Voices May 10, 2024
We have an ‘extremely dangerous crisis of moral sense,’ Archbishop tell March for Life attendees
By Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB
Excerpts from Archbishop Miller’s homily at Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Delta before the March for Life.
Today, as you embark on the March for Life in Victoria, you are proclaiming by word and deed the sacred value of human life. At the same time, you are lifting up a prayer of intercession to God who cares for his creatures from the first moment of their existence. We are praising the God of life, the God who creates all life. Indeed, “despite its hardships, its hidden mysteries, its suffering and its inevitable frailty, this mortal life is a most beautiful thing, a marvel ever new and moving, an event worthy of being exalted in joy and glory.”
In this morning’s Mass we are also praying in a special way that reverence for life will grow and increasingly be realized in concrete ways in our province of British Columbia and in our nation of Canada. We are praying in supplication: that we may be worthy and effective messengers of hope to a world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often seem to choke the fragile growth of grace in people’s hearts.
We are also praying for a deepening in us of the virtues of courage and compassion: that we may grow in appreciation of the truth that the Gospel of life is always as well the Gospel of mercy, which we are called to embody in all our relationships, helping those who fall to be restored to friendship with God.
The magisterial teaching of the Church is our guide in all our pro-life initiatives, whatever form they may take. In a Declaration released by the Holy See just last month, Dignitas Infinita, we read this:
The Church consistently reminds us that “the dignity of every human being has an intrinsic character and is valid from the moment of conception until natural death. . . . The acceptance of abortion in the popular mind, in behaviour, and even in law itself is a telling sign of an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense, which is becoming more and more incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, even when the fundamental right to life is at stake. Given such a grave situation, we need now more than ever to have the courage to look the truth in the eye and to call things by their proper name, without yielding to convenient compromises or to the temptation of self‑deception. . . . Especially in the case of abortion, there is a widespread use of ambiguous terminology, such as ‘interruption of pregnancy,’ which tends to hide abortion’s true nature and to attenuate its seriousness in public opinion. Perhaps this linguistic phenomenon is itself a symptom of an uneasiness of conscience. But no word has the power to change the reality of things: procured abortion is the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth (n. 47).
Amidst all the turmoil and the persistent assaults on human life and its dignity, remember that God has given you the mission of being “people for life.” You are acting on behalf of those who deserve a choice – the choice to live.
You are their voice. It is up to you to tell the truth about life to your friends and to the wider community. And so, as St. John Paul II put it so eloquently:
Do not be afraid to go out on the streets and into public places, like the first apostles who preached Christ and the Good News of salvation in the squares of cities, towns and villages. This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel (cf. Rom 1:16). It is the time to preach it from the rooftops (cf. Mt 10:27) . . . The Gospel must not be kept hidden because of fear or indifference.
Let us pray that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Life, will guide us on our way!