Preaching on abortion, 32nd Sunday, Year C, Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, reflects on the Sunday readings for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and their message about abortion.

For more information about what the Sunday readings, and the whole Bible, say about abortion, and for resources for your Church, see https://www.ProLifePreaching.org. You can order there the book “Proclaiming the Message of Life,” which contains these reflections for all the Sunday readings in the lectionary.

2 Mc 7:1-2, 9-14
2 Thes 2:16—3:5
Lk 20:27-38 or 20:27, 34-38

Today's readings are about the victory of life over death, of fidelity over circumstances. The clear affirmation that God will raise the dead shows that death cannot and will not have the last word in the human story. God is in the business of destroying death, as he had foretold in Isaiah 25 when he said, "I will remove the veil that veils all people, the web that is woven over all nations; I will destroy death forever."

To stand with God is to stand with life; to stand with life is to stand against whatever destroys it. We who work to transform a culture of death into a culture of life begin with this affirmation that God has already won the victory over death. We do not "wonder if" we will be successful in overcoming abortion, euthanasia, and other forms of violence. Rather, we declare these evils defeated and, from a stance of victory, strive to bring all society into line with a victory already obtained.

The theme of fidelity in difficult circumstances, as those in the First Reading faced, provides a context for the help we give to those in difficult pregnancies. By our faithfulness to what is right, even if it seems we are going to lose our own lives in the process (literally or figuratively), we end up with the fullness of life.

Martyrdom is exactly the opposite of suicide. In suicide, one declares oneself to be the owner and disposer of one's life. In martyrdom, one declares that God alone is owner and disposer of one's life, which means that one can neither take it nor hold on to it at the cost of betraying Him.