The Lives of Norma McCorvey and Michael Novak Testify to God’s Mercy

The Lives of Norma McCorvey and Michael Novak Testify to God’s Mercy April 10, 2017

I wrote this post for the National Catholic Register a while back. I’m going to be sharing things I’ve written for them with you all week.

Have a holy and blessed, Holy Week, my friends.

Photo Source: National Catholic Register
Photo Source: National Catholic Register

Two historic figures finished their race last week.

Norma McCorvey (who was the ‘Roe’ in Roe v. Wade) and Michael Novak (who was a theologian, author, ambassador and economist) crossed over from this life to the next. They are now in the hands of God.

It would be difficult to find two people who led more different lives. Norma McCorvey is remembered more for what she did wrong — and that unintentionally — than anything she accomplished. Michael Novak has a list of accomplishments as long as his 83 years. One was a glittering jewel in the Catholic Who’s Who. The other lived as much of her life a thing-person who was used far more than she was respected.

Their lives were very different, but they went to their particular judgments before the same Lord. All I know about their lives is that they followed Jesus, and that love abides.

I also know that Norma McCorvey and Michael Novak have finished one of the hardest jobs of work that we must do. They have died.

Dying is not easy. It is painful. It is, even on the face of it and aside from the sickness, injury or age that precedes it, hard to contemplate, hard to face, hard to do.

Dying strips of us everything we thought mattered and releases the chaff of our lives to the wind, to blow and scatter and come to naught. Dying places us, even before we leave this life, in front of the hard realities of our lives. We know that we are standing before eternity and we know that there is only One Who can sustain us as we walk the road away from life and into eternal life.

Dying is hard. But it is also an opportunity and a grace. If we have time, we can say our goodbyes, ask forgiveness of those we’ve hurt and find peace with God. The time and space of the dying process is a grace, a chance, to heal our souls and become really, deeply, eternally well.

I am glad for Norma McCorvey and Michael Novak. Their tale is told, their work is done. They have finished their race.

I am not writing this post for them, but for you. I want to remind you of three things:

(Read the rest here.)


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