Christians live in the midst of "a colossal spiritual conflict" and must turn
to God in prayer to reverse the culture of death prevalent in modern society,
Father Frank Pavone of New York, founder and director of the international
Priests for Life organization, emphasized during the 14th anniversary Mass for
the Divine Mercy Chapel on Sept. 14 at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in
Indianapolis.
That's why perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is so important, he
said during his homily. "We're involved in it, brothers and sisters, whether we
want to be or not. This is why we need divine mercy. This is why we need the
Eucharist, and this is why we need perpetual adoration.
"Unless we take refuge in the flesh and blood of Christ, we can't be saved
from the culture of death and we can't live the very words that the Eucharist is
calling us to live," Father Pavone said. "One of the things that the Eucharist
does is remind us that God is physical, and therefore reminds us that we are,
too."
The culture of death moves forward in society by denigrating the meaning,
value and sanctity of the human body, he said, and even takes Christ's words -
"This is my body [given up for you]"-and turns them into a pro-abortion mantra.
"Many of you work in pro-life activities -- pregnancy center counseling and
Project Gabriel -- where the Church herself becomes the haven for those women
who are pregnant and in need," he said. "That is as it should be."
Eucharistic adoration declined during the 1960s and '70s, Father Pavone said,
as the number of abortions skyrocketed after Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton in
1973 legalized the killing of babies during all nine months of pregnancy.
"Now there's been a shift, a change," he said. " Eucharistic faith is going
up again and perpetual adoration chapels like the one established here 14 years
ago are springing up all over the place, especially in the last several years.
There's been an explosion, a yearning on the part of the faithful to have
perpetual adoration and devotion to the Eucharist."
With this increase in adoration, Father Pavone said, "the number of abortions
is going down and, in the last 10 years, over half of the abortion clinics in
this country have been shut down. Meanwhile, the perpetual Eucharistic adoration
chapels have been opening all over the place. It's fascinating that the number
of abortion facilities remaining in our country is almost the same as the number
of perpetual adoration chapels."
There are about 750 abortion clinics throughout the U.S. he said and about
675 perpetual adoration chapels that are open 24 hours a day and seven days a
week.
"Could it be, brothers and sisters, that there is going to be some kind of
spiritual shifting of values," he said, "when the number of places in which the
hearts of children are stopped by the deadly act of abortion is outnumbered by
those places where the heart of Christ is beating in the Eucharist and where the
faithful come with their hearts yearning for him, and they see him and adore him
and worship him and invoke his mercy upon the world."
St. Maria Faustina, who promoted Eucharistic adoration, experienced
excruciating pain in her abdomen, Father Pavone said. "No one could figure it
out until our Lord revealed to her that he was allowing her to share the pain of
children torn from the womb by abortion. Our Lord also gave her the chaplet of
Divine Mercy and revealed to her that God's mercy was to be invoked upon the
world for all the sins in the world."
The Lord also said abortion is more grievous than all the rest of the sins,
Father Pavone said, because "it says 'I sacrifice the other person for the good
of myself' and is the exact opposite of love."
For the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, Pope John Paul II signed an
apostolic blessing for those who pray the chaplet of Divine Mercy, Father Pavone
said. "He recalled the experience of St. Faustina and how those pains
represented the sin of abortion, and said that he wanted to explicitly link the
chaplet of Divine Mercy and his apostolic blessing to those who say this prayer
in reparation for abortion."
A month later, the Holy Father issued an encyclical on the Eucharist, he
said, which reinforced the relationship between Divine Mercy, the Eucharist and
the triumph of the cross.
"In the midst of incredible spiritual conflict," Father Pavone said, "we are
called to experience the peace and joy that come only from the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that no one and nothing can ever take away from us."
The anniversary liturgy was concelebrated by Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar
general, with Bishop Arturo Bastes of the Sorsagon Diocese in the Philippines;
Father Anthony Volz, pastor of St. Michael Parish; and Father Pavone.
Anchorite Sister Mary Ann Schumann, who ministers as the coordinator of the
Divine Mercy Chapel, said the anniversary Mass filled her heart with joy.
"It touches me that so many adorers can keep an hour of their lives open for
the Lord every week," she said. "People drive as far as 15 miles to pray at 4
o'clock in the morning. Some of our 200 to 300 adorers have been coming to pray
in the middle of the night every week for 14 years."
