Cantate Domino

Yesterday marked the 8th annual Walk for Life West Coast event in San Francisco. It was simply a rally where we could all come together on a common issue: that life is precious from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. It was not meant to be confrontational, though there were a few pro-abortion supports there to voice their opposition. Still, given the fact that there were well over 50,000 supporters of the pro-life movement, perhaps we simply had numbers on our side… not that the public at large would know about it.

The San Francisco Chronicler merely mentioned it as an afterthought on page 3 of section C of Sunday’s paper with a picture and a caption that consumed less than a 16th of the page. The major television network affiliates did a bit more, but not much. You would think that an event that shut down Market Street—the busiest street in San Francisco for over an hour, with zero cross traffic (the march was void of temporary breaks to alleviate the traffic), that it would have garnered more attention. It is this kind of filtering of real news that gives rise to whether or not the press is manipulating other mainstream issues and events as well.

Still, it is one of the few times a year that so many religious congregations, priests and deacons, and laity of all walks join together in a common cause. It is by no means a party given the seriousness of the issues. But it is also a time where people can see that there are others out there who have religious convictions—and where the religious are a visible sign. It’s a great witness and one that people look forward to all year.

The Bay area for the last two months has been dry as a bone. We’ve been praying for rain so as to avoid drought conditions this summer. So when a few strong storms came along we got a little nervous. While we still wanted rain, it would seriously dampen (pun intended) the Walk.

Well, what did happen was nothing short of miraculous. It rained buckets all the way up to Saturday (the day of the Walk), with even a few sprinkles in the morning. And then we were granted beautiful weather with clouds and even patches of sunshine… and not a few soggy lawns to remind us that we were in a rainy lull. Sunday, the day after, Mother Nature started it all up again. Thanks be to God…