Guest Speaker Robert Ouellette's Talk - March for Life - May 7, 2023
Right To Life Windsor Talk:
Sunday, May 7, 2023
Children Of The Light
In A World of Darkness
By: Robert W. Ouellette
Psalm 118:24: “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Welcome, brothers and sisters, in the name of the Lord Jesus! What an immense blessing to be here today to be with you and to witness to the truth and love of Christ in the sight of the world.
I am honoured to be in the presence of so many giants who, for years, have given witness to the dignity of life.
One thing that I was asked to talk about was how do we get young people more involved in the pro-life movement:
There has only been one way: We must all live out the AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN FAITH all day, every day!
What did you come out to see?
Matthew 11:7…” And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind?”
Why are we here today? What did we come out to see, to do, to accomplish?
You could have taken the easy route…
What did you come out to see, at the risk of being mocked, derided, cursed at and shamed as you walk in front of the hospital?
Allow me to propose some answers to this question
You and I are here because, by the grace of God, we are “children of the light.” (1 Thessalonians 5:5) . We have living within our soul, by the grace of God, Jesus Christ, who alone is “light of the world,” a light that cannot ever be hidden, suppressed or snuffed out…a light given to us at Baptism that shines forth in the darkness.
You and I are here because, by the grace of God, we have been sent by our Lord to “let our light(s) shine forth for all of the world to see,” (Matthew 5:15) even when so many in the world today have “preferred the darkness to the light.” (John 3:19).
You and I are here because, by the grace of God, we are “small pencils in the hand of God,” (St. Teresa of Calcutta), “little ones” who have been blessed by the Almighty, “bruised reeds (that will) shall not break, smoldering wicks (that refuse to be) extinguished. (Matthew 12:20), “voice(s) in the wilderness crying out: ‘prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths. (John 1:23)
You and I are here because, by the grace of God, we have been held and loved by Jesus throughout the good and bad times in our lives, because we are His little ones. JESUS, holding forth a little child, said: “Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3…Douay Rheims translation)
You and I are here, by the grace of God, because we are indeed CHILDREN of the Father, CHILDREN OF THE BEATITUDES, blessed by God to witness in love to millions of innocent babies in the womb who do not have any other voice but ours, no hands to reach out for help but ours and no feet to run from danger but ours, no breath speak in protest but that coming forth from our mouths proclaiming God’s command, “thou shall not kill”! (Exodus 20:13), recalling the words of our Master, “Whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you did to me.” (Matthew 25:40) Lord have mercy on us!
You and I are here, by the grace of God, because the children of God always stand up for the truth of the dignity, value and utter goodness and human life, at ALL STAGES. Christians firmly and boldly stand up for the truth no matter the cost, no matter the suffering, no matter the sacrifice!, “Blessed are you who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for yours is the kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 5:11. Simply put, you are here because it is the good, the right, the holy and the just thing to do and God commands it! Lord, have mercy on us!
You and I are here, by the grace of God as sinners, all of us guilty of countless transgressions, yet as St. Paul says, “working out our salvation in fear and trembling,” (Philippians 2:12) We are broken vessels, yet forgiven, redeemed and washed clean by the blood of the Lamb who was slain on Holy Cross of Calvary. This same One Who now offers His healing to all those who seek forgiveness and suffer unfathomably from the evil devastations caused by the murder of children through abortion and of the weak and vulnerable through Euthanasia. Lord have mercy on us!
You and I are here, by the grace of God, because Our Beautiful, wonderful, merciful Saviour says, “I have come to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10) “I have not come for the healthy but for the sick.” (Luke 5:31-32) Because we have a loving and forgiving God Who recklessly leaves the 99 sheep to seek out the one who was lost! (Matthew 18:10-14) We have come out today in authentic love and charity, not in anger, or for revenge, or in judgment, but rather in the spirit of the unfathomable mercy of Jesus! Mercy for the millions of precious lives that are ended by Abortion and Euthanasia AND for the countless souls who are wounded and made slaves to Satan and sin by their participation in the “culture of death,” sins that cry out to Heaven for justice from God who hears the cry of His children and sees their blood upon the ground, asking the world as He asked Cain,: ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground’” (Genesis 4:10) . Lord have mercy on us!
You and I are here because to be a Christian, while always being filled with mercy, is to be completely and fully PRO-LIFE! There is absolutely no room for compromise or negotiation on this point because the killing or harming of a human being, body, mind or soul, made in God’s image and likeness, is an attack on God Himself, echoing the battle cry of Satan, “I will not serve,” or “I will not love,” “I will not suffer,” “I will not sacrifice!” Jesus said that Satan “was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44) and that he is the thief who “comes to steal” (our souls,) “kill” (our bodies and minds) and “destroy” our joy both in this world and in the next. (John 10:10)
Satan’s spirit of death, murder and destruction, stains and perverts the surface of this planet…the true “climate crisis” is abortion, and we must change the climate of our hearts and repent…the true environmental disaster is an environment that pushes Euthanasia upon the most vulnerable members of the world.
You and I are here, by the grace of God, because our society is and has been for some time now rapidly spiralling into a vortex of death, so much so that we are now living through the inevitable death of TRUTH ITSELF. We are witnessing not only the complete collapse of the moral order, the distinction between good and evil, but now also of the natural order, of the objective truths rooted in nature, the very fabric of God’s creation.
We are living in a time of DIABOLICAL DISORIENTATION where confusion, misinformation and outright lies are being paraded as truth, goodness and human rights. A society that abandons God, and truth and reason, that seeks justify, legalize and organize the relentless and systematic slaughter of millions, will continue to descend further and further into this hellish nightmare
In the absence of God, there can only be death and destruction. As it has been stated, “If God is dead, everything is permitted…” Everything evil, that is, propagated every day by the government, media outlets, educational institutions and even infiltrators within the Church.
2 Timothy 4:3: “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
THIS TIME HAS NOW COME AND IS CLEARLY UPON US, as the “father of lies,” and his followers aggressively seek through coercion, power, manipulation and misinformation to deconstruct society as we know it, redefine the very nature and truth of the human being, marriage, human sexuality and seek to completely uproot and blur the clear line between what is good and evil. Listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20
Pope St. John Paul II warned us in his encyclical, The Gospel of Life, about this conflict in our day:
“. . . we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the “culture of death” and the “culture of life”. Evangelium Vitae/The Gospel of Life: Pope St. John Paul II
Now the GOOD NEWS:
We are not here, however, to DESPAIR OR LOSE HOPE! We are already living in the victory, the resurrection of Jesus our Lord, who was, is and ever will be the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE!
The fact that the AUTHENTIC CHURCH, those holding to the Faith of our Fathers, are being so viciously persecuted, silenced and cancelled by so many in society by so many of those in power, is THE SIGN that we are BLESSED and already VICTORIOUS! St. Paul, in persecution, tells us, “rejoice always!” (Philippians 4:4)
It is recounted in the Acts of the Apostles that Peter and the Apostles, after having been imprisoned and beaten for their testimony of Jesus Christ, rejoiced!
“And they indeed went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus. And every day they ceased not in the temple, and from house to house, to teach and preach Christ Jesus.” (Acts 5:41-42)
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:12: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in Heaven is great; for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Psalm 118:24: “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Although the cross is rugged and can often be heavy, we do not carry it alone! We carry it with the hosts of Heaven, the angelic warriors of God, with all of the Saints and martyrs who have “washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, with our Blessed Mother Mary and most of all with our Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd who will never abandon His Sheep.
Let us NEVER forget that this life, in reality, is but a drop in the ocean against the eternity of God, who is outside of time, in the eternal present. St. Peter teaches: “With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’” (2 Peter 3:8).
Today, Jesus’ Parable of the Sheep and the Goats might sound something like this:
“Come you who are blessed by my Father, because:
I was a helpless child in the womb, and you stood up for me on the streets of Windsor, and spoke up for me in front of family, co-workers and even those hostile to you. You defended me when I could not defend myself and preserved my dignity, my value and my worth. Even when I was dumped in garbage bins or burned up in ovens, when my body parts were sold off for research, you gave me a name, and my name is “Child of God,” my name is “Beloved of the Creator,” my name is “Precious and Priceless One.”
I was a sick person, and you gave me the rightful care that I deserve, not ignoring my pain or counting the cost of my care…
I was a dying elderly person, and you did not offer me shame, guilt, Euthanasia and death but instead, compassionate and loving care. You sat by my bedside, hour after hour, holding my hand, loving me, crying with me, praying with me, preparing me for Heaven as I helped to prepare you as well!
I was a woman who had an abortion, who was lied to and told that this was a simple and safe procedure, that there would be no consequences and no guilt… and you told me that I could be forgiven and healed by the one who died for me, that I am still loved by God, that there is still hope for my life, that I still have a future where I can witness for life, and let others who suffer know that they are not alone!
And in great amazement and confusion, the crowds of the world will all say to God, when did we see you, Lord? When did we see you in the unborn child, in the elderly, the sick, in the woman who had an abortion, in the teenager who was lost?
And He will answer: “Truly I say to you, whatever you did to the least of my brothers, YOU DID UNTO ME!” (Matthew 25:31-46) YOU DID IT TO ME!
Why have you come out here today? What have you come out to see? You have come, by the grace of God, to proclaim the GOSPEL OF LIFE, the GOSPEL OF TRUTH AND the Gospel of PEACE that comes only from the Lord Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit and in the glory of God the Father.
You and I are here because, by the grace of God, we are “walking through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4) with eyes fixed on Jesus, “fearing no evil,” trusting and knowing with a deep conviction that TRULY HE IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD, that the victory over the power of sin and death, over the world, the flesh and the devil, is already accomplished. In Jesus’s final words on the cross, “Consummatum est” “IT IS FINISHED!”
We have come out because we are CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT in a WORLD OF DARKNESS, but a world that is already overcome! He has already won the victory and conquered over Satan, sin and death!
Let us end this talk, filled with HOPE and JOY of the RISEN LORD by hearing the blessed words of our beloved Saviour Jesus Christ, spoken directly to us today, to you:
“These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you shall have distress:
but TAKE COURAGE, I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD!” (John 16:33)