When I arrived to pray last week, the flag that flew a couple feet away from the abortion clinic struck me. I had never seen it lowered before! Immediately I thought, “Someone died.” This was the end of the day and end of abortions here this week. Many had died in the shadow of the flag. Should this flag ever fly high?

After that moment it registered that this flag had been lowered for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Not being too involved with politics, I’m embarrassed to admit that I knew nothing of him till his death.

The articles I had read about him in the past couple days described a man of great character who steadfastly stood for the Constitution to be interpreted literally as it was originally intended. Justice Scalia’s decisions were not based on his personal political views, “The judge who always likes the results he reaches is a bad judge,” he had said.

He had to make decisions about abortion law during his time serving on the Supreme Court. Justice Scalia believed that abortion was an issue of democratic choice.

The lowered flag struck me again. It was lowered for a great man who had in the court of law “lowered the flag” on the current state of legal abortion, declaring it unconstitutional. In the case of partial birth abortion the Justice declared, “The method of killing a human child-one cannot even accurately say an entirely unborn human child-proscribed by this statute is so horrible that the most clinical description of it evokes a shudder of revulsion. . . .”

To honor Justice Scalia and highlight his views on this critical issue, I created this YouTube video: Honoring Justice Scalia

Thank you Lord for Justice Scalia’s devotion to you and to upholding the Constitution. I pray you grant the current Justices wisdom to guide this nation. Lord have mercy on us. Turn our hearts back to our children. May we not forsake any effort to meet the needs of families who struggle to choose life.

Here is a link to the Mass held for Justice Scalia on February 20, 2016.