October is respect life month, and among the activivities here in the RGV this month was the pro-life rosary in Harlingen. Reflecting on the fifth joyful mystery of the Rosary, I thanked the participants for their witness and made three points:
1. The search for Jesus at the temple by Mary and Joseph was an anxious one. They could never have thought anything could be more important than finding him. Their journey was no longer about getting home after a pilgrimage, it was about finding him. The urgency bears similarity to that of Mary Magdalene searching for his body in the tomb. It was not there. "Where have you laid him?", she asked the gardener. And it was like the search of the beloved in the Song of Songs, seeking the face of the long-awaited bridegroom.
2. Seeking Jesus is for the believer the most important aspect of our life's pilgrimage. We MUST find him. Jesus is never that hard to find. He wishes to be found. Two places always give us the joy of encountering him. He is in the Eucharist. "This is my body," he said. We must seek Jesus in contemplation before the Eucharist. He is there to be found. And he is also in the vulnerable and those relegated to non-importance in the eyes of the world. "What you do to the least of mine, you do to me," he said. The Church's witness to the dignity of the unborn child is an evangelical witness to the truth that Jesus is in the most vulnerable. And we say to the world, "come seek his face in the poorest, starting with the child, the elderly, the sick, all those whom the world often sees as expendables." But if you cannot see Jesus there, because you do not share our faith in Christ, at least acknowledge that you see a brother and sister there. Stand up for them with us.
3. Jesus was found disputing with the elders and doctors of the law. They marveled at his wisdom, though they might have wondered where his gracious responses came from. We too must engage the learned and the elders in our culture, who too often have grown old not with years but with cynicism about life.
Jesus at 12 years old shows us the convincing power of the heart of a child, innocent, and willing to speak. Our young people can show us the way to a renewed respect for life in our culture. As Pope Francis says, it is not progressive to say a child must die for us to live as we want." Take courage, the young at heart hear this, and know it is true. May this witness to the joy and goodness of life, bear fruit in the Rio Grande Valley.
Please participate in the political process, be informed with a Catholic conscience, share your conscience with others, talk to those who run for office about the importance of defending the defenseless. Vote.
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