The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
5
Bishop's Forum ---
Valentines and presidents
tone
for the
and 40 nights."
in bodily form,
us from the earth. It
arth that our bodies will
of life infused
rnity.
life has
ed. One day, following
of us
to the body we know
day of resurrec-
there is life to be
By BISHOP
GERALD A.
GETTELFINGER
a of our need to be loved.
for lack of a clearer location, that
love and hate emanate. Love is
most comforting -- and the
us human beings. Hate on the
)s most destructive.
idence that a human
tactile love will certainly
coraes to the need for love we are all
infants.
Human life has innumerable
examples of the ability of human
beings to survive the most difficult
of circumstances as long as they
know they are loved.
Recently in an unlikely circum-
stance I had this brought home to
me. I had gone to Taos Ski Valley
for my winter "getaway." In order to
acclimate to high altitude, we able
to get into our hotel a day early to
begin the "ski week."
The St. Bernard Hotel prides
itself on its European atmosphere.
Its clients come for a week at a
time. By arriving a day early, Father Mike Welch
and I were coming into a dining room full of folks
who had spent the week together.
The seating of dining guests is arranged by the
maitre d'. Since the hotel staff knew who we were, I
expressed our desire not to disrupt the seating
because it was the only night we would be with the
current guests.
Phyllis, the maitre d', placed us at a table for
four. I reminded her that I did not want to disrupt
things and she -- in her inimitable way -- remind-
ed me that she had been doing this for some years
and fully understood what she was about.
We had a wonderful dinner in the company of a
couple from Bloomfield, Michigan. As the evening
unfolded we learned that we were in the presence of
one of the three survivors of an ill-fated climb of
Mount Everest in August 1996. His name is known
and will become more familiar in movies to come.
From the brief time we had together, however,
I do not recall his name. For me, his story becloud-
ed his identity.
What was overwhelming to me was his state-
ment that the "only thing that kept me alive was
my promise to my wife that I would come home."
His fidelity to that promise helped him to overcome
his urgency for reaching the summit and to turn
back without succeeding. That decision, made out of
love, saved his life.
Is there not a lesson for each of us? It is impor-
tant to know that we are loved and that others need
our love in return.
Next week: Presidents' Week.
Challenge to take a stand, to get involved
January 22,
known as Roe
Unit-
a legalized
Has our
this deci-
answer this
what
Abor-
procedure
!nduces the
or dead
ients that we
Crisis Preg.
is the
want
question comes
hear this
dly a nick
guilt and
written by
who wit-
are six: two
nurses, the
not
I
is unex-
like
, earth, a
tumultuous jarring. I see a move-
ment. A small one but I see it.
And then I see it again, and now
I see that it is the hub of a needle
in the woman's belly that is
jerked first to one side then to the
other. Once more it wobbles like
a fishing line with a nibbling by
a sunfish and again.
"I know that it is the fetus that
worries, thus the fetus that
struggles against the needle
struggling. How can that be? I
think that that cannot be. I think
the fetus feels no pain, cannot
feel fear, has no motivation. It is
merely a reflex.
"I point to the needle. 'It is a
reflex,' says the doctor. 'A
reflex.' I hear him, but I saw
something in that mass of cells
understand that it must bob
and butt and I see it again.
"I have an impulse to shove
the table. It is just a step, cease
that needle, pull it out. We are
not six, I think, we are seven.
Something strangles there. An
effort. Its effort binds me to it. I
do not shove to the table. I take
no little step. It would be mad-
ness. Everyone here wants the
needle where it is. Six do. No, five
do.
"Later, in the corridor, the doc-
tor explains that the law does not
permit an abortion beyond the
twenty-fourth week. That is
when the fetus may be viable. We
stand together for a moment and
he tells of an abortion when the
fetus cried after it was passed.
'What did you do,' I asked?
'There was nothing to do but
let it live,' he said. 'It did very
well. A case of mistaken dates.'
"Things like this make me
come to understand that it isn't
just a group of cells. It was a
human being. It was a life.'
What does God say about the
life and personhood of a fetus?
Persons have worth and identity
your workslre wonderful, I
know that full well."
God's commandment forbids
the taking of life. Exodus 20: 13,
"You shall not murder."
God is a God of restoration. He
has a plan to take even the worst
of sinners and sometimes they
can become the greatest source
of joy. God promises in 11 Chron-
icles 7:14 "If my people, who are
called by my name, will humble
themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their
wicked ways, then will I hear
from heaven and will forgive
their sin and will heal their
are not six,
think, we are
seven.
II II I i
before they are born. Jeremiah
1:5, "Before I formed you in the
womb I knew you, before you
were born I set you apart; I
appointed you as a prophet to the
nations."
Psalm 139:13-14 "For you cre-
ated my inmost being; you knit
me together in my mother's
womb. I praise you because I am
fearfully and wonderfully made;
land."
To answer the question, "has
our nation benefitted from the
Roe vs. Wade decision?" No. We
have gotten so far away from
knowing what is right and what
is wrong that we are in a moral
crisis in our nation.
We have the highest illegiti-
macy, teenage birth and disinte-
gration of the family rate in the
world. We must decide to hum-
ble ourselves and pray and seek
His face and turn from our
wicked ways, and then GOd will
heal our land.
Please decide to take a stand
todayto bring our nation back to
the morals that we were founded
upon: We must today before it is
too late.
A great way to take a stand is
by becoming involved with the
Evansville Crisis Pregnancy
Center either through your
prayer support, financial sup-
port, or by organizing a baby
shower with your church or
group and then donating the
items to the "Love for Life"
program.
Wherever you feel the most
comfortable getting involved
I challenge you to do it and
,,, encourage others to get
involved. Do it today and
make a difference in someone's
life. Your decision to get involved
could save someone's life.
Commentary submitted by
Lori ,4. Devillez, director of New
Life Pregnancy Services, Evans-
ville. Abortion description taken
from a tape recording by Steve
Arterburn, at Minirth.Meier New
Life Clinic, California.
asks prayer breakfast to help reconcile hurting nation
(CNs) _
asked for
atmos-
peo-
an
Prayer
ttion
of hurt,"
gath-
parties
need
the most
we
With this
and ehal-
this enor.
It's like
somebody said, 'Here's this
brave new world and I'm going
to let you prepare for it and walk
into it in the best shape you've
ever been in.' And instead of
doing that, half of us want to sit
down and the other half of us
want to get in a fight with each
other."
The National Prayer Break-
fast draws people from around
the country, from political, diplo-
matic, military and business cir-
cles. Actually just the main
event of several days worth of
workshops and speeches, the
breakfast itself traditionally fea-
tures an address by the presi-
dent, as well as prayers and
selections from the Bible, the
Koran and other sacred texts
read by politicians and clergy.
Typically, the only news cover-
age permitted of the events is of
the president's address, which is
released by the White House.
As he did in his inaugural and
State of the Union speeches,
Clinton asked for a national
spirit of cooperation and for
political leaders to move beyond
cynicism and negativism. He
acknowledged that even he has
fallen into the Washington tra-
dition of trying to "get even," no
matter with whom.
"This town is gripped with
people who are self-righteous,
sanctimonious and hypocritical,"
Clinton said. "All of us are that
way sometimes. I plead guilty,
from time to time."
Clinton asked for prayers as
well as actions for the nation's
poor -- such as providing jobs
for welfare recipients and for
people elsewhere in the world
who need the help of the United
States such as through the
Urited Nations.
But he spent most of his talk
on the politicians and press who
are "in the breach" of society.
He said not long after he
became president, he learned
some of his conflicts with Con-
gress and the Republican Party
were part of the Washington
way of getting even for past
events.
"I said, 'I didn't even live here
tlien, why are they paying me
back?" Clinton said. "They said,
'Oh, you don't understand, you've
just got to pay back.' So then,
pretty soon I was behaving that
way. I'd wake up in the morning
and my heart was getting a lit-
tle harder. 'Now, who can I get
even with?
"Sometimes you can't get even
with the person that really did it
to you, so you just go find some-
body else, because you've got to
get even with somebody," he
said. "Pretty soon, everybody's
involved in this great act."
He said one of the things he's
learned in life is you don't ever
get even. The harder you try, the
more frustrated you're going to
be, because nobody ever gets
even. And when you do, you're
not really happy. You don't feel
fulfilled,"
rhe United States is better
than that, said Clinton in ask,
ing the audience for prayers for
politicians, the press and others.
"We need your help to get us
out of it. We owe more than that
to our people, to our future and
to the world. We owe more than
that to our heritage, to every.
body from George Washington
on that made us what we are
today. And cynidsm and all this
negative stuff is just sort of a
cheap excuse for not doing your
bst Tjth your life.: ........ •
