Transcript of Abbot Clement’s Talk on Monday, January 20, 2003
First of all, I want to take this opportunity to thank Fr. Eugene Hansel for coming to us. It’s very stimulating for me. In fact I have to control myself because now I have too many thoughts in my head.
The specific difference between us and the rest of the world is we call ourselves Catholic Christians. And it means we have come to believe that Jesus is our Savior. But what’s the quality of that belief? John’s gospel says Jesus came to give us life and to give us to full. You really believe that? That God called you here to make you fully alive? Where are the areas in your life that are meaningless? Where are the areas in your life where you are mediocre? Where are the areas in your life where you are destructive? Maybe with your tongue or your thoughts. Where are the areas in your life where you’re distorted? You really don’t see clearly the truth. Do you invite Jesus in to make you alive in those areas? Now I need to come back to this thought but since Friday the bishops have told us that they want us to pray mightily to bring down the abortion mills on the 22nd. I want to address this because Fr. Gerard, Fr. Paschal, myself and Brother Joseph went to the Baptist church and we listened to a Catholic, Tom Rydel, and especially a Baptist, Flip Benham, talk about how the Lord looks at this. And he quoted powerfully Leviticus 20, roughly 1-5, in which the Lord says, "that anyone who takes a baby and offers him to Moloch, (which is the Old Testament approach to abortion, and offers that child, which was an idol with a big hole in it, it was like an oven, they would put the child in and burn it to death. I don’t know if they gave it any drugs ahead of time because they usually did that kind of stuff.) Anybody who does this is an abomination and he defiles the land, the country." Well that’s bad enough, I’m sure you don’t do that. But the next statement says, "that anyone who observes and notices this is happening and doesn’t do anything about it I will hold them responsible."
In thirty years of legal abortion over 45 million children have been murdered. And therefore, it affects all of us. So I need to publicly ask pardon for all the times I have maybe not done enough to preach against abortion. I have preached against abortion. Especially at the parish. Especially in October which is dedicated to pro life. But maybe I haven’t done enough, especially after watching a half-hour movie of the absolutely horrendous thing abortion is. They showed you how they went into the uterus into the women’s body and pulled out the child. And then the heads are crushed and arms are pulled apart. We’re 20th century image people we ought to see this even though it’s - ugh! Because it seems that we only believe what we see. You should see it. And I want to say that if we really believe that Jesus is with us we’re in good company. The apostles had a hard time believing Jesus was resurrected. Jesus is alive and He’s with us. And He’s asking us, through the Church, the bishops, that we would pray mightily to bring down this law in our land and remove its curse. This is no small petition. And this is no waste of time. Brother Patrick will tell you stories and stories, and he’s not the only one, that any time a group is praying outside the abortion mills things go messy inside. Especially if a priest is there. So, for instance, when that big rally was in Kansas they closed two abortion clinics when they gathered and prayed. In Akron, people were praying outside but then someone got the brilliant idea, let’s have a Mass to complete our work. As soon as they said the Mass, one clinic was closed. So I want to offer you support and encouragement to take Wednesday seriously. Whatever you’re capable of doing in terms of fasting, fine, but certainly you’re capable of praying and uniting yourself with Christ and the whole church in the United States. To really pray and ask the Lord to bring down these evil places. It’s the work of Satan, clear, unadulterated. And we are the Mystical Body and we are united with Christ the high priest. And Jesus takes our petitions before the throne of God and obtains graces and powers for us. So I ask you to be generous.