Marching for Life

Pray for our brothers and sisters today, who are taking part in the March for Life in Washington, D.C. and other marches throughout the nation. May they be joyful witnesses to the dignity of every human life, and may they warm the hearts of those who are indifferent to the evils of abortion. 

To You Do We Entrust The Cause of Life

O Mary, 
bright dawn of the new world, 
Mother of the living, 
to you do we entrust the cause of life 
Look down, O Mother, 
upon the vast numbers 
of babies not allowed to be born, 
of the poor whose lives are made difficult, 
of men and women 
who are victims of brutal violence, 
of the elderly and the sick killed 
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.

Grant that all who believe in your Son 
may proclaim the Gospel of life 
with honesty and love 
to the people of our time.

Obtain for them the grace 
to accept that Gospel 
as a gift ever new, 
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude 
throughout their lives 
and the courage to bear witness to it 
resolutely, in order to build, 
together with all people of good will, 
the civilization of truth and love, 
to the praise and glory of God, 
the Creator and lover of life.

-Blessed John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae

A People for Life

Then God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground.”

God created man in his image;

in the divine image he created him;

male and female he created them.

             …God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good (Gn 1:26-31).

The dignity of the human person is there, in our Creation Story. Man and woman were created to be like God and to be with God; to have rule over all the Earth. This divine worth is shared among all humans, of every race, tongue, and age. As Blessed John Paul II said in his 1995 address to the United Nations, “Each and every human person has been created in the ‘image and likeness’ of the One who is the origin of all that is.”

The inherent dignity of every human person is especially important to remember in America today, as we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  In the face of deep-seated hatred and racism, Martin Luther King, Jr. changed this nation with a dream: that America would one day be “a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.”

He peacefully stood with his brothers, preaching the divine worth and equality of every human person, no matter what color or race. He was murdered for this vision, but his witness lives on and continues to change hearts throughout the world. 

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of equality is something we must continue to fight for. Tomorrow, January 22, marks the 40^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in America. Millions of unborn children have been murdered in their mothers’ wombs over the last 40 years. Each day, babies continue to lose their lives to the culture of death.

Prayer, Penance and Pilgrimage for Life

January 22 marks the 40^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in America.  Beginning today, the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling on American Catholics to participate in Nine Days of Prayer, Penance, and Pilgrimage for the healing and conversion of elected officials who support abortion and people whose lives have been changed by abortion. The novena ends on January 27.

See their site for more information, and remember to pray for those pilgrims who will participate in Marches for Life throughout the nation this coming Friday. 

Death Battles Against Life

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Holy Innocents, remembering those children who died in Christ’s stead during Herod’s persecution (see Matt 2:16-18). 

Blessed John Paul II reminds us that Innocents still see death each day in the modern world:

This marvelous world – so loved by the Father that he sent his only Son for its salvation (Cfr. Io 3,17) – is the theater of a never – ending battle being waged for our dignity and identity as free, spiritual beings. This struggle parallels the apocalyptic combat…Death battles against Life: a "culture of death" seeks to impose itself on our desire to live, and live to the full. There are those who reject the light of life, preferring "the fruitless works of darkness" (Eph 5,11). Their harvest is injustice, discrimination, exploitation, deceit, violence. In every age, a measure of their apparent success is the death of the Innocents. In our own century, as at no other time in history, the "culture of death" has assumed a social and institutional form of legality to justify the most horrible crimes against humanity: genocide, "final solutions", "ethnic cleansings", and the massive "taking of lives of human beings even before they are born, or before they reach the natural point of death…"

            -Blessed John Paul II, Homily at Cherry Creek State Park, WYD Denver 1993

Let us pray for an end to abortion in the Americas, and let us pray especially for the people of Ireland, that they may be strong in their resistance to the legalization of abortion in their country.

Oh Holy Innocents, who fight for us now as a white-robed army of children, pray for us, that we may be given grace enough to build a Culture of Life!

Serving with Truth

The Pope’s missionary intention for July is that “Christian volunteers in mission territories may witness to the love of Christ.”

The United Nations declared 2001 the International Year of Volunteers, and on this occasion Blessed John Paul II expressed his gratitude for all of those who dedicate their lives to the poor. He said:

Thanks to the many forms of solidarity and of service that they promote and make concrete, volunteer workers make society more attentive to the dignity of the human person and his/her many expectations.

… Dear Brothers and Sisters, who make up this "army" of peace spread over the face of the earth, you are a sign of hope for our times. Wherever situations of hardship and suffering appear, make bear fruit the hidden resources of dedication, goodness and heroism in the heart of the human person.

Making myself the spokesman for the poor everywhere, I want to say "thank you' for your steadfast dedication.

In his message, the late Pope explained why it is that volunteers dedicate their lives to others. It is “the innate movement of the heart,” he said, “that inspires every human being to help his fellow man.” Have you ever felt that rush of joy after helping someone in need? Well that is natural, John Paul II said, because it is in giving that we reach perfect fulfillment.

That “good feeling” is not why we serve, though. We serve because Jesus did when He walked the earth, and we serve because God calls us to do the same. We serve because the fruits of our charity bring justice and peace to mankind, and we serve because every human person deserves to be loved. We serve because our charity is a form of evangelization, introducing others to Christ.