Approaching 80 years, Sister Mary Justina OSB was old by any standard. But for the those of us in her 5th grade class in 1957, the old, kindly nun was definitely in the ancient category, a living archaeological specimen. She was short and stout, with a big, round smiling face encased in a white wimple, topped with a long black veil that matched her black robe and the large rosary hanging from the black belt around her waist. She couldn’t stand for very long, and taught most of the day seated at her desk.
What she taught, besides reading, arithmetic, history, English, and geography, was the Catholic religion. She taught us about meeting Jesus in Holy Communion each day at Mass, and about being strengthened by the Holy Spirit in our ordinary little lives. God, not man, is the Creator of all things, she reminded us. Our immortal souls were made to be with God in heaven, but, she warned us, our immortal souls could be lost to hell forever. We had to be ever watchful and avoid the devil’s temptations.
With great sincerity and detail she told the stories of Mary’s appearances at Fatima and Lourdes. As the liturgical calendar unfolded during the year she told us about the lives of the saints, making the Communion of Saints as real as the sixth graders down the hall. And, she intently assured us, each one of us had our own angel assigned to us. It was as Jesus said in the Bible: “I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my Heavenly Father” (Mt. 18:10).
For many persons, their spiritual and earthly lives are like two parallel lines that never meet. But a believer’s earthly life intersects and is interwoven with the supernatural, and Sister Justina’s life was a grand example of this! Her life exuded a sacramental dimension that was, as it is for all children of God by virtue of their Baptism, no less real than her time-bound earthly existence. Jesus. Mary. The saints. Guardian angels. They are amongst us here in the present. The cosmic is local. The immanence of the Incarnation dissolves the rigid earthly concepts of time, place, and distance.
Pouring out of Sister Justina’s sacramental life, like water pouring out from a fountain, was a great dedication to the missions. “Go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19). She took those words to heart, and was uncorrupted by any notion of accommodating the truth to advance cultural sensitivities or ecumenical niceties. Jesus is the Savior of the entire world, He loves all of us, and He wants us to be with Him forever. The Catholic Church — One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic — is the true Church, and the way to eternal life. The children in foreign lands needed this good news just as much as we needed it. Some little pagan child, with God’s mercy, might make it to heaven outside of the Church, but it would be a lot easier if he was inside with all of the extra graces, and any Catholic 5th grader worth his baptismal candle would do what it took to get that kid baptized.
Her concern for the missions included her constant pleas to contribute to the “pagan baby” collection. Sister told us in her soft voice how our money was absolutely essential to save souls. The money we collected would go to pay for food, clothing, medicine, prayer books, and books on the saints. Our failure to do our part would result in suffering, and, more importantly, lost souls who might never know the love of God and the comfort of the sacraments of His Church.
She sadly related to us that in some cases parents would come to a missionary for food and clothing, and would bring an” unwanted child,” asking for money in exchange for the life of their baby. The missionaries needed our help, she said. Our nickels, dimes, and quarters would provide them with money to help the parents with their material needs, and give the missionaries an opportunity to teach the parents and their children about God. If necessary, our money could be used to buy a poor child’s life, and that child would be protected and baptized.
Sister Justina’s pleas for the pagan babies have come to mind several times over the years while working to protect the unborn in this country from the abortionist’s knife. Her stories made the sad plight of those babies so far away very real to the 10 year old children in her class. But sadly, after 50 years things have changed. The far away is now very near. To be exact, it is right here in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
I stand on sidewalks in front of abortion mills every week begging for the lives of children who are brought there to be killed. And like the missionaries in Sister Justina’s appeals to her 5th grade students, I and my fellow pro-life workers plead with the parents to love and protect their children. We offer them financial assistance, clothing, medical and legal referrals, and counseling and support. The parents sometimes will stop and take our brochures, and sometimes listen to our pleas and our offers to help them. Some, through, and only through, the grace of God, will even decide to not have an abortion and save their child. Mostly though, the mothers and fathers go into the abortuary and “terminate” their unwanted children.
Sister never gave us any reports on the number of “saves” of those pagan babies in lands so far away, but, original sin being what it is, I suspect that the missionaries experienced from the pagans over there pretty much the same hardheartedness, interrupted by an occasional example of grace filled generosity, that we do from the neo-pagans over here. But like those missionaries and Sister Mary Justina OSB, we can do no less than keep trying to save the babies, pagan or otherwise.
