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CRANSTON — What does it mean to be pro-life? That was the central question of Father Edward Wilson’s homily at the annual Mass for Life at Immaculate Conception Church in Cranston on Sunday, January 26.
The missionary image of Our Lady of Guadalupe occupied a prominent place in front of the altar. The timing of the image’s visit to Immaculate Conception was appropriate, as Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the pre-born and of the pro-life movement.
Lisa Cooley, coordinator of the Office of Life and Family Ministry, said that Immaculate Conception Church asks to host the missionary image every year in January, the month dedicated to the pro-life cause.
In his homily, Father Wilson, Immaculate Conception’s pastor, noted that the figure of a lotus flower appears on the Virgin’s garment directly over her womb. The apparitions of Mary to St. Juan Diego in 1531 took place among the native Aztec people, who saw the lotus flower as a symbol of God. The location of this flower in the Guadalupe image therefore “tells us that God…united his Son to humanity in the womb of Mary,” Father Wilson said.
He noted that this eternal union of humanity and divinity shows the way to be pro-life by acting with love towards every person, without conditions.
Because humanity and divinity are forever united in the womb of Mary, Father Wilson continued, “all life is precious. Not just the unborn, the handicapped, the sick, the elderly…Even the lives of those who are filled with evil, because they too are forever bound to God in their humanity.”
In order to truly be pro-life, said Father Wilson, Christians must show “sacrificial love for everyone who crosses our path,” putting into action Jesus’ “most challenging and important words: ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’
“If we were to live that with everyone, we would convert the world.”
The Preface used for the Mass was from the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: “Out of compassion for the waywardness that is ours, [Christ] humbled himself and was born of a virgin.” Though the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time took place on January 19, the preface seemed particularly appropriate for a Mass expressing both sorrow for the sin of abortion and hope for a more pro-life culture.
Following the Mass, children of Immaculate Conception parish brought forward 12 red roses, one for all babies aborted in each month of the past year; and one white rose for all women and men affected by abortion. The flowers were placed in a vase at the foot of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
In a brief address after the Mass, Cooley noted that Guadalupe image shows one of Mary’s knees slightly bent, as if she is “marching forward, always active, never passive. We should be too.”
