Homily from Pro-Life Mass in Alexandria
The Easter Season is such a cause of joy for each of us individually and all of us collectively as Church. Jesus Christ is risen! "By dying, He destroyed our death; by rising, He restored our life." The victory of the Risen Christ over sin and death lies at the core of our faith. No wonder the Church prolongs the celebration of this central mystery over a 50-day period, from Easter through Pentecost.
Today, in the midst of this Easter Season, on this Saturday in Mary’s month of May, we celebrate a votive Mass in honor of our Blessed Lady, commemorating her special maternal role and the maternal role of the Church in relation to the faithful.
Since the earliest of times, the Church fathers have taught us that the mysteries of Christ, which the Church celebrates in these sacraments, were "accomplished" in Mary, the Virgin Mother. In today’s preface you will hear, "By the marvelous gift of your loving kindness you decreed that the mysteries accomplished already in the Blessed Virgin should be accomplished … through the sacraments of the Church."
As the life of the Church explodes forth at Easter with the freshness of an Easter lily, we find behind this burst of energy our Blessed Mother, the fountain of life and love. In the entrance antiphon of today’s Mass, we read, "Hail, mother of light … you gave birth to Christ, and became the model of the Church, our mother, bringing to new birth in the chaste waters of baptism a people of faith." We see Christ, through His Mother, and it is through His Mother’s intercession that the Church continues to thrive.
So we begin today with the Eucharistic celebration and then continue with our monthly tradition of praying at an abortion facility. Let us pray for those men and women who are personally involved in abortion and other immoral behaviors against the dignity of the human person, petitioning our Blessed Mother to intercede for them. In doing so, we remain focused in prayer, but in a public way. Recalling the words of today’s first reading, we pray that all those caught up in this horrendous disrespect for life will "repent and seek forgiveness." We pray too that we remain vigilant.
Recent events in this country, some close to home, bring out this need to remain vigilant in what is transpiring in the world and to respond as Christians in a public way. Several weeks ago, the Governor of Vermont signed legislation authorizing same-sex civil unions, granting the same rights to such individuals as are enjoyed by married couples. Almost simultaneously, the Virginia State Supreme Court struck down an Arlington County ordinance which would have permitted county employees "to claim coverage for domestic partners under the county’s self-
funded health benefits insurance plan" (Arlington v. Andrew White, VA Supreme Court Record #991374). I addressed this topic in a series of two articles dealing with domestic partnership in The Arlington Catholic HERALD recently (ACH 2/24 and 3/2/00).
Some people may ask, "What does this have to do with human life? Why should we care? Isn’t this a means of caring for the human person by providing basic health care for all?" It is true that the Catholic Church has always seen health care as a fundamental act of justice, intrinsically bound up within the Gospel itself. And it is true that the Church has consistently made known its support for adequate health care coverage for everyone. But it does not follow that society should extend its preferential attitude toward marriage to non-married sexual unions. Society has basic and persuasive reasons to favor marriage. These reasons do not exist in the case of domestic partnership arrangements. It would be a fundamental violation of justice to compel, even indirectly, taxpayers who are opposed to domestic partnerships on moral or religious grounds to support such relationships.
Tampering with the essence of marriage by the civil authorities is a life issue because it re-defines a fundamental element of human life in our society, the family. The family, that so battered term! "The family, which is founded and given life by love, is a community of persons: of husband and wife, of parents and children, of relatives." This sentence, which is taken from Our Holy Father’s document, Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World (# 18), is so often maligned. How many times do we hear people define family as "a community of persons?" They say, "…but that’s what the Church teaches, right?" "Ah, no," we say, "read the rest of the sentence for the total teaching of the Church."
We must be vigilant. Recall the two cases which I have just mentioned. In both situations, the legislature has the responsibility in our form of government "of recognizing and defining marital relationship." We each must have a thorough understanding of the issues at hand. We must ensure that our legislative representatives at the local, state and federal levels understand the importance of the family in society.
This is a presidential election year and a year when we elect every seat in the House of Representatives and one third of the Senate. Now is the time — not the week before the election, but now is the time — to accept our responsibility as Catholics to participate in the election process. "The Gospel of Life must be proclaimed, and human life defended, in all places and all times" (Living the Gospel of Life, 33).
Our Holy Father said it this way in his exhortation to the people of the Americas:
"It will be especially necessary ‘to nurture the growing awareness in society of the dignity of every person and, therefore, to promote in the community a sense of the duty to participate in political life in harmony with the Gospel" (Ecclesia in America, 27).
This is a responsibility which we share. How do we do it together? If we are to build a culture of life, every voice in the public forum matters. "Every vote counts. Every act of responsible citizenship is an exercise of significant individual power …We get the officials we deserve. Their virtue — or lack thereof — is a judgment not only on them, but on us" (Living the Gospel of Life, 34).
Pray for good leadership and moral decisions. Root yourself in Christ. Root your principles in prayer and in our Catholic faith. This faith, and its application to the moral life of the society requires constant education and vigilance. Follow the Gospel of Life.
So let us be vigilant in dealing with those political issues which affect the moral fiber of the culture itself. Recall the words of Our Lord in today’s Gospel, "I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if any hear my words and do not observe them, I do not condemn them, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world" (Jn 12:46-47). We also do not condemn, but gently, through sensitive dialogue and always through unremitting prayer and penance, we become God’s instruments in leading others to the Splendor of the Truth and to the Gospel of Life — to Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
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