Perseverance

St. Paul in his epistles famously used the metaphor of a footrace to describe the Christian life of virtue. If we stay with it, we will be embraced by our Lord who will exclaim, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

The rain makes it difficult to stand. The cold makes it unbearable. The fact that we have to park elsewhere only adds to the inconvenience. On top of it all, we have hecklers sharing the sidewalk with us.

It has always been this way for Christians truly willing to walk with Jesus to Calvary. He told us it would be so, and so it is. Yet, consider what may result from your commitment to fasting & prayer: a mother, walking into 320, might change her mind and walk back out again; a passerby might see you praying and ponder anew their commitment to life; a person who never knew that abortions take place in this city might decide to get involved in the pro-life movement.

Consider what might take place inside of you (other than a growling stomachache). You will be able to walk away from this knowing that you did not leave these children abandoned. You did not let their death go unnoticed. You were with them, prayerfully with them, as they were carried by an angel to the throne of God.

And when that day, Lord willing, comes when you stand before the throne-- God will say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant!" and peeking from behind the throne will be a child who knew your love, the love you felt in your heart, the heart that was present at 320 on the day they died.

Dear reader, don't give up. What we do, we do for love of Jesus and love of a child, a friend we hope to meet one remarkable day. I'll race you there...

"This movement is about LOVE."

-Rick Santorum, speaking about the pro-life movement at last night's dinner

My sentiments exactly!

Loving ALL Creation

For it was you who created my being,
knit me together in my mother's womb.
I thank you for the wonder of my being,
for the wonders of all your creation.
-Psalm 139

Kay Bolinger, who coordinated last year's vigil, is offering bumper stickers that read: "We can save the whales...but we're killing unborn babies?" It drives home the point that care for all the wonders of creation necessarily includes our children. Care for the earth is vital, but so are human rights.

Every single day, we trample upon the human rights of those some consider undesirable. Our society lavishes more love upon puppies and kittens than their own flesh and blood. We spend small fortunes on veterinary care while children end up in the local waste treatment plant because caring for them would have been too great a financial burden. We decry the presence of mercury in our drinking water while something more detrimental to our health and civility is contaminating our soil.

Let us restore our ecological balance. Let's make care for creation a priority, and let's start by caring for the least among us, our children, the most precious natural resource in our land.