A Labor Day Statement from recently incarcerated William Goodman
I am blessed to have a narrow 2-inch-long window by which to see the blue sky. Deo gratias. It’s Labor Day weekend, and it seems I am right where God wants me to be, even if it’s not so much where I wanted to be.
In some ways a jail cell is like a womb in that it is a place of confinement, hope and waiting. You are in the dark regarding all that’s happening in the world. Far away from the action. But you are close to God despite the times of feeling alone. It can be a place of life and growth. It may sound strange, but in some ways I feel closer to my persecuted preborn sisters and brothers here than almost anywhere (save maybe for in a church during the Liturgy or inside a fully operational killing facility).
The jail retreat makes you feel invisible to the world. Helpless and absent. Separated. Muted. It makes me mourn the many tens of thousands of little ones who die alone. And helpless. And separated. Their tiny cries muted. Dying at abortion chambers where all humanity is utterly absent.
These heavy thoughts haunt me constantly here. I am heartbroken over how tragically alone God’s children are inside these killing facilities. And yet, I am more convinced than ever for the need of rescue and this particular gift of self – which one offers to the perishing – as also a personal presence of peace and conscience to the parents at the last moment.
Rescue is a truthful witness of love, before love comes too late, with the hope that love will conquer selfishness and fear. It is also a witness of nonviolence in a place of awful violence. A witness to hope in the gallows of despair. Rescuers seek to join Christ the Divine Rescuer Who is the Light of Hope.
I suppose there’s a certain fittingness for rescuers to be incarcerated over Labor Day weekend. A witness of good against evil is our labor. And our small gift of loving reparation.
Will Goodman has been found guilt of conspiracy against rights and violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for blocking access to late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo’s Washington Surgi-Clinic in downtown Washington, D.C. in October 2020.
Peace of Jesus in the womb of Mary be with you.
© 2023 Patrick A. O’Donnell All Rights Reserved
