A great prayer for life is urgently needed, a prayer which will rise up throughout the world. Through special initiatives and in daily prayer, may an impassioned plea rise to God.... Let us therefore discover anew the humility and the courage to pray and fast so that the power from on high will break down the walls of lies and deceit: the walls which conceal from the sight of so many... the evil of practices and laws which are hostile to life.”
As we begin another Lenten season, these words from Pope John Paul II (The Gospel of Life, no. 100) provide a powerful reminder that prayer and fasting are the most powerful weapons we have for combating the culture of death. This is why prayer, fasting and worship form the foundation of the Bishops’ Pastoral Plan for Pro Life Activities.
The Pastoral Plan is the official pro-life program of the Catholic Bishops in the United States. The program focuses the Church’s attention and resources on “the evil of deliberate killing in abortion and euthanasia.”
It “calls upon all the resources of the Church—its people, services, and institutions—to pursue this effort with renewed energy and commitment in four major areas”: Public Information and Education; Pastoral Care; Public Policy and Prayer/Worship.
Although each of these four areas is important, the Pastoral Plan states that “prayer is the foundation of all that we do in defense of human life. Our efforts—whether educational, pastoral, or legislative—will be less than fully fruitful if we do not change hearts and if we do not ourselves overcome our own spiritual blindness.
“Only with prayer—prayer that storms the heavens for justice and mercy, prayer that cleanses our hearts and our souls—will the culture of death that surrounds us today be replaced with a culture of life.”
Having worked in the pro-life field for nearly 20 years, I would say without hesitation that prayer and fasting are our most powerful weapons to counter the culture of death. There is no question that the battle against the culture of death is, at its core, a spiritual battle.
In The Gospel of Life, John Paul II points to our society’s alienation from God as the deepest root of the culture of death. If our relationship with our Creator is weak, then our understanding of the dignity and meaning of human life which He created in His image and likeness will also be weak. And if we don’t understand and appreciate the dignity and meaning of human life, we are more inclined to violate its dignity and rights.
Therefore, the healthier our relationship is with God, the more profound will be our respect for human life. Prayer, fasting and the Sacraments are the most fundamental tools we can embrace to strengthen our relationship with God and thereby help rebuild a culture of life.
Our Lord told us that “certain kinds of demons do not leave but by prayer and fasting” (Mt. 17:21). There can be no doubt that abortion, embryo-destructive research, and euthanasia are among these demons. This Lent, each of us can make a significant contribution to the pro-life cause, to the battle to exorcise these demons from our culture, by offering our extra prayers and sacrifices for the success of this cause.
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