Is there anybody who reads this blog who doesn’t know this clip by heart?
What brought this scene to mind was a sobering statistic I ran into over at Servant and Steward which noted that while approximately 133,115,440 children have been born in the U.S.A. since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, another 55,000,000 have been aborted. That means almost 30% of all the pregnancies in this country over the past 40 years have been terminated before being carried to term. God have mercy us for what we have allowed to happen.
You know, the number 40 appears a lot in the Bible, sometimes used to enumerate a period of trial and testing (Jesus in the desert, Elijah at Mount Horeb), but most often it’s used as a means to express the length of time of a probationary period for the nation of Israel. In fact, the Bible lists at least 15 instances where God gave the Israelites 40 years to prove they had repented and returned to Him after losing their way, from the 40 years spent wandering in the wilderness after leaving Egypt to the many instances of 40 years worth of humiliation and servitude under various enemy nations. Now I have no idea if the 40 years this country has spent suffering under the effects of Roe v. Wade represents a probationary period for us or not. But as they come to a close, I fear His verdict either way.
I’ll be at the March For Life in Atlanta tomorrow. As the march almost always occurs in the middle of a work week, it’s usually sparsely attended compared to some of the others around the country, maybe 2000 people or less. But we’ll do what we can to be seen (not heard, the Atlanta march is always silent save for a few murmured rosaries) anyway. For those in Georgia, please join us if you can. Heck, if you’re in the North Fulton/Forsyth area and want to catch a ride to MARTA, drop me a note and let me know and I’ll give you directions to my parish where a bunch of us are leaving at 7:15am to head down for the pre-march mass. As for everybody else, please attend your own local marches if you can or at least aid us with your prayers, whatever your situation allows. 40 years. God have mercy on us all.