Gospel Reflections for January 20 2019
Keep the party going!
Perhaps Jesus said so at the wedding reception in today’s Gospel. He recognized this couple’s great embarrassment if they ran out of wine. The party would end! Jesus knew that good wine would keep everyone celebrating their love and marriage.
I hope that couple lived a long and happy life, but we just don’t know. In fact, none of us knows the number of our days. Some are fortunate to have advance notice from doctors so they can prepare for it well, while others might die unexpectedly. Our faith affirms that we live our life as fully as possible no matter how many days we have. However, we certainly hope that our end is natural …and never at the hands of another.
Today is Respect Life Sunday, and affirms our deep Catholic belief that every person is loved by God from every moment before birth to our natural death, and so we should all live a full and happy life.
I remember a couple that invited me to bless their new home and meet their children. While there I noticed a new room beautifully set up for another child. Long before this baby was born …it was already deeply loved, just as God loves us …long before we are even born.
God designed us with that natural instinct to care for innocent children before they are even born …not as an imposition of religion …but a natural human trait that actually led to our evolutionary success.
That is why women rarely ever want an abortion, but at times under severe circumstances might feel there is no other choice. If we can help with those other circumstances, like poverty, force, or fear, then perhaps their choice will change too.
Perhaps that is why so many women who have had abortions now recognize that every life, including their own, is from God. Their beautiful change of heart has changed our country into now over 50% pro-life.
I also have a new article for your review as well. It is called Pro-Life & Pro-Choice Politics. I hope it will help clarify this very sensitive issue even more. (click here to read Pro-Life & Pro-Choice Politics)
Jesus boldly faced every moral issue …but always with the deepest love for every person involved. Our Lord wants every life to flourish, both mothers and children.
As Jesus would say at that long ago wedding feast, “Let’s keep the celebration of life and love going!”
God Bless!
Fr. Dave
Thank you for this thoughtful article, Father Dave. I particularly like the quote from the Pro-life/Pro-choice article: “Tolerance is not silence and respect is not passivity”. This motto should be more widely used and displayed, in our society.
I am one of those folks that, while I believe in Pro-life, I typically respect (but not agree to) others’ Pro-choice positions. My belief is that I may not agree with abortion, but “free will” has been given to each of us to make our own decisions (of course, it also means we must “own” those decisions) and I have no right to pass judgment on someone else who makes this choice.
Perhaps that is not correct or the best thing to do. However, part of this position is based on growing up in Chicago and remembering Bob Greene (a columnist at The Chicago Sun-Times) who had a series of articles in the 1980’s, describing horrific child abuse conditions and activities, all ultimately ending in death and not always a quick one nor a death that was quickly discovered and properly punished.. Some of the descriptions are seared into my brain. The stories made me think: If this was the only life I ever knew (one of torture, abuse and ultimately death, at the hands of someone who was supposed to love me) and my choices were to be born to it or to have never been born at all, which would I want as the child in that situation?? Thankfully, I also was never a teenage girl, who had a lapse in judgement and ended up pregnant.
I’m certainly not advocating that an abortion would have been the best choice in either situation. Adults have many options, including proper birth control choices and adoption.
Respectfully submitted.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. Yes, you describe some horrible situations in Chicago in the 1980’s. I am sure that if you knew it was going on nearby, you would not stand by and do nothing becasue you did “not want to judge.” Of course you would judge these acts as the horrible crimes they are. We can never be neutral in the face of evil. We must always judge what is right and wrong. Thank you again for sharing your story.
Father Dave, many thanks for your reflections.
Blessings
John Mc
You are welcome!
Father Dave, many thanks for your weekly thoughts.
Blessings
John Mc
Our precious God has given us the beautiful gift of life!! No one has the right to destroy it in any circumstance!!! Adoption is a precious reality!!! I have lovely friends who have adopted and their lives are sooooooooooooooooooooooooo filled with love for that precious child!! We cannot judge the person having the abortion but we can judje the action!! It is the taking of a life and it is wrong!!! I love life and will always strand strong on this issue!!! My prayers are that Roe versus Wade is overturned and the protection of life is restored and then what a beautiful world we woulkd have!!! I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee God for giving us ther precious gift of life!!!
Loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Franca
Thank you!
Beautiful!!!
I am glad you liked it!
If Jesus is for life in all it’s forms, including life in the womb, then so am I.
Jesus came that “that we might have life and have it to the full”
Nobody should be able to take that life away from us.
We pray that we will always make the better choice for life, and in the appointed time
gain eternal Life.
It was great to see the “March for Life” rally in Washington on Friday with many young
people involved.
Thanks for your comments. Yes, the March for Life Rally in Washington was spectacular.
The Epistal talks of the gifts we are all given. If we are doing his work in the name of the Lord, nommatter what it is those come from God… In the Gospel , one of the few times u hear from Mary and it is “Do what Hesus tells u to do”. She pointed to Our Lord… To give honor to Mary is to worship our Lord. We are to do what He tells us to do.
Even though I cannot go to the event for respect life, I will be praying for it and hope lives are changed by the prayers that go out.
Well said!
Dear Father Dave,
Thanks so much for your important reflections.
I’ve never understood the ease taken by some to have abortions and/or to perform abortions.
An expectant mother can feel the life within her relatively early on in her pregnancy. The “baby,” alive and hopefully well, will move either a leg or an arm, which is most definitely felt by mama. It’s love in bloom.
Yes, life is a beautiful gift, and yes … some people have no respect for it. Such sadness.
I’ve often wondered why some of us may feel more blessed than others, and then I remind myself that God’s blessings may not be seen until this life is over and eternal life has begun.
God bless.
Sincerely,
Kathleen
I like your reflections very much. Well said!
As a man I find it difficult to understand all of the issues facing women, who bear the responsibility of giving birth to a human. I know there are many complex issues, albeit not a large percentage. In most cases women give birth to a blest human without difficult issues.
But certainly terminating a pregnancy simply for the convenience of the parents is first degree murder. I think this is true even in the case of babies with questionable parameters for survival or mental accomplishment. I know many physically disadvantaged people who are a joy of life for the rest of us. God works in mysterious ways!
As Mary and Jesus did at Cana, let us support married couples at their marriage and during their lives!
Yes, you are right. Support for married couples, and any woman who is pregnant is a calling that I hope everyone hears.