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Mass for Life Pontifical North American College January 23, 2012 Archbishop Edwin F. OBrien Some years ago, the Associated Press published two stories on the same day, stories which then appeared in newspapers throughout the United States. Each offers a different way of speaking about unborn life: First story-A thirteen year-old panda gave birth to a cub at San Diego Zoo, but a second baby died in the womb, officials said Wednesday. The second story: A cancer-ravaged woman, robbed of consciousness by a stroke, has given birth after being kept on life support for three months to give her fetus extra time to develop. There you have it, science class: Female pandas have babies. Female humans have fetuses! The one glimmer of light emanating from the Scribes so hostile to Christ in todays Gospel, in their absurd and sacrilegious claim that that healings and good works performed by Jesus are rooted in the power of the devil, is that, unlike most enemies of the Church today, the Scribes do recognize the existence of the devil. So, surely, does Jesus! He calls the devil a liar and the father of lies. In fact, in Johns Gospel, he accuses his opponents of their belonging to the devil, their

father, and that in their opposition to his teaching they are willingly carrying out the devils desires (Jn. 8:44). There is no need for us to demonize todays proponents of abortionnor do I suggest this in any way. But it would be nave to the extreme to deny, in Christs words, that Satan as the ruler of this secular world, is inspiring his many unwitting modern allies with a seductive, inner voice encouraging, for instance, ambiguous, misleading and deceptive language to contradict natural reason and the teachings of Christs Church:

Its not a baby, but a fetus. Were not pro-abortion at allwere for freedom of choice. Its not the killing of a human life, its the termination of a pregnancy. Its not about contraception, sterilization and abortifacients, its about reducing health costs and ensuring access to the full range of preventive health services to poorer women. And should we be surprised that the same Satan who acts in the world solely

on the basis of hatred for God, rejoices thousands of times over daily, to find human accomplices whoout of unbridled selfishnesstake advantage of desperate and confused mothers to destroy that divine image in the unborn, obliterating yet other images of the God he simply detests.

And are they not also accomplices of the Evil One who in the inspired thoughts of our Holy Father to us last Thursday, undermine the very foundations of true religious freedom and:

deny basic ethical principles derived from nature and natures God; who on the basis of extreme individualism promote notions of freedom detached from moral truth; who

in the name of separation of Church and State demand the Church remain silent in our Nations discussion of the values which will shape our future; who

would reduce religious freedom simply to freedom of worship and deny conscience rights when believers are forced to cooperate in intrinsically evil practices; and finally, is not that subtle, seductive voice of evil compromise at work in elected officials who

fail to offer public witness to their faith, especially with regard to the great moral issues of our time: respect for Gods gift of life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human rights. As Americans, as priests and seminarians, we join on this anniversary of Roe

v. Wade, hundreds and thousands of our brothers and sisters all across our Country in crying out for the legal protection of unborn children. We claim, in the words of

our Pope and our Vatican Council, that there is no realm of worldly affairs which can be withdrawn from the Creator and his dominion. At this moment we also join with the four or five thousand young people who packed our Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for Mass last nightand in several hours, the many more thousands of seminarians and other young people who will overflow Washingtons Convention Center and other houses of worship in our Nations Capital: as understandable as is sympathy for baby pandas, for Gods sake, protect the lives of our unborn children! In union with them and with Catholics and other life-respecting people across our great Country, ours is this prayerful offering of that one Eucharistic Sacrifice of live and of life, pleading that we, whom God has made stewards of creation, may remain faithful to this sacred trust, and constant in safeguarding the dignity of every human life.