Feast of Saint Seraphina (12 Mar 2010)

I am composing this message on Friday morning, March 12. Last night, I was the guest of pro-life friends to the Right-to-Life banquet here in Houston at which we heard two excellent speakers, one a priest who is president of Human Life International, and the other a lady who for two years was head of the abortion mill called Planned Parenthood just three blocks away from our Holy Rosary church and priory here in mid-city Houston. She had a conversion experience while watching a sonogram showing a baby in the womb trying to dodge the abortion machine that would kill him. Now she is a very active pro-life worker and is experiencing the joy of persuading many women not to kill their unborn children, but to respect their right to the life that God has given them, regardless of the conditions of their conception.

Every time we say the Hail Mary, we say, “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb.” Those words apply to Jesus in the prayer, and the womb to the immaculate body of Our Blessed Mother. However those words can also be applied to every not-yet-born baby. That child has been given human life by the creative touch of our Almighty God, the author of all life. Therefore that child is blessed and, if allowed to do so, can in time grow into an adult human being with all the marvelous faculties and potentialities that we humans possess, for we are made in the image and likeness of God.

This morning, as we celebrated Mass in our chapel just three blocks away from the place where, according to statistics, some 30 to 40 babies will be killed today, we read the gospel in which Jesus gives us the two great principles of Christian morality: Love God, and love your neighbor. Those who procure or perform abortions love neither God nor neighbor, and therefore the babies who fall into their hands, their instruments, and ther machinery die because they are not wanted, not loved.

During this holy season of Lent, let us pray for victory in this war that Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta called “the war against the child.” She used to point out that we can never have real peace in our hearts, homes, and nation as long as we make war against innocent babies whose only crime is to be alive. Thank you for seeking God’s truth. God bless you. Father Victor Brown, O.P.