Christmas for the Unborn
December 5, 2011
Dear Friends,
Below you will find the text of my latest column, Christmas for the
Unborn. The Savior has come also for the children yet living in their
mothers' wombs. Before we get to that let me first give you some other
important updates.
View my latest video at
http://youtu.be/m4LvyHrFjBQ in which I ask all of you to help get our
resources out to Priests and Deacons. In particular, my videos with
preaching tips for each Sunday found at our Priests for Life YouTube Channel
at
www.youtube.com/priestsforlife.
I invite you to participate in our online poll which is new the first of
each month because we value your opinion. This month we are asking you to
let us know what you think about our new homepage.
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It’s a great way to keep pro-life front and center in your home throughout
the year. Order for $5.00 at
www.priestsforlife.org/store.
The Presidential election, in its primary phase, is reaching a critically
important point for sifting out who will be the Republican nominee. Follow
important developments and things you can be doing at
www.PoliticalResponsibility.com.
Blessings,
Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life
Christmas for the Unborn
Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life
Christmas is universal.
"Behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all
the people…A Savior has been born for you" (Luke 1:10-11).
Christ the Savior becomes man precisely for all who share human nature. He
excludes nobody. The good news of Christmas is for all people of all times
and places. "Joy to the world."
In fact, so universal is this joy, that even nature shares in it: "Then the
wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child
to guide them" (Isaiah 11:6).
All of this leads to an inescapable conclusion: Christmas is also for
the unborn. The Savior has come also for the children yet living in
their mothers' wombs. The Gospel message is addressed also to our youngest
brothers and sisters.
In fact, we can say it is addressed especially to them, because
they are the most helpless.
That good news was announced first precisely to the lowly, not to the great
and powerful. The ministry of the One who was born for us continued to
follow that pattern: He consistently sought out those who were on the
outskirts of society.
His Church does the same today, taking a preferential option for the
poor. The "poor" are not simply those deprived of material goods. “This
preferential option for the poor and vulnerable includes all who are
marginalized in our nation and beyond - unborn children, persons with
disabilities, the elderly and terminally ill, and victims of injustice and
oppression” (US Bishops, Faithful Citizenship, 2007).
To welcome the Savior means to welcome the obligations which His mission
places on us. He is, in the words of the Prophets, one who will establish
"justice" on the earth. In Biblical terms, this indicates He will intervene
for the helpless, bringing deliverance to those held in bondage.
That's all of us, of course, subject to the bondage of sin and death, unable
to save ourselves.
But it's especially our brothers and sisters in the womb, subject to the
additional bondage of a Court decision that said, "The word person…does
not include the unborn." (Roe vs. Wade, 1973).
In the beautiful Christmas hymn, "O Holy Night," we sing these words. "Truly
He taught us to love one another; His law is love, and His Gospel is Peace.
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, and in His Name all
oppression shall cease."
Pope Benedict XVI has taught that “love for widows and orphans, prisoners,
and the sick and needy of every kind, is as essential to [the Church] as the
ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel” (Deus Caritas
Est, no. 22). Our Christmas cannot be complete until we join in the
great effort to end the oppression of the unborn once and for all, and let
them hear that for them, too, a Savior has been born.
Find this column online at
www.priestsforlife.org/columns/3853-christmas-for-the-unborn
Comments on this column? Go to
www.askfrfrank.com
Fr. Frank's columns are podcast. See
www.priestsforlife.org/podcast
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