“Human life is God’s gift, His own image and input, a sharing in His very breath of life. God, therefore, is the sole Lord of life.”

So writes Pope John Paul II in his moving Gospel of Life, and it is in praise of this Lord of Life, in thanksgiving for the precious gift of life, and in recommitment to its defense that we gather in prayer on this somber anniversary.

Thank you, Gesu Parish, Marquette University Campus Ministry, and our own archdiocesan office for Human Concerns, for your invitation and efforts;

And thank you, all of you “Davids” wonderfully here this afternoon. I look out at a church-full of Davids: men and women who cherish life, young people from our high schools and colleges, apostles of life active in Birthright, Veritas, Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Project Rachel, Prayer Vigils and sidewalk counseling, silent peaceful witness, and an array of ministries for care, service, witness, and healing, all of you Davids, apostles of life who believe that God is the sole Lord of Life; concerned citizens eager to call their beloved country back to its fundamental principle of protecting the premier civil right to life, acknowledging with sobriety today that, as Blessed Mother Teresa observed, “People and nations who destroy life by abortion and euthanasia are the poorest nations of all.”

Welcome, all of you Davids. I call you all Davids because of God’s word this afternoon. God’s Word from the first book of Samuel continues the famous epic we all learned as children, how little David, a mere boy, armed only with his faith, confidence, commitment, a slingshot and rock, struck down the seemingly invincible Philistine giant, Goliath.

You apostles of life, you citizens defending the elementary civil right of life, are the Davids today: from a purely logical, worldly viewpoint, you are small, unsophisticated, lacking weapons, naïve in your belief that you have even a chance against a veritable giant, the Goliath of the “Culture of Death,” the anti-life industry that controls most of the money, news, press, and media, one of our two political parties and a chunk of the other, the elite pundits and intellectually chic, and the politically-correct cocktail party circuit that makes it gauche to even raise the issue. You are Davids up against a Goliath.

Yet we gather this afternoon filled with hope and confidence. A twist on this ancient epic has King Saul sending brigade after brigade to take on the Philistine giant Goliath, but they all return unsuccessful and afraid. “We can’t do it! He’s so big!” Along comes little David - - just a child with faith, confidence, a slingshot, and a rock - - and he begs, “Let me try, sir!” And Saul replies with a smirk, “You’re so small, you’re just a boy. What ever makes you think you can conquer this giant everyone else is afraid of?” David looks up and smiles, “Well, sir, he’s too big to miss.”

Fellow Davids, the giant of the culture of death, the Goliath of the abortion industry, is “too big to miss.” You are armed only with confidence, faith, and rock-solid belief in the truth of your noble cause, and that can take down a giant.

Even King Saul succumbed to the wiles of the “culture of death.” God’s Word today tells us that he had a problem, Saul had an inconvenience: David’s fame and popularity, which made King Saul resentful and jealous. Saul’s solution: Kill David!

There's the “culture of death” - - getting rid of someone is the tidy, convenient answer to every problem!

When a baby is unplanned or inconvenient? - - abortion!
When someone is sick and elderly? - - euthanasia;
When someone is unhappy or depressed? - - assisted suicide;
When the baby is less than perfect in the womb? - - discard him or her and try again!
When worried about the implications of your carousing the night before? - - take a pill the morning after!
When poor women are having too many babies who become a costly burden to society? - - subsidize their abortion!

So, death is the answer to everything! Death lets us off the hook! Death is so tidy, so antiseptic, so convenient, so quick . . . and so wrong. So dead wrong . . .

And we apostles of life say no to death and yes to life! As much as the Goliaths want to caricature us as the gloomy, oppressive nay-sayers, we are rather the joyful, liberating, yea-sayers, who are much more pro-life, pro-love, pro-helping, pro-baby, pro-woman, pro-father, pro-inclusive, and welcoming, embracing society than anti-anything!

We are into healing, not hurting, defending the baby, not discarding the baby.

Just a month ago most of the world was stopping to celebrate the birth of a baby. This baby is literally the turning point in human history, with every date signified by whether it occurred before His birth or after. The “one, solitary life” of this baby has had more impact upon humanity than “all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the books ever written.” This baby is the answer to the question posed by every human life; this baby is “the way, the truth, and the life.” This baby saved us from the culture of death and the civilization of hate, and proclaimed the culture of life and the civilization of love. Like David, this baby, whose birthday still literally stops the world, was born in Bethlehem. Like David, this baby still incites jealousy, resentment, and monumental opposition.

Today we reclaim the baby as the center of the world, and acknowledge again that a society which destroys the baby, destroys itself. Today we proclaim: it’s time that the birth of a baby becomes humanity’s greatest achievement.

“I am sure that all people know deep down inside,” wrote Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “that the little baby in the mother’s womb is a human being from the moment of conception, created in the image of God to love and be loved. We pray that nobody will be afraid to protect that baby, and to help that baby be born. As Jesus said, ‘If you receive a little child in my name, you receive me.’”

God bless you, Davids!