Until Abortion Ends

I find Lent to be a powerful liturgical season because of the emphasis on sacrifice. If I give up chocolate, I can relate better to a child in poverty who has never tasted chocolate. Sacrifice connects us to the suffering of others. It is easy to forget about the way babies suffer in the womb at the hands of an abortionist, or the way women and their families suffer as a result of the death of her child. We forget because this harm is hidden. Abortion is marketed in a crafty way, targeting the youth in particular, but the abortion industry goes to great lengths to hide the suffering they cause. Abortion often gets treated like an issue for debate or an argument with two sides, and the suffering fades from our view. We must remember. Our pro-life advocacy is a function of our willingness to suffer with dying babies.

If I asked you, “Do you love babies in the womb?” you would probably shout, “Yes!” Babies suffer when aborted. It is human nature to suffer with those who we love and that suffering changes us.

The day after Christmas, my mother died. Even though her health was seriously declining over the last year, her death was sudden. For the last month of her life in particular, when she struggled to walk or even breath, I suffered with her. I thought of her often and could not fully relax at family parties knowing that she was in my house suffering. I always wanted to do something to make her feel better. Rarely were my efforts actually helpful, yet the desire to help remained because her suffering was always in my view.

We cannot let the suffering of abortion fade from our view. We cannot settle back in creature comforts while our brothers and sisters are being slaughtered. How can we hold in our view the suffering of those who are dying every minute? We need to find a way to remember and help others see what is hidden. What if every person with a desire to wake others up to the reality of this holocaust, made an outward sacrifice, one that people would see in daily life?

During Lent, private fasting is a common spiritual discipline; we make sacrifices to the Father so that we may be more attached to what God wants than to the things of this world. The bible even encourages us to keep our fasting secret so we can receive the maximum spiritual benefit (Mt 6:18). But what if we choose a fast that others will often encounter, something that is routine, something we really enjoy. If we fast from this, we will suffer the loss of this thing we are fasting from, but we can use that suffering to daily connect with the babies in the womb and it can help us to remember abortion every day. Our fast will call us to action.

Another benefit to a public fast is that it creates an avenue to dialogue with others. I have chosen to given up soda until abortion ends. I recently went out to eat and I was asked, “What kind of soda would you like with that?” The person behind the counter was too busy to talk but my friend noticed and asked me about the soda. A possible follow up to this fast is that you could take the money you would spend on soda and put it in a baby bottle. When it is full, donate it to an agency like Our Ladies Inn or the Knights of Columbus, or any agency that is actively working to end abortion, or at least minister to those who suffer as a result of abortion.

Following the verse cited above, maybe you will benefit less spiritually from a public fast, but just imagine the good that you can do. Prepare yourself for dialogue with others. Notice I did not say debate. This battle for babies will not be won with rhetoric because that does not open the human heart. The Holy Spirit opens hearts. If you want to penetrate even the hardest heart, the person you know who is most “pro choice”, you must come from the place where the Spirit resides in you, from your heart.

What would you be willing to sacrifice for babies in the womb? Soda, skittles, sleeping in, shotgunning…? And those are only the ideas off the top of my head that start with the letter S. For more ideas see this site- http://www.untilabortionends.com/en-us/submissions/default.aspx. When you are asked about your fast, you have the opportunity to talk about how passionate you are about babies in the womb and about how you are not willing to remain comfortable while they die. You can share how this small sacrifice is your way of giving yourself fully to God in this battle for life.

It is time to claim the victory of God over abortion. We know that God is pro life and wants abortion to end now. God’s rhythm throughout history is to reveal His will and then wait for His children to conform to this will. This does not merely involve political action or marching on Washington. It means giving ourselves fully to God and aligning our heart with His grace and action. Look around. God’s people are radically offering themselves to God in this battle and abortion is ending now. Jump on board and be a part of this historic movement of grace. Get involved. Make a sacrifice until abortion ends.