The report from Hobbs can truly be called sad and sickening. The very idea of a young mother throwing her child away is emblematic, literally, of a “throw away” culture that has been creeping across our society and which Pope Francis so often warns against.

This heartbreaking event sheds light upon another reality that is more widespread yet hidden, that our society tacitly accepts, and oftentimes blatantly promotes -- that of abortion. This child, wrapped in a bloody towel and discarded so soon after birth, is no different in his humanity, his dignity, his right to be welcomed and loved, to the countless thousands who are similarly discarded in our country, without media fanfare, simply because they are a few weeks younger.

We can find it hard to accept the news we have just heard about what happened in Hobbs, and perhaps we even watched it on social media, and rightly so! But we must beware the temptation to think of ourselves as better than those whose sins we are shocked by.
 
In a similar situation in the scriptures, we read of Jesus’ warning (of faith) to the crowd, which we find in Lk 13:2-5, [¹Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.]  ²Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.  ⁴Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?  ⁵I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

So why are we surprised by stories like that which happened in Hobbs? What we have been shown is a graphic illustration of our own culture of death, epitomized in abortion and euthanasia, to which we all contribute and in which we all live, but which we have kept hidden from public eyes and have refused to accept the truth of. We must not be hypocrites!

I can’t even imagine the distress and confusion that leads an 18-year old mother to “throw away” the child of her womb into a trash dumpster -- but we, as a community, must look to see her suffering, her pain, and ask ourselves what share we, as a society, have in causing it. She desperately needs help, and if she cannot recognize that, she needs it even more.

Let us pray for the grace to repent as a society and individually too, for our sins against life! I pray for the well-being of the infant that survived the terrible ordeal. I pray for the mother. I pray for a societal awareness of the dangers that surround us and are creeping in on us. I implore all people of good will to take time to pray, reflect on what is happening to us, and act to defend life! We certainly need laws that defend the weak and the vulnerable, the defenseless, the elderly, the child in the womb, from the moment of conception until natural death. And we need, too, to foster a true culture of life, in which we love our neighbor -- all of our neighbors and each of our neighbors -- and ourself. 

January 12, 2022