Monday, January 23,
2017
Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children
Interestingly enough, the
Entrance Antiphon for today’s Mass is “For the sake of your name, O Lord, give
me life,” and I imagined this antiphon being prayed by an unborn child in its
mother’s womb.
I have always relied on three
scriptural texts that I interpret as signs that life begins with conception.
Here they are:
Psalm 71:6
On you I have leaned from my birth;
from my mother’s womb, you have been my help.
Psalm 139:13
For it was you who formed my inmost being,
knit me together from my mother’s womb.
And the third, and most
important, text comes from the Gospel of Luke, the story of the Visitation,
when Mary, pregnant with Jesus, goes to visit Elizabeth, pregnant with John the
Baptist, and Elizabeth greets her, crying out: The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby leapt in my womb
for joy. (Luke 1:44).
One last observation: no matter
what, we must always heed the strong admonition pronounced by Jesus: do not judge. (Matthew 7:1) It is an “occupational
hazard” for those who are passionate about this cause to jump to judgment, but
that is something we must never do. Here
is a compassionate statement made by Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, Archbishop of
Louisville:
“This is the 44th year that I have prayed to be a protector,
humble and yet bold—walking with a mother so in need as to consider not giving
birth.”
Again a reminder that we never
know the state of a person’s soul, nor do we know, understand or appreciate the
burdens that another person may be carrying. In all things, we must be
compassionate.
God bless you!
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