(The following is the text of the homily given by Father Robert Kilner at the Youth Mass of Celebration and Thanksgiving for Life on Jan. 20, 2023 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., before the annual March for Life. Father Kilner serves as the administrator of Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Solomons, Maryland.)

 It is good to pray with so many young people here as witnesses to life, witnesses to the truth that every life matters. You are witnesses to the mercy of God, witnesses to the good that God does, the difference God makes when we are faithful. A witness is someone who tells the truth or shows the truth about something. When you stand up for life, when you pray, when you love the smallest among us, when you live holy purity respecting the bodies of others, when you defend the unborn, and when you invite others to the mercy of God, you tell the truth and show the world that every life matters. You make a difference.  

Now, we don’t always see the difference we make; we are not always aware of the difference that our love and prayer and sacrifice and courageous witness have in the world. We may even doubt that we could have any effect at all. We say, who am I to do great things? I’m too small! 

Church, I have a confession to make. Going to the March for Life year after year (I can remember sitting on my father’s shoulders at the march) since I was a kid, I started to doubt that we could make a difference. Oh, me of little faith. I forgot what great things God can and will do through little people like me and you. God has given us a great victory in the fight for life – the unjust and awful decision of Roe v. Wade has been overturned.  

So what now? Now we have a mission. We have a mission to continue to be witnesses to the truth that every life matters. Our mission is to save souls, our mission is to save babies, our mission is to help end abortion in our day. God can and will do this in us. God, we heard in our first reading, “will make you a light to the nations, that his salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”  

Pope Saint John Paul II said that our mission is to “imitate the Good Shepherd and give ourselves without rest for the salvation of souls… And souls are saved with prayer and sacrifice. This is the mission of the Church!” 

So, our response must be the response of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. We must have a passion for lost souls. We must, with the mercy of God, invite them back into the flock. When someone goes astray what does Jesus do? Does he count them as a loss? No! With love and mercy beyond expectation, he pursues that soul. He dies on the cross for them, he sacrifices for them. And finding that soul rejoices and brings them home. That is our mission: to bring people back home to God through prayer and sacrifice, and mercy.  

If the thought comes to you, that you are too small for this mission, that you could not possibly do such great things, then I want to tell you about another John Paul, who was a child, much smaller than you, but he helped save many souls. He shares a name with Saint John Paul II, John Paul the Great…  I like to call this other John Paul, John Paul the Small, and he is my nephew.  

My nephew John Paul was born very sick. He had a rare condition called spinal muscular atrophy, SMA. This prevented him from being able to move very well; it prevented him from ever being able to speak; it even made it very difficult for him to breathe. During my first year of seminary, I visited my brother, John Paul's father, with one of my fellow seminarians. We stopped by to spend some time with John Paul. And my friend, the seminarian, when he saw John Paul, didn't say a word. He just knelt in prayer beside John Paul's crib for at least 10 minutes. On the way back to seminary, I asked him why he did that. And he said he was “overcome with the sense that Jesus was in that room with us.” 

Saint Josemaria wrote: “In children and in the sick, a soul in love sees God.” John Paul helped my friend and me see the truth. The truth is another name for God… Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. John Paul told the truth that every human life is beautiful; he witnessed to the truth that every life matters, and it changed people’s lives. He made a difference.  

John Paul, my nephew, died when he was only 14 months old. Even though he never said a word, even though he couldn't even walk, even though he was small… he was a witness to the value of every life. His witness and his prayers have affected hundreds of souls. In the days and weeks after John Paul passed away, many people told our family that John Paul brought them back to Jesus, and that this little baby made all the difference, that the witness of his parents’ love convinced them to turn back to God. People still write to my family telling them that the witness of John Paul and how they love him helped them decide to keep their babies, brought them back to Confession, brought them back to the God who loves us.  

That is the power that a child has. That is the power that any humble person has. That is the power that you have. Jesus says whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  

So now we have a mission, to pray and to be witnesses. First, pray and be confident that God can and will do great things. Second, witness. Witness to the truth that every life matters. Witness by the way you love your family, and especially the smallest most helpless around you. Witness by your holy purity and respect for others. Witness by your words in defense of the unborn. Witness to God’s mercy, inviting everyone back to the joy of Confession. If you do, you will, with the help of God, save souls, you will save babies, and you will make a difference.

And let’s not forget that we have the support of the entire Church, especially those who already are triumphant in heaven. Saint John Paul II, pray for us! 

Saint John Paul the Small, pray for us! 

All holy men and women, saints of God, Pray for us!

Amen.