(LifeSiteNews) — Lent is a time to look at our world and examine the choices we’ve been making. It is a time to focus on the cross at Calvary and make the decision to be thankful for Christ’s sacrifice while looking joyfully toward the empty tomb. It’s a time to remember God’s sacrificial love and to choose to focus on Him and His goodness, for as we read in Deuteronomy 8: “If you do forget the Lord, your God, and go after other gods, serving and bowing down to them, I bear witness to you this day that you will perish utterly.”
These six weeks of Lent remind us to open our hearts to God. They remind us that seeking other gods — whether money, fame, or anything else — will be our downfall. These weeks lead us to the knowledge that the choices we make define us and who we are as children of God.
As I look at this increasingly violent world — a world that caters more to the culture of death than it does to a culture of life — I see the choices people make and wonder just how far from God people will wander until they realize that they are lost.
Life is about choices, and it seems today that many are vocal about choices that advocate death. We see this daily in the pro-life sector, especially when it comes to abortion.
It’s not earth-shattering news that abortion is a contentious topic, but it really should not be. The truth is pretty simple: Abortion kills a baby. Every time. But the people who commit them and the people who advocate for them just don’t care. Instead, they choose to vilify anyone who dares to cross them. They turn themselves into gods as they take life and death into their own hands and propagate the lie that they are doing a “great service” to women everywhere. But killing a baby is not and never has been a great service.
A recent article highlights that fact and gives me a modicum of hope that maybe our country isn’t as far steeped in the culture of death as it seems. In the article, we read the words of some abortionists who feel that they cannot disclose to friends or family that they commit abortions because of the “stigma” associated with their choice to kill babies. One abortionist said that she hasn’t even told some of her closest friends that she commits abortions. She followed that up by saying that she also has concerns about how her actions would affect her husband’s relationships with people.
The article also tells the story of another female abortionist who wrote of this stigma in a perspective piece for the Washington Post. The woman lamented: “Every man I have ever dated — no matter how liberal or open-minded he professes to be — has flinched, looked away, or gone silent when I first tell him what I do.”
Our choices do have consequences.
Being paid money to kill an innocent child should carry a stigma with it. Men should go silent or flinch when a woman tells him she kills babies for a living. Friends should see someone differently knowing she commits abortions. These reactions should happen because abortion is a heinous crime against humanity. Not only does it take the life of a baby every time, but it also affects the mother, the father, the grandparents, other family members and friends, and the community as a whole.
Stories like these offer both clarity and hope. They help us see that, despite all the shouting about abortion “rights” and despite all the money our government sends to organizations like Planned Parenthood, most individuals still want to make good and moral choices — especially when it comes to a vulnerable baby.
The hope that others see this is why we can never give up the fight. It’s why we can never stop educating about the humanity of the preborn baby. It’s why we must make that choice to look to Christ crucified, understand the tangible proof of His love, and then allow that love to flow from us out into the world to all of His children — especially the vulnerable. Christ expects no less of us.
As we journey through Lent, as we sacrifice, and as we walk with Christ along that lonely road to Calvary, let us remember the words the priest spoke as he traced a cross of ashes on our foreheads: “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” These ashes serve as a reminder that we are beloved children of God. These ashes serve as a reminder that one day we will die. And that crucifix serves as a reminder that our death doesn’t have to be the end. We can choose to spend eternity with God or eternity without Him. How we live our lives every single day will determine this.
So this Lent, let us not forget God. Let us not abandon Him as He hangs in pain. Let us choose God so that we can rejoice with the Apostles on Easter morning as we gaze upon the empty tomb.