Father Whalen is a pro-life hero. I wish we had more priests like Father Jim who always proclaimed the Truth of the Gospel. When he was the Spiritual Director of the Legion of Mary, in his allocutios, in his spiritual direction whenever I spoke with him: always, he never wavered. Thank you Father Jim!
I have been thinking of Fr. Jim a lot lately he was such an inspiration to me. Before he died I scanned many of his writings which appeared in the early issues of the Priests for Life publications.
I will be posting many of them on this blog beginning with
THE CHALLENGE IS REAL
by Fr Jim Whalen
1997, Issue 1
“The dragon was angry against the woman and went off to make war
on the rest of her offspring...” (Rev. 12:17).
It is clear, priests “Choose Life.” (Deut. 30:15-20). We choose to follow Mary and help defend and rescue her offspring; “Rescue the Weak”, (Ps 82); to respect human life at all stages; to protect the interests of the unborn child, the infant, the infirm, the handicapped and the elderly, from conception to natural death.
There is no other option. We are “Priests for Life” or we are not priests of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.
We realize there is a further need for more intense effort, shared information, whole - hearted involvement, unified strategy and natural prayer support. A pro-life commitment is essential to all priests. We can make a difference, if we follow Mary to Jesus to the cross... “Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array.” (Cant 6:9). She knows the Way of the Cross and has the power to lead us to victory as Our Lady of Guadalupe. “In me is all grace.” (Eccles. 24-25).
“Priests for Life, Canada” invites all bishops, priests and deacons to become part of this much-needed association. We need to pray, work, plan and lead our people together. We need to inform, teach, motivate and mobilize the faithful in the pro-life movement. We need each other. We need you. “Be strong in this battle.” (Eph 6:10-20).
Through abortion people are sinning against the Holy Spirit, because life comes through the Holy Spirit. We must use all the gifts of Holy Orders we receive from the Holy Spirit to protect the sanctity of human life, or many more will be victimized and killed, by omission as well as by commission, we are called to lead in “The Church Militant”.
Spiritual warfare is real. Satan knows he can’t win, but he has not surrendered. He is seeking souls by promoting a culture of death. No soul is off limits. His main strategy is fear and deceit. Our strategy is to use the weapons given to us by Jesus: the Mass; the Word; His Sacramental Graces; the Rosary; the Angels, the Truth; Marching in Faith and Courage to build “A Culture of Life”, “A Civilization of Love.” (Pope John Paul II). ¤
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