October 9, 2005: Am I Pro-Life?

+THE TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

October is recognized as the month for celebrating life. In the church, we do our “Pennies for Life” and many priests talk about the evils of abortion and assisted suicide and the like. If you open up the newspaper, you’ll also see all things pink to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month—in other words, we celebrate life by keeping it healthy.

It goes without saying that life is the most precious gift that God gives us. It is truly remarkable and mysterious that God has ordained to take a bunch of chemicals and material substances, add a breath of divine spirit, and somehow knit it all together into a living, breathing, thinking, and free-acting organism that we call a human being. To respect and cherish this gift is to be Pro-Life.

But the little expression “pro-life” has been co-opted, as they say, into a political term. It has come to mean the opposite of “Right to Choose”—the code motto for people who believe that a woman should be able to decide whether to have an abortion. As the politics take over, “pro-life” is backed into a tight corner and it becomes for all intents and purposes a single issue.

But that’s ridiculous. Let’s see what it really means to be pro-life.

To begin with, let’s put the obvious life-and-death stuff on the table: murder, suicide, euthanasia, the death penalty, war, smoking cigarettes, taking or selling dangerous drugs, drunken driving, reckless sports like car-racing or parachute jumping, crossing the street without looking both ways… All these behaviors and activities are essentially anti-life, aren’t they? They represent using your free will to choose to do things that potentially endanger life.

Now, of course, we admit of some mitigating circumstances or justifications for doing some of these things. After all, what fun is life if we have to live it in a protective bubble all the time? Life means taking some risks… which we accept, but tempered, hopefully, by prudence and conscience. Even Jesus put himself in harm’s way sometimes. He walked among angry crowds. He let the devil tempt him. He insulted the most powerful civil and religious leaders of his day.

Another aspect of really being “pro-life” has to do with supporting and protecting life. Here’s where we get into issues of health—physical, mental and spiritual; love and respect; compassion and nurturing; looking out for each other.

Have you seen the cost of medicines lately? Of course you have. You know that many, many retired people must pay hundreds of dollars a month for their medications. If they can’t afford it, they often have to go without. A friend of mine recently slammed her finger in the car door and went to the emergency room for an X-ray, a tetanus shot, a couple of stitches—and a $1,200 bill! What happens to those who aren’t privileged enough to have that much in their checking account? How can we profess to be pro-life if we get sputtering-mad over abortion… but shrug when it comes to health care?

And what about the children? Kids get bullied in school by their peers—and sometimes by their teachers! Many parents and coaches push kids way too far in sports. Just last week, horror of horrors, there was a Confirmation practice the same night as a girls’ sporting event. Sorry, Jesus. The coach wouldn’t tolerate it if someone didn’t show up to play. Do pro-life people put so much pressure on children… and then act shocked when a kid releases the pressure by drinking or suicide or bringing a gun to school?

I’m amused, too, by folks who call themselves pro-life who demand that we not give communion to politicians who support abortion laws. Does the Lord really want us to use his Body and Blood as a political club?

And how about the way we treat the “lepers” in the church today? People who are divorced and remarried and—get this!—have the audacity to come to church to pray—together! Or couples who are living together and maybe even have a baby. Gay people who want to love and honor each other and beyond that, basically to be left alone. People, even priests or bishops, who have gotten into trouble in the past… have paid their debt to society… and now hope to move on in life.

And we mustn’t forget that pro-life people support the sick, the lonely, the homeless, the hungry, those in prison… the good, the bad, the ugly, the monsters of society… all who share in the gift of human life.

If according to all of this you can’t honestly call yourself 100% pro-life, please don’t fret. I think we’re all in the same boat. Like a trip through the cafeteria line, we pick and choose our pro-life causes and leave the rest. But if we consciously leave some behind, there’s another label for us: sinner.

Yikes! I don’t like being called a sinner, and I don’t refer to myself that way, even though St. Paul said we have all sinned and fallen short.

Oftentimes, religious folk talk about sin but seem to de-emphasize the “we all” part. The Pharisees didn’t say, “Why is he eating with sinners like us?” No, it was sinners like them—those tax collectors.

We prefer to call ourselves Christ-centered. Welcome to St. John’s: we’re Christ-centered! Sounds good. Better than: Welcome to St. John’s: we’re sinner-centered.

Yet… I think the sinner-centered church is probably where Jesus is more likely to be found. Remember what our Lord said: I came not for the healthy, but for the sick. A church that knows it’s full of sinners and doesn’t whitewash the fact is on the right track.

Likewise, the person who admits that he’s not quite as respectful and passionate about all human life as he thought he was is OK, because that admission takes humility and it cracks open the door to let Christ’s love in—and out!

Dear friends, to truly be pro-life requires a radical change of attitude and an openness to the spark of divine goodness in every single one of us. I pray that we’ll offer to let the Divine Physician heal our own heart so we can see and honor life just as God himself does.


Today’s Readings:
Isaiah 25: 6–10
Psalm 23
Philippians 4: 12–20
Matthew 22: 1–14