Today we have a guest blogger, Arlene B. Muller. Arlene B. Muller (Arlene Clare Muller, OSF) is a lector and EM at St. Pancras parish, a singer in the choir at St. Margaret's parish, a professed Secular Franciscan at St. Adalbert's Secular Franciscan fraternity & an itinerant speech/language therapist working with preschool children with delayed language development. She enjoys writing and music and sharing Christian and pro-life posts on FACEBOOK.
This is the fourth installment in my series of articles on THE GOSPEL & THE GOSPEL OF LIFE. The first installment was an introduction that connected the GOSPEL of Our LORD JESUS CHRIST with the GOSPEL OF LIFE and presented the acronym P.L.E.A as 4 essential tools to promote the GOSPEL of LIFE and fight abortion. P = PRAYER for the conversion of hearts of women at risk of having an abortion, for the conversion of the hearts of politicians who promote and enable abortion, and for laws to protect unborn babies and their mothers from abortion. L = the LEGAL, LEGISLATION & POLITICAL FRONTS: signing petitions, writing/e-mailing our political representatives, and voting for pro-life candidates to the extent our consciences will allow. E = EVANGELIZATION & EDUCATION. A = ADVOCACY to help women in crisis pregnancies get all the support and resources they need to choose life and to support the pregnancy resource centers and pro-life organizations that help women in crisis pregnancies, especially organizations like THE BRIDGE TO LIFE and GOOD COUNSEL HOMES that help mothers and their babies not only during pregnancy, labor and delivery but after birth as well. Subsequent articles addressed P for PRAYER and L for LEGAL/LEGISLATION/POLITICAL.
This brings us to E: EVANGELIZATION and EDUCATION. First and foremost, we are called to be witnesses of our faith in Our LORD JESUS CHRIST, in the GOSPEL, and in the Catholic Church and its teaching and sacraments. Our first means of evangelization should always be the example of our lives--our charity, compassion, generosity, purity, integrity and joy--following the directive attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: "Preach the Gospel always; when necessary, use words." Then we proceed to follow the directive of St. Peter, who, in his epistle, exhorted us always to be ready to give a reason for this hope of ours and to ensure that we do this in a spirit of gentleness and respect. In sharing the Gospel we also share our belief in GOD'S love for every human life that He has created in His image, regardless of the circumstances of conception, because it is for every human life that He sent His only Son to save by His life, Passion, death and Resurrection.
In addition to evangelization, we also can educate people about fetal development and about how ultrasound equipment has enabled us to observe that the unborn baby is truly alive and truly a unique person that can not only move but also assume characteristic poses and activities like sucking his/her thumb. Bernard Nathanson, once an unbeliever, an abortionist, and a staunch pro-abortion advocate, said that if there could be "a window into the womb" he would change his position on abortion. That "window into the womb" is the sonogram, and Bernard Nathanson ended his abortion practice, became a staunch pro-life advocate and founder of a major pro-life organization, and converted to the Catholic faith. When we help provide pregnancy resource centers with ultrasound equipment (e.g. through FOCUS ON THE FAMILY and/or through PRE-BORN) and women in crisis pregnancies see their unborn babies, approximately 80% of these mothers choose life for their babies.
In PRAYER we direct our petitions to the LORD Who is able to change hearts and Who is ultimately sovereign in the events of history, and we acknowledge that without Him we can do nothing. Through voting and expressing our pro-life views to our government we try to do our part to protect unborn human life and the well-being of their mothers. In EVANGELIZATION we obey the LORD'S Great Commission and help bring souls to Him. And in EDUCATION we share our knowledge and understanding to do our part to convince people of the need to protect unborn human life.
Pax et Bonum,
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