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Christmas for the Unborn
By Fr. Frank Pavone
HERALD Columnist
There is a universality about Christmas
"Behold, I proclaim to you good news of great
joy that will be for all the
people ... A Savior has been born for you"
(Lk 1:10-11).
Christ the Savior becomes man precisely for all who share human nature. He excludes nobody. The good news of Christmas is for all people of all times and places. "Joy to the world "
In fact, so universal is this joy, that even nature shares in it: "Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them" (Is 11:6).
All of this leads to an inescapable conclusion: Christmas is also for the unborn. The Savior has come also for the children yet living in their mothers' wombs. The Gospel message is addressed also to our youngest brothers and sisters.
In fact, we can say it is addressed especially
to them, because they are the
most helpless. It is true that none of us
can save ourselves. Yet most of us can at least pray for salvation, and
we can know where it is found. Our youngest brothers and sisters, on the
other hand, can't even pray, and may very well be destroyed by abortion
before they ever hear the good news.
That good news was announced first precisely to the lowly, not to the great and powerful. The ministry of the One who was born for us continued to follow that pattern: He consistently sought out those who were on the outskirts of society.
His Church does the same today, not failing to take a preferential option for the poor. The "poor" are not simply those deprived of material goods. The poor are those who have no defense, those who cannot help themselves, those who have only God ... and God's people.
To welcome the Savior means to welcome the obligations which His mission places on us. He is, in the words of the Prophets, one who will establish "justice" on the earth. In Biblical terms, this indicates He will intervene for the helpless, bringing deliverance to those held in bondage.
That's all of us, of course, subject to the bondage of sin and death, unable to save ourselves.
But it's especially our brothers and sisters
in the womb, subject to the
additional bondage of a Court decision that
said, "The word ‘person’ ... does not include the unborn." (Roe vs. Wade,
1973).
In the beautiful Christmas hymn, "O Holy Night," we sing these words. "Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love, and His Gospel is peace. Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, and in His Name all oppression shall cease."
Our Christmas cannot be complete until we join in the great effort to end the oppression of the unborn once and for all, and let them hear that for them, too, a Savior has been born.
Father Pavone is the International Director of Priests for Life
and an official at the Vatican’s Council for the Family.
Contact Priests for Life at P.O. Box 141172, Staten Island, N.Y. 10314, Tel. 888 1PFL-3448, fax 718-980-6515, email pfl@priestsforlife.org, web site http://www.priestsforlife.org/.
Copyright ©1998 Arlington Catholic Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
This article was published in the Arlington
Catholic Herald,
200 N. Glebe Rd., Suite 607, Arlington, VA 22203; Vol 23, No 49,
dated Dec 10, 1998.
.
E-mail:
letters@catholicherald.com
Fax: 703/524-2782;
Editorial: 703/841-2590;
Advertising: 703/841-2594;
Circulation: 703/841-2565
A note from the Web Master:
It is noteworthy and honorable that some folks are willing to stand up for a ban on Partial-Birth Abortion. Let us not forget that Abortion is also murder. We must understand that murder is still murder no matter the method. Because one method of abortion seems to be horrifying does not justify the other less repugnant methods. We should be sickened by any Abortion regardless of the method. The Fifth Commandment spells it out clearly: "Thou shalt not kill." A fetus is a person, a human being with a God given soul. Imagine the pain the Lord must feel when any Abortion occurs. Please, please, please contact your Senators and Congressman, via letter or phone, to let him/her know how upset you are that Abortions are legal and to pass and support legislation to stop Partial-Birth Abortions and all other Abortions as soon as possible. (It has become apparent in recent times that writing a letter or making a phone call is more effective)
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