Saturday in the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, … for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs” (Mt 19:14).

Children are so vulnerable. Even Jesus’ own disciples spoke sternly to them and tried to stop children from coming to Jesus. Far worse things are happening to children today.

In the United States alone 300,000 children are victims of commercial sexual exploitation each year. That’s over 800 children every day. The average age of these children in the commercial sex market is 12 years old. Each victim is held captive for about two years before dying, escaping or being set free.  Sex trafficking is the world’s fastest growing criminal activity affecting young people in every country.

But these young children are not the most vulnerable. The most defenseless victims are the 42 million children who are aborted worldwide every year.  That’s over one billion murdered children since the year 2000 paying with their lives for the pleasure of their parents.  Never before have so many people cooperated in their own way with killing the innocent. 

As we approach the national elections this year, who will defend the right to life?