"An error in the beginning is an error indeed." is a quote from St. Thomas Aquinas that I think is so important in framing the issue of abortion properly. Many a Catholic, and many people in general, will say that they of course hate abortion but that it is one of many issues modern people must confront. They say that the battle against abortion must be fought side by side with the battle against poverty, war, and economic injustice. They may even say that in winning these other battles we will in turn effect positive change in the abortion issue. They tend to frame the issue economically rather than spiritually. How so? They see abortion as the result of poverty, economic hardships, and a culture that doesn't "support women" well.
This view is not only wrong-headed, it is dangerous. This is the view that has lead so many to give up the good fight against abortion. This is the view that has allowed many to justify support for leaders who promote "choice" and promise freedom from "injustice" in many varied forms. This is the view that fails to see that an error in the beginning is an error indeed.
We have a choice as believers. We can put our faith in world action to move Jesus' spiritual plan forward or we can put our faith in spiritual action in order to change the world. Now, is abortion a worldly issue or a spiritual issue? That is the primary question to ask. What I mean by this is, are the deaths of millions of innocents at the request of their own mothers a brutal blemish on our human capacity to love and welcome the unborn into our world? Or are their violent deaths a bloody feast for the demonic to feed on and gain strength and power from in order to propel God's children further and further away from their Father?
Of course we live in the world an so the death of the unborn at the hands of their mothers is a fact that effects the world now and in the material order. We are literally missing people! We have wiped out so many faces and names, so many hands and feet and minds. This is a tragedy of the material order. But we fail to see that the damage that abortion does spiritually is far reaching and pervades all other issues we confront as a society. If we hate the abuse of the poor, if we hate war, if we hate racism and bigotry, if we long for the dignity of man to be restored, then we must see that the root of all these injustices is grounded firmly in abortion. They draw their strength from the blood that soaks the ground beneath them, the blood of the unborn.
How can abortion lead to other injustices? Because "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12. God thought so highly of motherhood, so highly of the unborn, that He chose to place Himself among their ranks. He has therefore blessed this state (of a mother carrying her unborn child within her) by His own participation in it. He has raised the level of motherhood to one of great spiritual significance. He has shown us the dignity and the preciousness of new life by choosing to partake in this greatest of all miracles. Satan understands this well. He is no fool. He went to the woman in the garden and he continues to go to the women today. He knows that we women hold the greatest of powers within our very wombs. We cooperate with God so intimately that a new person and their God-given soul take up residence within our very bodies! Satan seeks to destroy this greatest of treasures and to make out of it a curse!
When we curse the very thing that makes us great, the very thing that shows us when and where all human beings get their great dignity, we lose sight of what it means to be made in God's image and we lose sight then of all the dignity man deserves. We begin to see humans as disposable, replaceable. We strip away the very foundation man has to stand on in order to say that he is endowed by his Creator with rights, rights that cannot be arbitrarily dismissed! When abortion is left to stand side by side with other issues we fail to see that abortion's blood stains everything that robs man of his dignity and value. We fail to see that an error in the beginning is an error indeed.
This view is not only wrong-headed, it is dangerous. This is the view that has lead so many to give up the good fight against abortion. This is the view that has allowed many to justify support for leaders who promote "choice" and promise freedom from "injustice" in many varied forms. This is the view that fails to see that an error in the beginning is an error indeed.
We have a choice as believers. We can put our faith in world action to move Jesus' spiritual plan forward or we can put our faith in spiritual action in order to change the world. Now, is abortion a worldly issue or a spiritual issue? That is the primary question to ask. What I mean by this is, are the deaths of millions of innocents at the request of their own mothers a brutal blemish on our human capacity to love and welcome the unborn into our world? Or are their violent deaths a bloody feast for the demonic to feed on and gain strength and power from in order to propel God's children further and further away from their Father?
Of course we live in the world an so the death of the unborn at the hands of their mothers is a fact that effects the world now and in the material order. We are literally missing people! We have wiped out so many faces and names, so many hands and feet and minds. This is a tragedy of the material order. But we fail to see that the damage that abortion does spiritually is far reaching and pervades all other issues we confront as a society. If we hate the abuse of the poor, if we hate war, if we hate racism and bigotry, if we long for the dignity of man to be restored, then we must see that the root of all these injustices is grounded firmly in abortion. They draw their strength from the blood that soaks the ground beneath them, the blood of the unborn.
How can abortion lead to other injustices? Because "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12. God thought so highly of motherhood, so highly of the unborn, that He chose to place Himself among their ranks. He has therefore blessed this state (of a mother carrying her unborn child within her) by His own participation in it. He has raised the level of motherhood to one of great spiritual significance. He has shown us the dignity and the preciousness of new life by choosing to partake in this greatest of all miracles. Satan understands this well. He is no fool. He went to the woman in the garden and he continues to go to the women today. He knows that we women hold the greatest of powers within our very wombs. We cooperate with God so intimately that a new person and their God-given soul take up residence within our very bodies! Satan seeks to destroy this greatest of treasures and to make out of it a curse!
When we curse the very thing that makes us great, the very thing that shows us when and where all human beings get their great dignity, we lose sight of what it means to be made in God's image and we lose sight then of all the dignity man deserves. We begin to see humans as disposable, replaceable. We strip away the very foundation man has to stand on in order to say that he is endowed by his Creator with rights, rights that cannot be arbitrarily dismissed! When abortion is left to stand side by side with other issues we fail to see that abortion's blood stains everything that robs man of his dignity and value. We fail to see that an error in the beginning is an error indeed.
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