As part of the March for Life events, a Vigil Mass held on Tuesday night included a homily from Cardinal Sean O'Malley. It was very moving and maybe not in the way you might think:
"The Pro-Life Movement needs to be the merciful face of God to women facing a difficult pregnancy. Being judgmental or condemnatory is not part of the Gospel of Life."
Wow. But there's more
"We are all here because we want to save the thousands of innocent children who are being executed by the very people whose mission should be to heal and protect life. The truth is that we can save those babies only by saving the mothers. When they experience God's loving mercy then they will become capable of showing mercy to their children. The Pro Life Movement has to be about saving mothers. We need to focus on the women to try to understand what they are suffering."
The entire homily is well worth your time to watch or read. You can do both at Salt and Light.
 |
| Mother and Child by Pablo Picasso |
Personally, I would love to see more adoption to take the place of abortion. I'm really not sure why, but adoption has become a dirty word in American society. The idea that a mother could give up her baby to strangers seems cruel to many. Is that worse than if she had never given that child an opportunity to be born?
Mothers who carry their babies to term despite the obstacles - poverty, shame, rejection or lost opportunities - they are the heroes. We need to celebrate them. We need to find ways to help them, whether their choice is to raise the child or their choice is to give the child an opportunity to be loved by another family. Those are the real choices.
Tomorrow I want to tell a few stories about adoption.
CC
No comments:
Post a Comment