Pro-Life Verses from St. Matthew

During my Lenten Bible readings, I've run across several verses in the Gospels that I feel can be applied to the pro-life outlook and work.

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my name's sake." ~Matthew 10:16-22 (RSV, Catholic Edition)

The bolded words are the ones which stood out to me the most. To put this in context, this is right after Jesus chose His 12 Apostles and is sending them out to "the lost sheep of Israel" (Matt. 10:6). He is instructing them to preach His Word and heal people. I believe we can apply Jesus' instruction here to our own lives today.

We are in "the midst of wolves." Just take a look around at the American (and the world's) culture: there are attacks on life, faith, and family all around us. The pro-abortion crowd is trying desparately to stop our pro-life efforts.

Christians have been persecuted and put to death ever since Jesus founded the Catholic Church. Today it's no different, especially as we preach the Gospel of Life. For example, an African-American preacher named Walter Hoye was put in prison on March 20th for peacefully proclaiming this message, and he faces 2 years in jail. This past August, 18 pro-lifers from Maryland's Defend Life group were jailed. Being pro-life is not an easy task, and we must do our research, but when we're talking to someone about our views, we need to just trust the Holy Spirit that He will give us the right words to say.

Quite literally these days, fathers are condemning their children to death...even though they're not physically performing the abortion, they're standing by and letting their girlfriends/wives get abortions, or even coercing them into having an abortion! Fathers need to be true men and stand up for their partners and unborn children. The sentence about children putting their parents to death reminds me of euthanasia, or assisted-suicide. The elderly are being put to death just because they are a "burden" and are "worth nothing," when their children should be the ones making sure they're taken care of in a Christian way.

Finally, we all know what it's like to be hated for Jesus' sake. We've all had a friend or relative, or maybe even a perfect stranger, tell us why they think we're wrong for trying to end abortion, or that abortion is a constitutional right, or that we don't understand women's needs. We know that there are people out there working against us, such as the Feminist Majority Network, who is spreading lies about Crisis Prenancy Centers and trying to shut them down. (If you want to work against this effort, contact Students for Life of America!! www.studentsforlife.org)

It's very encouraging to read verses such as the one from Matthew, because even though being persecuted isn't fun, we know we're doing the right thing because of that.