# Respecting life and the intercession of the Holy Innocents
*2017-01-13*

> Bill Young reflects on a local Respect Life March and the importance of protecting the unborn, while honoring the feast of St. Gregory Nazianzen.

## Walking for the Unborn

Today is Saturday, January 14th. I had the honor of attending a Respect Life March at a local high school, walking alongside students and parishioners from the neighborhood. It was a very prayerful day for the unborn. I believe that how we respect all life—from before birth to death and beyond—is one of the primary ways God will judge us, especially here in the United States.

## Unexpected Encounters

I want to share a brief story about an encounter I had yesterday. While I was out getting lunch, I sat next to a man and his mother. We had a nice conversation, and I discovered that he is a minister at the Lively Stone Church of Miami, an undenominational church started by his father in 1977. He mentioned they have recently expanded further north in Florida. Listening to him, I could tell he has the Holy Spirit in him, and I hope all who attend his services receive exactly what the Lord wants them to hear.

## The Legacy of St. Gregory Nazianzen

Today is the feast day of St. Gregory Nazianzen. St. Gregory was a friend of St. Basil and a bishop who lived during the time of the Arian heresy, when some denied the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was a strong advocate for the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I read a reflection from Franciscan Media noting that while there has been turmoil in the Church post-Vatican II, it is a mild storm compared to the devastation caused by the Arian heresy. It reminds us that holiness is always the way of the cross; life does not always give us an easy road, whether we are pagans or saints. It is better to pray and let the Lord be part of us.

## Faith in Troubled Times

I recall a story called 'Footsteps' where a man asks the Lord why there was only one set of footprints in the sand during his most needy moments. The Lord responds that when he was most needed, He was carrying the man through those troubled times. I hope we all believe that God is with us always, especially during our hardest trials.

## Prayers for the Preborn

I recently learned through the Archdiocese of Miami's Respect Life Ministry that Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the preborn child. Interestingly, her feast day, December 12th, is also my birthday. 

In honor of the unborn, we pray: O Lord Jesus, eagerly awaited by humanity for centuries, we greet and adore you. We express our immense gratitude for coming to save us. We adore you, Word of God made flesh; we adore you in extreme poverty; we adore you, Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We adore you, Bread of Life, who united yourself to us in our tears and suffering to give us true happiness. O Jesus, divine child, we embrace you and ask that we may never be separated from you. Amen.

Finally, we offer the Novena for the Holy Innocents: Heavenly Father, by the wordless professions of faith in your Son of the Holy Innocents at birth, and knowing how precious they are to you and how similar they are to the millions of innocent lives lost through abortion, we call on them to join in our prayer. We pray that all our elected leaders, legislatures, and judges may come to acknowledge the humanity of every child in the womb and enact laws and policies to defend them. We pray that everyone throughout the world may be given the light to see the uniqueness and full humanity of every child who has ever been conceived.

*Holiness is always the way of the cross, but we can find peace knowing that the Lord carries us through our most troubled times.*