Holy Innocents: Politicians Who Promote Abortion as 'Choice' are the New Herods

12/30/2011

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tell of one who is born a king, Herod is disturbed. To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if he would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and forever in the life to come.

"Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil. But because you do not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.

"You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children. You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart. You imagine that if you accomplish your desire you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life himself.

"Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace, so small, yet so great, who is lying in the manger. He is using you, all unaware of it, to work out his own purposes freeing souls from captivity to the devil. He has taken up the sons of the enemy into the ranks of God's adopted children.

"The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. See the kind of kingdom that is his, coming as he did in order to be this kind of king. See how the deliverer is already working deliverance, the savior already working salvation.

"But you, Herod, do not know this and are disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know it.

"How great a gift of grace is here! To what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory? They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ. They cannot use their limbs to engage in battle, yet already they bear off the palm of victory."

Every child killed by voluntary abortion is a "Holy Innocent". Every politician who supports this killing, implicitly or explicitly, carries on the evil actions of Herod. On this Feast of the Holy Innocents let us summon a new resolve to bring an end to the slaughter of the holy innocents in this hour. Abortion is a barbaric practice which kills children. As we approach the beginning of the year 2012 we must place at the top of the list of our resolutions bringing an end to the funding of Planned Parenthood and an end to the slaughter of the Holy Innocents.

The clarity of Catholic teaching on this is reflected in the Catechism. Let me end with a section which expresses the truth about the fundamental right to life and the evil of procured abortion without any equivocation:

"Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you. (Jer 1:5; cf. Job 10:8-12; Ps 22:10-11) "My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.(Ps 139:15).

"Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law: "You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish." (Didache 2,2:SCh 248,148; cf. Ep. Barnabae 19,5:PG 2 777; Ad Diognetum 5,6:PG 2,1173; Tertullian, Apol. 9:PL 1,319-320.) God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes. (GS 51 � 3)"

"Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae - by the very commission of the offense," and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society."

"The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation: "The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death."

"The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights." (CCC #2271 - 2273)"

On this Feast of the Holy Innocents we should remember that elected leaders and candidates who promote abortion as a "Choice" are the Herods of this Age. We must be unequivocal in our defense of every innocent human life from conception to natural death.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Abortion, choice, pro-life, pro-choice, planned parenthood, Right to Life, Holy Innocents, feticide, Deacon Keith Fournier

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1 - 10 of 25 Comments

esther marie ventura ferencz
1 year ago
mmmmmmmmmmmmm. just wanted to make note I spelled HEROD wrong..........I post so much, lucky I can make any words as to spelling all correct. : )
JeanCatherine
1 year ago
joe

Just for the record many people in this country from many beliefs do not subscribed to abortion as well.

For example Im proud of one Atheist---Chris Hitchens who came around to Pro-Life as a matter of fact. That is something.

If you get the chance check out Norma McKorvey--Jane Roe who came to the Pro-Life stance. She hopes it is overturned someday as do many of us from all walks of belief.

Peace and God Bless. By the way how do you figure we went from Susan B. Anthony (One of the early pioneers of rights for women who didnt condone abortion.) to the freethinking and freewheeling feminists today who would condone hurting women when it comes to life?

Biologically it doesnt make sense terminating a pregnancy when its the most natural thing on this planet next to the planet itself.

Even if your not of the religious nature how do base killing our own on it being normal? I dont have an answer maybe many of you out there do.
Rob
1 year ago
You got that right vance. Half the time I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall. But you just have to keep pressing on.
Vance
1 year ago
Rob, good post and I applaud your efforts in your local parish. You and I are doing what Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI instructed all of us to evangelize. You are right about having that connection or encounter with Christ. I applaud your efforts to provide spiritual awareness for adult men. I learned from my experiences that men and women need to be given a reason to encounter Christ. We often take it for granted that people 'Should' do the right things but that is not the case. This is why we need a Pro-Life, a Pro-Marriage, a Pro-Integrity, a Pro-Work Ethic drum beat from the clergy. My experiences taught me that people need to be addressed in a manner that involves their daily routines on the job and in their home. Walks-for-Life and participation in charity activities are two great ways out of many to encounter Christ. Keep up the good work. As you know, it is not easy.
Rob
1 year ago
vance, I was always under the impression that a conversion to Christ and training to be a disciple is the surest way to living a solid Cathoic life. For those of us who have made committments to the Christ and his Church, pro-life issues are a no brainer is marriage, family life etc. But for those who have not had an encounter with Christ, you might as well be speaking greek to them. And honestly, it wouldn't matter if the entire clergy beat the anti abortion drums every Sunday. If folks aren't being moved to change their lives Sunday after Sunday, they won't respond and have not responded to the pro-life message. Sadly, in this culture, you just can't assume that by a 15 minute homily that folks are going to be able to see through 40 years of terrible, cultural programming. As to what I've done in my diocese (and I say this not to be my drum). I chair our annual men's conference. As part of that effort we include the various pro-life groups that offer multiple presentations on pro-life issues in our community. We have worked to ensure that more men participate in pro-life efforts including a men's walk for life that is held annually and grows every year. Right now the focus on our conferences has been on converting men. Again, no conversion, no pro-life. I also run a men's group in our parish that focuses hard on male sexuality and all the issues surrounding it. We hit the issue of abortion hard, but more importantly, we hit the sexuality issues that lead up to the abortion issues in the first place. For my part, I spend my time trying to bring men to Christ, and once they have made that committment, I try to the best of my ability to teach them the way. It has always been my contention that if you can convert a man, then his family soon follows. And once you have his family, you have his friends and their families. People who genuinely follow Christ will not procure abortions. Once someone tries hard to follow Christ, everything else falls into place. But if you skip this crucial step, then all you are left with is a bunch of anger, frustration etc. Folks will never understand where you are coming from if they don't know Christ. Show them Christ, and the rest is easy. But until then, it sounds like nothing more than someone trying to tell them how to live their life. And sadly that is the majority of our Church right now.
vance
1 year ago
Rob, Answer to your question; Not only yes, but hell yes. Question; Rob, what are you doing to instruct your local pastor or Bishop to support Pro-Life??? Again your analogy that the Bystanders are as guilty as the Bank Robbers falls flat. Liberalism inside the church, Liberalism outside the church have been the problem, is now the problem, and will be the problem. Rob, as long as you are on that team, you are part of the problem.
Judy
1 year ago
Gene: Good discussing post. Rob and Vance: Good posts as well. I would love to engage, but time is of the essence for the next few days. I will discuss as soon as I can. A Happy, Healthy, Blessed New Year To You All...
gene
1 year ago
The catho;ics church will not pray for the end to abortion in cal ore wa the coast states IF THE catholic won't pary for end to killing unborn baby how are we to tell our kid that it wrong when the church won't THE POPE SHOULD GET OUT THE WORD CATHOLICS WILL PRAY TO END THE KILLING UNBORN BABYS GET NEW BISHOPS FOR THE WHOLE WEST COAST CATHOLICS CHURCH LET THE PEOPLE PRAY IN OUR CHURCHS TO STOP KILLING BABY GENE
Rob
1 year ago
I thnk we are missing one element of truth in this discussion. I always get the sense that folks think that the government created abortion (perhaps the law, but defintely not the practice) and that somehow by virtue of a mere law people are reduced to "followers" that if we only reversed the law we would rid of this problem. Unfortunately I think we have it backwards. As sad as it is for me to say this, the American people want abortion. This is no different in all the others areas of American culture these days were we don't look for real solutions to problems, but instead look for an easy way out. Instead of focusing so hard on what we think our government is doing or not doing or even our Bishops, perhaps as lay people in 2012 we embrace our calls to be priest, prophet and king and change the tide of those voting for pro-death politicians. Pro life vigils, walks etc are great, but it's going to take a lot more than that to change the heart of the this country. Prolife as a way of life (in every aspect) has to permeate everything we do. If we limit this strictly to talks on abortion from our priest, then we will have the same results we've had for the past 40 years, regardless of the party in power. For all who are critical of our priest and bishops, I would ask one question, are you stepping up to offer pro-life instruction in your parish?
Vance
1 year ago
Judy, my only suggestion is that we the faith need to raise these issues in our parish. It isn't easy because half of the Catholic church-goer's vote Liberal and are Pro-Abortion. If you have a local Pro-Life group who participates in 'Walks-For-Life' or Prayer Groups in front of Planned Parenthood, join them and engage your local pastor to give his support. If not this Pope but maybe the next will need to take the Bull by the Horns and strongly direct the Bishops to be team players. If the Bishops decide they want to play by their own rules, then they need to be given 'Walking Papers' to go do something else. Pray and stay involved. God bless.

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