I pray that the blessings of this Lenten Season be abundant in our lives.
The movie Unplanned (the story of Abby Johnson, a former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic) has been in the theaters for the past two weeks. After having attended the movie myself, if you have not yet seen it, I strongly encourage you to do so.
I believe the movie is very well done and faithfully presents a very powerful message for all of us. We have constantly been seeing the decline of rights, respect, and dignity for the life of the unborn. States have passed laws that have extended the timeline for abortions to unconscionable limits. As Catholics, as a people of faith, many of us may need to be moved out of the seemingly current passivity of “I don’t want to know” or “I don’t want to get involved.” This movie is a wonderful gift to challenge us to grow in our understanding of the Church’s social teachings, and especially the dignity of all life from that moment of natural conception to natural death.
For many of us, I fear we may justify our lack of action with the excuse of “What can I do?” This movie very clearly reinforces for us the power of prayer. It is my hope that this movie might become the spark to ignite much needed prayer, discussion, education and action in regards to abortion and all respect of life issues.
As we prepare our hearts to celebrate our God’s great love for all of us this coming Easter, may part of our final preparation include deep prayer for those who suffer from the trauma of past abortions, for the unborn, and for legislators. We also hold in our prayers Abby Johnson and her family, who had the courage to bare their souls to the world.
