Marching for Life: Holding Out Hope

This is the last of a series of mini-reflections on Friday's March for Life in Washington, D.C., provided by one of the young participants in the march, Makena Clawson.

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“Can we honestly say that we're doing enough to keep our children — all of them — safe from harm?” President Obama asked during the Sandy Hook Prayer Vigil just over a month ago.

No, Mr. President, we can’t.

One man carried a sign during Friday’s March for Life with part of this speech on it. He commented on the irony of this statement considering the unborn children who are left unprotected. 

Protecting our children means protecting our future children, the marchers demonstrated through their long trek in freezing temperatures.

That same marcher said he prays for the president. On Friday’s feast of the conversion of St. Paul, he believes anything is possible for God.

The March doesn’t always fall on St. Paul’s Conversion day because this feast is Jan. 25, while the anniversary of Roe v. Wade is Jan. 22. This year, the date was moved because of the inauguration of Obama’s second term earlier in the week. This detail provided inspiration for marchers to hope in God’s promises.

Anything is possible for God, and President Obama’s conversion on the issue of abortion is not unlikely, considering St. Paul’s 180-shift after persecuting Christians.

It’s not always easy to hope in God. But if God promises to do the unimaginable and seemingly impossible, how can we doubt him?

How can we fail to hope for our president’s conversion to life and an end to abortion in our generation?

We don’t march to just make a point. We march to do something about our children who are not safe from harm. We march because we do hold out hope that things will change.  We march because we believe God can do the impossible.

We march to see an end to abortion in our lifetime. 

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Makena Clawson is a sophomore at Benedictine College in Atchinson, Kansas, majoring in Spanish and journalism. She is from Denver, Colorado.