was composed by Beethoven. So too, he said, a baby is human because its parents are human. In other words, just because its heart is not yet beating, just because it is not yet conscious (the symphony not yet complete), does not make it any less human, or give us the right to play God and determine whether or not it will fulfill its course. Again, if being unconscious makes one not human, then those in comas may be killed as well. The moment the spark of life is struck, we have no other option but to let it live, or we are guilty of its death. And, at a more basic level still, the Church continues to teach us that we have no right to determine that life shall not naturally result from the sexual act, by means of contraception. In spite of the ecumenical tone that I desire to keep for this blog, let me speak frankly here. I sincerely wish that liberal Catholics and Evangelicals would understand this fact, and accept this moral teaching of the Church. Contraception is very much involved with our overall understanding and perspective of sex, responsibility, and life.

And responsibility brings me to another point. Those in the pro-life movement often remember the passage in Scripture where King Herod has the Holy Innocents put to death. Why did Herod do this, and why is our culture so ready to murder our children? Because we have lost God. Since the Fall, the rejection of God has automatically resulted in death--our own death first, then the murder of our brother. Remember this, God is Love, and His Love chose to create, and He chose to Love His creatures. So also do those who have God's love shining in their hearts choose to love those outside of themselves--the other. But those who have lost the Caritas of God, and do not live up to the Divine Image, find the other to be an annoyance or impediment to their own desires. Christ came to save us and restore to us the Love and Image of God, yet Herod sought to kill Him, because he feared that Christ, the other, might change his world, might take his place upon the throne. And so, today, abortion represents nothing else but the action of Herod, the denial of Christ. Christ teaches us to love the other, but America has dethroned God, placed the idols of false personal freedom and irresponsibility upon the throne; and no other shall stand in the way, even if it requires the other's death.

We can no longer stand and watch. We can no longer sleep. We can no longer do nothing.

Not all of us can counsel, not all of us have the time to march in front of abortion clinics. But we can all pray, and pray we must. To you Catholics, pray the Rosary for life. Or pray for the intercession of our Lady of Guadalupe. It is no accident that when the Blessed Virgin appeared all those centuries ago to Saint Jaun Diego, that she appeared, for the only time, as pregnant. It is no accident that God knew that the patroness of the Americas would need to be the patroness of the unborn.

And for you who are not Catholic, simply pray. Whatever, whenever, the more the better. Perhaps you could adopt the advice of Bishop Sheen and practice spiritual adoption. Remember that at this moment, somewhere, a child has just been conceived that is at risk of being aborted. Spiritually adopt that child, give it a name, and hold it up to God in prayer each day for nine months. Perhaps that child's life will be spared. Perhaps you will meet him or her someday, upon the Other Side.

And so the time has come to make a stand, to pray, to teach, to speak out. And let us speak very carefully. Let us choose our words with exactness as we address this great evil of our times. Let us say the we have sinned and fallen. Let us no longer speak of pro-choice, but of murder. Rachel is weeping, not because sensitive liberals care about the rights of women, but because Herod has slaughtered the Holy Innocents.

The voice of innocent Abel's blood is crying out from the ground, and God is asking us, "Where is your brother?" How will we answer the question of Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?"?

In God we find Mercy and Justice. Let us earnestly pray the we come quickly to know His Mercy, or I greatly fear that we will soon learn His Justice.

Holy Mary, pray for us, and for our children.