From Archbishop Donoghue

Mass for the Unborn
January 22, 1997
Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
+

Dear Friends in Christ,

A few days ago, this country performed one of its most solemn rites - the inauguration of the duly elected president - and whether or not the man chosen for this high office is to our liking, on that special day, Inauguration Day - we try to turn our thoughts to the future - we try to see in the enthusiasm and the wide-eyed optimism of our children, the sweet dreams of hope, that we may have left behind as we have grown older, and more experienced, and more realistic about things.

And truly, I think everyone here wants and prays for the best to happen to our country. I believe we are all good citizens, interested in our nation’s vitality, and deeply involved in the public debate which is at the heart of our system of self-government. And I think that we bring to the table of our public discussion, the added and most valuable dimension of religious faith, and the good works which faith wrestles from our stubborn and sometimes indolent natures.

But at the same time that I - that we - entertain these thoughts of a better future, of a more just nation, I think it also true that in many ways, our country is like the paralytic man brought to our Lord in this morning’s Gospel story - for that man may have had the good will of all his friends with him that day, and St. Mark, in his account, says that they were so determined to bring their friend to the Lord, that when they couldn’t get through the crowd of people who had gathered, they hauled him up on the roof, and lowered him on his bed through a hole in the roof, right down into the midst of the room where Christ was preaching.

We are that way about our country - we see that the United States is being paralyzed morally, starting with its casual attitude towards the conception and the development of human life in the womb, and culminating in the growing attitude that what is old is worthless, including the burden of supporting and caring for our old people - it is this deadly loop, tied with the knots of abortion and euthanasia that is strangling this nation’s vitals, and that is paralyzing its moral force to do good and to hand on to its children, prosperity and civil peace.

And though we, like the enthusiastic friends of the paralytic man, may bring this country’s sickness to the attention of our God, through Masses like the one we celebrate, and by means of public events, like this afternoon’s public demonstrations - we must also believe that our Lord will answer, as He did in the Gospel, that moral paralysis may appear to be the problem - but in fact, the problem is much deeper - it is in the soul of this country, as it was in the soul of that man - it is sin in the soul of this country that makes it sick, and only when this country seeks forgiveness of its sins, will the sickness flee into the dark, and away from the light which forgiveness brings.

What are this country’s sins - perhaps it would be easier to say what aren’t this country’s sins - for we have done them all - we have set up false gods of wealth, popularity, escape from responsibility - our public speech and the language of our entertainers is filled with violence and casual use of the Name of God - Sunday has become the day of organized sports rather than the Lord’s day for so many people - we harbor disrespect for the old - we condone murder under the technical guise of abortion rights - the bearing of false witness has been raised to high degrees of eloquence in our courts - and marriage, the sacrament of family, of fidelity, and the main buttress for our social order, has descended to a revolving door status - in on one pass, and out on the other.

It is no longer fashionable to catalogue our sins, as they are defined by the great commandments of God - just as it wasn’t exactly what the crowd wanted to hear that day when Jesus confronted the paralytic man, and first forgave his sins instead of healing his paralysis. But it is the medicine that we need, and this is the day to take a large dose. For today, we must do what Christ teaches - we must not just stop to think about how they - those people out there - are responsible for the illness of our society. We must think about our own sins, and confess that we are not without guilt in this matter - and remember that although we may not murder children, although we may not cast our old people into the street to die, and although we may not commit or condone bombs and physical violence to make the point of our beliefs, it is very difficult for us not to hate those who do, and to harbor in our hearts less than charitable thoughts about these people we often think of as “the enemy.” And so, Christ’s words in the Gospel are not just for the scribes, but to us also, when He says, “Why do you think evil in your hearts.”

St. John, close to Christ in time and thought, teaches us about our responsibility in his first letter:

If we say, “We are free of the guilt of sin,” we deceive ourselves; the truth is not to be found in us. But if we acknowledge our sins, he who is just can be trusted to forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrong.

My friends, for the rest of this Mass, for the rest of this day, for the rest of our lives, let us dismiss from our hearts all notions of them and us, all accusations and imprecations, all evil thoughts and vengeful desires - and let us also abandon the notion that because we are enthusiastic, that because we rally once a year, that our problems will go away in time, for these are not the ways to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. Rather let us remember the wisdom of Christ, who taught that sickness of the soul is a thousand times worse than sickness in the body, and let us pray for our souls, and for the souls of all men and women in this country, that the light of Christ may come to shine in all our hearts - and let us pray that through the redemption of individuals, and the conversion of sinners, the sins of this nation might be washed away - that abortion and euthanasia will cease to exist, not because of legislation in the courts and in the halls of Congress, but because of God’s legislation at work in the hearts of every American man, woman, and child.

And finally today, let us remember the millions of dead children, taken we believe into the care of God, who have died in this country and throughout the world as a result of willful abortion. What can we do, thinking of these millions of innocents, but fall on our knees before God, and beg forgiveness for the human race? Our final hope, as we cast ourselves upon God’s mercy is that we will one day receive the total forgiveness that came that day to the paralyzed man of the Gospel - that one day we will also hear the Lord say to us:

Rise, take up your bed and go home. . . your sins are forgiven.

+