By: The Rev. Dan Kinkead

The Psalm appointed for this Sunday is a Psalm of great hope: In our efforts to rail against the holocaust of abortion, we all too often look past the mothers who have already made the abortive choice, and we far too often look past the dark souls of the abortionists, his or her medical staff, the clinic’s security, or even those who have come to these clinics of death for reasons other than abortion.

As we stand in peaceful vigil outside the local clinic each week, we offer hope to the ones who come for “the procedure” (“The Procedure” is the term used by our local Planned Parenthood staff to make abortion seem little more than a tooth extraction or a tonsillectomy), and we plead for them to choose life and to seek a permanent solution to a very temporary “problem.” But, when the choices of the heart out scream the still, small, sweet voice of the Holy Spirit’s call for them to protect and love their unborn child, and they make the devastating choice to end the life of their baby, we see the tears and the pain on their faces as they leave this place of death. I have NEVER seen a women leave after an abortion with a grin or a gleeful and peaceful countenance. But I have seen tears, and I have felt their pain. Far too often I have been told,

“I should have listened to you.” Regret, just minutes after having their child killed. So, where is “hope” in this darkness? Where do the abortionists, the workers, the unthinking visitors, and even the mothers who have made the difficult and lifealtering decision find their peace? Well, just like all of us; peace comes only from Jesus. You see, we must stop seeing these desperate women who feel they
have no “choice” as something “other” or different than we are ourselves. No, I may not have made the choice that killed my child, but I have thought harshly and uncharitably toward my neighbor. And Jesus says, as you know, that that sin is the same as if I had plunged a knife into my neighbor’s back: it’s all the sin of “hate.” It takes humility to even begin to understand the choices and behaviors of others.

As Thomas à Kempis reminds us in The Imitation of Christ, “You will do well to remember that all men are frail, but none so frail as yourself.” But we have a God who loves us all in spite of our sins and evil choices. Reminding those going into the clinic that we are all sinners and that God loves them is the most freeing and Gospelcentered gift we can offer. To those who heed Christ’s message of love and peace prior to choosing abortion, we thank God and celebrate with them. But, to those who shun our call to life
and for those who perpetrate the violence of abortion by commission or by simply not doing anything to end the Holocaust, we offer the Gospel of forgiveness, wherein they will find the peace that we see in the Psalm appointed for today, so that they too can say, “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, that my soul may praise thee and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to thee forever.”