Lucky me just got back from a weekend trip that took me to the sunny and swampy city of New Orleans. It was a quick trip away from my normal schedule and a chance to visit friends. Something I will never pass up. The best part of the trip was the fact that I was going to visit my darling little Goddaughter. This little girl is a miracle child having been born almost four months early and weighing less than 2 pounds. What joy for all of us to be celebrating her 1st birthday!
The ironic part thoug,h is that she is the second to youngest of 10 children. No, you understood correctly, her younger sister will be arriving any day now. I had the perfect opportunity all weekend to reflect on what it really means to be prolife. Their family ranges in age from 14 years- to any day now. Is this unusual –yes, Is this awesome? Totally so! How many people are prolife to a point? Prolife until they have to face extreme criticism? It is a daily, if not hourly decision to keep choosing life. How many of us say we are prolife, but how hardcore are we? If I had 3 children under the age of two, could I say yes? Would I be willing to keep choosing life and staying true to the teaching of the Catholic Church if I was in their position? It is a good question to ask yourself…
I grew up in a large Catholic family. For as long as I can remember we were on the sidewalks of abortion clinics, and participating in prolife events. My parents didn’t have to do those things though. A simple trip to the grocery store was a witness to life, and if you think people mind their own business – think again! Any family over the size of two kids could write an encyclopedia set worth of comments about them.
To my surprise, as I am now a young adult looking back and on it all, some of my parent’s biggest critics are now the same people who are admittedly jealous of them. While they deal with an empty nest and no one to talk to, they see my parents surrounded by love, and craziness that never ends. Though I have never been parent in these situations, I at least get an example of where your choices can lead you. In the difficult moments of really applying your prolife values, will you lose sight of the future?
I hope that my generation can see look to the strong Catholic families out there and have the courage to follow their example. Are we going to be hard-core prolife?
6 thoughts on “Hard-Core Prolife”
Babes are awesome.
You hit the nail on the head with this one: “some of my parent’s biggest critics are now the same people who are admittedly jealous of them.” I don’t want to be unfair to anyone who decides they’re “done” with having kids and therefore use artificial contraception… but I have long suspected that many of those “Gosh, are you crazy?!” comments have a hidden message of “If I can’t handle more than two, who are you to think YOU can.”
I fully admit that this statement may be too harsh. You’re a great witness for being fully pro-life!
Holding my one year old for 90 minutes while my wife went shopping. just as I got home form work, used to just about kill me. I’d drop to the floor like a 5 year old who’s been told to clean his room by himself.
With each child, you grow up a little bit. Couples with 10 kids are just more grown up than couples with two. God provides….the experience to handle more just as you need it!
You don’t need birth control, you just need to have faith in God, and you’ll grow up a little more to handle it.
Some of us flee from that growing…but once you hit three, you surrender and stop running away!
I fully agree with the sentiments in this article, but let’s be careful not fall into the presumption that just because a family has ten children they are per-se more pro-life or better parents than another family. Not all strong Catholic families have many (here meaning more than three) children. Some strong Catholic families have no children or only one or two, though they would have been open to more. What makes a family pro-life is being open to life, which means we’re open to the life God wants us to have, which could mean any number of configurations. So long as a family is not doing anything immoral (ie. contraception) to space children, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.
Sarah,
I certainly agree with you! I was merely writing to the large families out there who keep choosing to be prolife even when it is tough and NFP is not working for them. This is a shout-out to them, not a condemnation of anyone else. Thanks for your input!
Loved this post! My wife and I are a prolife catholic(as if there could be any other type)family with 5 children under the age of 6. We hear all the comments you could think of and some you would be offended to think of. One time a woman appraoched us in Lowes and asked my wife the typical” Haven’t ytou ever heard of condoms?” My wife without missing a beat said ‘Yes, I know, they destroy marriages! Terrible right?” It is a joy to have many little ones and we are waiting and praying about when God wants bless us with another one!