On the 30th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

Today is the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, which closes the Unity Octave that the Church celebrates each year. We unite our prayers to those of Jesus in the upper room the night before he died, that all may be one. The Church that Christ founded has suffered division over the centuries, which in turn has led to a profound confusion about truth and good in the world. The light of Christ is obscured generation after generation by the sins of men and women who want to be independent of God.

We pray that we all may be one with Christ in his Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Whatever may be our Christian beliefs or beliefs in God, much more unites us than divides us. The right to life, and specifically the right to life for the defenseless unborn, is a universal truth that unites us all. We share this truth that brings us together and leads us to bring others to Christ.

Today we have come here to pray. We do all that is earthly possible to bring about justice, but prayer conquers. The perfect prayer is the Holy Mass, when Christ speaks to his Father on our behalf from the throne of the Cross. Christ Crucified is our love and so we choose to be crucified alongside Christ. What is it to be crucified? We look out from the Cross with Christ and see through the ages, across the centuries, to the farthest reaches of the earth, into the hearts of all men and women. We see sin and evil and we understand that this is why we have come into the world: to pray. To pray that we all may be one, to restore unity with the Father, and that will signify the defeat of sin.?To pray for those who do not know what they do. To pray for all souls. We are with Christ on the Cross, and the Cross is the place where we find ourselves closest to Christ. We are all sinners, my brothers and sisters, and Christ redeems sinners by his Cross.

When we experience, at whatever level, the evil of abortion, we participate in the suffering of Christ on the Cross. The Cross wins redemption and brings about salvation. When we witness the evil of abortion it can cause us to become angry, to lose peace, to question God and to declare those involved our enemies. Accompanying Jesus on the Cross, however, we see and we pray and we are sorry for our sins and the sins of all our brothers and sisters who cause Jesus to suffer. We pray, we do penance, we love those who hate us, we bless those who curse us, we do good to those who persecute us, we go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.

Let us have courage to join Christ on the Cross, a peaceful Christ who proclaims the Gospel by persevering in his suffering, though he sees unspeakable evil and betrayal. Let us join women and men who have been crucified by choices that they made, who consciously or unconsciously deeply regret their actions, because they have experienced the evil of abortion firsthand. They are suffering souls. Many more every day join their lot. Many more experience the Cross. Many more than last year and the year before. God hears their cries. He reaches out to those suffering souls who in turn can reach out to the foolish who still do not understand or prefer to deny the wages of sin, the horror of abortion. Is it not a hopeful sign that it is becoming more difficult for abortion providers to carry out their gruesome business?

They have created dissatisfied customers all over this country, hurt people who often go unnoticed but whose anger and grief lie hidden in their hearts, and whose prayers, penance and action can bring an end to the killing. Their sorrow brings them through the darkness of Calvary to the light of the Resurrection. The light of Christ mercifully casts out the darkness of their sin. They regain their sight. They can become apostles.

Let us consider also the millions and millions of unborn brothers and sisters who, never having seen the light of day, now see God's light, though the exact manner remains a mystery, and whose intercessory prayer is surely heard by our Father in heaven. They are innocents whose lives were taken, and given back to them in God. They are souls who pray for men and women on earth to defend helpless innocent human beings, especially the unborn, the terminally ill, the handicapped, and the aged.

We turn to Paul's experience on this feast of his conversion out of darkness into the light of Christ. Paul inflicted suffering on the followers of Jesus, to the point that Jesus protested: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? During the rest of his life as Paul the apostle, he must have recalled many times all the men and women who suffered and died under his murderous threats, beginning with the first martyr, Stephen, whose stoning Saul personally supervised. Paul converted. His encounter with Christ led him, chief among sinners, to repent, and then zealously undertake the mission of Jesus Christ. The sinner becomes apostle. That's the power of prayer.

How many of our brothers and sisters, the early Christians, must have prayed for Saul, even if only that he might relent in his attacks. Surely some gigantic souls prayed with greater faith for his conversion.

Stephen certainly prayed for Saul. Borrowing the words of Christ on the Cross, Stephen, under the shower?f stones, cried out to forgive them, to forgive Saul. His prayer was heard. Paul heard Christ and changed his life, and many souls, Jew and Gentile, ‹experienced the light of Christ in the darkness of sin. Stephen prayed for Saul, Paul prays for the Church, we are the Church praying for the world, and especially for souls who have somehow been touched by abortion's horror now to discover Christ on the Cross. Mary, Queen of Peace, Comforter of the Afflicted, Help of Christians, Refuge of Sinners, intercede for us.