“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.
What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray?
Saint Matthew's placed Jesus's teaching about children with his parable about the lost sheep for a purpose. Mothers are not the only ones who love their children with ferocious intensity; our God does too.
When millions of "conservative Christians" denounce the institution of abortion, threatening to dismantle the Constitution of the United States if necessary, we should recognize God's distaste for the careless waste of human life. He will not abide it.
The feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) immediately reminds us of the Nazi extermination of human beings in Europe. Abortion and the Shoah stand in the American mind with slavery and the Civil War. These American stories, which must be included in every history book, take their place with the genocides that began in the nineteenth century and continue today.
Nor should we ignore their interconnections. Nazi philosophers and planners in Europe openly admired American apartheid -- a totalitarian system of segregation that extended literally from cradle to cemetery. Nazis devised methods to isolate and destroy Jews with the same principles and methods. Twentieth- century Western nations studied eugenics -- a pseudo-science which has not disappeared -- in an effort to improve the human race by culling and intentional breeding.And yet God's passionate love is for every single human being. It appears not only among dedicated parents who care for their neediest children first. I have seen it in the zeal of hospital staff, and in the intense emotions of visiting spouses, families, and friends. Even warriors, trained to kill with supreme efficiency, weep for the loss of comrades and carry survivor's guilt into their retirement years. Many acknowledge they slew opponents of equal dignity and worth in God's sight.
Only a diabolical ideology and intentional hate can kill another human being; but the slaughter continues. Even as the healing profession develops robotics for microscopic surgery, the war industry creates machines to kill more people.
We beg the Good Shepherd to save us from ourselves.
I wonder how sheep owners responded to Jesus's parable. Did they commend a shepherd who left the ninety-nine in the hills to go in search of the stray?" Or did they fire the scrupulous shepherd for leaving the ninety-nine vulnerable to wolves, bears, lions, and thieves?
If so, Jesus's parable is all the more compelling. He probably heard the guffawing owners but insisted that he would give his life for the least of his people. Even as he spoke, he was on his way to Calvary.
The pro-life movement demands sacrifice of everyone. No society can afford all the luxuries they dream of while caring for every person. There is no technology for that; no machine efficient enough. If the American experiment is to survive it will do so as we make intense and eager sacrifices for the least among us, even for the unborn little ones.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.