Fight Your Battles in a State of Grace!

A religious sister and former U.S. Army colonel known for her bold pro-life witness is calling on Christians to better discern and fight the battle for life by staying in a state of grace.

Sister Deirdre Byrne, POSC, exhorted listeners at the TFP Washington Bureau to follow the example of St. Joan of Arc, who put a high priority on making sure her soldiers “maintained purity, which means being in a state of grace,” she said.

She told how St. Joan would seek out “confession and Holy Communion” for her soldiers and wanted “no girlfriends” for them “in case they were killed in battle, and that sword went in their chest … Joan would feel like her soldiers had gone to our Lord.”

Asked by a British canon lawyer if she was in a state of grace in an attempt to find fault with her, Joan replied, “Lord, if I’m in the state of grace, please keep me there. And Lord, if I’m not in a state of grace, please put me there,” Sr. Deirdre said.

Sister Deirdre underscored the importance of aspiring to this purity of soul “before we help others,” comparing the reasons for this with those airlines use to advise people to put their own oxygen mask on first.

She shared how when she first heard this advice from a flight attendant she thought it was “kind of selfish,” but went on to realize it is “the most important thing you can do,” since “then you can help everybody else because you can breathe.”

“That’s similar to our spiritual life. Also, we have to seek holiness with humility,” she went on.

By being in the state of grace, we can more easily see God’s will for us as pro-life warriors, for the salvation of all souls. If we’re not in the state of grace. It’s like our lens are smudged, they’re dirty. And that’s where we make a mad dash to confession and ask for absolution from our Lord through persona Christi,” said Sister Deirdre, referring to the priest acting in the Person of Christ.

Sister Deirdre, who is best known for her knockout pro-life speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention, described the issue of abortion as “ground zero,” from which other modern evils flow.

“So what is that rippling? That is transgender ideology, contraception, the destruction of families, fatherless families, euthanasia, the production of so-called vaccines used by innocent children that were aborted,” she said.

She pointed out earlier in her talk that Roe v. Wade has “rip[ped] the lives” not only of the “over 50 million souls” killed through abortion but of “100 million other souls” — the babies’ mothers and fathers, “who made deadly choices, literally deadly choices.”

Despite the overturn of Roe v. Wade, “the fight to save all lives is not over,” Sister Deirdre said, “but rather we have a new chapter. It’s at the state level. It is still a battle to change hearts one soul at a time.”

For example, in her area of D.C., there remain third trimester abortionists who “fly people in” and “actually have fundraisers” to enable people to get third trimester abortions.

“We have a lot of work to do to defend life because we currently have the most pro-abortion president in our history,” she continued.

Sister Deirdre quoted Fr. Ed Meeks, who “put it so beautifully last October”:

They and their party have declared war on the unborn. And for those who speak or defend the life of the unborn and their mothers, they, the left, are working endlessly to make abortion accessible all the way to the end of the third trimester. What is their motivation?” Meeks said.

He continued, “It is a demonically inspired obsession that sees abortion not only as a necessary evil, but really something desirable, almost [a] demonic sacrament from the left, which, after ending Roe v. Wade, has led to the vandalism of pregnancy centers throughout the United States, even targeting pro-lifers with early morning raids in their homes by the FBI agents.”

Sister Deirdre also pointed out that pro-lifers still need to fight prescriptions of abortion pills, which are now being given through telemedicine.

“This pill can only be given in the first trimester. I don’t know how you can tell that via telemedicine. This is not only dangerous. This is malpractice,” she said.

“This battle we face right now is not between Republicans, Democrats, conservatives or liberals, right or the left. No. This battle is [between] our dear Lord and the evil one, the devil,” she continued.

She advised her listeners, “Make it your daily mission to be in a state of grace so you can hear Christ more clearly and prepare yourself and those near you for our ultimate goal, which is eternity in Heaven.”

“As I always say, I’m not only pro-life, I’m pro-eternal life. I want everyone to be with us, but not everyone is going to go. There is a hell. It’s real. We don’t want that. We want to teach the faith and bring people closer to Christ.”