Following is the prepared text from Bishop Olmsted’s homily for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time.

November 15, 2020

This coming Wednesday marks the 100^th anniversary of legalized abortion in Russia. On November 18, 1920, for the first time in history, the murder of unborn girls and boys was legally approved. The Bolshevik government of Russia admitted that abortion is evil, but they cited two reasons for making it legal: to protect the health of the mother and protect the interest of the race. They justified abortion based on racism and by ignoring the rights of children. The Bolsheviks also contended that the old laws against abortion had been based on “outdated morality” – that is Christianity. Atheistic communism opened the door to abortion in our world.

A hundred years later, in November 2020, Russian Communism has imploded and been rejected by the Russian people – thanks be to God! The prayers requested by Our Lady of Fatima have been heeded. But tragically the evil of abortion been rationalized and legalized in countries round the world, including our own. God has been marginalized from society. And wherever faith in God is not authentically and whole-heartedly embraced, human rights are endangered—especially the rights of the most innocent and vulnerable.

At the founding of our nation, on July 4, 1776, our ancestors placed us “under God” and, in the Declaration of Independence,  stated that some truths are “self-evident,” namely “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” With firm belief in our Creator, our nation began and the right to life endured and was upheld for nearly two centuries. But on January 22, 1973, ignoring the Declaration of Independence and our U.S. Constitution, the right to life was relinquished for the youngest among us, and the evil of abortion became legal in our land.

So, what must we do in AD 2020? Today’s readings give this answer: “Fear the Lord.”

Our Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 128, declares: “Blessed are you who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways!” Fear of the Lord is the virtue that keeps us from betraying the word of God. It makes a person “awed”. There are two words that are pronounced the same way: “o-d-d” and “a-w-e-d.” Even though distinct, the words have a close connection with each other. Flannery O’Connor said, “The truth will made you odd.” If you believe what is true and live in accord that what is true, you will be at odds with popular but false ideas, at odds with what is fashionable but not right and good.

And each man or woman who fears the Lord possesses a keen sense of awe and wonder at the majesty of God, and a deep reverence for the power of the Lord and for the mercy that He shows sinners. Moreover, those who fear the Lord are not afraid of human beings; they do not fear to speak the truth whether convenient or inconvenient; and they are not afraid to stand up for the right, to defend the weak and to care for orphans, widows and others who are vulnerable.

Psalm 112 proclaims, “Blessed the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commands.” Whoever fears God delights in His commands, commands like “Thou shall not kill… Thou shall not commit adultery… Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”

Those who fear the Lord are humbly aware of how easily they can be led astray by pride and made spineless by cowardice, and how easily they can fail to do what is right because of the cost of not conforming with what is politically correct.  Fear the Lord keeps the fear of man from stealing our integrity and courage.

In today’s Second Reading, I Thessalonians 5:1-6, we find a second reason to “fear the Lord” that is to obey the Lord no matter the cost: namely, so that we don’t suffer the loss of heaven and the pains of hell. The word of God proclaims,

“…the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. When people are saying, ‘Peace and security,’ then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. …Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.”

In the Gospel today, Jesus teaches how God prepares each person for a mission through the unique talents He bestows. If anyone fails to use God’s gifts, fails to live his/her mission from Him, eternal consequences will ensue. For the Master not only distributed the talents to each person; He also came back and settled accounts with them. And the two who fulfilled their missions were invited to enter the joy of their master. Tragically, the man who did nothing with the master’s gifts was “thrown into the darkness outside,” a place of “wailing and grinding of teeth.” When one makes the decision not to do God’s will, he chooses not to be with God. There is only one tragedy in life, not to be saint, not to embrace the mission from God that gives meaning to your life.     

The decision of the Bolshevik government of Russia, November 18, 1920, led to the killing of millions of unborn girls and boys in Russia. Still worse, it unleashed a tsunami of legalized abortions in countries around the world, including our own in 1973; since then, more than 70 million have been killed legally and their mothers’ badly wounded as a result of that one unjust decision.

Wherever abortion has been legalized, those nations have been deformed. As St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “Abortion has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships.”

Thanks be to God, evil never has the last word, the Lord’s mercy does. Jesus has conquered sin and death by suffering death on the Cross and rising to new life. He has rescued us from darkness and is waiting to lead each of us into eternal light of God’s love. Even if we spent all our life turned away from God, remember Jesus’s words, “There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 who have not need of repentance.”

The legalization of abortion is dead wrong. It is the pre-eminent evil of our time and therefore, it is our mission, the mission of our generation to stand up against abortion and bring it to an end.

Even more importantly than standing up, we must kneel down and pray for its end, remembering Jesus’ promise: “Ask and you will receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.”