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Jer 1:4-5. 17-19
1 Cor 12:31-13:13 or 13:4-13
Lk 4:21-30 Being a person of life while living amidst a culture of death requires the lessons of today’s first reading and gospel regarding what a prophet faces. We are all prophets by our baptism, and therefore share both in the blessings and burdens of that particular vocation. We are blessed in that we have and know with certainty the Word and will of God regarding the sanctity of life. The burden we have is that we must speak that word – in fact, proclaim it – amidst people who may not necessarily want to hear it. The lesson of these readings is that a) we should expect opposition, not be surprised at it, and b) we should not measure the success of the prophetic mission by how well we are accepted, but rather by how faithful and loving we are in carrying out the mission entrusted to us. The prophetic stance we take on behalf of life is not only a stance of example, but also of word. The good example we set must at times be explained. The witness of life must at times be accompanied and explained by the word of life. Our people need our encouragement – as well as concrete tools – to be able to explain their pro-life position. The second reading, of course, provides an entire lesson in itself about the meaning of love. The pro-life movement is a movement of love. It can be summed up as a movement which objects to the fact that the unborn are excluded from the most basic requirement of love (that is, the protection of one’s life), and which loves them intensely in order to make up for the lack of love they receive from others. Love ultimately says, “I sacrifice myself for the good of the other.” Abortion says, “I sacrifice the other for the good of myself.”
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