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          The Spirit of Love
          By Father Frank A. Pavone

          St. Paul calls God the Father the one "who did not spare His
          own Son, but handed Him over for us all" (Rom 8:32).
          Handed Him over, that is, to the agony and disgrace of crucifixion between two thieves.

          How can it be? How can the Father hand His Son over to
          that?

          Because the Father inspired in the Son such great love. That
          is how St. Thomas Aquinas answered the question. The Lord indeed said, "Greater love than this no one has, than to lay
          down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13).

          The love which exists between the Father and the Son, and is
          poured out on us, is a Person, the Holy Spirit. He is Love.

          "Love" is the most misused, abused and confused word in the
          English language.  We use it for a lot of good things, and for a few evil things as well.  But in the Word of God we find its authentic meaning: "The way we came to know love was that
          He laid down His life for us" (1 Jn 3 : 16). The Holy Spirit is visible not only on Pentecost.  In a very real sense, He
          becomes visible in the Crucifixion, because the kind of love
          He inspires is the love that gives unto the point of death. Thus, the Letter to the Hebrews states, "Christ, through the eternal spirit offered Himself unblemished to God" (Heb 9: 14).

          In the laws of the Old Testament, offerings were consumed
          by fire.  In the eternal offering of Christ, the fire is the Holy Spirit.

          But that same Holy Spirit is given to us. The second
          half of I John 3:16 states, "so we ought to lay down our lives
          for our brothers."  That's what love does. It gives itself away, and that is why it is the opposite of abortion. Love says, "I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person." Abortion says, "I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself."  That turns the cross upside down and runs in the opposite direction of the Holy Spirit.

          The love which gives itself away also unites. The Holy Spirit
          is the bond between the Father and the Son, and the one who unites the Church. "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body... and we were all given to drink of one Spirit"
          (1 Cor 12: 13). The Holy Spirit unites; abortion divides. You can't divide the human family more effectively than by introducing conflict between a mother and the child within her womb. Those who work with post-abortion counseling know the numerous other divisions abortion introduces within families and in the souls of those who have abortions.

          I have read and written a lot of words about abortion over
          the years. But there are no words that can be said well
          enough, loud enough, or often enough to bring this tragedy
          to an end. That will happen only when, through the eternal
          Spirit, we too lay down our lives for our pre-born brothers
          and sisters.

          Fr. Pavone is the International Director of Priests for Life
          and an official at the Vatican’s Council for the Family.

          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 22;
          dated June 4, 1998, on the page 5
          .
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