What I Really Think...

Today is the March for Our Lives.  Two months ago, was the March for Life.  Both have merit.  Both marches reveal a desire for a society which is better than what is quick, what is easy, and what is merely legal.  Both draw in people of good will, who want  help create a society where the idea of hurting people, of killing people as a means of escape, or revenge, or because we're fed up, tired, or have no hope, is unthinkable.

However, it's very easy to get blinded to good within one march or the other, because it runs counter to one's politics.

We all get caught up in passion for fighting those evils we see ignored. It's human. It's natural. It's ordinary. As Catholics, we're not called to limit ourselves to the first instinct. We're to willfully engage the world and allow grace to work through us to reveal Christ. However, to be a disciple of Christ  is to be a person of service, a servant to all and to be like the Son of God and have no political home. It means we must resist the temptation of the world to engage in tribalism, a favorite means of the Devil to prevent us from being who God would will us to be.

Those who tend to vote Republican, favor restrictions on the liberty to abort. We'd even support an outright ban because we know all abortion ends a human life and damages the souls of many. Those who tend to vote Democrat, favor restrictions on the liberty to bear arms. We'd even support an outright ban on some forms of ammunitions and armaments because we know shootings by people of other people can end human lives and damage the souls of many.

We want a waiting period on buying guns so that people don't take actions they'll regret. We want a waiting period on acquiring abortion for the very same reason. Restricting liberty to act on impulse is something we need, if only to help prevent countless lives from enduring deep regret later. We want restrictions on younger people purchasing fire arms because their judgement is subject to the reality of their age, experience, peer pressure and emotions. We also want the responsible adults in their lives to be involved in the matter. We want restrictions on younger people seeking abortion because their judgement is also subject ot the reality of their age, experience, peer pressure and emotions. We also want the responsible adults in their lives to be involved in the matter.

The right want restrictions on abortion because it kills people. The left want restrictions on guns for the very same reason, because they kill people. There are protected rights in the Constitution and in law regarding both matters. If we want to be fully Pro-life, we should be both and in both circumstances because we want a safer, kinder, better society that protects all human life.

Those who March for Life and brave the cold, should march with those in the March for Our Lives, because we're really pro-life and vis-versa.  This is a great time to be a witness, and to act to bring both hands of the body of Christ together. We should be a seamless garment of love to those who suffer from pain, from tragedy, from poverty, from want. We have great opportunity to be a disciples of mercy to those forgotten, ignored or marginalized in every walk of life and show that being a follower of Christ always means loving more than what the law or politics or popular opinion allows or prefers.

If we're pro-life, it means we want people to have access to medicine and medical care, so they can stay healthy or get better, so they can care for their unborn and born children. To be pro-life, we need good medical care for those who are elderly, and the sick, so they won't feel pressured to accept euthanasia as an alternative to being cared for in their later years. To be pro-life, we hold that "Thou shalt not kill," and know that includes even mere anger against our neighbor. Being Pro-life means standing against violence, against any by any. To be pro-life, we must care for the poor and the immigrant, the stranger and the lost. To be pro-life, we have to care for the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the dying, the imprisonned, the sick, the weak, the powerless, the hopeless, the ignorant, the abandoned and the unpleasant. We are all called, we are all chosen, and we are all here to care for the all with all that we have and all that we are.

It's not an easy task, because it requires we take action again and again and again and again. It's not going to be viewed by everyone as anything but symbolic, (but what others see is not relevant, it is what God knows about our hearts and our actions, that matters). We have to cease to be Republicans or Democrats, right and left and be Catholic Disciples in all things, if we would be anything in the Kingdom of God. Time to all poor ungrateful servants (meaning all of us) get to work.