Fr. John Hardon: Pro-Life Responsibility of Catholics

"Our focus in this conference (you may be surprised) will be on the responsibility that we Roman Catholics have throughout the world to stop the global homicide which is plaguing most of the nations in the twentieth century. Over the years I have been telling one audience after another, one of the main reasons for the world wide homicide of millions of innocent unborn children is because Catholics are not living up to practicing their faith.

"How well I know so many Catholics, and I mean every syllable, are cowards. Over the years I have been saying that there is no stopping the crime of abortion without the Catholic Church. Until Christianity came into the world with the death of Christ on Calvary abortion was universally, and I mean that adverb literally, was universally practiced and legally approved throughout the whole Roman Empire."

"Our present conference has a thesis. Our thesis may be stated in one declarative sentence. Professed Catholics must become channels of extraordinary grace to the modern world. And they will become channels of grace to others in the measure, I repeat only in the measure, of their own reception of grace through the Holy Eucharist as the sacrament sacrifice of the Mass, as the Communion sacrament of Holy Communion and as the presence sacrament of Christ’s Real Presence now on earth in the Holy Eucharist.

"We are only channels of grace to others in the measure that we are possessed of God’s grace ourselves. Let me repeat in the clearest words in my disposal. I would restate our thesis in two propositions. Proposition #1 There is no stopping abortion without an ocean of grace from Jesus Christ. No way will human means stop abortion.

"#2 The principle source of this grace is the Holy Eucharist."

~ Servant of God Fr. John Hardon, S.J.

from There is No Stopping Abortion Without the Eucharist ~

Fr. Frank Pavone: Tidal Waves in Favor of Life

Priests for Life here

Missionaries of the Gospel of Life here

Pope John Paul II: Procured Abortion is Murder

The moral gravity of procured abortion is apparent in all its truth if we recognize that we are dealing with murder and, in particular, when we consider the specific elements involved. The one eliminated is a human being at the very beginning of life. No one more absolutely innocent could be imagined. In no way could this human being ever be considered an aggressor, much less an unjust aggressor! He or she is weak, defenceless, even to the point of lacking that minimal form of defence consisting in the poignant power of a newborn baby's cries and tears. The unborn child is totally entrusted to the protection and care of the woman carrying him or her in the womb. And yet sometimes it is precisely the mother herself who makes the decision and asks for the child to be eliminated, and who then goes about having it done.

~ Pope John Paul II, from Evangelium Vitae ~

Pope John Paul II: "Death Battles Against Life"

"When the Founding Fathers of this great nation enshrined certain unalienable rights in the Constitution - and something similar exists in many countries and in many International Declarations - they did so because they recognized the existence of a "law'' - a series of rights and duties engraved by the Creator on each person's heart and conscience.

"In much of contemporary thinking, any reference to a "law'' guaranteed by the Creator is absent. There remains only each individual's choice of this or that objective as convenient or useful in a given set of circumstances. No longer is anything considered intrinsically "good'' and "universally binding''. Rights are affirmed but, because they are without any reference to an objective truth, they are deprived of any solid basis (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Threats to Human Life, I, iii). Vast sectors of society are confused about what is right and what is wrong, and are at the mercy of those with the power to "create'' opinion and impose it on others.

"The family especially is under attack. And the sacred character of human life denied. Naturally the weakest members of society are the most at risk: the unborn, children, the sick, the handicapped, the old, the poor and unemployed, the immigrant and refugee...

"Do not be afraid to go out on the streets and into public places, like the first Apostles who preached Christ and the Good News of salvation in the squares of cities, towns and villages. This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel (cf. Rom 1:16). It is the time to preach it from the rooftops (cf. Mt 10:27). Do not be afraid to break out of comfortable and routine modes of living, in order to take up the challenge of making Christ known in the modern "metropolis''. It is you who must "go out into the byroads'' (Mt 22:9) and invite everyone you meet to the banquet which God has prepared for his people. The Gospel must not be kept hidden because of fear or indifference. It was never meant to be hidden away in private. It has to be put on a stand so that people may see its light and give praise to our heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:15-16)."

~ Pope John Paul II Homily, Denver 1993 ~

Tribute to Mary, Mother of God

The one who accepted "Life" in the name of all and for the sake of all was Mary, the Virgin Mother; she is thus most closely and personally associated with the Gospel of life. Mary's consent at the Annunciation and her motherhood stand at the very beginning of the mystery of life which Christ came to bestow on humanity (cf. Jn 10:10). Through her acceptance and loving care for the life of the Incarnate Word, human life has been rescued from condemnation to final and eternal death.

For this reason, Mary, "like the Church of which she is a type, is a mother of all who are reborn to life. She is in fact the mother of the Life by which everyone lives, and when she brought it forth from herself she in some way brought to rebirth all those who were to live by that Life".

...The church is fully aware that she bears within herself the Saviour of the world, Christ the Lord. She is aware that she is called to offer Christ to the world, giving men and women new birth into God's own life. But the Church cannot forget that her mission was made possible by the motherhood of Mary, who conceived and bore the One who is "God from God", "true God from true God". Mary is truly the Mother of God, the Theotokos, in whose motherhood the vocation to motherhood bestowed by God on every woman is raised to its highest level...

~ Pope John Paul II, The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae) ~

40 DAYS FOR LIFE DAY 39: Shine a light on the truth

Pope John Paul II: Power of Prayer and Fasting

"Jesus himself has shown us by his own example that prayer and fasting are the first and most effective weapons against the forces of evil (cf. Mt 4: 1-11). As he taught his disciples, some demons cannot be driven out except in this way (Mk 9:29). Let us therefore discover anew the humility and the courage to pray and fast so that power from on high will break down the walls of lies and deceit: the walls which conceal from the sight of so many of our brothers and sisters the evil of practices and laws which are hostile to life. May this same power turn their hearts to resolutions and goals inspired by the civilization of life and love."

~ Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 100 ~

40 DAYS FOR LIFE DAY 28: Whom do you serve?