| November 2, 2010 Friends,Several things happen today in the United States.First, the pro-life movement fulfills a promise we made right after the Elections of 2008 when we said that the beauty of the American electoral system is that there’s always another election. Many Americans, whatever their views on the issues, will be eager today to restore some balance into our government and to put the brakes on policies going in the wrong direction.Second, in getting to the polls, and helping others to get to the polls in an informed and responsible way, we exercise an aspect of our discipleship. Christ commands and empowers us to change the world. Part of our response to that command takes place in the voting booth.Third, we proclaim life as the fundamental issue. We have heard this message repeated in recent days by Pope Benedict XVI and by Cardinal-elect Raymond Burke. The reason that one’s position on the right to life is more important than any other issue is simple: the right to life is the core of every issue. It cannot be separated from other issues, or opposed to them, or eclipsed by them. Once the right to life is made negotiable – which is what Roe vs. Wade did – then democracy is undermined and “and the disintegration of the State itself has already begun” (John Paul II, The Gospel of Life, n. 20).
Fourth, we confront theoretical error with practical solutions. Too often, even in religious and pro-life circles, the abortion issue is made far too abstract. We argue nuances, we debate theology and philosophy, we carefully craft our messages with the utmost degree of diplomacy, legality, and good public relations. There’s a place for that, of course. But we do it too much at the expense of the common sense reality that we are living in a holocaust. “Your hands are full of blood,” God declared through the Prophet Isaiah (Is. 1:15). And he was talking to his own people, not because they were doing the killing, but because they failed to stop it!We have a national emergency on our hands. The children in danger don’t have time for us to come to a consensus about protecting them. If abortion is murder, let’s act like it. “Let us love one another with actions and in truth, and not just talk about it” (1 Jn. 3:18). That is what will happen today. Elections are not debates. They are a numbers game. It’s time to mobilize the numbers of votes needed to put the good guys in and throw the bad guys out. Let’s just do it.Finally, what happens today is that the Elections of 2012 begin. On Tuesday, November 6, 2012, we will elect a President, the entire House of Representatives, thirty-three US Senators, thirteen state and territory governorships, and numerous state and local races. That effort cannot begin a few weeks, or even a few months, before November 6. It has to begin today, with the determination to make even more progress for the cause of life.You can sign up now to be kept informed of our election activities; we have a special form at www.PoliticalResponsibility.com . Also, by means of that form, please let us know of your activities, battles, and successes during this present election cycle. I love to hear from you and learn from what you have experienced.Be assured of my daily prayers. God bless you!Sincerely, Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for LifeAn Election Prayer for Life
O God, we acknowledge you today as Lord,
Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments. We thank you for the privilege
Of being able to organize ourselves politically
And of knowing that political loyalty
Does not have to mean disloyalty to you. We thank you for your law,
Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged
And recognized as higher than any human law. We thank you for the opportunity that this election
year puts before us,
To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote,
But to influence countless others to vote,
And to vote correctly. Lord, we pray that your people may be awakened.
Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation,
Their response to you requires that they be politically active. Awaken your people to know that they are
not called to be a sect fleeing the world
But rather a community of faith renewing the world. Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to you in prayer
Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth;
That the same eyes that read your Word
Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot,
And that they do not cease to be Christians
When they enter the voting booth. Awaken your people to a commitment to justice
To the sanctity of marriage and the family,
To the dignity of each individual human life,
And to the truth that human rights begin when human lives begin,
And not one moment later. Lord, we rejoice today
That we are citizens of your kingdom. May that make us all the more committed
To being faithful citizens on earth. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Priests For Life
PO Box 141172
Staten Island, NY 10314
Phone: 888-PFL-3448
718-980-4400
Fax: 718-980-6515
Email: mail@priestsforlife.org
www.PriestsForLife.org
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