31 January 2005

Respect for the Living

Last weekend I attended the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Together with tens of thousands of other people, I marched to the Supreme Court building and to the Capitol Building and as I did so I had one thought: it is no wonder nobody listens to us.

As I marched along with the delegation from the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois - some two hundred youth and adults - I watched with surprise as various groups pushed right through our group, separating and dividing us. My ankles were continually hit by the bottom pole of a banner held by a group coming along behind us who apparently could not see me. Time and again I asked them to stop walking into me, pointing out the thousands of people in front of me who prevented me from moving any faster, and still they nearly ran me down.

I was quite appalled at the lack of respect given by the marchers to fellow marchers. Here we were touting and crying out for respect and life for the unborn and we could not even show common decency and respect to those already living. Is it any wonder then that our message is not heeded or heard? How very sad this is!

And yet, it is for just this reason that Christ Jesus came among us and calls us to himself. It is for this reason that he gave his life on the cross.

If we hope to convert those who support abortion; if we hope to convert those who do not yet believe; if we hope to bring the love of Christ to a hurting world, we must first humble ourselves among our brothers and sisters in Christ and deomonstrate to them all that we ask of the world. Then they may see our good deeds and glorify the heavenly Father.

2 comments:

  1. Until there is realization of our commonalities as humans instead of our divisions, there will always be those who wish to separate and divide even those who believe they walk the same path.

    Just something to chew on for a while.

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  2. I didn't march with you this year, I did march in 2002 against the School of America's. The one thing that struck me was the "profesional" marchers. They were there either to just march or just get arrested. They didn't seem to care at all. Not that I was the most caring person, I didn't know much about the subject. But I assume there were some at your march too. Whether it is just to get more people or more attention, I don't know, but I was taken aback. It seems the shouts of those who could care less drowned out those that were very passionate. Needless to say the police and the arrest were enough for me not to want to be a "profesional" protestor, and even though I don't know if we did any good, there was enough to draw more attention. Anyway, I am rambling on like this is my own blog. Thanks for putting a link up and I have done the same for your web-site and your blog.

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