Day 38 of 40 Days for Life

40 DAYS FOR LIFE:
DAY 38, NOVEMBER 2
Daily Devotional by Fr. Frank Pavone*******************************

INTENTION: Pray that we fully recognize in the unborn child our brother, our sister, and we recommit ourselves to care for them.
SCRIPTURE: "Now Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let's go out to the field.' And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' 'I don't know,' he replied. 'Am I my brother's keeper?' The LORD said, 'What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand." -- Genesis 4:8-11
REFLECTION: After Cain committed the first murder in human history, God asked him, "Where is your brother?" He replied by saying, "I don't know." In 1973, the Supreme Court was asked the same question, and gave the same answer. Unable to admit that the unborn children are our brothers and sisters, the Supreme Court said, "We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer" (Roe vs. Wade, 410 U.S. 113,159). Boil all that down to three words, and it's, "I don't know." The question of when life begins, of course, is not difficult to answer at all. The difficulty comes in accepting the responsibility for our brother, our sister, whose life has begun. The same question, "Where is your brother?", is asked of each of us today. By participating in the 40 Days for Life, we have been answering that question each day, going to where our brothers and sisters are killed, and proclaiming that we have a responsibility to them. By all the pro-life work we will continue to do, we likewise answer that question which reaches from one end of human history to the other. The question, "Where is your brother?", will be asked at the final judgment. Each person will answer it and be judged by it. May we be judged to have recognized and loved all our brothers and sisters, born and unborn.
PRAYER: Father, today we hear your voice, and we respond to the question you ask each of us: "Where is your brother?" We recognize in the unborn child our brother, our sister, and we recommit ourselves today to care for them. Yes, Father, you have entrusted us to the care of one another. We rejoice that you have given us the grace to respond. As we work to renew our culture, we look forward to the great day of the coming of your Son, when every eye will see him, even of those who pierced him, and every knee shall bend, and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father, JESUS CHRIST IS LORD! In His Holy Name, Amen.

David Bereit
National Campaign Director
40 Days for Life