Wednesday in the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time at Mississippi Abbey

Among the sayings of Sherlock Holmes, remember the one about a watchdog.  Sherlock says to Dr. Watson, “I call your attention to the curious incident of the watchdog during the night of the robbery.”  Mystified, Dr. Watson replies, “But the dog did nothing that night.”  Sherlock says, “That was the curious incident.” 1

Isaiah writes, “Israel’s watchmen are blind; they are like silent dogs that will not bark, loving to slumber” (Is 56:10).  What is there to bark about?  

Since 1980 there have been 1.7 billion abortions worldwide.2   The men involved are just as responsible.  That makes 3.4 billion people involved in abortions.  But judges, doctors, nurses, health care providers, insurance companies, politicians and voters are also involved. That means over four billion people, maybe five billion, bear responsibility for the grave sins of abortion in our times.  That’s at least half of the world’s population. 

Elie Wiesel writes, “Never respond with indifference to monstrous moral evil.” 3   How can we respond to this monstrous evil?  Mostly by prayer and sacrifice, but also by our words of fraternal love and correction, encouraging people to accept the grace of repentance so that no one will be lost because of our silence.    

  1. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: Silver Blaze et alia. Dover Thrift Edition, 2010.
  2. http://www.numberofabortions.com/
  3. Robert McAfee Brown, Elie Wiesel: Messenger to All Humanity. University of Notre Dame Press.