the "stuff” comes second
I want to share with you an incident at the pregnancy resource center (PRC) a few years ago that opened my heart to a better understanding of what it means to do pro-life work —and why The Pelican Project exists.
I was getting in my car later than usual after a busy abortion day when I noticed a young woman sitting alone on the steps of the abortion facility; she was sobbing. I called out to her with an invitation for her to sit in our air-conditioned lobby as she waited for her ride. To my surprise, she accepted the offer. As she sipped from a bottle of water, she shared with me that she had just undergone a surgical abortion on her 11-week-old baby and was waiting for a ride back to her other children at home. She choked back tears as she shared her instant regret of having the abortion; her heart was broken. Unable to do anything else, I sat with her and shared in her tears.
After her ride came and she left, I sat in the stillness of the lobby, ached by grief but grounded in a supernatural peace. She didn't choose life; her heart was broken because her baby died. But somewhere in the mess and brokenness of it all was God's steady, strong arms—wrapped around the both of us.
We often equate pro-life work with a "doing" that we can quantify. How many diapers can we donate? How many women choose life at the abortion clinic on Saturday? How many blessing bags can our parish donate? How much change can we raise during our baby bottle drive? How many baby booties can we make? How many ultrasounds can we do? You get the idea… While all of these are good and worthy points in themselves, they must be rooted in an understanding that the fundamental role of pro-life work is the discipleship of Love. Every encounter must begin with honest, selfless, radical love that points those we encounter to the heart of Christ. The rest—the "stuff" we can quantify—comes second.
At the door of a pregnancy resource center, our job is to love each abortion-minded or post-abortive woman at a time when she is struggling to love herself with the enduring, faithful, and sacrificial love of Christ. In this woman's case on this particular Saturday, God had simply asked me to be present, to encounter His daughter in a way that made her feel seen, heard, and loved. I listened to the words and pain of her heart, then held her in prayer, asking for Christ's loving mercy and healing. Together, our tears shared in vulnerability and brokenness; together we ached for healing that only Christ's love could provide.
The entire Pelican Project is an invitation for you to focus on the School of Love—the space God ordained to learn how to receive and share God's love, become disciples, and walk alongside another helping to carry their cross.
The School of Love is our home—the domestic church—and within this school YOU are their most important teacher! It is within family life, where parents are entrusted with the role to teach their children how to protect and promote the dignity of the human person according to God's will. Reawakening a culture of life will not happen with diaper drives, (although they are incredibly important); it will happen in the quiet moments of the day-to-day where we teach our children to love with His heart.
Each piece of our content is designed with you in mind, your child’s most important teacher. Together, we will reawaken culture of life.
His love is brought to perfection in us. (1 John 4:12)
