Voices for the voiceless: Like David, youths march for life in God’s name, priest says

Archdiocesan March for Life pilgrims Chris Slabaugh of Hayden, left, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Jennings County, and Beth Schoettner of Columbus, right, a member of Holy Trinity Parish in Edinburgh, pray during the Mass for Life on Jan. 20 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis before departing for the March for Life in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Mary Ann Wyand

The first Book of Samuel’s account of David fighting the mighty Goliath (1 Sm 17) was an appropriate reading for Mass on Jan. 20 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis when Father John Hollowell preached a homily to archdiocesan youths about to depart for the 37th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.

“The Philistines have again amassed an army,” said Father Hollowell, the chaplain at Cardinal Ritter Jr./Sr. High School in Indianapolis, who was ordained in 2009 and has participated in six national pro-life marches.

“They have weapons, technology, the entertainment industry and the media under their influence,” he said, referring to abortion forces in America.

“We are preparing to march upon them armed with nothing other than a few posters and banners,” Father Hollowell said. “Just as Goliath mocked David, we will be mocked as well—or, perhaps worse, we will be ignored.”

The new Philistines will laugh, he said, and ask, ‘Is this what you send to fight your battles—teenagers?’ … But these people who mock God and mock us shall learn that it is not by sword or spear or scimitar that the Lord does his damage.”

The Psalms relate that the Lord uses the lowly to humble the proud, he explained, and the Israelites triumphed because they placed their belief and trust in the power of God.

“The game plan for our battle has not changed from that of the Israelites,” Father Hollowell said. “The ark of the covenant was a box with poles on each side, and inside the living God was truly present. The Israelites carried the ark of the covenant with them into all of their battles, and so do we. He is present in us because we consume the Eucharist at Mass. We become really and truly an ark of the covenant bearing God’s true presence inside of ourselves.”

As teenage “jean-wearing, iPod- listening, gum-chewing arks of the covenant,” he said, the youths will “stand arm in arm with an invisible host” during the March for Life.

“Wherever the ark is, there his angels and saints are praising him,” Father Hollowell said, “and so we march with the heavenly host in a battle for the soul of our nation. We do not know when Goliath will fall, … but we do know we will be victorious” because we march in God’s name. †

  

(Related: March for Life photo gallery | Photos from the young adult pilgrimage)