Archpastoral Statement on the Annual March for Life 2005
To the Very Reverend Protopresbyters, the Very Reverend and Reverend
Fathers, and all beloved clergy and faithful of this Diocese,
Glory To Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!
Dear Fathers and Faithful:
In this season of the Nativity of Our Lord, we should think carefully about
the fact that the Son of God was once a baby, a little child. This one fact is
the most important determination of our opposition to abortion.
He was an unborn Child, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin
Mary on the Day of the Annunciation. From the moment of that mysterious
conception, that unborn Child was never less than a Person, never less than
fully God and fully Man. When He was born, He did not become a Person at that
point, because He already was.In the entirely of His mission in the
Incarnation, the Son of God sanctified, and gave supreme legitimacy, to the
whole range of human life. His work, proceeding out of the eternal Counsels of
God the Father, and empowered by the dynamism of God the Spirit, renewed human
nature. He entered humanity, and became the head of humanity, thus establishing
a single, united human nature.
Thus, our Lord attended the Wedding of Cana, and blessed forever the nuptial
bond. Our Lord visited the sick, the blind, the lame and the possessed - He
brought them healing, and gave them forgiveness of their sins. And Our Lord
insisted that the little children be permitted to see Him, to draw close to
Him, and to receive His tender blessing: "Let the children come to Me and
forbid them not," He said, "for to such belongs the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew
19.14).When He did so, He blessed forever the children of this world, for all
time, born and unborn. Have we paid enough attention to this little story?
"Forbid them not," Jesus says, and His words ring with greater resonance as we
remember that He Himself, in Heaven, now carries memories of childhood into the
Godhead. In the deepest Mystery of the Trinity itself, there are traces of the
unborn child.
"Forbid them not," Jesus says, as He reminds us that for every child, there
is "an angel always beholding the Face of My Father Who is in Heaven" (Matthew
18.10). Every child - including those who were not so fortunate to be "wanted
children" but were rather labeled as an "embryo," or "fetal tissue," or
"product of an unwanted pregnancy," or "abortion waste." "Forbid them not,"
Jesus says, "from coming to Me: Forbid them not from seeing the light of day.
Forbid them not from entering into the embrace of desiring arms. Forbid them
not from safety and provision, joy and learning, love and faith.
Forbid them not from life.
Aborted children were forbidden from the life that God deigned for them. And
there will be justice done. It is done already for these forbidden children,
who are now present with Christ in Paradise,
who are forbidden no more.
But, be very sure, there will be another kind of justice done for those who
did the forbidding, who destroyed the beautiful, delicate life of an infant,
completely powerless within his mother's womb. Deeply embedded, within the
wisdom and architecture of Creation, is a law that the unrepentant will receive
what they gave. Those who forbad life to the unborn in this world, may be
forbidden life in the next.
I invite you to join us in the prophetic March
for Life in Washington DC, on January 24, 2005. Let us join in
prayer for all the victims of abortion: the children and yes, the mothers. Let
us pray for and help the Pro-Life cause. Let us support the courageous doctors,
nurses and hospitals who refuse to do abortions. Let us give our prayerful and
financial support to Crisis Pregnancy Centers. And let us give our compassion and
tender care to those pregnant young women who are tempted by the deceits of the
abortion industry: may our Christian love rescue them, along with their unborn
child. Truly, beloved, let us forbid them not.
With prayerful regards, I remain
Most sincerely
yours in Christ,
+METROPOLITAN NICHOLAS
This Archpastoral
letter is to be read at the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, January 16, 2005
