We are pro-life women, and at the heart of our faith, we are a pro-life church.  In our lives, and the lives of many people we know, love, and worship with, we try to live in a way that reveals the heart of the pro-life message. We believe that we must feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and bury the dead.

In the Catholic Church, we call these the corporal works of mercy.  The physical.  The actual helping hand to our neighbors in need. 

We are an imperfect people in an imperfect world striving to do and to love better, bigger, and more perfectly.  

We also believe in the right to life for every human person-black, white, Christian, Jew, Muslim, boy, and girl.  I used to volunteer at a pregnancy resource center, and, I remember one distraught caller who needed to talk.  She was facing an unwanted pregnancy and desperately felt she had no other option than to end her pregnancy.  I will never forget listening to a seasoned volunteer speak to her in the most beautiful tone.

She HEARD the woman on the other end. 

She heard her fears, her worries, and the sobbing on the other end of the line.  I don’t remember the exact conversation, but she basically said, “You are crying because you are a mother.  You were a mother at the moment of your baby’s conception.  You were MADE for this.  You have a mother’s heart and a mother’s instinct to protect your baby.”  These two women women spoke at length–mother to mother–and a life was saved that day.

On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we pray that the pro-life community steps out in faith in the corporal works of mercy.

Let us not only pray and work to end abortion, but to care for the women, men, families and babies who find themselves in difficult situations.  Let us help women believe that all life is a gift no matter the circumstance.  Let’s be the merciful community of believers who will live our faith so beautifully that life becomes the very best option—always!