Today is Respect Life Sunday based on Pope St. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (The Gospel of Life) held every October to reaffirm the value and inviolability of every human life and to appeal to all people to respect, protect, love and serve every human life.
St. Luke’s Gospel and both readings question the strength of our faith when it comes to social justice issues as addressed in The Gospel of Life. Faith is about trusting in God, believing that what is promised will be fulfilled. For us, that is the gift of eternal life, as long as we follow the ways of the Lord as He has taught since the beginning of creation. How we translate that into action is the crux of whether we have aligned ourselves with God and all His promises.
Our Catholic faith tells us that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death and is to be respected and protected absolutely. When we discuss Respect Life we usually refer to abortion and suicide. In the state of California, a soman is protected by the law to have an abortion. The same is for anyone committing suicide, but it is a felony for anyone who assists someone who commits suicide.
Based on United States statistics from 2024, there wee 15.4 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. Though that is down once percent from 2023, it was a seven percent increase over 2020 which included medicated abortions.
In a statement on September 18 of this year, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, and Chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said: “The life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation of our hope. Through Christ, our sins are forgiven, death is overcome and life is victorious.” This year, respect life is including immigration in regards to mistreatment in an environment of aggression and political and ideological violence inflicted against unsuspected victims.
Since the Supreme Court abolished abortion rights under Roe vs. Wade, the outcry has come from women as to their reproductive rights. Women in the Catholic Church to whom I have talked with are against abortion, but they seek more support in the areas of control as it affects their own body. The real controversy is about “who” is making the choice for women and not the actual laws. They understand that this is a mix of Church and State and in that they can respect the Catholic Church’s position of protecting life at all costs; since everyone has a right to their opinion. From their viewpoint, it is more about the right versus the left and not the prochoice versus pro-life movement.
This year because it is the Jubilee Year of Hope, the United States USCCB is supporting two outreach organizations during the month of October: Walking with Moms that helps parishes and communities to be a friend and support for pregnant and newly parenting women; and Project Rachel Ministry that provides post-abortion healing for baptized persons who feel called by God to be a sign of hope in the world today.
Let us take this month of October to better understand how we can support Respect Life not only in the area against abortion and suicide, but let us reach out to those immigrants who might be facing deportation to be prepared with their federal documentation and how to speak with federal agents to protect themselves from physical harm. This can be our way of trusting in God to ensure we have align ourselves with God and His promises.
Reading 1: Hebrews 1:2 – 3,
2:2 – 4
Psalm 95:1 – 2, 6 – 9
Reading 2: 2 Timothy 1:6 – 8,
13 – 14
Gospel: Luke 17:5 - 10
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