Pro-life
Preaching Hints
October 31 - Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
2 Thes 1:11—2:2
Lk 19:1-10
The Zaccheus story shows
our Lord’s eagerness to seek out those whom others are tempted
to look down on. Zaccheus would have been lost in the crowd
because of his small stature, had he not climbed the tree. He
was also looked down upon because of his role as chief tax
collector. But Jesus sought him out, not only by giving him
attention but by dining at his house.
Jesus breaks down
the false barriers we place between certain kinds of people and
others; he goes first to those who are pushed aside by the
crowd.
The Church, through which Jesus continues to carry
out his mission today, does the same thing, and therefore speaks
up for those pushed aside by the crowd, especially the smallest
of the small, the unborn.
Their lives, like ours, are not
just the handiwork of God, but a continuous proof of his love.
At every moment God is sustaining each one of us with the breath
of life. We would fall back into nothingness at once if God did
not have his love focused on us in an uninterrupted way. To
snuff out a life, therefore, whether of the born or the unborn,
is a direct contradiction to God’s loving will, which sustains
all things in being.
On the other hand, we cooperate with
the life-giving love of God each time we reach out to those
around us who may be unsure about how to handle their pregnancy,
and give them the strength to love their unborn child. We do
likewise when we strengthen those who care for the vulnerable,
the disabled, and the dying. By helping one another grow in love
for the weakest in the human family, we and they literally
become more like God, for nothing exists that is not called
forth by him.
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