Forgive Them, Father

WHEN I was a high school student, anti-littering campaigns were popular so our 4-H club developed and distributed litter bags for vehicles. Still today, I pick up roadside trash to discard, recyle, or occasionally give away or sell second hand. One person’s trash can be another person’s treasure.

The trash to treasure mentality has surfaced in a horrific way as evidenced by thirteen undercover videos from the Center for Medical Progress. These videos show Planned Parenthood trafficking in aborted baby body parts obtained from their clinics. Although the United States government allows fetal tissue research, it expressly forbids tissue sale. The videos reveal not only the gruesome reality of abortion, but also its accompanying greed and disrespect for human life.

 

Procurement technicians

 

The abortion industry refers to the unborn as ‘specimens’, ‘cadavers’, and ‘tissue’. Melissa Farrell (RN, BSN, CCRC, Director of Research, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast) reveals, “Because some of our doctors have projects and they’re collecting the specimens, so they do it in a way they can get the best specimens” (Center for Medical Progress Undercover Video, 9 April 2015). ‘Procurement technicians’ pick through body parts to find organs requested by research companies. Savita Ginde, MD, (Vice President and Medical Director, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains) admits, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a thymus, maybe I have and I don’t know that I have. I know I’ve seen livers, I’ve seen stomachs, I’ve seen plenty of neural tissue, usually we can see the whole brain” (CMP Undercover Video, 7 April 2015).

Other ‘procurement technicians’ dissect aborted bodies to find desired organs. Thus abortion providers are not only collecting abortion fees, but are also allegedly being paid for body parts ‘donated’ to research, even though fetal tissue research has yet to produce a medical breakthrough. “And we have patients that come in all the time asking if they can donate the fetal tissue. A) Because they hear about it in the media or whatever; and B) Because we’ve done these projects in the past” (Farrell).

Abortion providers solicit fetal ‘donations’. “Because we have had some situations where everyone who is coming in today is going to be approached about a study. And we’ve had days where we’ve had to collect, you know, 6, 8, 10 specimens, that we get in one day… We do that on a daily basis right now for research. There are five FedEx hubs in Houston that are open until 8 pm, and my staff and I all have cars. So, we drop off specimens all the time” (Farrell).

 

Mailing material

 

When I pick up trash, I feel free to claim it as mine. But a homeless person who dies in the street is not trash. Such a person has dignity as a human being. We don’t discard the body in the trash like an empty fast food container or sell it for research. The human body is treated with respect and buried properly. The unwanted unborn, on the contrary, are so dehumanized that they become ‘specimens’ whose remains are mailed to researchers.

Since St. Anthony addressed the moral issues of his day, he would have spoken out against both abortion and trafficking in aborted babies. Not only would he have called for an end to these evils, but he also would have addressed the souls of those in the abortion industry.

Anthony spoke about selling the innocent to death when he wrote about the betrayal of Christ by Judas: “‘What will you give me, to betray him?’ [Mt 26.15] The shame of it! To set a price on that which is beyond price! Alas! As the verse says, ‘He is shown forth; God is sold for a worthless coin’. O Judas, would you sell God, the Son of God, as if he were a lowly slave, or a dead dog? And will you not even set the price yourself, but leave it to your customers? What will you give me? What can they give you? If they gave you Jerusalem, Galilee and Samaria, could they buy Jesus? If they gave you the heavens and all the angels in them, earth and all mankind, the sea and all that is in it: could they pay a price worth the Son of God, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge be hid? [Col 2.3] No! Never!” (Sermons for Sundays and Festivals; Messaggero di Sant’Antonio Editrice, I, p. 63)

Parallel this with a video in which Mary Gatter, MD, (President, Medical Directors’ Council, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Medical Director, Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley) discusses compensation and ends with a laugh. “It’s been years since I talked about compensation, so let me just figure out what others are getting; if this is in the ballpark, it’s fine; if it’s still low then we can bump it up. I want a Lamborghini [laughs]” (CMP Undercover Video, 6 February 2015).

 

Degrees of sin

 

Anthony recognizes sin, but also repentance. “The first sin is to think evil, the second to consent to it, the third to carry it out in deed, the fourth to be impenitent. He who sins in the first three ways, if he repents, God will convert him to the countenance of his mercy; but if he does not repent, he turns the face of his mercy from him” (Sermons III, p. 167).

Anthony reminds us to pray against evil and to pray for the conversion of evil doers. “He who is endowed with poverty of spirit can truly pray with Jesus Christ for those who persecute him, saying, Father, forgive them, etc. He who is humble in spirit forgives the one who offends him, and prays for him” (Sermons III, pp. 166-67).

 

No self-righteousness

 

No one is beyond the mercy of God. Anthony’s words address those in the abortion industry and those appalled by it. “Again, he who is meek, who neither offers nor is affected by insults, neither giving or taking scandal, is able to hear with the good thief – a true confessor – the words: This day you will be with me in paradise, that land of the living which the meek possess” (Sermons III, p. 168).

Lest we become self-righteous, Anthony forces us to face our own sinfulness. “Again, he who mourns for his own sins or those of his neighbor, or for the wretchedness of this exile, or the delay of the kingdom, is comforted by the Lord who comforted his own mother as she mourned his Passion” (Sermons III, p. 168). “Again, he who has hunger and thirst for justice, renders to everyone what is due to him, namely, love for God and for his neighbor, and for himself affliction for the things he has done” (Sermons III, p. 169).

At this time, prayer is critical.