Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B

2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15
Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43

The raising of the dead girl to life, recounted in the Gospel passage, is not simply a story about what Jesus did; it is a summons to his people to do it again and again as they build a Culture of Life in the world.

One could ask, in the face of miracles like the raising of the dead, why Jesus did not do it more frequently. The answer is that his miracle was a sign of the meaning of his mission and ours. His occasional raising of the dead reveals the meaning of everything he is doing at every moment. He is reconciling humanity to God, and hence destroying the very source of death. In the end, all will rise – but they are called first to come to Christ, who is Life itself, and embrace that gift of natural and supernatural life.

We can say, therefore, that the pro-life movement is not simply a response to Roe vs. Wade. Rather, the pro-life movement is a response to Jesus Christ. God is in the business of destroying death, and has done so through Christ. To stand with Christ is to stand with life, and therefore to stand against whatever destroys it. Nothing in our world destroys more life than abortion.

Some wonder why we would preach about abortion at Mass, or be concerned about what, in the eyes of some, is none of our business. Yet it is our business, because we serve a God who destroys death. We are the People of God and the People of Life. It is the business of love to save human lives. In the Mass, we literally touch the victory of life over death. What can be a more appropriate time and place to talk about it?
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