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A day of
penance for more than 50 million abortions
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
For Catholics, starting in 2002, Jan. 22 has become a day of penance for
violations to the human person perpetrated by abortion, as well as a day
of prayer for the restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to
life for the unborn.
For those who value life from conception to natural death, Jan. 22,
1973, will forever be a day of infamy. It was on that date that the
Supreme Court handed down two infamous decisions: Roe vs. Wade
and Doe vs. Bolton. Those decisions gave women a constitutional
right to obtain an abortion during any stage of pregnancy.
Masses celebrated on Jan. 22 are to be the Mass for peace and justice.
Violet vestments, the liturgical color indicative of penance, are
mandated.
The traditional elements of a day of penance are fasting and abstinence
from meat. Fast and abstinence are not mandated for Jan. 22, but penance
is urged. Some may choose to go meatless. Others may refrain from eating
between meals. Some perhaps will do the strict fast. Participation in
Mass is urged. If Mass is not feasible, perhaps a rosary or other
prayers might be prayed for the restoration of the legal guarantee of
the right to life for the unborn.
Roe vs. Wade struck down 50 state laws on abortion, while taking
the issue out of the hands of legislators in what Benjamin Wittes,
Washington Post legal affairs analyst, has denounced as a
“profoundly anti-democratic decision.”
It led to the disenfranchisement of pro-life Americans, and a permanent
aggrieved constituency which refuses to accept as settled an immoral and
overreaching decision.
More and more are beginning to conclude that Roe is bad law, bad
medicine and bad social policy. The court itself, in its partial-birth
abortion ruling of last year, acknowledged that “in some past decisions
the usual rules for constitutional review were distorted by an
unwarranted hostility to legislative efforts to respect unborn human
life.” Yet
last September, the New Jersey Supreme Court claimed to have no way of
knowing the truth about “when human life begins.” Dismissing a lawsuit
against an abortion clinic which concealed the truth about abortion from
its clients, the court claimed there is clearly “no consensus” on
whether, as a matter of “biological fact,” the unborn child is a “human
being.” The court cited “moral, theological and ideological”
disagreement to justify its decision. This amazing mindset reflects a
general acquiescence that Roe is untouchable.
As Catholics, we have never doubted that human life begins at the moment
of conception. A major feast in our liturgical calendar is the feast of
the Immaculate Conception. At the Annunciation, Mary was told she would
conceive a child. And dictionaries define “pregnant” as “containing
unborn young within the body.” To suggest an unborn child might not be a
“human being” is ludicrous.
Lacking the advances in research we have today, it may have been
possible back in 1973 for some to claim with a straight face that it
cannot be known when life begins. Theologians, in fact, have argued the
point. No more. A baby’s heartbeat can be detected at 21 to 22 days
after conception. Ultrasound imaging has brought insights unknown in
former times. It is documented the unborn react to stimuli long before
birth. Partial-birth abortion, tenaciously defended by many pro-choice
adherents, brought the brutality of abortion into horrific focus. What
perhaps could be ignored about abortion back in 1973 can no longer be
denied. Abortion, whether perpetrated in the first three months of
pregnancy, the second three months or later, brings the life of a human
person to an end. Yet, the killing of unborn children at any stage of
pregnancy remains a constitutional right in the United States.
As people come face to face with the reality of what is involved,
support for abortion has begun to erode. Some suggest that at least 55
percent of Americans would ban abortion altogether or restrict the
legality of it to cases where the mother’s life is at risk or when the
pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. Surveys suggest only 27 percent
would keep abortion as it is under Roe.
In 2007, the Supreme Court in Gonzales vs. Carhart made a
significant course correction in the path of abortion law by upholding
legislation banning partial-birth abortion. Among other things, that
decision underscores the importance of the judges appointed to the
Supreme Court. Appointments to the court, of course, depend upon the
president, with confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Voting for those who
embrace the sanctity of life from natural conception to natural death is
a major piece in the effort to restore the legal guarantee of the right
to life to the unborn.
If Roe is overturned, it does not mean there will be no more
abortions in the United States. However, policy decisions about
abortions will be made by the citizens of each state through the
democratic process, rather than by courts. That would represent major
progress.
The bottom line for those of us who honor the sanctity of life is the
fact that as long as abortion is legal anywhere in our land, what was
said through Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet, will continue to be
fulfilled: “A cry was heard at Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation:
Rachel bewailing her children; no comfort for her, since they are no
more” (Mass/feast of the Holy Innocents).
This is why each year on Jan. 22, the Church calls us to do penance that
hearts will be converted and that people will come to view abortion as
the intrinsic evil it is.
A quote from Pope Benedict XVI: “God’s love does not differentiate
between the newly conceived human infant still in his or her mother’s
womb and the child or young person, or the adult or the elderly person.
God does not distinguish between them because he sees an impression of
his own image and likeness in each one.”
As the late John Paul II reminded us in his powerful encyclical letter
“The Gospel of Life,” “It is impossible to further the common good
without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all
other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they
develop.”
Special greetings to all those who will pilgrimage to Washington for the
annual March for Life. May the Lord bless and keep you! May the Lord let
his face shine upon you and be gracious to you! May the Lord look upon
you kindly and give you peace! |
