Fight for Life
Author: Andrew Comiskey
October 05, 2020
‘We are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the culture of death and the culture of life. We find ourselves not only faced with but necessarily in the midst of this conflict; we are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life.’ St. John Paul ll
Last week, as the sun shone and Annette and I laughed with grandkids, I felt an inexplicable heaviness. I pulled away to pray and discerned something akin to ‘battle in the heavenlies.’ Too mystical. Old man’s folly. Pre-dementia.
An hour later, Annette called me to the TV news (which I now hate more than ever due to its partisan sniping) to watch the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the SCOTUS seat left by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As I observed Amy and her huge diverse family beam before the camera, the heaviness broke. Pro-Life. Clarity. Empowered, ordered woman. Scholar. Mother. Wisdom. Humility.
The light dawned then set. In the dusk, the Spirit prodded me to pray for Amy. Pray for her family. Pray for unborn children. I’ve not stopped. Nor has the staff at DSM/LW. Amy shall be our sole ‘out there’ prayer focus for the upcoming 40 days. Join us.
Why pray for Amy and the unborn? Our focus on sexual identity clarity and chastity is part of the culture of life that begins with protecting the most vulnerable—babies in the womb. Just as each segment of Jesus’ life is linked to the whole and can only be understood in its fullness, so is each segment of the culture of life, from guarding the womb to caring for those in the shadow of the tomb. DSM raises the bar for creative and responsible ‘gift-giving’ in the sexual realm, which commands a commitment to cherishing the other gender. Such Spirit-filled stewarding of our sexuality begins with protecting the unborn. Period.
Gird yourselves for battle. Evil powers (not evil people) seek to derail the powers of life and love in persons; if abortion doesn’t extinguish the spark then LGBT+ identification fans it into a sensational dead-end. Frank Worthen, founder of transformational ministries for the sexually confused, received an open vision a decade ago of St. Michael the Archangel fighting a host of demons. A non-Catholic, Frank interpreted this spiritual fight as whether the Church would restore the LGBT+ inclined or confirm them in their misbegotten selves.
Alive to this battle, facedown, we as a staff were greatly helped last Tuesday by the Feast of the Archangels, namely St. Michael. The global Church joined us as we meditated on Rev. 12:7-12: ‘War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon…The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have salvation and power come, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of His Anointed. For the accuser of the brothers is cast out, who accuses them before our God day and night. They conquered him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death. Therefore, rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them.”’
Let us pray hard together in this contentious season. We shall invoke the Blood that sustains life in the womb and afterwards; we shall ask for new boldness to stand in our original dignity and bear witness of Him who reconciled us to that dignity. Might we not so love our lives that we cease to declare how He set us free. And let us pray for Amy’s swift appointment to the Court. Let us make heaven rejoice.
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