Pro-lifers are well aware that the defense of innocent human life is a never-ending struggle. We are grateful to God for victories over the culture of death, yet there are also many defeats along the way. The self-evident truth that it is wrong to kill unborn children, sick people and the elderly is recognized by too few people.

We are witnessing the rapid spread of chemical abortions and physician assisted suicide. We now have the paradox that in certain states government funded suicide prevention efforts, such as telephone hotlines and warning signs on high bridges that encourage people not to kill themselves by jumping off, are now paired with a legal mandate to tell some suicidal people that they can now legally go ahead and kill themselves with the help of a willing doctor. “Please don’t kill yourself” and “Go ahead and kill yourself” are now the contradictory official policies of a growing number of states. How much longer will government funding be continued for long-standing efforts affirming human life in moments of emotional crisis? Those efforts expose the laws allowing doctors to kill suicide-minded people to be cruel and unjust.

Despair over this further descent into barbarism is always a temptation for pro-lifers who cannot understand how some people think killing innocent people is just fine, if not the best possible “solution” to the “problem” of unwanted children or suffering people. But despair is simply a cowardly surrender to the mystery of evil. Despair leading to passivity in the face of evil is a selfish avoidance of our duty to love our neighbor. Loving our neighbor includes advocating for laws that protect that neighbor from evil actions such as abortion and suicide.

The Gospel according to St. Matthew recounts the time when the apostles travelled by boat and a great storm arose. Jesus came to them walking on the water and said, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” (Mt 14:27) They were terrified first by the storm and then by seeing Jesus walking on the water. That fear led them to mistake Jesus for a ghost. Peter then asked Jesus to let him also walk on water, and Jesus said, “Come.” Peter did that, but then he became afraid of sinking, and, sure enough, he began to sink. Jesus reached out and saved him, but also rebuked him for his lack of faith.

This Gospel scene is a lesson in how fear produces spiritual blindness. God is always with us, especially in the midst of great storms. To doubt his presence leads to mistaking him for a scary ghost who has surely come to torment us. God will calm the storm at a time and in a manner of his choosing.  We have to trust in Him and in his plan for us and for the world. The details of that plan are largely unknown to us. But we do know that he is all powerful and that he hears our prayers and is pleased with our efforts to love our neighbor.

God’s hand is always with us. It is up to us to turn to him in prayer and put into action his commandment of love.