A Small Taste of Christ’s Suffering While Witnessing for Life

The third petition of the sorrowful mysteries during the rosary is the crowning of thorns. Here, Jesus suffers the crowd’s taunting insults and expressions of hatred. He doesn’t respond, but remains stoically silent.

In this year’s 40 Days for Life vigils I’ve received a small taste of what it must have been like to suffer through such an experience. I think it is an encounter worth sharing during this Lenten season.

The 40 Days for Life Vigil Setting

In a previous post I discussed the vitriol and evil nature of the pro-abortionists interruptions of our 40 Days for Life vigils. This years’ vigils provide a renewed, expanded and more intense experience of that “evil.”

The Planned Parenthood abortion center at which I witness is adjacent to a college campus on a busy street. Upon arriving the first things one sees are transgender and LGBTQ flags. There are also pro-abortionists wearing black, ISIS-type robes. Their placards state they are either satanic priests or Antifa followers.

On many of my vigil days there are more of them than of us pro-lifers. Many cars pass by, windows rolled down, with occupants giving us the finger or yelling insults such as F*** you. But the most intense noise is from the pro-abortion crowd on the same sidewalk we are on.

On the sidewalk we pro-lifers stand or kneel, saying prayers, more specifically the rosery. The pro-abortionists march by us yelling and shouting obscenities and insults to harass us. There is a litany of rants and they are not just about the right to abortion.

Rant themes

I’ve now been active in pro-life marches and vigils for 20 years, so the vitriol is not new to me.  It’s like a volcano that is erupting as they spew out all kinds of insults, obscenities and blasphemies.

In the past I have had to deal with riots as a military cop. As a returning Army veteran turned college student in the 1960’s, I experienced vitriol at anti-war demonstrations.  I was called a fascist, a baby killer, and more. But the vitriol and language exhibited by these pro-abortionists is the worst I have ever experienced.

The litany of yelling and screaming is personal. They get in your face and scream  obscenities and personal accusations.

“You are a murderer by denying women access to abortion.”
“You are a fascist denying women’s rights.”
“You are a wife beater, rapist, and child abuser.”
And to one of the pro-lifers whose wife recently died, “You are a murderer.”

I was wearing an 82nd Airborne baseball cap, so I and my fellow paratroopers were insulted and accused of being “murders and child killers.”

Beyond the personal accusations were the mocking rants and insults against our faith.

“Mary was a whore.”
“Jesus was a fake.”
“There is no God – He is an evil myth.”
“Catholics are evil.”
“Catholics hate women.”
“All Christians are rapists and murderers.”

All these rants used obscenity adjectives one might hear in a drunken tirade, and they were delivered in a mocking manner. Screaming accusations were the responses to any attempts at dialogue.

To a certain extent all this should not be surprising but anticipated. Jesus foretold such expectations.

“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me” (Matthew 5:11).

“If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).

The Stoic Response

To stand there and not respond takes all the self-discipline I can muster. I am in my 80’s, but the old warrior in me wanted to let them have it – with a well-placed punch in the nose.  I have to keep reminding myself of the pledge I signed to be part of the 40 Day Vigils.  I cannot respond to hostility; I must remain peaceful.  I must avoid any confrontation.

The contrast is very revealing. The stoic, peaceful pro-lifers versus the ranting pro-abortionists. To a prospective mother considering abortion, I would hope it stirs a reasoned response.  Who do you want to listen to and side with? I pray the contrast opens the door to saving a baby.

Jesus’ Suffering

As my vigil shift progresses I reflect on the images of Christ and what he went through during the crowning with thorns experience. The pro-abortionists actions run parallel, I’m sure, to the mocking taunts he had to endure as described in Matthew 27:27-31, Mark 15:16-20, Luke 23:10-11, and John 19:1-3.

Of course the verbal abuses we pro-lifers undergo at the 40 Day Vigils are significantly  less that what Christ had to endure. However, it does give us a sample of what he endured during his passion.

A Lenten Witness Response

Just as Jesus stoically withstood the abuse so, too, do we in trying to emulate him. It is appropriate that the 40 Day Vigils occur during Lent. The encounters with pro-abortionists certainly makes one “live” a Lenten suffering experience – that of being scorned.

Unfortunately, several of the pro-lifers have succumbed to the intimidation. They have stopped coming to vigils when these more harassing pro-abortion demonstrators are present. I, for one, refuse to let them “run me off’ from witnessing for life and for my faith.

I’d never thought much about how much of an impact the act of “witnessing” through a passive presence may have.  However, these vigil experiences now reinforce my belief that you may never know the impact. My hope is that in being a witness to life, to God, (who is the giver of life), and to a Church that protects life will make a difference.

As with all things worth fighting for, it is not always easy. The possibility of abuses verbally, psychologically, and, in the case of our sainted martyrs, physically, cannot be denied. But as the old hymn states “Onward Chrisian Soldiers.”

I, for one, will keep soldiering on. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:9, “Persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

James in 1:2-3 of his epistle, adds another dimension: “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

The hardest Lenten Challenge

As with so many things in this life, it’s not always just a single, simple issue.

On Good Friday we hear Jesus’ words from the cross: “Father forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Taken as one of Jesus’ last commandments, it is a hard challenge. Truth be told, my anger and combative feelings toward the pro-abortionists definitely gets in the way.

I’m forced to recognize that beyond being a steadfast witness for defending life and my faith I am called to forgive. This is the biggest Lenten challenge.

It is hard to forgive one who “trespasses” against me. I find it harder still to forgive one, who by their insulting words, trespasses against my God, my wife, my family, and my comrades in arms. In that respect I am still a “work in progress.”

Yet, I am called to forgive. It is tough test but I strive to accept it as a personal Lenten challenge.