Preaching on abortion, 5th Sunday of Lent, Year A, Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 5th Sunday in Lent, Year A 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.

Ez 37:12-14
Rom 8:8-11
Jn 11:1-45 or 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45

The theme of this weekend’s readings is an overwhelming proclamation that God is master of life and death. Lent is meant to deepen our awareness and conviction of this truth, which is in turn the basis of the pro-life movement. We are not simply counteracting an evil in society through our human strength; rather, we are sent on a mission by the one who has authority over death, to free the human family from its oppressive regime.

Imagine going to a wake service and having someone say to you, “If you had been here sooner, my loved one would never have died.” Yet that is what both Martha and Mary said to Jesus. They knew he had power over life and death. And yet they were subject to the all too human fears and calculations we make when we battle the culture of death. Martha says, “By now there will be a stench.”

We say the same thing. We know what is right, and what has to be said and done to defend life. Yet we fear the stench. We fear who will object, who will get angry. Politicians fear who will vote against them; businesses fear who will stop supporting them. “Surely, there will be a stench.” And that becomes the excuse not to act – even when we know that Jesus has authority over death.

As we approach the climax of Lent and proclaim these powerful readings of God’s victory over death, let’s call our people to a confident and persistent activism for the cause of life, without fear or excuses.