“There was an explosion in my heart”

Lila Rose (above) gave a riveting speech at last week’s National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. She talked at length about her faith journey:

“I saw the darkness and the evil in our world. We struggle with our own personal sins as human beings and we struggle against the consequences of sin in our families, in our cities, in our nation, and it was dark. And yet, during that time I saw God use even the difficulties —even my own weaknesses — for good. That is the power of our God.”

She said she did a lot of church shopping in high school and college, sampling a variety of Protestant services. When in college, a friend invited her to attend a Catholic Mass, and her life changed:

“When the priest held up the Holy Eucharist, there was an explosion in my heart, and I was hungry, I was hungry for Jesus.”

She joined the Catholic Church eighteen months later.

Threatened by Big Abortion

She related that she was threatened with a lawsuit by a large abortion group after filing her first pro-life investigative report while she was in college:

“I remember getting to my knees in my dorm room and saying, ‘Lord, I don’t know what I’m in for here, but I trust in you. Help me trust in you. Every step of the way God … used that challenge to help the work multiply and reach now many more millions of people with the truth about not just the evil of abortion but the truth about the beauty and the goodness of human life, of marriage, and a family.”

Rose beseeched the mammoth crowd in Indianapolis to leverage all the gifts God has bestowed upon them to help promote a culture of life:

“There are 50,000 people here in the stadium tonight. Imagine if each one of us asked our Lord, ‘Use me.’ If we said, ‘Do whatever you want with me Lord.’ Imagine what God can do. I believe that we can end abortion in this country, that we can build a culture of life, that we can transform the nation into one of life.”

Martyrdom

She concluded by talking about two types of martyrdom: white and red. She invoked the great saint, Joan of Arc who experienced red martyrdom by bearing witness to Christ at the cost of life. Then she talked about another Joan, Joan Andrew Bell, who is experiencing white martyrdom, a persecution for living life boldly for Christ without being asked to die for it.

Rose explained Ms. Bell’s situation:

“Joan Andrew Bell, as we sit here tonight, is in a federal prison. She is a 74-year old grandmother and mother of seven children, six of whom were adopted with special needs. She founded Good Counsel Homes, maternity homes that have served 8000 women and their children who are in need to give them love and care.

When Joan Andrew Bell was 24 years old, she was shocked that the state Supreme Court legalized abortion-on-demand. That act changed the course of her life, because she knew she could not remain silent, that she must do something.

As a young woman in her twenties, Joan helped pioneer what is called Rescue at abortion facilities. St. Joan of Arc physically went into war for her people in France … Joan Andrews Bell physically goes into abortion facilities peacefully and prayerfully using her frail body to obstruct the killing until she is forcibly removed by police.

When Joan was brought to trial for her work, she refused to take a plea bargain for a reduced sentence, because it would mean she would have to recant her position and say she would never do it again.

This is what Joan said: ‘to accept probation would be to accept the lie that I have harmed society by trying peacefully, prayerfully and non-violently to save children from the brutal death of abortion.’

Joan Bell’s peaceful resistance echoes the spirit of the martyrs. I believe truly that this sister of ours is living a white martyrdom. St. Joan was also offered this plea bargain when she was captured by her enemies. They said if she rejected her claims, and said it wasn’t God actually calling her, she might be saved from burning at the stake. St. Joan of Arc said, ‘if I saw the fire, I would say all that I am saying to you now, and I would not act differently.’

Joan Andrew Bell said ‘it is my humble privilege to my conscience and Catholic faith in the defense of the innocent and the just.’

My brothers and sisters, may we humbly ask our Lord to use us, to stand up in truth, to speak the truth, and walk with love, and to have the gift of the spirit of the martyrs. May we ask our beloved Jesus in the Eucharist to give us the strength to follow his call.”

In other words, pray for an explosion in your heart.

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