Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children



“... so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us.” (Hebrews 6:18.)

Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on this verse from today’s First Reading:

“Through two unchangeable things” ... the former is that he swore by himself. The latter is that David said, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, that you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” It is by this means that we who have been made coheirs of his promise “might have strong encouragement.” We “have fled for refuge” in order to protect ourselves, not for God’s justice, in order that God may draw and drive us away from the evils of this world, and may open for us the way “into the inner shrine behind the curtain.” We do not go in first. We do not go into the shrine of the tabernacle, where Moses went, but into the inner shrine in heaven, “where Jesus has gone as a forerunner, having become a high priest forever,” not in order to offer the victims of sacrifices, like Aaron, but to offer the word for all nations, like Melchizedek.” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews)




“The author then speaks of “two unchangeable acts in which it is impossible that God lied” (6:18). What are these “two acts”? The author has named only one of them, God's “oath,” but it may be understood that the other “unchangeable act” is the oracle itself. The “two irrevocable acts” are therefore the oracle in the psalm and the divine oath that backs it up.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 114.)





Collect
God our Creator, we give thanks to You,
Who alone have the power
to impart the breath of life as
You form each of us in our mother’s womb;
grant, we pray, that we,
whom You have made stewards of creation,
may remain faithful to this sacred trust and
constant in safeguarding
the dignity of every human life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.


Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen