I originally wrote this post back in 2016 for a blog I no longer post on, but I feel like it is an even more relevant and important issue today than it was then. Things have only gotten worse, unfortunately, and I feel that this needs to be said more than ever.
The last time I was at the grocery store, I got this strange feeling that there was something missing.  It took me a little while to put my finger on what it was, but eventually it hit me.  Look though I may, there wasn't a single baby to be found in the whole store...people rushed around buying things and visiting, but amidst the all the noise of conversation and music blaring over the speakers, there was none of the usual sounds of children talking or even crying.  It made me so inexpressibly sad when I realized this; our culture is so anti-child, and I knew it was only a matter of time before we came to this, but I still find it hard to accept that a baby in public is now a rare and unusual sight.  Even those parents who do have young children usually have them put in daycare and school before they're even able to walk, getting them out of sight where they cannot embarrass or inconvenience their parents' lives, or interfere with their careers.  Even at Mass, if a child makes noise or cries, everyone becomes irritated with both the parents and the child, and I have even heard people complain that the parents should keep the children home until they're old enough to know how to be quiet in Mass.  This makes me so angry every time I hear comments like these, because I know one day there may not be any more children left for them to complain about...at the rate of abortions happening every year, not to mention the unbelievable amount of couples who use birth control, it is a horrifying, but very real prospect ahead of us.  We are literally trying to annihilate ourselves! No one even seems to realize the gravity of this situation; everyone is far too worried about finding their Pokemon and not offending anyone to notice we are very rapidly heading towards the extinction of the human race on purpose! As Catholics and, frankly, as human beings this should not just trouble us, it should deeply frighten us, because it just goes to show how much our world has fallen away from God, and how terrible His wrath is against us.  Children are one of God's greatest blessing, meant to be the fruit of the love between a man and woman in the sacrament of marriage.  Those who are blessed with children have been given a noble and glorious task; the raising up of future soldiers of Christ and citizens of Heaven, but the devil has so twisted it in the minds of virtually everyone nowadays that seems to have turned into a mark of shame, and embarrassment.  Second to the Church, the Family is the greatest force against the legions of hell, created expressly to be a unit of Grace against the world and satan, to pass the Faith down through generations and keep the love of God burning throughout the centuries till the end of time.  The forces of evil knew what they were doing when they attacked the family; without Catholic families, there are no more future soldiers to defend the Faith and no more souls to populate Heaven.  To me, the sound of a baby crying is music to my ears; it means that somewhere there is still some innocence left in this messed up, sinful world of ours, somewhere there is a small, perfect little being who is unaware of the horrible forces denying his right to even exist, somewhere there is a child who depends entirely upon the rest of us for survival and love, and when I hear the sound of a child, I always thank God for one more soul who was allowed to survive and have a chance to inherit eternal happiness, unlike so, so many poor unborn innocents who are torn apart in their mothers' wombs, by the very people who have the ultimate responsibility to protect and love them.
Our Lady Mother of God, pray for us and the unborn!
