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<\/a><\/p>\nLast week, millions around the world were shocked to hear that an American hunter had gunned down a beloved lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe.<\/strong><\/p>\n But there is another important story that also attracted attention, though it didn\u2019t spark as much media coverage or outrage. But it should have.<\/p>\n I\u2019m speaking of the undercover videos involving Planned Parenthood\u2014showing how workers there have been killing the unborn and harvesting their tissue for sale. The videos are horrific and upsetting. They\u2019ve prompted\u00a0renewed debate in Washington about the funding of Planned Parenthood. \u00a0Some have even called the videos a tipping point in the pro-life movement, one that could permanently change public perception about abortion.<\/p>\n Like many around the world, the writer Kathryn Jean Lopez watched those videos and she felt something had to be done, that there needed to be a Catholic response. She decided to use the most powerful weapon at our disposal: prayer. Kathryn put together a Holy Hour at St. Vincent Ferrer in Manhattan and contacted as many people as she could, and said if you are in New York, and can make it, please be there. If not, try to join us in prayer anyway.<\/p>\n She got a remarkable reaction. The word was spread on Facebook and Twitter. Many who could not be there in person said they would be there in prayer, joining from different time zones.<\/p>\n St. Vincent Ferrer is just a short walk from my office. So I went. I wasn\u2019t prepared for what I would experience\u2014or how powerfully that experience\u00a0would speak to me of the gospel we just heard.<\/p>\n At 3 o\u2019clock Friday afternoon, there we were: a small group, a couple dozen of us, gathered in an un- air conditioned church on a hot July afternoon to sit in silence and pray. Outside the church doors, people were heading to the Hamptons, or dragging their suitcases to the train station to start vacations, or hailing taxis to head home. But we were there, in that vast, darkened church, kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament.<\/p>\n A Dominican priest named Fr. Aquinas presided. He read the gospel of St. Luke, and the account of the Visitation, with the beautiful words of the Magnificat. And he reminded us that one of the great themes of the Magnificat\u00a0is mercy\u2014God\u2019s mercy for those he loves. Pray, Fr. Aquinas\u00a0said, for all the women recovering from abortions, all those considering abortion, all those involved in the abortion industry. Pray for mercy. Pray for healing.<\/p>\n A few moments later, as I looked up at the host in the monstrance, to my surprise the words of St. John\u2019s gospel came flooding back to me. And it was all so clear.<\/p>\n \u201cI am the bread of life.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u00a0it was, before me.<\/p>\n It all came down to this: a sliver of bread behind a piece of glass. This\u00a0presence, this Real Presence, changed everything. It changes<\/em> everything\u2026for everyone.<\/p>\n Friday, in silence, the presence of Christ in that monstrance spoke volumes. At the end of a week consumed by death, it stood before us proclaiming life.<\/p>\n \u201cI am the bread of life.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The readings from St. John\u2019s gospel that\u00a0we\u2019re encountering right now are often called the \u201cBread of Life discourse.\u201d It started with the feeding of the five thousand last weekend. \u00a0In the gospel today, we see the aftershocks of that miracle: we find people seeking out Jesus, looking for him, trying to understand what happened. Over the next couple of weeks, we\u2019ll hear more questions and more answers about what happened \u2014and those answers won\u2019t always be what Christ\u2019s followers want to hear.<\/p>\n Some of his disciples\u00a0didn\u2019t realize that this miracle was, like all of his\u00a0miracles, a sign\u2014one that even now points to something greater, to SOMEONE greater.<\/p>\n The beautiful message here is that Christ\u00a0does more than just provide food for those\u00a0who want a meal.<\/p>\n He feeds all who hunger\u2014in every way.<\/p>\n Friday afternoon at St. Vincent\u2019s, I found myself thinking\u00a0of those who are living with the aftermath of abortion\u2014who hunger for forgiveness and healing.<\/p>\n There are those who hunger for compassion and dignity.<\/p>\n Others\u00a0hunger for a way out or a way forward\u2014and still others\u00a0hunger, very simply, for love.<\/p>\n To all of them\u2014to all of us\u2014Christ says: stop.<\/strong> Stop searching. Stop doubting. Stop fearing the future or regretting your past. Come to me and your search is over. Your hunger will end.<\/p>\n Because \u201cI am\u00a0the bread of life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n This morning, as we come forward for communion\u2014hands outstretched to receive that bread in a most intimate and tangible\u00a0way\u2014let us pray.<\/p>\n Pray for all who are in pain. Pray for those who are suffering because of abortion. Pray, as Fr. Aquinas said, for mercy and for healing. Pray for those who are quietly working to transform the culture of death into one of life.<\/p>\n If there is some good that will come out of the horror of these Planned Parenthood videos, it is that more people are finally awakening to the brutality of abortion\u2014brutality that goes on around us every day\u2014and more will now want to see it end.<\/p>\n Friday afternoon, we concluded our Holy Hour with Benediction. Here at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, our Benediction always includes a well-known prayer before communion, composed in part from the words of St. Augustine. I want to leave you with these words before we receive communion today.<\/p>\n