We Operate From Victory II

Details: 22 April 2011

There are some celebrations during the liturgical year that naturally relate to the dignity of human life. The Annunciation, Visitation, Christmas, and Respect Life Sunday (first Sunday in October) are some of the obvious ones. But the highest Feast in the Church—Easter—should also be the greatest celebration for the pro-life cause as well.

This Feast reminds us that the victory over death has been won by our Lord Jesus Christ. We know how the battle between life and death ends. Life wins. Death loses.

Father Frank Pavone from Priests for Life expressed this comforting reality quite cogently when he said that as Christians we engage in the pro-life battle not just for victory but from victory. God does not ask us to defeat death. He has already done this.

While our Lord’s victory over death assures us that death will not and cannot overcome life, evil still exists and must be opposed with vigor and constancy. There can even be times when it seems that evil is winning. And many people may be tempted to become discouraged or cynical and, as a result, disengaged from the battle for life.

These are the times when we need to recall our Lord’s ultimate victory over death. We need to regularly be reminded that our responsibility isn’t to defeat the culture of death but to faithfully and persistently oppose it. The fact that we operate from victory, not just for victory should give us all the hope and encouragement we need to persevere.

God gave each of us unique gifts and opportunities to serve Him in bringing Truth and love to our world. At our final judgment we will have to account for how we used these gifts and opportunities from God. In particular, I believe, we will account for our action or inaction in proclaiming and defending the sacred dignity of human life.

If we truly embrace and embody the assurance of our faith, we should be confident and joy-filled in our pro-life efforts, in good times and in bad times. The following quote from the late Father Richard John Neuhaus has long been a source of inspiration and encouragement to me. I pray that it also inspires you as we contemplate our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection.

"So long as we have the gift of life we must protect the gift of life. So long as it is threatened, so long must it be defended. This is the time to brace ourselves for the long term. We are today laying the foundations for the prolife movement of the twenty-first century. Pray that the foundations are firm, for we have not yet seen the full fury of the storm that is upon us.

"But we have not the right to despair. We have not the right and we have not the reason to despair if we understand that our entire struggle is premised not upon a victory to be achieved, but a victory that has been achieved. If we understand that, far from despair we have right and reason to rejoice that we are called to such a time as this, a time of testing, a time of truth. "The encroaching culture of death shall not prevail, for we know, as we read in John’s gospel, ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’ The darkness will never overcome that light."

You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.