“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave or free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).
Lord Jesus,
In Your earthly ministry,
You broke down the false barriers
Society placed between different groups of people.
You ate with tax collectors and sinners
Despite the objections of the Scribes (Mk. 2:16);
You helped the blind man
Despite the warnings of the crowd (Mt. 20:29-34);
You talked with the Samaritan woman
Despite the utter surprise of the disciples and of the woman herself (Jn. 4:9, 27);
You ministered to the Gentiles
Despite the anger of the Jews (Mt. 21:41-46);
You healed the lepers,
Despite their isolation from the rest of society (Lk. 17:11-19);
And you enthusiastically welcomed the children,
Despite the efforts of the apostles to keep them away (Mt. 19:13-15).
Lord Jesus,
You saw and affirmed the dignity
Of every human person,
No matter what others thought of them
And no matter how the culture devalued them.
In our day, Lord Jesus,
Break down the false barrier
Between the born and the unborn.
Help our society, and everyone in it,
To recognize that the child in the womb
Has just as much dignity as the child outside the womb.Fill Your people with the same spirit
By which You challenged the mistaken notions of Your time
That put entire groups of people onto the margins of society
And pretended that they did not matter.
Give us, instead, the spirit of welcome,
And the heart to serve, affirm and uplift
Those whom society ignores and oppresses.
May we love our unborn brothers and sisters
Just as You do,
For You live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life