“The Pro-Life Turnaround and the Encounter with Light”

Homily for Mass on the Occasion of the Walk for Life West Coast
Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
January 25, 2025; St. Mary’s Cathedral
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Introduction

The pro-life movement which brings us together today is one replete with stories of conversion.  “Convert” literally means to turn around, to do a 180 and set out in the opposite direction from which one had been traveling.  We have so many examples of those who had previously aggressively promoted abortion and then later, after deep self-examination and the profound humility necessary to honestly confront who one is before the truth, became the most stellar of pro-life advocates.  We can think, for instance, of the shining example of Dr. Bernard Nathanson, as well as those well known to us who have come out of the abortion industry to tell the true stories, including here at the Rally before our annual Walk, such as Abbey Johnson, Patricia Sandoval and others.

St. Paul’s Great Turnaround

Our Mass on the occasion of the Walk for Life this year occurs on the day we celebrate the greatest conversion story of all time: that of St. Paul.  The story, already well known to us, was just recounted for us in the first reading for our Mass today.  Let us take some time, though, to ponder what must have been going on inside of St. Paul in this greatest turnaround ever, as it is so illustrative of the conversions we hear about in our own time. 

Shortly before St. Paul had that experience on the road to Damascus, the Acts of the Apostles recounts for us the story of a martyrdom, the first martyrdom in the history of the Church: St. Stephen.  He was stoned to death, and died asking God to forgive his executioners.  And the story ends with a significant occurrence (Acts 7:58): “The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul (that is, Paul, the Greek version of the name “Saul” in Hebrew).  This had to have had a jolting effect on him: if this man Stephen were a bad man, how could he die like that?  And then Paul saw such goodness repeated in those he sought to put to death: simple, peace-loving people who died serenely, filled with hope for what was to come after death. 

What was his response to this disturbance of his conscience?  He doubled down.  That is, he sought and obtained letters from the leaders of his people authorizing him to round up the followers of the Way (the Way of Jesus Christ, that is) and bring them into prison and have them charged and executed.  But then something happened: he had an encounter with light.  That is, Christ himself, in which it was revealed to him that in persecuting Christ’s people, the Church, he was persecuting Christ himself.

Thus began his turnaround, his transformation in which he died with Christ to then become Christ’s great champion: struck blind, he lay three days in the dark, as Christ lay three days in the darkness of the tomb, from which Paul emerged a new man.  He then became the greatest evangelizer for the faith that he had previously tried to destroy, suffering severe hardships and even persecution himself for the rest of his life, eventually undergoing himself the death of martyrdom for the Son of God who had revealed himself to him.  The end of his life was already hinted at in the account of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, as he was being stoned to death: the witnesses laid their cloaks at Paul’s feet – the word “witness” in Greek being the word from which is derived the word “martyr” in English, martyrion.

The Turnaround and Its Cost

Is not this akin to the turnaround stories we hear of those who become the most ardent advocates for the sanctity of human life in the womb?  The crime of abortion leaves a deep wound within the woman’s soul, for it attacks the greatest, holiest and most precious gift that God has given her: her fertility.  How does she cope with this?  Our society does not allow her to speak about it.  She is not supposed to experience feelings of guilt, shame and anguish.  It is, instead, an action that is supposed to be a sign of her empowerment as a woman and equality in society. 

And so the pain continues to eat away at her, to the point that it happens that some women seek to resolve this conflict deep within their soul by becoming aggressive promotors of abortion, perhaps thereby trying, even if unconsciously, to justify themselves and assuage their consciences.  But an encounter with the light can send them in the opposite direction.  Some of the most convincing and compelling advocates for life are those who have themselves experienced the dark side of the violation of their feminine dignity and that of the life they were carrying.  

The story, though, does not end there.  It is not a matter of living happily ever after from this point on, for being an advocate for the equal dignity of life where it is most vulnerable, above all life in the womb, will bring a certain sort of a persecution tailored to our contemporary times.  Some of us more well-seasoned in the pro-life movement can remember a time long ago when our opponents in this debate who were just beginning to promote abortion as an acceptable so-called “choice” in society did so by advocating for it as a necessary evil.  At one time most people who favored its legality saw it this way: unfortunate, but sometimes the best of all possible bad outcomes. 

Then it became an unrestricted “freedom of choice,” then it became “healthcare,” and then it became “reproductive rights,” and now it is celebrated as a positive good, to the point that anyone who would hold the opposite opinion is subject to a sort of persecution in a slightly more subtle but no less explicit way than times past: denigrated, ostracized from polite society, scorned as women haters and wanting to bring women back to some dark age when they were kept repressed and supposedly treated as no more than some sort of baby factory.  How else does one explain laws restricting and targeting clinics that exist to give women in crisis pregnancies free prenatal care?  How can anyone be opposed to that? 

And yet they are, such as here in San Francisco, where the only two such clinics in this city have been singled out by a local ordinance to be labeled as clinics that do not provide the full range of so-called “reproductive health care.”  This is an attempt to discredit the only two clinics in the city of San Francisco that provide free pre-natal health care to women who need it, along with wrap-around support; and, what is more, this ordinance also celebrates and affirms those whose only response is to snuff out the life in the mother’s womb.

The story of St. Paul continues in every age in its own way, and thus it does for us today.  To stand for justice in an unjust society will bring persecution, condemnation and public opprobrium.  Is it worth it?

Spreading the Light

When one knows what is right, knows it with conviction, there is no alternative.  Such attacks only bring greater peace of conscience, knowing that we suffer with Christ.  Our society as a whole is deeply wounded, with the most barbarous violence perpetrated on the smallest and most innocent among us being celebrated as a positive good.  It is worth it because only those who have encountered the light can be the agents of change, the ones who can bring the light of Christ’s peace and healing into the world.  But to be so requires profound spiritual stamina. 

Only one who has attained true spiritual excellence by living a life of virtue can suffer the opprobrium that comes from standing for justice in an age of injustice with peace and serenity and be such an agent of change.  It is in our own encounter with Christ the light – and nurturing that encounter with an active life of faith in prayer, worship with God’s people, and good works – that we develop the virtues necessary to endure.  Without this, one retreats out of cowardice, complacency and intimidation.  This is how the darkness increases.  But those who can absorb the attacks and not respond in kind, but rather with serenity and goodness, will be a living witness to the truth that God has planted into our hearts and that His Son has revealed to us.

St. Paul became the most zealous fulfiller of the last commandment our Lord gave us, the commandment we hear in the gospel reading for today’s Mass: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”  In the world in which God has placed us at this particular time and in this particular place, this is how we do likewise, how we fulfill the Great Commission in the context of our own here and now. 

Where does a woman turn who finds herself in a crisis situation but wants to respect the gift that God has given her?  Where does she turn if, out of pressure or desperation, she has had that life taken from her, and now seeks healing?  She does not go to those places or those people who claim to be pro-woman, or empowering of women, or upholding “women’s rights.”  She goes to people of faith who understand the dignity of life, the life of her child and of her own, those who surround her with love and support, giving her all the resources she needs to affirm life or to find God’s healing, forgiveness and peace in her life.  We thank God for such women, because they have encountered the light and so, like no one else, can bring others to know it.

We do this for love of God and love of neighbor: mothers, their babies, and all those who are neediest and most vulnerable among us.  If you want to do this for worldly credit, to receive accolades from society and kudos from the influencers of popular culture, forget it.  The true heroes do this knowing that, for the most part, people will not hear about it.  But God knows, and our greatest – and, really, only – concern should be to please Him.

Conclusion

On this day when we walk for life, then, on this day when we celebrate the Feast Day of the Conversion of St. Paul, let us ask God for the grace to follow St. Paul’s example, to always turn our life around to him, that we may know the profound peace that can only come from acknowledging, receiving and living the truth of Christ, no matter what the cost.  For the glory of God and for the peace, healing and flourishing of our nation.  Amen.

SUMMARY IN SPANISH

Nuestra Misa con motivo de la Caminata por la Vida de este año ocurre el día en que celebramos la conversión más grande de todos los tiempos: la de San Pablo.  Tomémonos un tiempo para reflexionar sobre lo que debe haber estado sucediendo dentro de San Pablo en este mayor cambio de la historia, ya que es algo tan ilustrativo de las conversiones que escuchamos en nuestro tiempo dentro del movimiento pro-vida.

Poco antes de que San Pablo tuviera esa experiencia en el camino a Damasco, el libro de los Hechos de los Apóstoles nos cuenta la historia de un martirio, el primer martirio en la historia de la Iglesia: el de San Esteban.  San Esteban fue apedreado y murió pidiendo a Dios que perdonara a sus verdugos.  Esto tuvo que haber sacudido por dentro a San Pablo: si Esteban era un hombre tan malo, ¿cómo podía morir así?  Y entonces Pablo vio esa bondad repetida en aquellos a quienes buscaba matar: personas sencillas, amantes de la paz, que morían serenamente, llenas de esperanza por lo que vendría después de la muerte.

Así comenzó su conversión, su transformación en la que murió con Cristo para luego convertirse en su gran campeón: como Cristo estuvo tres días en las tinieblas del sepulcro, Pablo permaneció tres días en las tinieblas, ciego, y emergió un hombre nuevo.  Luego se convirtió en el mayor evangelizador de la fe que antes había tratado de destruir; sufrió severas penurias e incluso persecución durante el resto de su vida, y sufrió finalmente él mismo la muerte del martirio por el Hijo de Dios que se le había revelado. 

La historia de San Pablo continúa en cada época a su manera, y así continúa con nosotros hoy.  Defender la justicia en una sociedad injusta traerá persecución, condena y oprobio público.  ¿Vale la pena?

Cuando uno sabe lo que es correcto, cuando lo sabe con convicción, no hay alternativa.  Tales ataques sólo traen mayor paz de conciencia, sabiendo que sufrimos con Cristo.  Nuestra sociedad en su conjunto está profundamente herida, tanto que hasta la violencia más bárbara perpetrada contra los más pequeños e inocentes entre nosotros se celebra como un bien positivo.  Defender la justicia en medio de contrariedades vale la pena porque sólo aquellos que han encontrado la luz pueden ser agentes de cambio, aquellos que traen la luz de la paz y la sanación de Cristo al mundo.  Pero sólo alguien que ha alcanzado la verdadera excelencia espiritual, viviendo una vida de virtud, puede desarrollar la resistencia espiritual necesaria para sufrir el oprobio público que conlleva defender la justicia en una época de injusticia, y hacerlo con paz y serenidad, y ser así un agente de cambio.

Es en nuestro propio encuentro con Cristo la luz –fomentándolo mediante una vida activa de fe en oración, adoración con el pueblo de Dios y buenas obras– que desarrollamos las virtudes necesarias para perdurar.  Aquellos que puedan absorber los ataques y no responder con la misma moneda, sino con serenidad y bondad, serán testigos vivos de la verdad que Dios ha plantado en nuestros corazones y que su Hijo nos ha revelado.

Hacemos esto por amor a Dios y al prójimo: las madres, sus bebés y todos aquellos que son más necesitados y vulnerables entre nosotros.  En este día en que realizamos nuestra caminata anual por la vida, en este día en que celebramos la fiesta de la conversión de San Pablo, pidamos entonces a Dios la gracia de seguir el ejemplo de San Pablo, de volvernos siempre a él, para que podamos conocer la paz profunda que sólo puede provenir de reconocer, recibir y vivir la verdad de Cristo, sin importar el costo, para la gloria de Dios y para la paz, la curación y el florecimiento de nuestra nación.