Pastor's Corner
Respect Life Sunday
10-06-2024Pastor's CornerFr. Bob DeehanThis weekend we celebrate Respect Life Sunday, which begins Respect Life Month. The U.S. bishops have affirmed that, while it is important to address all the ways in which human life is threatened, “abortion remains our pre-eminent priority as it directly attacks our most vulnerable brothers and sisters, destroying more than a million lives each year in our country alone.”
As Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the ‘culture of death’ and the ‘culture of life’. …we are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life.” In the face of challenges such as abortion and physician-assisted suicide, among other attacks against the life and dignity of the human person, we may feel that we are not equal to the task of overcoming the darkness. Yet, we are not alone. Jesus tells us, “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). I invite you to pray this prayer to invoke Jesus’ power to transform hearts and minds to give due regard for all life, from the moment of conception to natural death.
A Prayer for Life to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
O Jesus, you came that we might have life— and have it in abundance.
Together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, you form us in our mothers' wombs and call us to love you for all eternity.
As your most precious gift of human life is attacked, draw us ever closer to your Real Presence in the Eucharist.
Dispel the darkness of the culture of death, for you are the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.
By the power of your Eucharistic Presence, help us to defend the life of every human person at every stage.
Transform our hearts to protect and cherish all whose lives are most vulnerable.
For you are God, forever and ever. Amen.