Homily from the New York Pilgrim Mass at the March for Life: United in Faith

Can I tell you how proud I am of you, how very much I appreciate your prophetic witness on behalf of innocent babies in their mother’s wombs, how honored I am to lead you in this great prayer of the Mass this bracing pro-life March day!

Now can I ask you to think hard about one phrase from the Bible that we just heard in our reading: united in faith.

united in faith.

That’s why we are here at Mass; that’s what we will be in a couple hours as we march:  united in faith

united in faith that the baby in the womb has the human right to life, protected by our constitution;

united in faith that the termination of that baby’s life is the same as, in the analogy used by Pope Francis “a mafia don hiring a hit man to get rid of someone he considers inconvenient”;

united in faith that a pregnant woman deserves dignity, reverence, and all the support and love she needs to welcome her baby at birth;

united in faith that Jesus, “the way, the truth, and the life,” our savior who came that “we might have life, life to the fullest,” who assured us that “as long as you do it to one of the least of my brothers and sisters” – – and who is more “least” today than the tiny, fragile baby in the womb?  – – “you did it to me . . .”

united in faith that this Jesus is here with us and blesses our noble endeavors.

This Jesus calls us friends , and being united in faith bonds us as friends.

“They” will tell us we pro-lifers are all alone, in the minority, isolated by media, Hollywood, academia, the capitol and courtrooms.  They will tell us we have no friends!

 We look around this morning and wonder, “What are they talking about?”

Well look around in a couple of hours as we’re part of a crowd over ¼ million, what U.S. Park Service officials report as the largest annual march consistently for four decades – – even though the news will skip it, or give more attention to the couple dozen pro-abortionists – – and acknowledge that we have friends.

Name four friends who would carry yourbed

where paralyzed from sole to head

you lie with pangs and scarsoutstretched.

Name four friends who would plan andplot

to land you near the sacred spot:

the Healer’s Hands, the Feet of God.

That’s the poem “Unparalyzed” by Rita Simmons, featured in today’s Magnificat, as she meditates on the four friends who helped the paralytic reach Jesus through the roof of the synagogue.

Name four friends who would brace thecrowd

that surrounds the space when the Wordis out,

to raise your ruins above the house.

Name four friends who would crack thethatch

then ease your limbs into the gap

and slow the lift, your lowered mat.

Name four friends who would hold theline

from the opened roof to the Master’sside

where you lie and wait for a healingsign.

Name four friends who would fix theirgaze

on the Man who cures and the man who’ssaved.

while the crowds disperse,

the friendship stays . . .

united in faith, we have friends!

We acknowledge as well that, well, wehave enemies. . .

They detest us . . . we love them;

They curse us . . . we bless them;

They mock us . . . we pray for them;

We invite them to a coalition to atleast lower the number of abortions; to set reasonable limits, as the lastMarist poll shows 75% of Americans want; to work with us to protest the choice. . . yes, the choice of a woman to have her baby, with sensible counseling,sonograms, and the provision of all the support a mom needs to hold hernewborn, and they say no.

They are ready now to pop thechampagne corks in Albany as the state already notorious as the most radicalabortion state in the union feels driven to expand it even more, dropping theneed for only physicians to perform them – – so much for the “health of thewoman” – – and allowing a baby who survives the scalpel, scissors, suctionmachine, and saline solution to die without any help.

This is the culture of death, nolonger a hyperbole . . . and they too have unity and friends.

They bristle at our perseverance, ourresilience, our youth, our triumphs however few.  They will outspend us, out lobby us,caricature us, and hope to outlaw us.

They want to paralyze us.  Well, they cringe further when we smile andlove and tell them we welcome paralysis . . . for we are then that paralyticwith the four friends who lowers us for healing and strength to our bestfriend, Jesus, who says to us, “Rise, stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”