Contradictions of the Resurrection
Lots of us celebrate an anniversary by going on a holiday. I decided I would go to visit my sister in Albuquerque, New Mexico while celebrating my 50th anniversary of activity in the pro-life movement. It may not surprise people that while I was there, I spent one morning picketing outside an abortuary that is notorious even by the lax New Mexico standards. This Southwestern Women’s Options abortuary specializes in late term abortions. New Mexicans doesn’t impose bubble zone injunctions. So we were there - literally on the edge of the parking lot - watching as women drove in from Texas and Oklahoma to have late term abortions in an otherwise unassuming facility. It was cold! As I was standing talking to the only other person who was the lone Truth Bearer at the abortuary, Phil Leahy, we got to talking about how difficult it is to be both a silent witness, and also to be that link that these women have at the very edge of the abyss into which they are tumbling. How ironic that in Albuquerque - a city of famous (indeed, ancient by North American standards) churches - they also have a plethora of killing centres.
Is this not typical of our society where, in the midst of the temples to modern science - our hospitals and research centres - we also have the silent and deadly virus of abortion clinics or abortions being performed in the same operating theatres where lives are otherwise saved?
I look back over several decades and ask how is it that we are really called to be active in the midst of a society of such extremes? As we come into this time of the Easter Season, remember that we have always been in the midst of that contradiction. The Resurrection was witnessed by extremely few people - the Roman soldiers, Peter and John, Mary Magdalen, and then only gradually did the circle expand to the Apostles and to Our Lady in the Upper Room. It may have seemed at first, and I do mean by “first”, over many decades, that the message of the Risen Christ was very slow to be understood, to be believed, and to be lived.
It has been lived and it has been believed. We must look at our fight as the Long Battle and in that Long Battle, there are many small battles. There will be defeats and there will be victories, but each and every time that we have a heart that is turned back to the Lord, a mind that is willing to embrace the Truth and a conscience that has properly been formed, we will have believers reaching out and recognizing that each mind, each life, and each soul is a worthwhile victory. For each of us, there are many different kinds of things that we can do. It may look as if here in Canada we have that massive stone that is the federal government that will not allow pro-life victories or legislation to be even considered. It may look as if our provincial governments are steadfast in ignoring the basic truths of human life. We do have the increased killing off of the elderly and the vulnerable and mercy killing.
But I know that the saving of each life is an inestimable victory. Yes, even in scriptures we’re told how it seemed that the message of Christ and the power of his Resurrection were insignificant. In Acts 25: 18-21, Festus, the Roman official, doesn’t want to get involved in what he sees as some kind of small sectarian disagreement about whether some man rose from the dead or not, and the truth is that we are not waiting for the world to acknowledge us. We are waiting instead for that bright dawn of the Resurrection and that Resurrection will be in each heart and each mind that we touched by our work. Where do you stand? We are called to stand, to proclaim, and to speak so that the Truth of the Resurrection and the incredible worth of each life will be proclaimed into a waiting world.
On behalf of Priests for Life Canada, I want to wish you all the gifts and graces of this Easter Season that your heart may be inflamed by the presence and love of Christ and that you may be a continuing force for pro-life in our country and in our world.
Fr. Tom Lynch (PFLC National President)