(LifeSiteNews) — On this episode of Faith and Reason, John-Henry Westen and Deacon Keith Fournier reflect on key moments from the March for Life in Washington, D.C. and the Walk for Life in San Francisco, such as Eucharistic adoration led by the Sisters of Life, interviews with pardoned pro-life prisoners, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s speeches at the March for Life, Bishop Joseph Strickland’s preaching in the Capitol, and more.
Westen began the episode by describing how the day before the march many pro-life leaders were still confused as to why Trump had not yet pardoned the pro-life activists who had been imprisoned under the Biden administration. There was speculation that he would do so on the day of the march because of the symbolism, but no one knew for sure.
The host recalled an interview with Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, before the march, who still wasn’t sure when the pardons might come. The panel then watched a clip from that interview.
“I would just urge our listeners, be patient. You know, they’re still settling in the new administration. A lot of people still have to be confirmed. He is going to keep his promises; he always keeps his promises,” Pavone said.
“So you’ll see there, though, that even in the opinion of Father Frank, he wasn’t sure. There was a lot of hope, and he did say that we’ll be seeing a lot of things. [But] I don’t think even Father Frank knew a lot of things that we would see in the coming days. It was so unbelievable,” Westen said.
A bit later, Westen recalled how the day before the march, the Sisters of Life led Eucharistic adoration. This order of nuns counsels and helps women who have had abortions heal.
“They’re at a huge stadium where they have Our Lord in the monstrance sitting there on the altar, and they’re playing music, totally moving, worship music. And the kids by the tens of thousands are adoring our Lord with music about how he’s their savior, about how He’s their Lord, He’s their only one. There’s like no dry eyes; they’re weeping, a lot of them on their knees in the stadium in front of our Eucharistic Lord Jesus,” Westen said.
Deacon Keith stressed that the Sisters of Life are a thriving order of nuns because they are faithful to Our Lord.
“The religious communities that are flourishing are the ones that are faithful to Jesus, are engaged in mission, and have that kind of profound Catholic Christian vision,” the deacon said.
“The ones that aren’t are the ones that are growing cold and old. And either they need to return to the charism of their founder and recover their first love, or we simply need a new religious community. But the Lord Jesus is at work, and the Sisters of Life are just one of many examples,” he added.
Later in the episode, the panel turned back to Trump’s eventual pardoning of the 23 pro-life prisoners the day of the march, with Westen describing how grateful they all were to the president.
Then he described his interview with Joan Andrews Bell, who was released from a prison in Pennsylvania the night before the march and traveled all the way to D.C. to be there, and the simple, saintly life she’s lived.
“Joan Andrews Bell, I shouldn’t say ‘saint,’ probably on this side of the veil. But you know what I think she is. She’s a martyr, a white martyr for life. She spent so much of her time behind bars to give witness to life and to love and adore Jesus Christ in the cell like a hermit. She has an active ministry inside the prison cell as well,” Westen said.
“When you meet saints, they’re so simple; they’re so little, they give it all to God. But the power that Our Lord works through these miraculous little people, it’s unreal,” he added. “She’s touched so many lives; she’s saved so many lives. She’s brought back so many hopeless people who were otherwise dead and gone in their sins and into depression and wanting to kill themselves. And the witness of this little lover of Jesus with her bright little smile. I mean, she reminds you she’s a little one, reminds you of Mother Teresa.”
“Right out of the words of the Apostle Paul … God has chosen the foolish of this world and the weak,” Deacon Keith chimed in.
Then the deacon recalled a similar experience when he met Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II.
“When I was a much younger man [Mother Teresa] came to the then College of Steubenville, and I remember meeting her, and I couldn’t speak when she held my hand, I just started to weep. Only happened to me one other time in my life, only one more time. And that was when I met John Paul [II],” he said.
“But it’s just they are so full of the love of Jesus that when you’re in their presence, you’re in the presence of the Lord,” he added.
For more reflections on the March and Walk for Life, discussion on the recently freed pro-life prisoners, and much more, tune in to this episode of Faith and Reason.
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