Fr. Jim Lowe 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time 10/25/20

Dear brothers and sister in Christ, 47 years ago, three young boys and a young girl were praying to God for their mother to have another baby. When their mother discovered this, she told them she was too old to have another child. Just a few months later, the children heard the good news that their mother was pregnant and was going to have a baby. These 4 children were my brothers and my sister. The baby was me. God answered their prayers. Even though at the time it was considered to be risky to be pregnant at her age, my mom warmly welcomed the unplanned pregnancy. One day, a neighbor was visiting and noticed that my mom was pregnant. He looked right at her and said, you know, you can have an abortion. My mom looked right back at him and firmly asked him to leave. I am so grateful my mom did not listen to that neighbor. If she did, I would not be here today as your priest at St. Scholastica. Every time we approach an election, abortion suddenly becomes a “hot topic”. The truth is, however, that many women find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy, like my mom, on a daily basis, not just during election years. Unfortunately, they do not all choose to bring their baby into this world. Most women who choose abortion do not want to end the life of their baby, but they don’t feel like they have a choice other than abortion. Many women who choose abortion suffer emotionally and spiritually after making the decision. The good news is that there are so many resources to support women who choose to keep their babies as well as for women who choose to terminate the life of their babies and are in need of spiritual and emotional support. “As Catholics approach the polls, we are asked to weigh many important issues. The US bishops have reaffirmed that ‘the threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself, because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family, and because of the number of lives destroyed.’ While they did warn us not to ‘dismiss or ignore other serious threats to human life and dignity such as racism, the environmental crisis, poverty, and the death penalty,’ they did give priority to upholding and defending our brothers’ and sisters’ most basic right…to live.” ”Abortion tragically ends someone’s life when he or she is most vulnerable and most in need of loving protection. Abortion is an intrinsic evil, meaning that it is never permitted or morally justified, regardless of individual circumstances or intentions. The personal and societal consequences of attacks against human life, whether at its earliest stages or at its final stages, are all the more serious because most often they are ‘carried out in the very heart of and with the complicity of the family – the family which by its nature is called to be the ‘sanctuary of life’. This is the place where the person ought to be most loved, cherished, and protected.” Fr. Jim Lowe