On January 25, 2013, I walked with a half a million other people through the streets of Washington, D.C. As wave after wave after wave of marchers descended on the site for the beginning of the March, I realized what I have been missing for the last 40 years. Even though I have watched this March on EWTN for many years and read individual accounts of it and talked to many people who have participated in it, I had no idea. None.
I had no idea of the numbers of people who participate. I had no idea of the legions of youth who bring their innate vitality and joy to the March. I had no idea of the cacophony that occurs when so many variations of prolife ministries are represented in one place. I had no idea of the total irrelevancy of the handful of people who showed up to protest the right to life of every person. In short, I was stunned by the cornucopia of life that was represented in D.C.
My group was toward the front of the long March. As we made the final turn along the route, it began to snow. I was reminded of St. Therese of Lisieux who asked God to let it snow on her Carmelite Profession Day. When it did, she saw this as a sign of benediction. And so did I.
As we marched up the steps to the Supreme Court Building, the end point of the March, I turned around to see the amazing picture that accompanies this post and I started to cry. In my heart, I said to God, “Thank you! For 40 years the right to kill babies has had the full force of law, the media and government behind it. But look! They lose. The culture of death is dying. I can see it before my eyes. Because you came and died and rose from the dead, death really is dead. So thank you, Jesus, because they can make it legal but they can never make it right.”
Copyright © 2013, Glenna Bradshaw
Glenna Bradshaw
Glenna Bradshaw is a happy Catholic who lives in Tennessee with her family and two spoiled greyhounds. She blogs at Celebrating the Year of Faith.
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