A pro-life Church

Every human life, from the moment of conception until death, is sacred because the human person has been willed for its own sake in the image and likeness of the living and holy God. This has always been the constant teaching of the Catholic Church on the sanctity of human life. But how does the Church concretely respond to her calling of defender and promoter of life? An experience I had with the Helpers of God's Precious Infants group in Sydney showed me how.

The Helpers of God's Precious Infants is a group of people committed to maintaining a loving and prayerful presence outside abortion clinics, where God's children are mercilessly massacred. What was interesting in this pro-life Sydney group were principally two things.

First, it operated through prayer. Secondly, the whole Church, that is priests, consecrated people and the laity, were unified together to champion the value of human life. The exposition of the Blessed Sacrament that set off the beginning of the march, the rosary on the way and in front of the abortion clinic, the Divine Mercy chaplet, the counsellors near the clinic who tried to dissuade the girls from committing this horrible crime; the Stations of the Cross; the chants that promoted life, healing and mercy in and through Jesus; the march way back to the church in prayer; and the final benediction, all these showed that the God of life was forcefully pleading to His creatures to save His precious images, the unborn children, from being butchered.

God was also imploring to those who ruthlessly wanted to put them to death to come to their senses and rethink the whole matter.

I vividly remember the girls being pushed in by their parents and their boyfriends, because they could not withstand such a powerful proclamation that human life is to be intrinsically defended. The feeling of horror, death, dread and darkness that surrounded the abortion clinic was countered by the air of peace, life, hope and light that emanated from this little community of believers, the Church.

Later I was told that some of the girls might have actually changed their minds while they were waiting in the clinic. What a huge relief and joy to know that God, the author of human life, was honoured through the saving of innocent human lives as well as the sparing of mothers from life-long incalculable psychological harm!

I greatly encourage the pro-life movement in Malta to carry on with its campaign, both locally and internationally, at the service of human life. While backing all those who advocate life let us care for God's creation by praying for the preservation and the flourishing of human life as well as for the conversion of all those who participate in any way in the destruction of human life in the name of an illusory freedom:

"Heavenly Father, we pray for the least among us, the children in the womb. Protect them from the violence of abortion. We pray in a special way for the unborn babies that are scheduled to die this week all over the world. Save them from death. Give new hope to their parents, that they may turn away from the desperate act of abortion. Grant conversion to the abortionists and to their assistants. Show us how we are to respond to the bloodshed in our midst, and lead us to the day when the culture of death will give way to the culture of life. Guard us with your joy and your peace, for in You Heavenly Father, life is victorious. We make this prayer through Jesus your Son. Amen."