Third
Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Celebrant: The Lord Jesus came to
proclaim liberty to the captives and salvation to all. This gives us confidence
to entrust to him all our needs.
Deacon/Lector:
For Church leaders as they
continue to proclaim the message Jesus preached, we pray to the Lord...
That all governments may
acknowledge that every human law must correspond to the laws of God, we pray to
the Lord...
That as Christ proclaims liberty
to the poor and the captive, we may work to eliminate war, starvation, capital
punishment, and abortion, we pray to the Lord…
For deeper unity among all
Christians, as they exercise the gifts given to the many parts of the Body of
Christ, we pray to the Lord...
For all who teach religious
education, that their words may bring many closer to God, we pray to the Lord...
That the sick may be comforted
and the deceased may share in eternal life, we pray to the Lord...
Celebrant:
Father,
We welcome the Gospel of Your
Son.
As you answer our prayers,
May the words of that Gospel
resound in our hearts
And shape our lives.
We ask this through Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Bulletin Insert
Click here for the Spanish
version of this bulletin insert
A Sad Anniversary
On January 22, 1973, the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision legalized
abortion in the United States through all nine months of pregnancy. Tens of
millions of children have been killed as a result. The plaintiff in the case,
however, has changed her mind. Norma McCorvey, the former “Jane Roe” of Roe vs.
Wade, now opposes abortion and works for the reversal of this tragic decision.
Her conversion gives us hope that as millions of Americans pray, march, and
speak up this weekend for the unborn, the conscience of the nation will again be
stirred, and the blessings of liberty, equality, and prosperity will be granted
soon to the children living in their mothers’ wombs.
Homily Hints
Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
1 Cor 12:12-30 or 12:12-14, 27
Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21
The Gospel reading today fits perfectly with the sad commemoration of Roe vs.
Wade (January 22), which hundreds of thousands of citizens observe as an
occasion to advocate for the rights of children in the womb and call for their
protection. Such advocacy is at the heart of the Gospel and of Jesus’ mission.
“He has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to
captive…to let the oppressed go free.”
Nobody is more oppressed in our
world today than the unborn child. The Spirit of the Lord, who is our Advocate
in heaven, fills us and makes us advocates for these lives. And that advocacy
takes so many numerous forms in the wide variety of activities in the pro-life
movement. Just as the second reading reminds us of the diversity of the one Body
of Christ, so is that diversity manifested in the pro-life movement which,
driven by the same Spirit who is “Father of the poor,” seeks the same ultimate
goal.
Today is a day to remind our
people of the extent of this tragedy, and of the fact that it is “our business”
to intervene for the victims of abortion, no less than it is our business to
help the victims of crime, war, drugs, poverty, AIDS, and any other type of
violence. Ours is the business of love, the business of “letting the oppressed
go free,” for that is what God has done to us.
Following are some facts and
quotes that can help to frame the abortion tragedy:
Some 42 million children have
been aborted in the United States since the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision.
Abortions are done mostly for
non-medical reasons. As the abortion industry itself admits on the website of
the Alan Guttmacher Institute, "On average, women give at least 3 reasons for
choosing abortion: 3/4 say that having a baby would interfere with work, school
or other responsibilities; about 2/3 say they cannot afford a child; and 1/2 say
they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband
or partner."
As the University of Detroit Law
Review points out, "The Supreme Court's decisions…allowed abortion on demand
throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy" (Paul B. Linton, Enforcement of
State Abortion Statutes after Roe: A State-by-State Analysis, Vol. 67, Issue 2,
Winter 1990).
Quotes from Abortion supporters
"...The abortion-rights folks
know it, the anti-abortion folks know it, and so probably, does everyone else.
One of the facts of abortion is that women enter abortion clinics to kill their
fetuses. It is a form of killing ...you're ending a life." Ron Fitzsimmons,
Executive Director, National Coalition of Abortion Providers, New York Times, 26
February 1997
Dr. Fredrik Broekhuizen performs
abortions and testified under oath in US District Court on April 5, 2004 about
how he does abortions. The following describes legal activity: "I will then,
while holding on to the fetus … try and ease those parts through the cervix …
The fetus will either continue to come or will begin to break apart. It will
break apart wherever or whatever it is. It may be in the middle of the leg, it
may be at the abdomen, it may be at the chest…' (Planned Parenthood v. Ashcroft)
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