Archbishop Carlson celebrated the Mass in the high school room this morning. He greeted the young people with, ” Good morning, Pilgrims, how are you all doing this morning? After mumbled replies from the congregation, he said, “I guess it was a tough night, huh?”

Every abortion is more than a number

During Archbishop Carlson’s homily, he reminded us why we are here. We gather to mourn the 1973 decision of our Supreme Court. We mark the loss of 59 million innocent children. He said that every abortion is more than a number, it is a tiny baby whose life was snuffed out and a mother who was  injured in the process.

Today in our Gospel, we heard about the four friends and the paralytic. They removed the roof and lowered their sick friend to be near Jesus. “Maybe in Washington, we’ll take a few roofs off?” the Archbishop Carlson joked.

Are you persistent?

The Archbishop told the youth, “This is my 14th pilgrimage in a row. I’m persistent. Are you persistent?” Do you possess the persistence, the determination of the paralytic’s friends?
Archbishop then asked everyone to pause in a silent prayer. He said we should ask the Lord to be present to us in a special and unique way. And we should ask God to give us the persistence, the courage, and the determination to do what he’s called us to do.
Quoting St. John Paul II he said, “We are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil – death and life, the “culture of death” and the “culture of life”. Each one of us has the responsibility to do what we can so that in this nation, in our families, in our archdiocese, we chose life unconditionally.”
And so as the Lord’s disciples, in your witness today on your pilgrimage, let us declare our belief and express our faith!

Quotables:

“From the natural moment of conception to natural death, we are God’s chosen ones. We have the gift of life he has placed in us and no one can take that life away.”
“Like the four friends of the paralytic, let us bring to the streets of Washington DC, the message that the unborn are cradled in the hands of Jesus Christ.”
“We are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil- death and life, the ‘culture of death’ and the ‘culture of life’. Each one of us has the responsibility to do what we can so that in this nation, in our families, in our archdiocese, we chose life unconditionally.”