BEATITUDES, BABIES AND BASEBALL: The Persecuted Right Fielder

"Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matt. 5:10-12. This essay here concludes a nine part series which examines whether abortion is consistent with or opposed to the beatitudes at the core of Christian faith and action. Each essay examines a beatitude in three relationships: our relationship with God, with His laws and with others, particularly the least favored of humanity. Each begins with mention of a famous baseball player who demonstrated some characteristics of the beatitude. Can you recognize this last player before reading his name? 9. The Persecuted, but Appreciated, Right Fielder. After he was traded to his third team in his first four years in the major leagues, he won the League’s Most Valuable Player Award twice the next two years, edging out the established hometown hero. Sadly, many people criticized him as an unworthy upstart when he passed the home run record then held by America’s greatest sports hero. Instead of being rewarded for this accomplishment, he faced a lot of hostility from the baseball public. "They acted as though I was doing something wrong, poisoning the record books or something," he said. As they had done for their other superstars who preceded him, though, the Yankees accorded him honor and retired the jersey number of this right fielder, Roger Maris. Christ calls us in the last Beatitude to accept persecution not to pursue excellence, but to pursue Him. The characteristic of this Beatitude is fellowship with Christ, His law, and those least fortunate among us because He is with them also. The beatitude reminds us that this fellowship embraces also those who have gone before us in His name. The prochoice side, however, calls for the destruction of the least fortunate among us. It persecutes those who would protect them. Its laws stand in opposition to God’s laws and disregard those giants, the prophets and saints who suffered persecution themselves for the sake of Christ. We must choose which team we will be on. Let it be His team and let us strive to be the best teammates of those closest to Him, the unborn who are presently least among us. Then, they will grow in size and stature and become the teammates we will need in our declining years. Let us recognize the sacrifice made by those mothers in crisis pregnancy who maintain the lives of their unborn children. They are truly heros whether they raise those children themselves or place them with others to do so. Let us remember too the sacrifice made by the men and women daily who have stood on the front line of the abortion holocaust for the sake of the unborn, and ultimately for their mothers and families, especially when they have been persecuted for doing so. Finally, when we pass from this earth, may we be part of that victorious celebration with Him, the prophets and saints, and all those millions of people who were not permitted to walk this earth.

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BEATITUDES, BABIES AND BASEBALL: The Center Fielder Who Bucked Systemic Persecution

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:11

This essay, like the previous seven in this nine part series, examines a beatitude in three relationships: our relationship with God, with His laws and with others, particularly the least favored of humanity. It begins with mention of a famous baseball player who demonstrated some characteristics of the beatitude. Can you recognize the ball player before reading his name? The center fielder who bucked systemic persecution. When his team traded him, he wrote to the commissioner of baseball: "After 12 years in the major leagues I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. I believe that any system that produces that result violates my basic right as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States." White or black, ballplayers could only bargain with one team. Seven months before the Roe v. Wade decision, Supreme Court Justice Blackmun wrote the majority opinion in this ballplayer’s appeal, ruling against him. Only 3 years later, however, free agency began, but too late for this seven time Gold Glove Award winning center fielder, Curt Flood. In the real world, persecution for the sake of righteousness can be a far greater sacrifice than giving up a baseball career. Likewise, frequently more is at stake than the principle of contract freedom. In any event, to accept persecution voluntarily, people must have faith in God who is in control over even the persecutors. Accepting persecution also requires total commitment to God’s law, even to the point of sacrifice to follow it. The hardest part about persecution, however, is the powerlessness one feels when persecuted. This powerlessness transforms a person into one less favored, and perhaps even one of the least favored of humanity. The prochoice position, by contrast, follows from unrighteous conduct and leads to the avoidance of persecution. When they become pregnant, unmarried women are five times more likely to abort their unborn children than married women are. Unmarried women have four out of five abortions. Those who have rejected God’s law by their sexual conduct have more difficulty turning in faith toward God, trusting Him, recommitting to His law, and taking up the cross of personal sacrifice necessary to accept the relative powerlessness of the persecuted. Clearly, unless we can stem the tide of sexual activity among the unmarried, the pressures they have to abort their unborn children will remain overwhelmingly high. To reduce substantially the pressures to abort, we must work to reduce the pressures unmarried persons have toward sexual activity. Those pressures are in a real sense persecutions against those who resist them. Rather than avoiding persecution by running from it, Christ teaches us to accept it. To accept this persecution requires unmarried persons to have faith that God is in control of their lives. That faith gives them the fortitude to withstand pressure. They must be totally committed to God’s law so that they can sacrifice to follow it, even when that means accepting a position of less power. Whatever we can do to aid the unmarried in accepting persecution for righteousness will help drive down abortion.

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BEATITUDES, BABIES AND BASEBALL: Peace Flies Out of Left Field

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." Matt. 5:10-12. This essay is the seventh in a nine part series which examines whether abortion is consistent with or opposed to the beatitudes at the core of Christian faith and action. Each part examines a beatitude in three relationships: our relationship with God, with His laws, and with others, particularly the least favored of humanity. Each begins with mention of a famous baseball player who demonstrated some characteristics of the beatitude. Can you recognize the player before reading his name? Peace flies out of left field. He missed almost five seasons sacrificed to service of our country in two wars, including the Korean war where he flew missions with John Glenn. Still, he slugged 521 home runs in his career. Back in 1941, the year our country joined the fight against world tyranny, he was the last major league player to hit .400. For stopping the spread of totalitarian forces across the world, we owe a debt of gratitude to the generation of men who served our country with this left fielder, Ted Williams. When evil powers invade peaceful countries, making peace requires armies to cast the aggressors out. When evil powers take control of the reigns of government, making peace requires people to cast the usurpers out. When evil powers take control of the hearts of men and women, making peace requires us to cast the demons out. Clearly, peacemaking is not for wimps. It is risky business, and without aid from above, doomed to failure. To be successful, peacemakers must listen to the direction of the Holy Spirit, stand firm for God’s law, and protect the weak from strong forces intent on their destruction. The prochoice position, by contrast, surrenders to the forces of evil at work in our culture. No true peace exists between parents and children where parents kill one child before birth for every three born. Why are we surprised that child abuse to born children has increased 20 fold since abortion was legalized? No true peace exists between parents who kill their offspring before birth. Their marriages end up on the rocks, driving up the divorce rate and all its problems for the rest of society. No true peace exists in the hearts of those parents who know the results of their deadly choices. They frequently suffer from depression and resort to drugs, alcohol, and self-destructive behavior to deaden the impact. The prochoice voice claims that peace would reign if only prolife people would not make mothers and fathers of aborted children feel guilty about difficult decisions made in crisis. Yet even if all of us were silent, they would hear in their conscience the small, still voice reminding them of their lost children. Warfare would still rage in each of them. A house divided against itself is not a peaceful abode. Peacemaking demands first that we begin by listening in our own hearts to the directions given to us by the Holy Spirit. When we are not at peace at heart, demons drum incessantly attempting to drown out the still, small voice we need to hear to remain human. That voice directs that we stand firm by His law, as only humans can, and protect the weak, even when we have nothing to gain ourselves. By the power of the Spirit, we can help others cast out those demons to bring peace to the hearts of our fellow human beings. Second, peacemaking demands that we throw the usurpers out of our government. To make peace requires us to remember that no majority vote of the people decided to permit abortion in our society. Instead, it was the undemocratic decision of seven unelected men on the Supreme Court who rewrote the Constitution to throw out the laws proscribing abortion in all fifty states, leaving our country with the world’s least protections for the unborn until China started forcing their mothers to have abortions. Peace requires us to throw the usurpers out! That can only be done by continually electing presidents who will appoint prolife justices to the United States Supreme Court and United States Senators who will confirm their appointments. Third, peacemaking demands that when evil powers invade peaceful countries, armies must cast the aggressors out. Worldwide abortion is making this task more and more difficult each year. A case in point is the one child policy in communist China which has resulted in forced abortions, abandoned children (mostly baby girls) and an excess male population of military age approaching 15 million. If communist China turns its army toward one of its neighbors, such as nationalist China on the island of Taiwan, how are we to stop this aggression by one of our largest trading partners against one of our allies? Will we put at risk the remainder of that generation of Americans whose numbers have been decimated by abortion already? If so, who will take care of their parents, the baby boomers, who first made abortion commonplace in America, but who are now aging and moving toward retirement? Truly, as stated by Mother Teresa, “The greatest destroyer of peace in the world is abortion.”

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BEATITUDES, BABIES AND BASEBALL: The Pure-Hearted Shortstop

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Matt. 5:8. Like the players on a baseball team, the beatitudes perform together. The actions of one lead to the others. This essay here considers the last of the middle three beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount in Chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel. Each essay examines a beatitude in three relationships: our relationship with God, with His laws and with others, particularly the least favored of humanity. Each begins with mention of a famous baseball player who demonstrated some characteristics of the beatitude. Can you recognize the player before reading his name? This shortstop won back-to-back National League Most Valuable Player Awards when his team finished no higher than fifth place. Though he slugged over 20 home runs 13 times and finished his career with 512 home runs, he never played in the World Series. Through thick and thin, he always focused on what was good. His most famous, oft-repeated saying is, “What a great day for baseball. Let’s play two!” He is known, loved and respected as Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks. The Spirit abides in the pure in heart. When the Spirit abides in us, we are overflowing with a love of His law which directs our inner thoughts as well as our external actions toward others, but most especially the least among us. The pure in heart see life in the Spirit as a wonderful feast of the most delicious dishes prepared by the most skilled chef. Though others may choose less desirable meals, some downright poisonously filled with rat poison, the pure in heart keep focused on what is good and direct all their attention to that good. The prochoice position sees life from a different perspective. It rejoices not in the delicious banquet, but in the fact that people can choose the rat poison instead, if not for themselves, then at least for their smallest offspring. It sees that decision as a private matter which no one should dare to deprive anyone of. It claims too that all such private choices are to be respected equally. Privacy instead of purity is the principle the prochoice position guards. In the prolife cause, we should strive to be pure in heart. We must recognize that the root cause of abortion is an inner spiritual struggle where the participants must first deny the unborn the dignity of being considered fully human. If the Spirit is to abide in our hearts, however, there is no room there for us to deny anyone that dignity. There is no room for sex outside of marriage which deprives people of purity in their own bodies. There is no room for pornography which denies respect for the other persons used. There is no room for sexism and racism which deny dignity to whole classes of people. Our inner thoughts as well as our external actions must keep focused on what is good. Let us taste this most wonderful feast of life in the Spirit prepared for us and help others to do so likewise. When they are tempted to sample the rat poison, let us be the ones to say, “No, have a taste of this good delicacy instead. In fact, let’s have two.”

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Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The Merciful Third Baseman

The Merciful Third Baseman

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Matthew 5:7

The middle three beatitudes are the heart, soul and spirit of the beatitudes. Consider each from the perspective of three relationships: our relationship with God, with His laws and with others, especially the least favored of humanity. This essay considers the fifth of nine beatitudes, most central to Christ's message. Just for fun, the introduction tells about a baseball player who has some of the characteristics of the beatitude. How soon can you name the player? One of my best friends was in an automobile accident when he was in high school. He was unconscious or semiconscious for months afterwards. A sportscaster who knew of his condition contacted this baseball player to ask him to visit my friend where he lay in the hospital. Without fanfare or any publicity, this star third baseman, who had just completed his most impressive season and won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award, not only visited my friend, but he also brought my friend an autographed baseball signed by all of his league’s All Stars at the All Star Game that summer. My friend’s spirits were rejuvenated when he learned afterwards of this extraordinary visit and extraordinary gift to him. You may know of this extraordinary baseball player as the Cardinal player who later managed the New York Yankees, Joe Torre. Our relationship with Christ is at the center of the fifth beatitude, mercy. First, He forgives us when we are repentant. Second, He teaches us to be merciful to others, especially the least of our brothers and sisters, just as He would do. Third, He also expects us to teach others of God’s law and forgiveness so that they can benefit too. The prochoice position approaches mercy from a different perspective. It seeks no forgiveness from Christ although one of the choices it promotes takes the life of one of His least children. Its concept of mercy toward others does not include them, as if it expects God to stand aside when they are killed. Finally, it expects prolife persons to refrain from teaching others of God’s law. That law is contrary to one of the choices that the prochoice position finds acceptable. The essence of the prochoice position is not connected in relationships to God, His law, or others. While it speaks with compassion toward pregnant mothers in the rare cases where rape or incest caused the pregnancy or where a handicapped child results, it cannot undo the rape, the incest, or the handicapped child. At best, it can only stand by, in professed neutrality as to whether the child is killed or not. More frequently, the heart of the prochoice position is a professed compassion for the more common predicament of the pregnant mother in crisis: seemingly living on the edge of her financial capacity to make ends meet and lacking emotional support from the child’s father, who is all too often abusive to her. What distinguishes the prochoice position is that the lifeline thrown out to the mother in crisis is simply an invitation to cast away her unborn child, thereby destroying one of life’s most natural relationships. Afterwards, when the aborted mother is overwhelmed that she has taken the life of her own child, the prochoice position cannot assuage her grief. What rips women apart emotionally after abortion is their just sense of the magnitude of what they did to their own children. What these mothers need is not a god who stands silent afterwards. That god is one whose heart is stone cold, no less an idol than those to which ancient civilizations sacrificed their unwanted, unplanned children. What these mothers need is the God who wraps His arms around those children and whose arms are big enough to enfold them too. Only the true Savior of the world can have mercy for abortion victims, their parents and even the abortionists. Mercy in the prolife cause requires us to acknowledge that Jesus is the Savior of the aborted mother and the abortionist as well as the aborted child and us. Such a God can and does forgive each of us whenever we repent for transgressing His law. Abortion is not an unforgivable sin. Our actions are to be the image of Christ’s mercy. We are to be merciful in our actions toward aborted mothers and abortionists even while we come to the aid of the mothers who give birth to their children. Finally, we cannot stand silent while pregnant mothers consider abortion or aborted mothers experience emotional trauma afterwards. We must plead the cause of the children with conviction and we must help the aborted mothers come to Christ for healing.

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Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The Meek First Baseman

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."

Matthew 5:5

This is the third part of Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball, essays which look at each beatitude three ways: in relationships to God, to His laws, and to others, especially the least favored of humanity. The nine beatitudes also work together, much like the nine players on a baseball team. Accordingly, the introduction to each discussion relates a beatitude to a quality of a famous baseball player. See how many you recognize before you hear the player’s name. Born to German immigrant parents in 1903, he was the only one of four children to survive. Though a Yankee, he played in the shadow of Babe Ruth and said: “Lets face it. I'm not a headline guy. I always knew that as long as I was following Babe to the plate I could have gone up there and stood on my head. No one would have noticed the difference. When the Babe was through swinging, whether he hit one or fanned, nobody paid any attention to the next hitter. They all were talking about what the Babe had done." This meek first baseman, however, amassed 493 home runs and a .340 lifetime batting average while playing in 2130 consecutive games over 13 years, despite unmentioned suffering of numerous fractures. When a terminal illness finally felled him, he still told people, “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.” He died in 1941 at age 37 of the illness which now bears his name, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. One word sums up the relationships of a meek person to God, His laws and others: respect. Meek persons respect God, His laws and all of humankind. Persons who best put the first two beatitudes into play actually become the meekest among us. Their very lives echo St. Paul’s words, “I am the least of all God’s people.” Ephesians 3:8. In contrast, prochoice persons boast of their “rights to choose” to ignore God’s rules; they give God less respect and claim to be more important than mere “products of conception” or “tissues” which threaten their lifestyles. They fail to acknowledge that all of us are just products of conception. Although some are older by a few years or perhaps a few decades, all of us are young compared with the eternity God means us to share with Him and our fellow human beings, many of whom are yet unborn. Abortion does not end the reality of those killed. It merely amputates the body from the spirit, as all death does. We lose a profound respect for God and the dignity of all humankind when we send so many young lives into eternity where we soon must follow. What kind of a welcome are we expecting when we get there? Prochoice persons, however, assert meekness because they do not “want to judge” anyone; rather they tolerate the “lifestyle choices” of others, even if they are personally opposed to them. How tolerant would they be of lifestyles which robbed them of their own lives? Should not true meekness protect the defenseless as much as oneself? In truth, such “tolerance” is refusal to submit to the authority of God to set standards for all persons to follow. It masks rebelliousness rather than becomes meekness. We do not judge people by asking them not to kill us or those more defenseless than us. To respect God, even the meek must resist evil which is opposed to Him. Only God can judge, but by aligning our speech and conduct with His commandments, we help others do so likewise. Prolife persons become meek by respecting God in all that we do in the prolife cause. He will bring an end to abortion through our actions, or more likely, in spite of our small actions and large inactions. We praise God. We respect His law best when we follow it. We obey. We show respect for others most when we share their burdens. We serve. Our service is not just to those in crisis pregnancy, though that service is most worthy of our efforts. Our service is also to their children, especially when they are most vulnerable. We are meekest when we are not too busy or too proud or too important to give of our time, our talents and our treasures for mothers and children in crisis and afterwards.

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Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The Consoled Catcher

The Consoled Catcher

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be consoled." Matthew 5:4

This is the second part of Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball, essays which look at each beatitude three ways: in relationships to God, to His laws, and to others, especially the least favored of humanity. The nine beatitudes also work together, much like the nine players on a baseball team. Accordingly, the introduction to each discussion relates a beatitude to a quality of a famous baseball player. See how many you recognize before you hear the player’s name. Born the youngest of six children of an Italian-American father and African-American mother, he played in the Negro Leagues before becoming the first black Major League catcher. Despite discrimination and repeated injuries, in ten Major League seasons he won three Most Valuable Player awards and led his Brooklyn Dodgers to five National League pennants and a World Series Championship. A car accident that left him a quadriplegic ended his playing career. For his remaining 35 years, though, he became an inspiration to all people with disabilities. His autobiography, “It’s Good to Be Alive,” sums up the consolation found by Roy Campanella. Concerning the second beatitude, a large part of the mourning and consolation which Christ describes must be due to repentance. “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret.” 2 Corinthians 7:10. Applying the three relationships, to God, His laws, and others, those who mourn repent to God for breaking his laws and hurting others, especially the weakest. The second beatitude puts into action the first beatitude. Because we realize our dependence upon God who loves each of us, even the least of us, we must repent when we break His laws, especially when we do harm to the most defenseless. Prochoice persons cannot repent of sins they do not acknowledge and harms to persons they do not agree have rights even to exist. They mourn the difficulties of women in crisis pregnancies but only at the expense of their offspring. Their position drives a wedge between themselves and their relationship to other humankind. More importantly, their position drives a wedge between themselves and their creator. We take no joy and claim no superiority over our prochoice brothers and sisters because we recognize that none of us is free from sin. To be truly repentant we must first mourn our own failures to speak effectively for the unborn and our lack of commitment to them in the face of certain death. We must acknowledge, moreover, that our lack of commitment harms the living as well as the dead. We also mourn those hurt physically, psychologically or spiritually by abortion, including the mothers, the fathers and even the abortionists. We mourn the brothers and sisters who will never know their siblings killed by abortion, but who will always know that only the grace of God spared their lives from the same fate. We mourn for our whole society, including the growing number of the aged who will never know the protection and security that the unborn could have provided financially and physically to them in later years. Our lack of commitment to the unborn leads inevitably to injury throughout society. Repentance is a powerful force. The spirit of repentance has converted so many from their abortion pasts to the prolife position. Some, like Dr. Bernard Nathanson, were leaders in the prochoice movement who later became, like St. Paul, outspoken advocates for a position that they once opposed. When the history of our time is written, such persons will be proclaimed as champions of the future generations they strove to protect.

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Beatitudes, Babies and Baseball: The poor pitcher

BEATITUDES, BABIES AND BASEBALL Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with words that we all must take to heart: 1 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 2 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be consoled. 3 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 4 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will receive it in full. 5 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 6 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 7 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 8 Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 9 Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matt. 5:3-12. The beatitudes should be more central to a God-based resolution for those considering or opposing abortion. Please consider whether abortion is consistent with these values or opposed to them. This is the first of nine essays which relates each beatitude three ways: to God, to His laws, and to others, especially the least favored of humanity. The nine beatitudes also work together, much like the nine players on a baseball team. Accordingly, the introduction to each discussion relates a beatitude to a quality of a famous baseball player. See how many you recognize before you hear the player’s name. 1. The Poor Pitcher. He was born the seventh of eleven children in a poor black Alabama family around the turn of last century. He picked up his lifelong nickname from his boyhood job carrying suitcases for tips at a train station. After he was caught shoplifting, however, he spent five years at the state reform school for Negro children. Still, he is known as perhaps the greatest pitcher of all time, pitching professionally over five decades, concluding at the age of 59 with the Athletics, then playing in Kansas City. Joe DiMaggio called him, “the best I've ever faced and the fastest." By the time the big leagues allowed his race to play ball, though, his best years were behind him. He earned less in his whole career than most Major League ball players today make in a single season. His name is Leroy “Satchel” Paige. Strictly speaking, the poor are those who must depend on the generosity of others to live. Since that spirit of generosity comes from God, the poor most directly depend on God for everything. Regardless of social status, we are still called to place our trust in God for everything, to be poor in spirit. Considering the three relationships, the poor in spirit realize their total dependence upon God; they realize that He, rather than they, make the rules which govern their conduct; and they realize that they have no more fundamental rights than the least of their brothers and sisters. This is reality. Everything else is just an illusion. The prochoice position starts from opposite premises concerning all three relationships. First, rather than encouraging dependence on God, it asserts independence for persons facing unwanted pregnancies. Dependence upon God is a threat to their autonomy. Second, His rules are not acknowledged as legitimate for their conduct. They make the rules as they see fit for their present situation. Third, the prochoice position claims superiority for women facing unwanted pregnancies: superiority over their unborn children and superiority over the rights of every other person affected, including the fathers of their children. The prochoice position does, however, profess to support pregnant women, whom they view as among humanity’s least favored and who they claim must be allowed to terminate their pregnancies for myriad reasons, but most often, when a child would threaten their financial status or their relationship with the child’s father or their husband, who may not be the child’s father. This position, the world’s position, is not really aligned with the poor in spirit because dependence upon the violent destruction of the unborn replaces dependence upon God; independence from external standards of conduct (power or right to choose) replaces realization of God’s rules; and superiority over the unborn replaces a closer relationship to them. This is not to say that all who claim to be prolife are thus poor in spirit. We have egocentric, fallen people who claim superiority over others in our midst too. The media loves to portray prolife persons as being “antiabortion” as if that term connotes a claim of superiority over those more tolerant of abortion, those who are “prochoice.” Funny, isn’t it, how media elites scold us for telling others what to do – isn’t that just exactly what they do? Our task is not to get control over the media, or in fact, to control anyone. Our task is to realize our dependence upon God who makes the rules for all of us to follow. If we are truly to be poor in spirit in our prolife convictions, we must help others to see that dependence upon God is our strength -- although we offer no quick fixes, our God cares deeply for us and will not abandon us, even at difficult times. Following His law is our hope because departures from His law lead to the despair of those agonizing over an abortion decision, past, present or future. Finally, acknowledging that we have no more right to destroy the unborn than they have to destroy us provides us with an ability to resist the temptation to use deadly force against them. In solidarity with the unborn, we build strong relationships person to person and generation to generation.

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