Perfectly Prolife

Working and voting to be more prolife  

Luke 20:27, 34-38  

          Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward. Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.  That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”   

          All Catholics should be prolife. That’s not really “negotiable” for a Catholic; it’s not something we can take or leave. But we express our prolife position and principles in a wide variety of ways. For example, last weekend I made an announcement at the end of Mass that we will have a novena of Masses for the dead. I explained that we pray for the dead because one day we will also be dead. And we will want someone to pray for us. After Mass a father stopped me and shared that when I said, “one day we will be dead” his small son laughed out loud thinking I was joking. You see, that little boy was “prolife” and didn’t even know it. He thought we would live forever on earth, and that’s one way to be prolife.   

          Someone else with a very peculiar prolife position was General George S. Patton, the famous World War II general. Now, it’s true that he was Episcopalian and not Catholic, but his granddaughter is not only a Catholic but a Benedictine nun named Mother Margaret Georgina Patton. In the famous speech General Patton delivered to the Third Army, Patton colorfully said (and I have to censor it somewhat): “Now, I want you to remember that no ‘buffoon’ ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb ‘buffoon’ die for his country.” (Which word do you think I censored?) Now, those words don’t exactly hit the highest ideals of the prolife position, but it’s a small start. At least Patton was prolife about his own men. I’m sure Sr. Margaret Patton could help smooth some of her grandfather’s rough prolife edges. By being a religious nun who has taken the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience - which is very much a death to one’s self - she could argue that you do win the spiritual war by dying for your country, by dying for our eternal homeland of heaven. All Catholics are called to be prolife, but that prolife position can come in many shapes and sizes, and it takes many forms and fashions.   

          In the gospel today, Jesus presents the perfect prolife position, namely, how God sees human life. He answers a query from the Sadducees, who incidentally deny the afterlife and do not believe in the resurrection or heaven. He says, “That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called, out, ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead but of the living, for to him all are alive.” In other words, the perfect prolife position is to see all people through God’s eyes, and to him all are alive, especially those in heaven, those whom we mistakenly think are dead. Only God is perfectly prolife.   

          Last Friday, I ate lunch with Sam T. Sicard. As we walked back to his bank building, he shared with me how some people cling to life in an almost desperate way. He told me how his father died many years ago. Sam Sicard Sr. was a devout Catholic, in his seventies and faithfully attended Mass. One day, while at Mass, after receiving Holy Communion, Sam Sr. slumped over in his pew and died of a massive heart attack. He died immediately right there at Sunday Mass. Sam T. went on to explain how many people tried to console him by saying that was such a horrible tragedy and such a sad thing that happened. But Sam T.’s response was exactly the opposite: he felt his father’s death was perfect. What better way to leave this earth, than after having lived a full life, raised a family, built a strong bank, and now just having received Holy Communion. It’s like dying in the arms of Jesus! Sam saw his father’s death like Jesus said to the Sadducees: “And he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” You see, we are all on the spectrum of the prolife position: the little boy who laughed at me in Mass was prolife, General George S. Patton was prolife, Mother Margaret Patton was prolife, and Sam T. Sicard is prolife. We are all trying to be more and more prolife, but only God is perfectly prolife.   

          My friends, we are only two days away from November 8 and the election of our next president, I would like to say two things about Catholics and the prolife position. Oh, no, he’s going to talk about politics from the pulpit! Yep. Now let me say two things. First, no Catholic in good conscience can fail to be prolife or ignore this monumental issue of our day. The Catechism states in no. 2258: “Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves a creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end.” The Catechism continues: “God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.” The Catechism is pretty clear cut about never violating the value of human life. In other words, being prolife must be a cornerstone of your Catholicism; you shouldn’t ignore it or minimize this intrinsic good.   

          The second point is that you should carry that prolife conviction with you to the ballot box and let that guide your voting. Now, I cannot tell you whom to vote for, nor should I. To be quite honest, I find it difficult to recommend any of the major party candidates. I believe voting is a profoundly private decision where one must listen to the voice of one’s conscience and do what it commands. There is a spectrum of prolife positions, and people who are deeply prolife can honestly disagree on the best way to promote the prolife cause. The one thing we can do is follow the dictate of our own conscience, at the same time, we can refrain from judging others as they follow the dictate of their own conscience. One thing that helps me to do that is to remember that only God is perfectly prolife, but no one else is: not you, not me, and not our political candidates.   

          A Catholic does not really have a choice about being prolife; it is part and parcel of our faith; it’s something we should feel deep down in our bones. But how we put into practice that prolife principle in concrete situations can be done in a wide variety of ways. The one thing a Catholic cannot be “pro-choice” about is being “prolife.”   

          Praised be Jesus Christ!