those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death

Homily Outline for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The essential mission given to Jesus Christ by the Father is to save us. He is the Light coming into darkness, casting aside the shadows and gloom. Matthew cites the promise made through the prophet that is fulfilled in Christ, “The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.”

In every age, people have been overshadowed by sin and death. This had taken many forms, some of them common to every age. However, this weekend, we remember a particular shadow of death that has long covered our land.

Since 1973, abortion has been legal with few or no limitations in every state in the Union. The raw statistics, collected by the very people promoting abortion, are alarming, shocking, difficult to comprehend: At least 50 million abortions total… this past year, something on the order of 1.2 million abortions. That is about 3300 abortions a day, or over 2 abortions a minute, every minute, every day, every week, all year long. Shockingly, this is close to 30% of live births every year. And for every abortion, there is a mother who carries that knowledge with her for the rest of her life. In many cases the father also knows. There are doctors and nurses who are involved in the business. The impact spreads.

The numbers are so immense; there is no question that some of us here have been affected very directly by abortion. The point of preaching about this is not to condemn, not to pour salt into an already painful wound. Jesus came to save us, He offers us infinite mercy and healing. Notice what He did as soon as He called the apostles, “He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.” If we’ve had an abortion or helped someone have an abortion, if we’ve voted or promoted abortion or stood silent while others promoted abortion, we need the Lord’s mercy, and He offers it to us. It’s not automatic; we need to ask, especially, we need to seek that mercy in confession. There is no wound the Lord cannot heal if we but ask for His healing!

I am called to preach this not just because it has always and everywhere been the Church’s teaching. I am called to speak to you clearly and honestly about this not just because we need to be healed and we need to end the abortion regime in our country. This question is personal. From the moment abortion became legal, it skyrocketed. In the year I was born, 1978, there were at least 1.5 million abortions. My generation was thinned and mowed down by abortion. There are boys and girls I should have been in kindergarten with, friends I should have known in high school, hundreds of people who should have been at Purdue when I was there who never had a chance to be born. Why did God let me be born when so many were killed? Why did my parents choose life when so many chose abortion?

I don’t think it is inappropriate to liken the current situation to the Holocaust, on multiple levels. Every 3 or 4 years, the number of abortions in our country is similar to the number killed in Germany’s death camps. Like the death camps, those killed are defenseless and largely without a voice. Like the death camps, these deaths are largely hidden. However, there is a very great difference, an essential difference. For all the vaunted rhetoric about choice in our country, I strongly suspect that the average woman walking into an abortion clinic does not feel she has much choice. Unlike a powerful army, I suspect she feels powerless before a situation she doesn’t know how to navigate. Rather than being a member of a powerful army, she must often feel completely alone.

Most German citizens were not involved directly in the death camps, and neither are most of us directly involved in providing abortions. History, however, has not been gentle on Germany, and it WILL NOT BE GENTLE WITH US if we, like many of them, stand silent.

So, what are we to do? There are some simple steps open to everyone here this morning. On the national and state level, how do we vote? I’m glad there is no election looming. I’m not here to promote a particular candidate or party. What values inform our vote? Abortion is NOT the only issue. However, what balances 3300 abortions a day? What consideration can allow us to support someone who supports and promotes that death toll? We have a voice, if we will use it. Nationally, Catholics DO NOT vote in an overwhelmingly pro-life fashion. This is a scandal, and it needs to change.

Locally, we need to do our best to provide men and women with real choices. So many couples desperately desire to have a child, and cannot. Adoption is a real choice, a real option. The CareClinic just across the street does a marvelous job of helping young men and women get the support and help they need to make a choice for life rather than death. The need our prayers, our financial support, our involvement.

In our own families the situation of an unwanted pregnancy may well arise. How will we respond? Will we stand with the man and woman and encourage them to choose life? Will we spend our time and emotional energy in a way that is in keeping with our convictions?

Finally, we need to reconsider the way we have separated sexual intimacy and children. The two are intimately connected. We have ignored the clear teaching of the Church in every age by becoming a contraceptive culture. Not only are most chemical contraceptives potentially abortion-causing, but they help us to build lives and families where children are not welcome. When we are more and more sexually active with no intention of conceiving a child, we will more and more often be pregnant and vulnerable to abortion.

This is the challenge of our time. Will we be divided and silent, or will we speak for life? We come to the Eucharist this morning in need of healing and strength. Like Paul, Christ has sent us to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning. God can do this good work in us, in our families, and in our society, if we will cooperate. May we open our hearts to the grace we need today.