By Judie Brown
Let us think about the reality of abortion. It is a murderous act, a fighting word, and a debate topic, but most of all it is maximum cruelty. Just as hate is “intense hostility,” abortion is the most savage act one person can take against an innocent preborn person. The resulting death from such hostility is nothing short of hate.
Yet America does not see this. This is so for several reasons that we could examine here, but most especially because it is a despicable act of horror employed against the Creator. We say this because God is the author of every human being’s life, so attacking even one of His children is assuredly an assault on God.
Saint John Paul II affirmed this in The Gospel of Life, citing John 3:15, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves.”
Yet today, as the world seems ever more agreeable to accepting hateful acts toward others as the norm, we are reminded of why we as Christians were put here at this time and in this specific place.
As advocates for the marginalized, especially the preborn and the aged, we have seen the terrible fruits sown by a culture of death. Too many either ignore or deny it, but we who are not blinded by the world see clearly what is happening. We realize that if we were to be silent, we would be guilty of the awful things we are working to stop. Thus, we appreciate the words of Professor Robert Royal, who wrote, “We face a double challenge, an external struggle to make the world better founded upon what’s true and right. And an internal struggle to keep anger, from turning into hate, perhaps as never before, a subtle temptation and mortal sin all its own.”
Further, when we read a headline that proclaims “Abortion Bans Push Families Deeper into Poverty and Drive Up Crime, Economists Say,” we see the demons of death at work. It is not the protection of the innocent from the tools of the abortionist that creates conditions of poverty and crime. The crime is the very existence of the legal protection of aborting the innocent; the crime is the severe poverty of moral courage we see today.
We reside in a nation of declining morality both in the public and in the private sphere. America denies this, but facts bear witness to truth in every case.
In the encyclical letter The Splendor of Truth, Saint John Paul II taught the importance of following the laws of God:
Each of us can see the seriousness of what is involved, not only for individuals but also for the whole of society, with the reaffirmation of the universality and immutability of the moral commandments, particularly those which prohibit always and without exception intrinsically evil acts.
In acknowledging these commandments, Christian hearts and our pastoral charity listen to the call of the One who “first loved us” (1Jn 4:19). God asks us to be holy as he is holy (cf. Lev 19:2), to be — in Christ — perfect as he is perfect (cf. Mt 5:48). The unwavering demands of that commandment are based upon God’s infinitely merciful love (cf. Lk 6:36), and the purpose of that commandment is to lead us, by the grace of Christ, on the path of that fullness of life proper to the children of God.
In these words, we find the antidote to hate, and thus we find the formula for ending the tyranny of abortion.
We ask you, Lord Jesus, for the grace to follow You always!