This is my homily from the March for Life Mass that we celebrated at the Washington Plaza Hotel on Jan. 24, 2011.

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, today, we gather in our nation’s capitol for our annual March for Life. From the bottom of my heart, as your bishop, I thank you for the sacrifices you have made to be here today and for all that you do each and every day to protect, defend and uphold the sanctity of life from the moment of natural conception until natural death.

I am especially grateful for the witness of our young people, the present and future of our Church, and for our seminarians and deacons and priests and religious for your example and leadership in the cause for life! Indeed I am profoundly grateful for all of you!

In keeping with the instruction of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, we are observing a special day of prayer, penance and reparation for sins against the dignity of the human person through acts of abortion. We remember the Supreme Court decision made 38 years ago, Roe V. Wade, that effectively legalized abortion in the United States.

That single legal opinion, and the subsequent millions upon millions of individual and societal decisions that have been made in its wake, not only have taken the lives of countless human beings in the womb, but have also taken an unimaginable toll on those who have turned to abortion, those who have performed abortions, those who have encouraged abortions, and on our society as a whole as we have witnessed a steady de-sensitization regarding all forms of assault on human dignity and life at all its stages.

This day of peaceful and prayerful marching and this celebration of the Eucharist in particular must be understood in their proper context. Yes, we are expressing our sorrow and are performing acts of penance for the countless sins that have been committed against human dignity specifically through abortion. But most of all our day here in our nation’s capitol can only be fully understood in the context of hope.

Even in the face of countless acts against life, we must remember that our God is a God of Life!

And in this truth we are called to remember that God continues not only to call all peoples to the fullness of life through grace and reconciliation that has been won for us in Jesus Christ, but that God also calls each of us to be channels of that grace, that reconciliation, that healing and that love which God alone can provide.

That is why today is a day of hope. It is a day of hope because we recognize that the “culture of death” has not achieved, nor will it ever achieve, a final victory. No, Jesus – Our Lord of Life – has already won the victory over sin and death, and He continues to be with us to call us and to strengthen us to bring the Good News of His victory through the Gospel of Life!

In light of this fundamental truth, I would like to quote from a document written by the United States Conference of Bishops back in 1998 entitled: “Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to All Americans.”

Paragraph 27 of that document holds and important message for us today:

“God is always ready to answer our prayers for help with the virtues we need to do His will. First and foremost we need the courage and the honesty to speak the truth about human life, no matter how high the cost to ourselves. The great lie of our age is that we are powerless in the face of the compromises, structures and temptations of mass culture. But we are not powerless. We can make a difference. We belong to the Lord. In Him is our strength, and through His grace, we can change the world.

We also need the humility to listen well to both friend and opponent on the abortion issue, learning from each and forgetting ourselves. We need the perseverance to continue the struggle for the protection of human life, no matter what the setbacks, trusting in God and in the ultimate fruitfulness of the task He has called us to. We need the prudence to know when and how to act in the public arena – and also to recognize and dismiss the fear of acting which postures as prudence itself.

And finally we need the great foundation of every apostolic life: faith, hope and charity. Faith not in moral or political abstractions, but in the personal presence of God; hope not in our own ingenuity, but in His goodness and mercy; and love for others, including those who oppose us, rooted in the love God showers down on us.” (USCCB, Living the Gospel of Life, 27)

Courage, honesty, humility, perseverance, prudence, faith, hope and love: These indeed are virtues that we need as accept the call of the Lord to be ministers of the Gospel of Life in our world today.

Without the grace of these virtues, our efforts to promote the cause of life might very well fall into self-righteousness, contempt for others, and pride. We never want to be a barrier to the healing and welcoming love of the Father of Mercies.

The spirit of our service, rather, needs to be offered with a humble, honest and courageous acknowledgement that we are all sinners, that we have each on our own way squandered the gift of life that has been so abundantly entrusted to us and that are beneficiaries of the forgiveness of God.

St. Paul reminds us today that “Christ is mediator of a new covenant. Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.”

We are called today to be instruments of hope, healing, conversion and life for one another, for our culture and for our world. We are united in the peaceful, power of prayer today as we march together as a sign to our country and our president and all of our nation’s leaders that we will ever stop being the voice for the voiceless until all life is protected from the evil of abortion and all life is given the opportunity to live and to row in the freedom of God’s children.

May we never be discouraged, may we continue to persevere, may we stand together in faith, hope and love, united in prayer and in our efforts to eliminate abortion and to promote life!

Christ our Hope, sends us forth today into the streets here in Washington, D.C. and where we live back home, to be messengers of the Gospel of Life and to be instruments of forgiveness and healing and to build a culture of life.

May God bless you all!