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Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion. For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary. 2 Mc 7:1-2, 9-14 2 Thes 2:16—3:5 Lk 20:27-38 or 20:27, 34-38 Today's readings are about the victory of life over death, of fidelity over circumstances. The clear affirmation that God will raise the dead shows that death cannot and will not have the last word in the human story. God is in the business of destroying death, as he had foretold in Isaiah 25 when he said, "I will remove the veil that veils all people, the web that is woven over all nations; I will destroy death forever." To stand with God is to stand with life; to stand with life is to stand against whatever destroys it. We who work to transform a culture of death into a culture of life begin with this affirmation that God has already won the victory over death. We do not "wonder if" we will be successful in overcoming abortion, euthanasia, and other forms of violence. Rather, we declare these evils defeated and, from a stance of victory, strive to bring all society into line with a victory already obtained. The theme of fidelity in difficult circumstances, as those in the First Reading faced, provides a context for the help we give to those in difficult pregnancies. By our faithfulness to what is right, even if it seems we are going to lose our own lives in the process (literally or figuratively), we end up with the fullness of life. Martyrdom is exactly the opposite of suicide. In suicide, one declares oneself to be the owner and disposer of one's life. In martyrdom, one declares that God alone is owner and disposer of one's life, which means that one can neither take it nor hold on to it at the cost of betraying Him.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion. For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary. Wis 11:22—12:2 2 Thes 1:11—2:2 Lk 19:1-10 The Zacchaeus story shows our Lord’s eagerness to seek out those whom others are tempted to look down on. Zacchaeus would have been lost in the crowd because of his small stature, had he not climbed the tree. He was also looked down upon because of his role as chief tax collector. But Jesus sought him out, not only by giving him attention but by dining at his house. Jesus breaks down the false barriers we place between certain kinds of people and others; he goes first to those who are pushed aside by the crowd. The Church, through which Jesus continues to carry out his mission today, does the same thing, and therefore speaks up for those pushed aside by the crowd, especially the smallest of the small, the unborn. Their lives, like ours, are not just the handiwork of God, but a continuous proof of his love. The first reading reminds us that at every moment God is sustaining each one of us with the breath of life. We would fall back into nothingness at once if God did not have his love focused on us in an uninterrupted way. To snuff out a life, therefore, whether of the born or the unborn, is a direct contradiction to God’s loving will, which sustains all things in being. On the other hand, we cooperate with the life-giving love of God each time we reach out to those around us who may be unsure about how to handle their pregnancy, and give them the strength to love their unborn child. We do likewise when we strengthen those who care for the vulnerable, the disabled, and the dying. By helping one another grow in love for the weakest in the human family, we and they literally become more like God, for “how could a thing remain unless you willed it, or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?’ (First Reading).

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion. For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary. Sir 35:12-14, 16-18 2 Tm 4:6-8, 16-18 Lk 18:9-14 The story in the Gospel passage for today proves the point in the first reading, that “the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds.” But the lesson is not just about the efficacy of prayer. It’s about God’s love for the smallest, the outcast, the “poor” – which means more than the materially deprived, but more fundamentally about those who have no help but God. “The Lord hears the cry of the poor” – of those who cry to him because they don’t have access to any of the power structures of this world which should protect them but don’t. God hears the “poor” because it belongs to his very nature to do so. He is, as the first reading proclaims, “a God of justice.” “Justice” is a powerful theme in Scripture, and refers to the intervention of God to rescue the helpless. The fundamental act of justice, of intervention, in the Old Testament is the Exodus, foreshadowing the supreme act of justice in Jesus Christ, who rescues us from the kingdom of death and hell by his own death and resurrection. All of this points, of course, to God’s concern for the poorest of the poor, and the most helpless of all, the children still in the womb. They have no access to the power structures of this world, who have officially deprived them of their rights of personhood. No group of human beings is more victimized, or in greater numbers, than children in the first nine months after conception. The God of justice requires his people to “do justice,” that is, to “hear the cry of the oppressed” as he does. The unborn child is, indeed, “the orphan,” often abandoned by mother and father who resort to abortion. The mother of the child is, for all practical purposes, facing the plight of the “widow” in Scripture, because half of those who have abortions say that they can’t go forward due to lack of support from the father of the child. We are called to intervene, to reach those tempted to abort and strengthen them to do what is right, and to speak and take action to restore protection to the unborn, for the Lord hears the cry of the poor.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion. For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary. Ex 17:8-13 2 Tm 3:14 - 4:2 Lk 18:1-8 Today’s readings are not only focused on the efficacy of prayer, but more specifically on the efficacy of prayer amidst battle and conflict. In the first reading, it is a battle for the very survival of God’s people against fierce enemies; in the Gospel, it is a legal battle for justice. The connection with the pro-life movement is clear on both the theme of prayer and conflict. In “The Gospel of Life,” John Paul II wrote, “It is possible to speak in a certain sense of a war of the powerful against the weak: a life which would require greater acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable burden, and is therefore rejected in one way or another. A person who, because of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by existing, compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more favored tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated. In this way a kind of "conspiracy against life" is unleashed. This conspiracy involves not only individuals in their personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to the point of damaging and distorting, at the international level, relations between peoples and States” (n. 12). The efforts of those who build a Culture of Life must be sustained by prayer but not limited to prayer. Moses’ hands sustained in prayer were essential to victory, but the Israelites also had to fight. Likewise, we must pray for an end to abortion, but we must also speak, organize, lobby, vote, protest, and intervene. In both the first reading and the Gospel, the themes of “justice,” “deliverance,” and “securing rights” make for particular application to the unborn and vulnerable. Finally, this homily can provide an opportunity to invite people to join in the daily prayer campaign to end abortion, as found at www.PrayerCampaign.org.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion. For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary. Wis 7:7-11 Heb 4:12-13 Mk 10:17-30 or 10:17-27 The manifold demands and activities of life can often obscure our understanding of what among them is most important. As the second reading indicates, it is the Word of God that cuts through the fog and enables us to discern clearly what matters most. The gift of “wisdom,” to which the first reading refers, is actually Christ himself. He is the Word, the Wisdom, the perfect image of the Father, the ultimate desire of our hearts. He himself is the Kingdom of God, and the possession above all our possessions. Both the first reading and the Gospel point us to him and urge us to desire him, and value our relationship with him, above all things. That relationship, that possession of the Kingdom that comes by following him, depends concretely on our keeping of the commandments. It is no accident that the first commandment Jesus mentions in this Gospel passage is “You shall not kill.” The man is asking how to possess God, and Jesus is helping him to avoid a spirituality disconnected from earth. The man must have imagined that Jesus was going to give some spiritual answer upon which he could then go home and meditate, all the while enjoying his many possessions. But Jesus anchored the demands of the man’s spirituality right down to earth, asking him what he was doing and what he intended to do in relationship to people and things around him that he could see, hear, and touch. The relationship with God, as Jesus taught it, rises and falls with our relationship to others – and the first demand of those right relationships is not to kill the other. As the passage progresses, it becomes clear that “Do not kill” is only the pre-requisite, not the fulfillment of perfect love. Love demands that we seek the least, the poorest. “Give to the poor” and “follow me” are in the same breath, not because discipleship demands that we own nothing, but precisely because discipleship demands that we give of ourselves for the other – especially for the smallest. Here, then, is revealed the wisdom of being pro-life. What we possess – not only material goods, but career and reputation and friendship as well – can never be clung to at the expense of ruining our relationship with God. If we fail to serve the least – the most vulnerable human beings – and instead kill them, or tolerate their killing – then everything else we have as a result is false security and false joy.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion. For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary. Hb 1:2-3; 2:2-4 2 Tm 1:6-8, 13-14 Lk 17:5-10 The prophet Habakkuk expresses what many believers say in the face of the culture of death: “How long, O Lord? I cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not intervene.” The Lord says to us what he said to Habakkuk. “The vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint.” We have even more reason than Habakkuk to have hope, because the foundational event of the fulfillment of the vision has occurred – the death and resurrection of Christ. We live now in the “in between” time, when the kingdom of Christ has been inaugurated on earth, but not yet brought to its full manifestation. The power of sin and death – revealed in evils such as abortion – has been destroyed at its roots. Yet we still struggle, in and through Christ, to bring about a Culture of Life. The passage from Habakkuk concludes with the familiar line “The just man shall live by faith.” It is that faith that the apostles, in the Gospel passage, ask the Lord to increase. To “live by faith” is not only to have our lives guided by faith. It means that through faith we have life in the first place. Our faith rescues us from the grip of death, from the kingdom of death, from the covenant with death that is brought about by sin. As Paul declares, “he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). That’s why he can write to Timothy in today’s second reading that “The Spirit God has given us is no cowardly spirit.” In other words, as we live in the world and fight for what is right, we do not look at the world’s evils and the culture of death and wonder how we are ever going to overcome them. Rather, we look at them and renew our conviction that they have been overcome in Christ. We stand before these evils in a stance of victory and say, “You no longer have any place here! Your kingdom has been overcome! Therefore we will work with courage to change this world and to apply the victory of life that has already been won!”

My Daily Diary for Aug. 29th, 2022

My Daily Diary for Aug. 23rd 2022

My Daily Diary for Tuesday, Aug. 23rd, 2022

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My Daily Diary for Monday Aug. 22, 2022

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion. For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary. Am 8:4-7 1 Tm 2:1-8 Lk 16:1-13 or 16:10-13 The second reading today contains a verse that forms the basis for the lessons in the other readings: “There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” It is the reality of the Incarnation that forms the basis for Christian morality, and in particular for our moral obligations regarding the use of money. The fact that Jesus is both God and man means that our relationship with God cannot be purely in a detached spiritual realm, disconnected with the things of earth. Rather, it is precisely through the proper use of the things of earth that we connect with our salvation and our God. Hence, we recognize the importance of earthly goods, and the teaching of the Church that the goods of the earth are meant for all people. In the first reading and in the Gospel, the lesson is that people are more important than money. When we mistreat people for the sake of monetary benefit, we harm our relationship with God. This is a core tenet of the Church’s social doctrine. The priority of people over things is a theme that shapes the Church’s view of economics, health care, politics, and every realm of human activity. Governments exist for people, not the other way around. Economies exist for people, not the other way around. These truths form the basis for a culture of life, because it is only when these priorities are reversed that societies or individuals feel free to resort to violence against people – including the violence of abortion and euthanasia – in order to “make things right” in some other regard. But a rejection of the human person can never make things right. Only in the affirmation of the person do we find the path to God.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion. For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary. Ex 32:7-11, 13-14 1 Tm 1:12-17 Lk 15:1-32 or 15:1-10 The readings for this Sunday all proclaim the power and depth of God’s mercy. The Gospel presents three analogies for the merciful behavior of God the Father; the first reading shows an example of that mercy toward an entire people; the second reading shows an example of it toward an individual. This is an opportunity to point out that the Gospel of Life is a Gospel of Mercy. Mercy actually begins with God’s choice to create us. We did not ask for or earn our lives, yet God decided to be merciful and give us what we didn’t (and can never) deserve. He mercifully rescued us from the nothingness in which we once were, and brought us into being. Mercy always welcomes life; the destruction of life is a direct contradiction of mercy. This weekend is an excellent opportunity to proclaim the mercy of God even in the face of the ongoing abortion tragedy. The Silent No More Awareness Campaign (www.SilentNoMore.com), a joint project of Priests for Life and Anglicans for Life, is essentially a proclamation of mercy. Women and men who have aborted their children find the healing of Christ and then proclaim his mercy publicly – in gatherings, in pulpits, in legislatures, in the media. Some of the testimonies of these men and women can be read, heard, and viewed on the website, and many of these individuals would be available to share their testimony from the pulpit if invited to give, for example, a brief sharing after Communion. Some may even be available for this particular weekend. Simply inquire with the campaign at the website. Preaching on this theme also gives us the important opportunity to warn against presumption, and to distinguish mercy from permission. Neither God’s people of old, nor Paul, nor the Prodigal Son were ever given permission to commit evil, whether before or after they were forgiven. The proclamation of the greatness of God’s mercy is meaningful only because the evil of sin is great. Were sin trivial, then mercy would be meaningless. Some will say, when faced with the temptation to abort (or to commit any other sin), “Well, God is merciful – he’ll understand.” What he understands is that sin destroys us, and that grace can keep us from sin in the first place. The promise of his mercy should never be hijacked and made into an occasion of sin. Mercy follows upon repentance; it does not replace it.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion. For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary. Wis 9:13-18b Phlm 9-10, 12-17 Lk 14:25-33 “Hating…even his own life.” This is a strongly-worded condition of discipleship laid out in today’s Gospel passage. It takes aim at the arrogance to which the original sin has left us so inclined. It is the idea that was presented to our first parents. “You will be like gods,” the serpent said to them in the Garden of Eden. This original temptation was a promise that what was right and what was wrong would be up to us; that we could write our own moral law. That’s what the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” meant, and why Adam and Eve couldn’t eat from it. We are all called to know good from evil, but not to decide it. To think we decide it is the error of the “pro-choice” mindset. “It’s all up to me and my choice, even if it means killing a baby.” This way of thinking, of course, leads to total chaos. On what basis do we tell people not to kill each other or steal from each other unless there are standards of right and wrong that apply to everyone no matter what they believe? The temptation to abort is often couched in reasons and language that seem to invoke the Gospel’s advice to count the cost before building a tower or marching with an army. Yet prudence does not give license to kill in order to get ourselves out of undesirable consequences of past actions. Prudence, instead, calls us to evaluate those consequences before we act, and in this sense, the Gospel’s lesson is a call to chastity, and not to engage in sexual relations until we are ready to welcome a child in the context of marriage. Moreover, the Gospel is a call to calculate the cost of that renunciation of our own understanding, which the first reading also reflects. “Unsure are our plans.” When a child in the womb seems to throw life’s plans out of control, today’s message of total trust in the God who knows more than we do is a life-saving message indeed.

My Daily Diary for Aug. 15th, 2022

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Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion. For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary. Sir 3:17-18, 20, 28-29 Heb 12:18-19, 22-24a Lk 14:1, 7-14 Being pro-life is really all about the humility of which today’s first reading and Gospel speak. Humility allows us to see each other and ourselves honestly, as neither more nor less than what we are. Because we see the worth of our own lives and those of our neighbors, we are not led by pride to either oppress or ignore those lives. Rather, humility leads us to serve those lives. Humility keeps us from being fooled by appearances, and led to pay more attention to those who are more rich, famous, or powerful. Instead, we respect and serve the small and lowly. We don’t determine their value, and neither does the law. “When you have a reception, invite beggars and the crippled, the lame and the blind. You should be pleased that they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid in the resurrection of the just.” Here, Jesus urges us to have “eschatological realism.” We are to evaluate today’s choices in the light of what will happen on the last day. This applies perfectly to our service of the unborn. Of anyone we can serve, they are the least able to repay us, or even to know of our efforts on their behalf. Doing the work of the pro-life movement is the most selfless of all kinds of love, for we are loving those who cannot love us back. Moreover, we are loving those whom today’s psalm calls the forsaken. We are imitating God, “the father of orphans,” who “gives a home to the forsaken and leads forth prisoners to prosperity.”

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion. For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary. Readings: Is 66:18-21 Heb 12:5-7, 11-13 Lk 13:22-30 “We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.” Evidently, that is not enough to be saved. The Gospel today challenges us to be disciples internally, not just externally. We may indeed eat and drink with the Lord: he is among us, we go to Mass, we identify ourselves as Christians to others, we have our sacramental certificates, and we might wear crosses and have other religious symbols around us. But that is not enough. We may indeed hear the Lord teach in our streets. He continues to teach and proclaim his Gospel every time an ordained minister of the Church gives a homily. We hear the Lord speaking through many others, too, and through our own individual contact with his Word. But still that is not enough. Discipleship requires obedience to the teaching we hear the Lord give us, and actual union with the one with whom we sit at table. This has implications for our pro-life stance. It is not and cannot be enough simply to “be” pro-life, in the sense that we “believe” abortion is wrong, “oppose” it, or have the right viewpoint. Attitudinal opposition to abortion has to translate into behavioral opposition, not just in the sense that we would never participate in it, but in the sense that we do not tolerate it. On the contrary, we reach out and intervene to save others who are being aborted by the choice of others.

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