Dear Church,
This October the Catholic Church across the United States will observe Respect Life Month. This is a time when we are invited to renew our dedication to lifting up the inherent, God-given dignity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death. Certainly as we look back over the last year, with society proclaiming that everyone has a right (yet no one has a responsibility), with the constant promotion of the evil of abortion, and physician assisted suicide, there’s been a lot of uncertainty, suffering, and heartache. Between tragedies that occur in the public eye and trials that take place in our personal lives, there’s no shortage of reasons why we need to cry out to God. But we have an anchor of hope to cling to… God says to us, “Do not fear: I am with you” (Isaiah 41:10).
There are times we may doubt the value of our own lives or falter at the thought of welcoming and embracing the life of another. But… He makes all things beautiful. He makes all things new. He is the God of redemption, and that is what we hold onto.
As followers of Jesus Christ, ….we are called to be missionary disciples, called to become holy, to reach out to one another, especially the weak and vulnerable who need our daily prayers, our voices on their behalf to be heard, and for you and I to stand up for what is moral and true.. “To do God’s will until death, that is the inner heart of all holiness.”
~ Archbishop Fulton Sheen