Enemy lines

+JMJ+

This past Saturday, a returning intern named Charlie accompanied me to Dr. Emily's "womens' health" clinic. Now, we wouldn't spend our Saturday morning praying outside the gate if her place were truly a beacon of womens' health. It's no secret to us that abortions take place there at least three times a week.

We arrived at the gates just before 8 a.m. to offer prayers for all inside and to hopefully turn a woman or two away from the danger inside. Shortly after finishing our first rosary, a couple of regular sidewalk counselors came over to introduce themselves. It was such a relief to know that the Culture of Life is being regularly represented on the front lines!

Just a few minutes later, a large crowd of smiling faces walked up to us. They were high school students all the way from Nebraska! They had come all this way to spend a week with the New York Franciscan Friars of the Renewal  (CFR's). Just as we began to put on the armor of Christ in prayer, the opposition decided to strike. One woman began strapping anti-life (and anti-catholic) signs to the fence behind us while the other circled our group taking pictures of all our faces. Then the woman with the signs prowled around us like a lioness on the hunt, beating a poster that read "I love choice" into the eyes of anyone who dared look up. 

Several of us dropped to our knees, mindless of the fresh puddles the morning rain had created. We prayed four rosaries this way. And at the end of every decade, we sang a sweet "Ave" to our Mother in Heaven.

Eventually, the students left with the priests, and Charlie and I were once again alone with the clinic guards. They immediately began questioning our beliefs and belittling our intelligence. The entire conversation boiled down to us being told what a waste of time it was to come to this clinic in the first place. We should have been fighting for war veterans, or defending policies on affordable daycare they said. They even challenged us to protest on behalf of gay rights! It was an exhausting affair, but I kept remembering an expression I once heard in my youth--"truth is never wasted". I believe firmly that our presence outside Dr. Emily's clinic did more than save the lives of mothers and children. We planted a seed in the hearts of those escorts that will one day blossom in their barren hearts. For truth is a hearty thing and I have never known it to be lost in the brambles.