A recent article in Newsweek lamented about how there is no longer any “passion” for “abortion rights” among younger women.  Nancy Keenan, the current president of NARAL (originally founded in 1969 as the National Association for Repeal of Abortion Laws), was quoted in the article as follows:

“This past January, when Keenan’s train pulled into Washington’s Union Station, a few blocks from the Capitol, she was greeted by a swarm of anti-abortion-rights activists.  It was the 37th annual March for Life, organized every year on Jan. 22, the anniversary of Roe. ‘I just thought, my gosh, they are so young,’ Keenan recalled.  ‘There are so many of them, and they are so young.’”

The article went on to point out that “ultrasound technology has provided increasingly clear pictures of fetal development.”  Kate Michelman, a former president of NARAL, was quoted as saying: “The technology has clearly helped to define how people think about a fetus as a full, breathing human being…. The other side has been able to use the technology to its own end.”

The Newsweek article referred to Keenan, Michelman, and other like-minded promoters of mass murder as “the ‘postmenopausal militia,’ a generation of baby-boomer activists now well into their 50s who … still run the major abortion-rights groups, including NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and the National Organization for Woman.”

So there you have it.  The “postmenopausal militia” is in a tizzy because young woman aren’t willing to blindly follow in their footsteps.  Make no mistake about it, the women who are members of this so-called militia have hardened their hearts to such an extent that while conceding that there is an unborn human being moving around in its mother’s womb, the “mother” still has the “right” to brutally murder and then discard the “fetus” like it’s nothing more than a pile of garbage.

When Keenan, Michelman, and the other hard-hearted militia members were “young women” they each chose the same path Lucifer chose by defiantly proclaiming: “I WILL NOT SERVE!”  They refused to serve God; they refused to serve their husbands; and they refused to serve their children.

In contrast, the “young women” that Keenan is so frustrated with, have chosen the path that God intended for them.  They are willing to serve God; they are willing to serve their husbands; and they are willing to serve their children.  They realize that it is through serving God and their families that they will be fulfilled.

In our self-centered culture, we have to continually decide which choice we are going to make: Are we going to choose to serve God and our neighbor or are we going to choose to serve ourselves?

When a married Christian woman leaves herself open to the will of God and allows for the creation of a new body and soul within her womb, she has proven her love and trust for God and made a choice to serve Him, her husband, and the new life that she has been privileged to create.  For the woman who is unmarried or who did not intentionally leave herself open to God’s new creation, but finds herself with a new child growing within her, she also has a choice to make: Will she serve God and her child or will she serve herself?

The ultimate choice to serve God and neighbor by remaining open to conception can sometimes be a natural and easy choice to make.  At other times, the choice can be costly and frightening. 

Mother’s day is the one day each year that we are reminded that we should honor the women who chose to willingly carry their children to full term and then made the sacrifices that were necessary to raise their children to adulthood.

Although I didn’t do anything to deserve it, I had the privilege of being born to a woman who was eager to serve God, her husband, and her children.  Thirty years ago I had the privilege of marrying a woman who was eager to serve God, her husband, and her children.

Thank you mom.  Thank you Georgette.  Thank you for your willing and unselfish service to your husbands and children.  We will never be able to repay you for your countless acts of love and service.

Here’s what the Venerable Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty (March 29, 1892 – May 6, 1975) had to say about motherhood:

The most important person on earth is a mother.  She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral.  She need not.  She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral – a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body.

The angels have not been blessed with such a grace.  They cannot share in God’s creative miracle to bring new saints to Heaven.  Only a human mother can.  Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creatures.  God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation….

What on God’s good earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother?

Today is a day we should all thank God for the great gift of motherhood.  We should also (of course) thank our mothers for bringing us into the world and for providing the love, care and support that was necessary for us to grow up to be faithful Catholics and good citizens.

On Mother’s Day, I will offer up my holy hour for the intentions of all of the mothers in our adoration program as well as all of the mothers who are members of St. Philomena Parish.

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