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January 17, 2020We are constantly told that abortion without restrictions means that we trust a woman to make decisions for her own body. Let her choose when she becomes a mother, they say. These decisions are between her and her doctor.
What if she is poor? What if she is homeless? What if she is raped? What if she can barely care for the kids she already has?
As Catholics, we need to answer these hypothetical questions with a different question: What if we work to solve her problems? Will having an abortion get her out of poverty? Will abortion heal her trauma from abuse and rape? Will abortion cause her partner to stop manipulating and abusing her?
What if the most pro-woman thing we can do is to take care of her, surround her with love, and let her know she is beloved by Jesus – perhaps the one man in her life who will never manipulate, use, objectify, coerce or hurt her? Jesus who heals her. Jesus who forgives her. Jesus who gave his own life for her.
This month, our archdiocese celebrated the Sanctity of Life Mass with Archbishop Coakley. Following Mass, we held an Ignite for Life where we prayed at adoration with music by my husband, David, and I shared the meaning of true compassion!
There’s a quote from the movie “Princess Bride” that says, “You keep using that word. … I do not think it means what you think it means.” We speak of compassion in a way that lends us to think that telling someone they should not do something or taking a stand based on a moral principle that someone else does not share is lacking in compassion.
Compassion, though, literally means “with suffering” or “to suffer with.” Our culture struggles with two extremes. On the one hand, it is easy for us to use our religion as a tool for condemnation. “You are murdering your child.” On the other hand, we can use our religion as tool for acceptance. “How can we make a decision for this person – it is between them and God.” But, we are called to be like Christ.
John 3:17 says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world.” And how did he do that? Through suffering. He suffered with and for us, took all our pain on the cross, healed, transformed, loved and overcame! There is no love and no life without the cross.
At Ignite for Life on Jan. 15 at The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, I shared the true meaning of compassion and how God will use us to build a culture of life. We cannot change the world, perhaps, but there are enough of us that can work to change our culture in OKC.
We hope you will join us in prayer! May we be the light of hope for all whose life is not valued.
Noelle Garcia McHugh and her husband David McHugh are coordinators of the Respect Life Office for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
