Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The person who lives the Beatitudes knows that God is the source of all he needs. Although he develops his human skills and asserts himself as necessary, the Lord’s servant never believes he has to hurt another to get what he needs. The meek are strong and secure in their dependence on God. They will have a healthy ability to fight for their rights, but will not do so with an anxious need to dominate. In the Lord, they know they will inherit the earth.
The Culture of Death, on the contrary, is built on the idea that sometimes you have to do violence to advance your rights, your career, or your freedom. The violence of abortion is seen as a path to fulfillment.

–Fr. Frank

The Ninth and Tenth Commandments forbid us to covet what belongs to our neighbor, whether it be his spouse or his possessions. This commandment, in other words, requires us to limit our desires by respecting the boundaries between what is ours and what isn’t.

That is a sacred boundary that is completely shattered by abortion. The boundary between what is the mother’s and what is the child’s completely disappears. Some, for instance, will justify abortion because the mother has to get on with her life. But so does the child.

Some will justify it because the mother has freedom not to be burdened. But so does the child. And in denying that the child has the same freedom she claims to have, she destroys the meaning and foundation of her own.

–Fr. Frank

Staten Island, NY - Fr. Frank Pavone, President of the National Pro-Life Religious Council, said today that if the Senate wants to pass a health care bill that respects the will of the American people, it will need to add restrictions to abortion funding.

“A majority of the House of Representatives voted for the Stupak/Pitts amendment, and that represents the thinking of a majority of Americans,” Fr. Pavone stated. “The Senate should act in a similar manner. This is a health care bill, not a bill to expand child killing.”

“Those who argue that abortion is a private matter in which the government has no business cannot then insist that federal funds be used to pay for it,” added Fr. Pavone. “Money laundering schemes or shell games will not be tolerated. Abortion is not health care and taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize it.”

The Eighth Commandment declares, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Everyone has a right to his good name and reputation, and this commandment forbids us to lie about what someone has or hasn’t done, or about who someone is.

The culture of death violates this commandment in a profound way. By allowing court decisions like Roe vs. Wade that says, “the word person…does not include the unborn,” society bears false witness against the unborn. It is a lie.

Abortionists go even further and call our unborn brothers and sisters names like “parasites,” or “products of conception” or “medical waste.” They bear false witness.

And anyone who says an abortion is justified is bearing false witness by denying that the child has the right to be protected from the abortionists’ knife.

–Fr. Frank

The Seventh Commandment declares, “You shall not steal.” Whenever we violate the right to life, we steal. We rob the person of what is his – the recognition of his rights, the protection of his life.

Actions like abortion also rob God himself of what is his. Once when I was praying at an abortion facility with a group of people, and one man had his toes over the property line, a clinic worker shouted, “Get your feet off our property.” I responded, “And when are you going to get your hands off God’s property?”
God alone has dominion over human life. When an abortionist reaches into the sacred space of the womb to rip the child apart, he is stealing from the Almighty, and is also robbing society of the respect it owes to life.

–Fr. Frank

The Sixth Commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery.” In keeping with the understanding that commandments are like chapter headings, and that there are many other actions included under each one of them, this commandment prohibits us from abusing the gift of human sexuality and marriage. And with good reason. These gifts are given to us for our good as a human family. When we use them as God intends, they serve life. But when we abuse them, they lead to death, not just spiritually, but physically. When we speak to our nation about the tens of millions of children ripped apart by abortion, let’s challenge them to realize that one of the ways we arrived at that holocaust is that we ripped apart the very meaning and purpose of human sexuality.

–Fr. Frank

The Fifth Commandment states, “You shall not kill.” The literal translation of this commandment forbids murder. This is not about a prohibition on killing cattle for food or on killing bugs for our safety. Nor is it an absolute prohibition on repelling an aggressor. The commandment means that we do not have authority to murder the innocent. Babies are always in that category. The commandment against directly, deliberately killing a baby or any other innocent person is absolute.

From this commandment comes the prohibition on abortion, at any stage of pregnancy and for any reason whatsoever. The commandment is based on God’s absolute dominion over human life. He alone gives and takes the lives of human beings; he alone governs who comes into the world and who goes out, and when, and how.

–Fr. Frank

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

Each line of the Lord’s Prayer gives us insight as to why we are pro-life.

“Lead us not into temptation.” Every temptation is a lie, which makes something evil look good. Among the most masterful temptations of the evil one is to make the killing of a child seem better than the birth of that child. This is the lie that leads each day to thousands of abortions.

As we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” we keep in mind the need to protect all pregnant mothers from the deception of abortion. We also pray against the temptation to be silent and passive in the midst of this holocaust. Sins of omission are the most frequent sins, especially in regard to the culture of death. As we pray “lead us not into temptation,” we resolve to say more, do more, and sacrifice more for life!

“Deliver us from evil.” In asking this, we are not asking to be delivered from some vague force or bad luck. Rather, we are asking to be delivered from the influence and power of a real person, the devil, also known as the evil one. His kingdom of death has been defeated, and so his power is limited, but he still seeks to lead us astray.

When we pray to be delivered from the evil one, we are praying to be delivered from the culture of death, and to stay faithful to Christ’s Kingdom of Life. We are praying that we will not be deceived by the false promises of the evil one, who presents abortion as a solution to a problem, though it is no such thing.

“For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.”

The Lord’s Prayer culminates with these beautiful words which, in the Catholic tradition, we pray at Mass shortly after the rest of the prayer. In “The Gospel of Life,” Pope John Paul II wrote that human life is always a good because it reflects the glory of God. God is glorified when human beings live, because they are made in his image and likeness. In attributing all glory to God, therefore, we acknowledge the infinite value of life.

All power, furthermore, belongs to the Lord. Jesus said he had the “power” to lay down his life. That is the power of love, by which we sacrifice ourselves for the good of the other person. Abortion, instead, sacrifices the other person for the “good” of oneself. Abortion is the opposite of love. The Lord’s Prayer reminds us what real power is.

“Amen.” St. Paul proclaims that Christ is the Amen, the yes, to all the promises of God. Abortion is just the opposite. It is a big “no” to God’s plans for the child who has been conceived, and for all of us who are called to love that child rather than kill him.

The Lord’s Prayer is, indeed, the model for all prayer, and it is the model for all our striving for a Culture of Life!

To view “Why the Our Father is a Pro-life Prayer” (Part 1), see this link: http://www.priestsforlife.org/blog/?p=966

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

Each line of the Lord’s Prayer gives us insight as to why we are pro-life.

“Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Union with the will of God is the heart of salvation and the essence of holiness. It is also the cornerstone of the culture of life. To say, “thy will be done” is the opposite of saying, “my will be done; it’s all up to my choice.”

When we see a child living in the womb, we see the will of God. The Lord never makes human beings by accident. Each child exists precisely because God wants that child to exist, no matter what the circumstances surrounding his or her existence.

When we say “Thy will be done,” we are expressing confidence that because God says yes to the child, so can we. He will give us all the strength we need to follow his plan.

We pray, furthermore, that his will be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” In heaven, the angels and saints are perfectly united with God because they see him as he is. One who sees God face to face cannot sin, because it is unmistakably clear that there is no good that surpasses God himself.

Many acknowledge “God” and yet go ahead and abort their children, because here on earth, our vision is clouded and imperfect. Hence in the Lord’s Prayer we ask that we not be misled to think that anything good can come from offending God.

“Give us this day our daily bread.” We ask the Father for the provisions we need each day to live and to serve him. We ask him for the spiritual strength to resist the temptations that will certainly come our way, and for the grace to advance his Kingdom.

This also means we are praying for the graces we need to advance the protection of human life. We may be tempted to compromise with the culture of death. We ask for the daily bread of strength to defend life, to speak up for the helpless, to intervene to save the weak. We pray also that those tempted to abort their children because of economic reasons may experience the help of God’s people, the daily bread of their generosity.

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We are asking the Lord to use us as an example of how readily and generously he should forgive our sins.

He is more eager to forgive our sins than we are. This should not only give us confidence, but should help us inspire confidence in those who despair. One of the hardest sins to confess is abortion. And even there, the Lord is ready to pour out his mercy on those who repent.

Nothing can minimize the horror of abortion, and nothing can justify it. Yet countless people come each day to the cross where they find that even this sin is washed away in the Blood of Christ.

The Fourth Commandment is “Honor your father and mother.” The Lord worked through our parents to bring us into being; he asked for their collaboration, for their generosity, in bringing about a plan that he had decided on from all eternity – that we should exist to love and serve him. This commandment points to the dignity of human procreation. It also points to the profound privilege and responsibility that parents have in being open to life and in being ready to protect the lives that God entrusts to their care. Those who claim a right to abortion are violating the fourth commandment. No parent is the owner of his or her children. God alone owns and rules human life. And he entrusts to parents the awesome gift of welcoming that life with joy.

–Fr. Frank