ABERDEEN, Sask.—Love is at work in the pro-life movement, Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost told the 18th annual pilgrimage to the Pro-Life Millennium Cross Aug. 27.
The
hot summer afternoon event brought some 70 pilgrims to the hill
northeast of Saskatoon, with
an additional 60 joining through the Eparchy of Saskatoon's Facebook
livestream feed.
The celebration commenced with a living rosary
encircling the 100-foot steel Millennium Cross. Pilgrims responded in a
variety of languages as the rosary procession was led.
Bishop
Bryan Bayda, CSsR, of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon,
carried an Our Lady of Guadalupe tilma print, reinforcing the
message of enculturated evangelization in the miraculous image of the
Blessed Mother as a pregnant Indigenous woman.
John Starosta,
president of the Pro-Life Millennium Cross foundation, spoke after the
rosary, bringing the bishop forward to share the prayer for the
consecration of Canada to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin
Mary: "We place ourselves completely in the sanctuary of your heart and
commit the past, the present, and the future of Canada to your maternal
care."
"Today you are a human bead for Our Lady's rosary,"
Starosta stated. "I wonder how often you realize that you are that
living bead, asking for her maternal intercession?" He encouraged all to
reflect on the physical surroundings of the pilgrimage site and of
being in the shadow of the Millennium Cross.
Starosta challenged
those in attendance to connect their spiritual experience with their
physical experience. "Christianity does not demonize the body; it
divinizes the body."
Starosta referred to Pope John Paul II's
Theology of the Body as a rich treasury of works that help us understand
that God's mystery has been revealed in human flesh. He encouraged
pilgrims to utilize resources available and to continue to learn and
gain a deeper understanding. We are created for the infinite, reminded
Starosta.
Gerald Wiegers, State Culture of Life director for the
Knights of Columbus Saskatchewan, brought greetings on behalf of State
Deputy Brian Schatz and 10,000- plus Knights in the
province.
Cathy LaFleche, executive director of the Saskatoon
Pregnancy Options Centre, also spoke. "We can open our arms like Jesus
did for us on the cross and we can offer a message of hope to all those
in need," she said. "That is what we do at the Pregnancy Options
Centre." She encouraged people to come and see, and to volunteer.
Keynote
speaker Brad Trost, MP for Saskatoon-University, shared a message of
practical, applied discipleship and leadership. Citing 1 Corinthians
13:13 – "Faith, hope and love abide; these three, and the greatest of
these is love" – Trost stated, "That describes where we are in the
pro-life movement; what motivates us, who we are, why we get involved.
It's hard to sometimes have faith that Canada will do the right thing."
Trost
said abortion has been legal since 1969, and even if the law
changed now, all the innocent human lives lost since then are still
gone. He referred to Scripture in which Pharaoh commanded that the
male babies born to the people of Israel were to be killed; and the
Gospel passage about King Herod commanding baby boys to be killed after
the birth of Christ. "God intervened. He protected and he preserved. It
did not mean that everything evil stopped but that, in the end, his
sovereign will came through."
Trost pointed to crisis pregnancy
centres as a means of hope, especially for young women feeling
pressured. He offered encouragement, telling his listeners that if they
can make a difference with just one person, they have done the right thing.
To
illustrate love, Trost shared a story by Leo Tolstoy about a shoemaker
who had a dream that Christ was going to visit him the next day. The shoemaker keeps waiting and looking for Christ, helping people in need as he continues to wait
throughout the day. That night, as the shoemaker sits and meditates
about why Christ did not visit, he reads the verse, "For as much as you
have done it unto the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you
have done it unto me." He realizes that Christ was there in every person
he had helped.
In the same way, love is at work in the pro-life
movement, Trost said. "We do it for the least. We don't always do it in the most
direct ways. Sometimes we do it by standing in front of clinics.
Sometimes we do it by contributing. For most of us it's the love of
Christ that compels us to help."
The Millennium Cross site was
established in 1999 north of Aberdeen, Sask., as a project of Sts. Peter
and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Knights of Columbus Council 11775, on land
donated by Joe Bayda. The first 33-foot wooden cross was built on the
hill near Highway 41 in October 1999. The annual pilgrimage to pray for
victims of abortion began Oct. 15, 2000, and in July 2006, the larger
steel cross was erected.
For more information about the pilgrimage site and the Millennium Cross, see www.prolifemillenniumcross.ca.