Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

A wonderful homily given in January by my prior boss..Deacon Ed Pietler, Phd

 

In many protestant churches, the preacher will post the
title and subject of his sermon on one of those roadside boards on the
church’s property. We don’t do this in the Catholic Church, probably
because, while the homily is important to the Mass, it is not essential
to how we worship. But if I had to give a title to my homily this
morning it would be this: “Every Day is Newtown in America”. You do
realize that I am referring to Newtown CT where last month 19 children,
innocent in all respects, and who were simply doing what we expect all
children of that age to do – get an education -had their precious lives
ended one sad morning in the weeks before Christmas.

I have entitled this homily “Every day is Newtown in America.” Ours
is a very interesting country. In fact, it’s not only our country that’s
very interesting but human nature itself. You see, we are very
adaptable beings. We can become accustomed to almost any condition that
life throws at us. We learn to live with it and go on about our
business. What am I referring to? Every day in the US 3300 pre-born
babies have their lives taken from them through abortion. And the act of
abortion is no less violent than what happened to those children in
Newtown. And yet most people hardly blink an eye when they hear the
statistics about abortion.

For weeks, the media was consumed with the tragedy of Newtown – and
rightfully so. But are there any differences between those children
killed in Newtown and those still living in their mothers’ wombs? One
difference is that some of the children in Newtown were able to run,
hide or escape the one who sought to harm them. But children whose
development is still taking place inside their mother’s womb have no
means of escape, no place to hide. One would think that inside a
mother’s womb would be a safe enough environment – as we presume a
classroom in a school would be. But sadly, mother’s wombs stopped being a
safe place a long time ago.

Other differences? The children in Newtown were older in years but
only a few short years removed from having been babies in their mothers’
wombs themselves. Six or seven years earlier those children at Newtown
were not unlike the 3300 babies still in their mother’s wombs whose
lives are taken away from them daily. In fact, those 1st and 2nd graders
attending school in Newtown are closer in age to any preborn baby than
they are to most of us here.

The pre-born child is a human person who is simply at an earlier stage of their development. Not yet ready for reading, writing
and arithmetic but getting ready for the day when they will take their
place in the schoolrooms of America. But for so many of these developing
human persons, “Every Day Is Newtown in America.”

Every day, the Newtown experience happens 3300 times in this great
land of ours. Not caused by madmen wielding a gun but lives ended by doctors
wielding equally as lethal weapons. And it happens so often now, that
we barely blink an eye. How frightening to think that we can get used to
a Newtown experience happening every single day. In fact, there are
even some Catholics who believe that there is nothing morally
objectionable about abortion.

Some Catholic politicians openly support taking the lives of children
when they are at their most vulnerable time of development. These
Catholic politicians believe that they can publicly support abortion and
remain a faithful Catholic. They cannot. They try to defend a right to
do what – take the life of a defenseless innocent human person? The only
right we as Catholics enjoy when it comes to abortion is the right to
be outraged. Could you imagine anyone getting up anywhere in America
today and defending what happened at Newtown?

For weeks, the media detailed for us the horrible carnage of Newtown.
We saw pictures of the traumatized children who survived and were given
graphic descriptions of what transpired on that fateful morning in
rural Connecticut. And yet, my brothers and sisters, we will never hear
descriptions of what actually takes place in abortion clinics all across
this country 3300 times every single day of the week. And you also will
not hear about the hundreds of thousands of people who will take to the
streets of our nation’s capital this week to protest the horror of
abortion. No, our country ignores the reality of “Every Day Is Newtown
in America.”

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the infamous Roe v Wade
decision. The justices of the Supreme Court could not find in our
Constitution a right to life. Imagine that! Over these ensuing 40 years,
55 million pre-born have had their lives taken from them. Not by a lone
gunman but by a team of professionals who call it healthcare. Given the
19 children whose lives were taken at Newtown, that number of 55
million amounts to almost 3 million Newtowns occurring over these past
40 years.

Think about that: could you imagine the US going through that Newtown
experience 3 million times over the past 40 years? And yet, we barely
blink an eye when it comes to the issue of abortion. How human beings
can adapt. It’s simply amazing.

All of which leads me to today’s scripture reading. God knows exactly
the depths of the sin to which all of us can descend. And how easy it
is to get used to the sin in our lives and pretend it doesn’t matter.
How easy it is to adapt to a life of sinfulness. The scriptures refer to
it as a ‘hardness of heart.’

My brothers and sisters, there is an alternative to this specter of
“Everyday Is Newtown in America.” God has a different plan for our lives
and for our world. God offers us a plan to have a change of heart and
turn away from sin. His name is Jesus Christ. He is the one sent by the
Father who can save us from our sin and restore us to life. God’s life.
He is the one whose name we are called to carry to this Newtown world of
ours.

In today’s scripture readings, we learn that Jesus comes to us as the
promised lover, as one who will espouse God’s people. In short, he’s
the one who intends to marry us by giving his body as an everlasting
sacrifice – just as a husband presents his body to his wife as a sign of
his love. Isaiah, in our first reading, speaks about the people Israel
taken into captivity in Babylon and cut off from their home – Israel. He
tells of God’s plan to return them to their rightful home where God
will make of them his spouse.

And to fulfill the promise, the Father sends His Son so that God can
espouse not just Israel but all mankind. God intends that every person
on the face of this earth hear the name of Jesus Christ and take leave
of the sin in their lives which divorces them from God. God fully
intends that all enter into this spousal union with Him. And the first
act of Jesus’ public ministry drives home this point.

Jesus is at a wedding feast with His mother. A feast that celebrates
the union of a man and a woman – an occasion for much joy. But something
has happened which threatens to ruin it all. The very thing that is
used to make the occasion a joyous one, to lift people’s spirits and
transcend their everyday existence – the wine – has run dry. Without the
wine the wedding is a dud.

Something very central to the celebration of the marriage has gone
missing. The wedding feast is now ruined. Mary says to Jesus, “They have
no more wine.” Doesn’t that say it all? Isn’t that an adequate
description of so many people’s lives today? Isn’t it true that in so
many ways our society has ‘run out of wine?’ Don’t those living without
God in their lives sense that something at the very core of their lives
is missing?

Mary knows the one who came to bring life. Mary turns to the One
whose mission it is to make it possible for man to once again live in
the spousal relationship that God intends. And Jesus, baptized in the
Spirit, moves forward in His mission on earth. Jesus gives a sign that
He is the instrument of God who will bring about this spousal union once
and for all. Jesus is the one whose sacrifice on the cross will bring
about this spousal union. He is the one who does what all husbands are
called to do – sacrifice themselves for their spouse – even to the point
of giving up their lives if necessary. Jesus fulfills His Father’s will
and offers His life in sacrifice – in order to complete the marriage
act. And in the resurrection, we see that Jesus’ act of spousal
sacrifice brings life –eternal life.

You and I – having been baptized into Christ’s divine life – have
found our spouse – He is Jesus. He is the bread and wine become Body and
Blood. We have found the One who has loved us into life. And whether
you realize it or not, this morning you have come to your wedding feast.
For in this Mass, you have come once more to meet your spouse who will
offer you his body and blood in a communion of love – the marriage
covenant God has made with you through His son Jesus Christ. This is
your wedding day when you come to once more meet your spouse. He wants
to be everyone’s spouse and it is up to you and me to go out of this
place and tell everyone about the One who offers to be their spouse
too…who offers them life and not death.

This is what the Lord wants for the entire world – not the world of
‘Everyday is Newtown in America.’ It is Mary, in her last recorded words
in Scripture, who tells us the way for us to get the marriage feast
back on track – to get the wine flowing once more so that joy and the
celebration of the intended marriage can happen – Mary’s words are
these: Do whatever He tells you. Christ
invites everyone to leave the Babylon of their separation from God – the
life of sin – and heed the words of the prophet Isaiah: “As
a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a
bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.”