By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
The day of the annual March for Life in Washington dawned clear and dry with encouraging weather for the holy legions of faithful warriors defending the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death.
We joined in great numbers again in the nation’s capital to continue our unbroken witness of prayer and action since the 1973 legalization of murder of preborn boys and girls. Moderate temperatures and clear skies buoyed the spirits of the many who converged upon the streets of Washington, D.C., for the 44th annual peaceful protest.
I joined the very large crowd swelling the March for Life speakers’ venue on the grounds of the Washington Monument and awaited the historic first-time appearance of a U.S. vice president.
By the day of the March, the news was still very fresh that Vice President Mike Pence would take the unprecedented step of speaking in person to the marchers who begin the day each year by listening to the messages of a bevy of eminent public pro-life leaders.
My path to the Monument was barred by the police for the vice-presidential motorcade. We waved and hailed Mr. Pence whose wife could be seen waving in turn from the limo, which bore the two to the stage.
We crossed the last street before the grounds and slipped into the crowds on the sidewalk between the Monument and the road separating us from the new home of President Trump in the White House.
Together we many thousands witnessed a new sign of hope and the making of history as, first, Karen Pence and then her husband, second in power only to our president, addressed the crowd. The sight of Mike Pence on the Jumbotron proved to me and to many others that we should never give up hope in this world to the false belief that the powerful are immune to our calls for justice.
How many times through the years have we silently or privately given into the temptation of worldly discouragement, resulting from being ignored by those seated in the halls of power in our nation’s capital? In the humanity of every person remains a conscience alive to God’s presence and truth through our holy Church. Our role as baptized witnesses of Christ is to appeal to this gift of the Creator to hear and recognize the truth about fundamental justice and the sanctity of life.
Large crowds assembled again, perhaps more than the average 250,000 which overflow the capital’s streets between the Washington Monument and the Supreme Court each year. Friends and faithful who see each other only once a year, on this special occasion, greeted and encouraged each other with smiles and friendly banter.
Though not bigger than Women’s March on the day following the inauguration, this manifestation for life each year doesn’t rely on Hollywood star power to draw crowds. We witness in cold weather or warm, in sun or snow, whether hailed or ignored, and we do it only for the babies as God calls us. Our thanks can be found in the blessing of doing the Father’s will, in seeking holiness and eternal life.
We must assert in this and in all things that truth is not about numbers. Truth remains true even if no one speaks or defends it. The truth is that human life begins at conception.
I accompanied the crowds which stretched for miles along Pennsylvania Avenue and mounted the hill to the capitol. At the top of the hill on the steps of the Senate office building I had a second encounter. A lone woman stood with a handmade sign which read “My Body, My Choice.” I spoke to her about the body of the baby in the choice of abortion, but then decided on another course of action.
I chose to stand next to the woman for over an hour in the sometimes cold air as the sun briefly disappeared behind the passing clouds and thousands passed in parade below us on the avenue. I chose to stand next to her in order to ensure that a voice for the unborn might also be heard along with her mistaken point of view.
The woman — I’ll refer to her as Linda — and I chatted in short bursts of conversation. She offered me her mittens at one point as I commented on the cold temperature of my hands. She thanked me as I urged the others who approached us with sometimes hostile commentary to simply pray for her as “some people are hurting.”
I was privileged to have a front row seat as I stood in peaceful protest against the lie that a preborn child is an indistinguishable part of the mother’s body. I heard the conversations as women approached Linda to share the truth.
One woman who approached us confessed to her abortions, witnessed to her sense of forgiveness in Christ and confidence to see her babies again in Heaven. Another beautiful and gentle young woman remained in conversation with Linda for some minutes to draw out her thoughts which question the nature of the being developing in a pregnant woman’s womb. Linda was open to her soft tone and kind demeanor.
Yet other protesters were hostile, mistakenly attacking Linda ad hominem. I reflected on the inability of a pro-abortion woman to believe we love, as we say, the humanity of an unborn child we cannot see when we refuse to engage with compassion the woman we do see who disagrees with the sanctity of life.
One angry woman approached us twice, even turning on me with the comment, “I don’t understand why you’re standing next to her!”
Many fellow pro-life baby lovers that day did understand me and what I was doing as many gave me the “thumbs up” and thanked me for my way of giving a voice to the voiceless with my signs that read, “#Why We March For Those Who Can’t” and “Abortion Hurts Women.”
Let us all grow more aware of the tears in the eyes and the brokenness in the hearts of the many women who turn to abortion or favor it as an acceptable choice.
I saw tears form in Linda’s eyes that day as fellow pro-lifers approached her.
Let us all learn to see the tears and listen to the voices of all women: They must make the choice for life as God has made possible for all of us. Only changing the hearts out of which such tears of pain flow will promote the sacredness of every human life. We will march on for every one of them in the days and years ahead.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
@MCITLFrAphorism
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