Faithful Lines / Shirley Vogler Meister

Pro-life book is novel way to promote what’s right

In one of the bulletins from Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis a couple months ago, the parish pro-life committee presented the following quotation from Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and well-known author:

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

Sometime after that, I received a book from Pleasant Word, a division of WinePress Publishing, with one of the first pages noting this Jewish Proverb: “When you save a life, you save the world.”

The extraordinary man who wrote what is in my second paragraph, Elie Wiesel, is Jewish.

These coincidences prompted me to immediately read the book The River Nile by Kenny Blair. I also knew that I would introduce the book in my first column in May because it is the traditional month to honor mothers—not only our earthly mothers, but also all the mothers who have passed into God’s heavenly realm.

In May, we also love Mary, who was approached by the Angel Gabriel and said “yes” to being the mother of our Savior.

We honor Mary in many ways, and we also honor her for choosing life when surely other options were available even in biblical days.

Those other options—and the problems regarding abortion—are carefully explored in Kenny Blair’s novel.

Yes, this author chose to write in novel form what pro-life workers have promoted since abortion became an easily accessible surgery that is spiritually and physically deadly.

Not only do babies die, but the mothers often suffer post-traumatic pain that can be intolerable if not resolved spiritually and mentally.

The title of the book comes from the Book of Exodus (Ex 2:3), which explains how, after Pharoah ordered death to all Jewish babies, one baby, Moses, was saved through his sister’s quick thinking.

Ironically, Moses was eventually adopted by Pharoah’s daughter.

How many babies are saved today through the efforts of prayerful pro-life volunteers and the abundant prayers of Catholics and other Christians?

Kenny Blair’s novel shares unique ways to save babies from abortion. Could it be that a novel’s unusual plot can actually spur new lifesaving approaches to this evil? The plot is so gripping that I literally finished the 98-page book in one sitting with minimal distractions. It is a small book with potentially lifesaving results.

The author and his wife, Jodi, a certified midwife, live in Kansas with their

five children, four of whom are adopted and have special needs. They have been involved in the pro-life movement since the 1970s.

The River Nile reads like a mystery, but it deals with reality. It is available from www.winepressbooks.com or by calling 360-802-5700.

(Shirley Vogler Meister, a member of Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis, is a regular columnist for The Criterion.) †