Recently I have been reflecting on the importance of speaking up for what we know to be right, despite knowing that the consequences may very well be: ridicule, scorn and humiliation.
But for Christians, we know that in it’s darkness, in it’s fascination with death, it is light our world needs. That light of course, is the light of Christ. For those of us who profess to be Christian, we are called to bring that light into the darkness. We cannot hide our light under a bushel.
That doesn’t mean that we “bible bash” as the old saying goes, but we must bring hope to those whom we meet. We must not be afraid to speak with great compassion and love when evil abounds around us.
If I had been around in the time of Nazi Germany, when the Jews, the disabled, the gypsies, the Christians and the homosexuals were being taken away to be killed in the death camps, I would hope that I would have had the courage to speak up or to be one of those who hid their fellow human beings from the Gestapo. I would hope that I would have had courage to do what was right, what was just.
Today we have our own death camps. They are the abortion clinics. The people who work in them are enslaved by lies and deception, the men and women who walk into them, thinking there is no other option to their situation are deprived of hope. The babies that are carried into these death camps, in what should be the safety of their mother’s wombs, do not, in most cases, leave alive.
The devil rejoices at the abortion clinics. He rejoices because he has power over them. He resides there. He sucks the life out of all those who enter the doors. He rejoices because there he has the power to turn souls from Christ. There he has power to destroy God’s creation, made in His image and likeness.
When we, as Christ’s body, stand outside these death camps and publicly witness to God’s love, we bring hope to those inside. When we stand there asking for God’s forgiveness, for his intervention, many blessings abound.
We are called to be the light in the darkness. We are called to bring Christ to the world. We are called to do this no matter how hard it is, how busy we are or how fearful we may be.
Imagine Jesus hanging on the cross. He is in an agony that defies belief. There are two people at the foot of that cross – Mary and John. How alone he must have felt. When we feel embarrassed, or alone, or afraid of what is to come, remember that scene. What we have to suffer for what is right, what is just, is only a slither of that which Christ suffered for each and every single one of us.
So, on this eve of the 40 Days for Life vigil, I urge you to not be afraid and come to the death camps if you can. Come pray, come be a sign of hope, come and be a light in this world of darkness.