Letter from Linda Gibbons – Pro – Life Prisoner
March 2, 2009
“ Hope is... Faith holding out its hand in the dark” George Iles
Considering the Bible says we should be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us, I wanted to share some thoughts on the hope our pro-life mission embodies while we are in the front of the abortuaries.
Pope Benedict in his Encyclical on Christian hope wrote, “From the hope of these people who have been touched by Christ, hope has risen for others who were living in darkness and without hope.”
We too, come in faith and in hope that those who have allowed themselves to be made prisoners of a death culture might be set free. (“Abortion represents the absence of freedom and the presence of bondage in an absolute sense.”)
It is not persuasive words that free these despairing mothers, rather our concerned presence with them gives them cause to hope. In us they might encounter Gods providence moving towards them, offering them relief from abandoned hope.
They can exchange the “ashen apples” of procured abortion for hope that is stronger than death.
We also acknowledge the hand of providence that places us there. When God is at work it is little to do with our efforts and everything to do with fulfilling his purposes and plans. His testimony of life is the bedrock for solid hope.
Our allegiance to life is unequivocal and we don’t allow pervasiveness of the present tyranny against unborn life to deter us or cause to relinquish our hope.
Pope Benedict warns, “If we cannot hope for more than is effectively attainable at any given time our lives will soon be without hope.”
In this paradox of becoming as the Bible describes, “prisoners of hope” we divest ourselves of liberty that the unborn’s intrinsic liberty might be made manifest. To not accept any liberty which the unborn cannot have is to insist on their equal rights before the law.
To be authentically human is to take up our civic responsibility to restore cohesion in the human family and build up the foundation of justice for the next generation so that they are free to be born and have their rightful inheritance of love. Our hope bears all trials and impositions’ looking to the future in faith, believing something worthwhile is being accomplished.
One wrote, “the best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it” We have a charge to keep to the next generation.
As the bird sensing the dawn commences to sing; while it’s yet dark our hope resonates with a lasting love that will be felt in generations to come.
Wishing you a most blessed and holy Easter.
Love in Christ the King,
Linda
