These Are the Times to Be Focused on the Mother and Child, the Heartbeat of Life and Love

I saw the end of a commercial for a car, I think, this morning. The tag line was “Roar Silently.” Maybe that’s the way to best describe the rally this weekend in Times Square. I went because I was grateful for Focus on the Family for making it happen. I am grateful for the perseverance and tenacity of Abby Johnson and the eager and courageous heart of Ashley Bratcher, who plays Johnson in the movie Unplanned. I went because I’ve seen beautiful pro-life things happen in New York, but never in Times Square. Never like this. The majority of the counter protesters had given up by the times the heartbeat moment came and a there really was a kind of silence that fell on the busiest part of the busiest city. Focus couldn’t get anyone to sell them ad space to livestream Abby’s sonogram, and so they had a number of screens on a number of streets. Ever since the heartbeat moments, I’ve been wondering in prayer about the women who might have been passing through – and men, too – who have experience with abortion, who have wounds in need of healing. I hope they get it. I always point people toward the Sisters of Life, who have a charism and retreats for this. There’s Project Rachel, too. There’s Abortion Changes You. What I loved most about the rally Saturday is that it was wrapped in prayer and messages of healing and hope, mercy and redemption. And, yes, prayers for conversion. That might scream “Bible bullies” to a Keystone State representative, but it looks a little bit like making a civilization of love real in a brutal world, in a state with an especially acute coarseness.

The mother and child. That’s the image to hold up and protect and celebrate. We’ll be judged on this. Among my favorite moments of the Alive in New York event was football player Benjamin Watson talking about fatherhood. Another was survivors of abortion speaking with love and hope and courage. And, again, with great love about scared moms who didn’t realize, who didn’t have support, who didn’t really feel they had choice.

In the face of people tweeting away life as missed periods and exposing the inhumanity of our Roe regime, we need to do more gutsy things like talking love and life in Times Square. We need to focus on the mother and child and make room for a culture where men are expected to be protectors, not harassers.

And whether it’s a Rosary or saying the name of Jesus in Times Square, as happened Saturday, definitely let us pray. There is so much we all can do to step up to the plate more to focus on helping families. Make sure you’re involved with or supporting solutions in your community. Look around more to meet needs. Consider your role in this building a civilization of love. And thank Jeanne Mancini from the March for Life and Jim Daly from Focus on the Family who stood on a stage in Times Square this weekend and told the truth about life and helped give voice to the vulnerable. More to do, of course. But it was a good thing to do.