9/19/09 - Looking Back, Looking Forward

Saturday, September 19,2009

Each Saturday morning at about 10:00 a.m. for the past few years, I have been going to the same abortion clinic to stand outside on the sidewalk and pray the rosary with others. At times, I've gone sporadically, but now I go regularly. After having done this for a lengthy period now, I have a lot of thoughts, feelings and observations.

At first I kept these impressions to myself, not because I'm unsure about what I've been doing, but because it's awkward to talk about this even with people who share my pro-life sentiments. Abortion is just not a topic that comes up much in conversation. But as time passed, I've found a lot of people I came across were actually curious enough to want a vicarious peak at what goes on there. So, I've found myself sharing a little here and a little there. Then today, to my surprise, a blog was born after a very long gestation period.

Easily 30 years ago, as I was driving about my own business, in an old transitional neighborhood in San Antonio, Texas, I saw a middle-aged woman by herself. Tall and thin, she was dressed in a simple, short sleeved, white blouse, a dark skirt and flats, her graying hair tied up in a bun. She was kneeling on a sidewalk in front of what looked like a small house-turned-office. She had a rosary in her hands and she was praying “Hail Marys" out loud in 98 degrees of relentless Texas sunshine. There were no signs, no crowds and no car whizzing by on the street even acknowledge that they noticed her.

It clicked almost immediately that she was in front of an abortion clinic. I saw her for only a few seconds out of the corner of my eye, but her image is a snapshot in my mind that does not fade with time. I don't recall having any thoughts or feelings about her or what she was doing at that time. I just went about my business and, without a reason to do so, I hardly recalled this scene at all. Now, I'm doing just about the same thing in a different time, in a different city, with a few other folks. Now I remember her often and with clarity.

I won't say that prayerful woman's example is the reason I go to the abortion clinic every Saturday morning. These many years later, I can say I appreciate what humility and courage she must have had to do this all alone. I can say I appreciation that she, that someone was there lifting up in prayer the poor, misguided women and the unborn babies who had fallen prey to this evil. She did not abandon them, judge them or rebuke them. She was simply caring for them in a tender and devoted way, like a mother who would kneel at the bedside of a sick child attentive and all-consumed with their welfare.

I am thankful she was there so many years ago, and that I caught a glimpse of her. I am thankful others are there with me each Saturday morning. I'm thankful we all share a bond that is deeply meaningful and important on a scale so large that in embraces all of humanity but yet on a scale so small that it embraces everyone, even the tiniest soul, personally.

The abortion clinic where I pray, like so many others, is in a hidden place in our society. Even though they have been legal for over 30 years, clinics are still "back alley" operations, still in the shadows intentionally keeping the word "abortion" off their street side advertising. Instead they are disguised under such misleading street signs as "Women's Health" or "Reproductive Health" or "Pregnancy Services" and, of course, "Planned Parenthood" clinics. But they are a wicked reality in our midst that cries out for exposure because, as so aptly put by another, silence always helps the oppressor, never the oppressed.

I hope this blog might serve as a window and as an encouragement for those who may have considered, but not yet made the move on to the front line in the anti-abortion war. I can tell you, that even from the street level, it is a deeply moving experience and perhaps the most meaningful thing you can do in life at this time in history.