PHOTOS: Archbishop leads Vigil for Life

When the Blessed Virgin Mary “set out in haste to the hill country,” she set an example for believers throughout history and for people today, Archbishop Michael G. McGovern said.

Mary had just heard from the Angel Gabriel the incredible news that her cousin Elizabeth, who was too old to have a child, was now in her sixth month of pregnancy.

Mary herself had just been “overshadowed by the Holy Spirit,” with the Child Jesus in her womb, when she began her walk to Elizabeth.

Ever since, in each generation, the Church has also been walking, following the Lord Jesus, proclaiming the Gospel and drawing others to walk alongside them, the archbishop said during Mass at the Sept. 27 Archbishop’s Vigil for Life at St. Mary Parish in Bellevue.

The Saturday morning worship included the 8 a.m. Mass, a rosary procession to a nearby abortion clinic and back, and Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction. A reception followed. Father Lydell Lape, pastor at St. Mary, and Father Joe Kwasau, associate pastor, concelebrated Mass with Archbishop McGovern.

Today, Archbishop McGovern said, people are still called to imitate Mary’s walk, to proclaim publicly their faith in God – and “our belief in God’s gift of human life as a gift to be cherished and respected.”

We are to “live out that commitment in the manner of our lives,” he said.

“There are, sadly, in our country, forces at work that would try to have us live our faith only within the four walls of our church,” the archbishop said. “But we know that our faith in Jesus Christ is not just a matter of something private within the walls of a church.

“We’re to set out at the end of every Mass to ‘go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.’ We’re sent out to be witnesses to the world of the faith, hope and love that is within us, that has been planted like seeds by the Lord Jesus.”

Reyna Esquivel, a St. Mary parishioner, said that some people may think they don’t have enough information or the time to be involved as a witness to the Gospel of Life.

She and her son, Antonio, 11, decided they needed to be part of the vigil. Saturday was their first time at the annual event.

It was also a first for Abby Gow, her husband, Jimmy, and Jimmy’s mother, Ellen Gow, all members of St. Mary Parish.

“Everyone should know that all lives matter, even little babies’ lives,” Abby said. People think lives can be thrown away, she said, but they need to be protected.

Jimmy carried the one sign in the rosary procession, an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn.

Archbishop McGovern led the rosary. The congregation walked from the church a few blocks to the Bellevue abortion clinic, paused outside to pray and continued the prayer walk back to the church for the Adoration.

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