Father Peter F. Hansen
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Christmas
January 19, 2003
Sanctity of Life Sunday
“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another .”
They looked to be no more than 13 years old. These two little girls, last Wednesday morning, full of giggles, nerves and deadly purpose, came out through the door and began to cross the parking lot. Then, remembering something, they turned back, and as I watched them, they walked back into Planned Parenthood.
I have never seen younger clients pass through that door. They were certainly clients. In their hands they carried plain brown paper sacks, containing— what do you suppose? Condoms, birth control pills, pamphlets, results of their examinations? Planned Parenthood only has one product: an active sex life. These girls are about to engage in a life of sex. Their parents weren't there and I'm sure they don't know anything about it. Were they to call the clinic, they would be told that their daughters' medical information is off limits to them.
These girls are being groomed. At first it's fun, and reassuring. “Your body is your playground and no one has any right to tell you what you can or can't do with it.” A young teenage girl on the pill will nearly always goof: miss a day. Encouraged by the clinic, her peers, and her boyfriend, she gives in and she gets pregnant. Some time after their first visit, it's likely these girls will be back at Planned Parenthood, frightened into doing something they never dreamed of. I will see them walk through those doors again, this time for an abortion.
How did we get to this tragedy in American life? Abortion isn't a cause in itself. No one wakes up in the morning and decides to get an abortion. It takes many factors to reach that decision, many causes to bring that terrible effect.
Such factors are political acts, such as the infamous Roe v. Wade ruling, now 30 years old. There are also economic forces, entitlements, MediCal, corporate funds and a growing fear of the poor classes. We watch our media frame every argument, each phrase to bring about the conclusion that: “Choice is a woman's right.” Our schools teach lifestyles that bring our children up outside of our influence. Under these pressures, the public perception becomes such that abortion may be sad, but necessary; and personally too costly to oppose. In light of this permissiveness, the lifestyles of our young people sink to what we saw recently in a PV High School party. And in order to serve such clients, and to serve itself, the medical practice made room for abortion, and was strangely silent about its dangers: medical, psychological, and spiritual. And speaking of spirituality , the father of lies is at the very root of all this, and is leading both spiritual and human powers to defile mankind in every way, even using the Church to do it.
When the Church is silent in the face of evil, the battle is lost. St. James wrote: “You do not have because you do not ask.” 4:2 How many of you are regularly asking God to change our society, in all its facets, so that our nation might once again please Him, and that we see an end to such things as abortion?
Our ChicoLife prayer group has weathered every storm and has stood just 6 feet from the door to Planned Parenthood's Chico clinic for over 10 years now. During that time, we have seen the annual abortions there steadily decline: from about 750 in 1992, to 288 last year. Does prayer work? God works , and prayer is how we join Him.
We have all watched the stories of those brave souls who hid Jews in Nazi Europe and wondered if we would open our homes to them also, under such circumstances, risking everything because it is right, a matter of life and death. Today, we risk so little to simply pray in a public place, and it is still a matter of life and death. And so few answer the call even to pray. If this were Nazi Europe, would we feel powerless to change things, and call ourselves “innocent” by virtue of our fear to oppose the forces of evil?
Last Wednesday, as I watched, the two young girls came back outside, urging each other back to school, saying: “We really have to hurry now!” And off they ran… They were in a hurry to become women. We've been slow to rise, to run and catch them. Isn't it time, Church, to join God's fight for our children's lives?
The Epistle today enjoins us to abhor that which is evil . To abhor is to shudder at something and shrink away from it, horrified to even go near. But what is evil ? Are we able to agree on a definition of evil?
Some things are called “evil” in the Bible that are natural tragedies, such as plagues and storms, hunger and death. These things exist in our world because of the other kind of evil : a giving over to darkness, rejecting God's will and doing what He commands us not to do. Our Lord's Prayer asks the Father to “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” This word “ evil ” was Greek for vicious, grievous, harmful, lewd, malicious, or wicked.
Mankind became evil when we turned away from God, the ultimate good, and we decided what we wanted to do instead. Man's heart became darkened, and as Christ said: “ out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies…” Matthew 15:19 “if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” Matthew 6:23 “a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” Matthew 7:17-18 “… men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” John 3:19-20
We find ourselves in an evil world. Oh, many things in it are lovely, even good and godly. God never left this earth, and His works were good from the beginning. But mankind left His paths long ago, and the works of evil swirl around us daily, making us subject to every kind of sin. We can become engulfed in it, swallowed up by it. We can lose our bearings and live our lives adrift in this evil world. Many do. But we can learn the difference between good and evil. That was the positive gift of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Being partly evil, we still can turn and choose the good. That is the entire subject of Christianity: that God's power in us may help us turn away from evil and choose Him .
Jesus' prayed at the Last Supper that while we are in this world, we might be separated from evil. “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” John 17:15 How are we to do that?
First, we have to know the difference. We need to cultivate and pursue virtue . God is virtuous, by definition, and His Son, Jesus Christ, lived the only perfect life. With Him for our example, we may chose good over evil . But merely trying to be good is an impossible task for us. We sometimes see goodness as being empty of sin . I've been good this week because I have not fallen into some despicable practice again. We think of goodness as a zero , and sin as minus numbers .
But goodness is a positive scale of numbers that goes up and rises to infinity, for it is the character of God Himself. Our lives should reflect that quest for goodness, abhorring evil, avoiding the negative numbers, and seeking to take positive action for whatever is of God. The difference is not between minus 100 and 0. It is between - 100 and + infinity .
Jesus asked the lawyers: “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?” Mark 3:4 Then He did a miracle and healed a man's withered hand. Christ's miracles were plus 1000 . We might not see miracles done through us to that degree. But if the prayers of a handful of people bold enough to stand at the door to an abortion clinic can see the reduction in abortions go from 750 to 288, even over ten years, that's still a miracle . Look how many lives were saved. How many happy mothers are out there, calling their child “the joy of my life?” That's plus numbers. That's of God. Sometimes a woman will approached our prayer group just to tell us that, because we were there, she didn't kill her child. Today, that baby is her heart's delight. We can run on the strength of that story alone for quite a long time.
What is evil? It may look just like what it is. Were you to see an abortion on film, you would abhor it, believe me. I have . But evil is often cloaked in softer colors, more alluring and comforting garb. The word “ Choice ” hides the fact to “ Kill .” “My rights ” cover up actions that are loveless, hateful, despicable and destructive. A pretty face, the swelling sound of music, and the offer of pleasure: a drug, a drink, a night, a little crime. What does it matter? When we live upside down, between zero and sinfulness, it may seem to matter very little. We may be forgiven. Nobody else seems concerned. That's the beginning.
The end of evil is a body laid out in the emergency room. I saw the gangster laying there early Friday morning: bullet holes and tattoos and a lifeless form. He had devoted himself to evil. Evil had got him in the end. We must abhor that, and seek the good and cleave to it. Lo ve, honor, work, pray, serve God in hope and patience. We have to give and bless, rejoice and weep with the saints . Life is more that the lack of evil. But shunning evil is a start.
Abortion is an evil that has stalked our children and their children for a generation. It's time this ended. It's time everyone abhorred it. You can join our prayers at the clinic some time, if you wish. Just see me, or Giti.
There is no reason for abortion except fear and ignorance. We can heal fear; we can cure ignorance. Can't we find a better way to live? PFH+