Today is supposed to be the 47th annual March for Life in Washington D.C., however due to the ongoing WuFlu woes as well as the recent unpleasantness at our nation’s capital, the city is locked down (and apparently still loaded) a little too tight for the tens of thousands of pro-life advocates that show up each year. Thus the March and all of its scheduled speakers and events, will be held virtually this year. Of course this means that the mainstream media’s tradition of ignoring the March will also be happening online as the Woko-Haram brigades at all the social media sites will be working overtime, as per their blatantly stated intent, to suppress or purge any content they deem “harmful” (i.e. taking a pro-life stance).
However, even if we were living in normal times and the March for Life was taking place today as planned, it’s possible that the mood of it may be somewhat subdued given the recent change in administration. After all, it is hard to properly convey how monumental it was to the pro-life movement to have, first a sitting Vice President speak at the March in 2019 and then the President himself in 2020. Moreover, as a Gen-Xer who grew up watching the “short fingered vulgarian” live the salacious lifestyle of a billionaire playboy who essentially branded his name, only to see him ascend to the office of the Presidency was one of those rare drink-spitting out moments in life.
To then see Trump, who seemed to have no real religious affiliations, through his words and executive actions, to go on to become one of the most potent allies the pro-life movement ever had was an even more culturally upending event. Whether it was through the influence of his Catholic wife Melania or the penchant he had for the finer things in life- such as life itself- his offhand riposte from his final presidential debate with Hilary Clinton in 2016 on the topic of abortion that “it’s not okay with me” showed a man who, despite all his other (and numerous) flaws, was still possessed of a rudimentary instinct that knew the value of human life.
Juxtapose that with the current president Joe Biden who epitomizes the consummate CINO (Catholic in Name Only) politician, whose “Ok Boomer” brand of Catholicism is as useless and outdated as a rotary telephone, but is nonetheless kept around as a conversation piece. Already he has reversed all of Trump’s pro-life policies, and has promised to renew his squabble with the same kind of nuns he praised during the campaign for educating and encouraging him to go into politics. He will force them and any other faith-based entity to become unwilling accomplices in either rejecting or subjecting the kind of deeply-held religious beliefs that got Biden banned from receiving holy communion in the past. All this will be done with the willing collusion of the mainstream media, as well certain Catholic journalists and clergy who have jumped the Barque, and are now stoking the gaslight fires to protect the administration from criticism.
When all is said and done, there is just something so surreal to see someone like Donald Trump who even though he opted out, would not have been welcome at the Biden inauguration, but was welcomed at last year’s March for life. While on the other hand, we have our nation’s second “Catholic” president who was feted by the media at the inauguration in way that amounted to emperor worship, but had the March been held, neither he nor his cackling sidekick would have been welcome to attend. As I have said many times before, folks you just can’t make this stuff up!
And Now the Real Fight Begins
Regardless of how one feels about the competency, let alone the mental acuity, of Biden, he is the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing whose monotonous voice masks a rapacious appetite for power that he has sought his whole life. Now that he has acquired it in his twilight years, he and the rest of his pro-abortion administration will do everything in their power to hold onto it. Furthermore, now, as always, the biggest obstacle to such an over-bearing state are the followers of Christ who hear and know his voice and follow him.
This kind of resistance cannot stand in the view of the current administration, and although Biden has at times been mealy-mouthed about his intentions, Vice President Harris and the coterie of radical Leftists who got him into power have not, and we would be foolish to underestimate their resolve. To them, four years have already been wasted, and the time to reshape America is now. It is a time that Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said was,
“the Hour of betrayers, deceivers, and crucifiers...the Hour for evil to put out the Light of the world for that is all it can do during that hour. The Hour of wolves for scattering the sheep and seizing the Shepherd! The Hour of Power and Might and swords and clubs where-in Innocence and Truth are beaten to the ground."
This is why it is incumbent upon all pro-life advocates to commit themselves to be more than supporters or hanger-ons but to be full-fledged warriors in the defense of life. It is time to take on the role of the “sheep dog” that was made famous in the 2014 movie American Sniper, but really came out of an account told by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman who is an army psychologist who studies death and killing in combat.
As Grossman writes, “there are sheep..who are kind, gentle, productive creatures” and there are wolves who “feed on the sheep without mercy.” But then there are the sheep dogs who “live to protect the flock and confront the wolf” and who is “a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.”
Although this imagery has been overused and at times has become a bit of a caricature of itself, the analogy is still worthwhile because it is compatible with our Lord’s words in the gospels about sheep and wolves while still acknowledging Christ as the shepherd whom we willingly serve. Furthermore, what greater “heart of darkness” is there than a legal system and the culture that undergirds it which has allowed the snuffing out of some 60 million unborn lives in the last 47 years?
Out of the Trenches and into the Breach
If there is one silver lining to Trump losing the election, it’s that maybe more Americans and Christians will start to take their rights and faith more seriously. After all, there was and still is a belief on all sides of the aisle that if one side can just get their candidate into office, all of their woes and worries will be taken care of. This in turn gives far too many Americans the impression that change comes strictly through political fiat rather than out of the culture that is upstream of it. Deep down most of us know that this is simply not true, and that groundbreaking laws will only be passed when enough of the hearts and minds of those who will live with those laws have changed.
Thus however one feels about the lack of a formal March for Life in Washington this year or Biden’s warning of a “dark winter” ahead of us, we should understand that the real fight is only secondarily there. The primary site for the fight for the sanctity of life is in the culture, and it is there that pro-life advocates will need to embark on their own long march through (but not in) the culture in order to change it. And while Trump may have provided a good example for pro-lifers to follow, in terms of remaining stolid and steadfast in the face of insults and condemnations, as well as being able to verbally strike back twice as hard, the Scriptural admonition to “put not your trust in princes” should still guide our actions. For in the end, it is not to the State but to our Lord and his Church that we must ultimately turn for the guidance and grace to proclaim and live out the Gospel of Life
And make no mistake our culture is both stagnant and in a slow burn, as many of us are fired up to change things while at the same time feeling stuck in the trenches as the pandemic and current events continue to take their toll on us. Meanwhile, the wolves are at the gate of the fold and are trying to coax their way in, while at the same time opening up a breach in the wall while the sheep are distracted. So take the initiative and get out of the trenches and, in Bishop Olmsted’s immortal words, “Enter the breach” and fight as a Christian for the sanctity of life, and as a patriot for the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And as you do, cry forth, “Ex Vallis in Oppositum!” (Out of the trenches, and into the breach).
Photo Credit- marchforlife.org