Ecce Agnus Dei: Ecce qui tolit peccata mundi

Homily for the Sisters at the Domus Guadalupe
On Jan 22, 2009

This mass was offered for all the young people from the Diocese of Fall River and their adult leaders who were attending the March for Life in Washington, DC, and for the souls of all those hurt by the sin of abortion.

God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son...

Such is the love of our high priest, who takes away the sins of the world that for Him no sin is unfogiveable!

As we remember today the innocents, whose lives were taken in the name of expediency and comfort, in the name of power and control or in the name of reason and science— taken by the culture of death; we are tempted in our hearts to curse those who procure abortions and those who preform them. To judge those who support abortion
and ridicule those whose personal opposition does not result in public commitment.

But today as we remember our brothers and sisters friends and neighbors who were never born, in honor of their memory and of the innocent lamb of God its important to remember the sinners—who suffer too—and our Christian responsibility, in love, to them.

Like all sinners, those involved with the crime of abortion have tasted the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and having done so they have lost confidence
in the providential plan of God. And so, having rejected the way all that they do leads them further astray from the path.

Alone in the darkness they seek the happiness that they have rejected, and not finding it, they groan in sorrow, and if per chance they consider for a moment
that maybe they were wrong, they can’t imagine the possibility of forgiveness—so foreign is love to their heart!

Sisters, as Christians, as sinners who have discovered the truth about of the prodigal son, or rather the truth about the Father of the prodigal son.

Who have discovered that a good and loving Father never forgets his children, no matter how they offend Him. We must share this gospel: reminding people of their sinfulness because it is only faced with this reality that they can begin to imagine
the love that God has for them.

Woe to the man who says good is bad and bad is good Because in such a state, adrift on the sea of life—without a compass—he doesn’t really that he’s going in circles.

Calling attention to sins and sinfulness, rather than being judgemental or a form of hypocracy is an act of kindness because made aware that we are lost we can begin to look for the way home and made aware of injury we can seek out a physician.

But reminding men of their sinfulness we must also show them God’s mercy—lest realizing they loose hope and give up on life, and on God. Too often this second step gets forgotten!

Such is the love of our high priest, that for Him no sin is unfogiveable, other than that sin against the spirit, by which we choose to cut ourselves off from the mercy of God.

The sin of Despair: despair over wanting to be what we are not or over not wanting to be what we are, is a sickness unto death that leaves us bitter and angry with God,
afraid that we are unlovable, and eventually, if left untreated, it is a sickness which separates us forever from God.

Because we love the sinner we must show at every moment that there is hope, that despite their actions they are loveable!

By the joy of our lives and by our own willness to forgive we must become icons of God’s mercy—a glimps of God’s healing love. Because there is nothing more damaging to the Christian message than a moralism without mercy.

Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him, every demon we carry with us, accusing us of past sins falls down before the healing mercy of Christ confessing: Jesus, You are the Son of God, as they are driven out of us.

In the end it is trust in God’s mercy and love for us that will win over our adversaries more than any slogan, argument, or shame.

So as you remember and pray for the unborn today work to make your life an icon of Christ’s mercy and remember all those who suffer from the sin of Abortion.