Respect Life Month

For some decades now our USA bishops have asked us to bring both our awareness and prayer to the intention of the month of October: Respect for Life.  The late Blessed John Paul II said often in his many visits to our country that we live in a culture of death.  Mother Teresa (now Blessed Teresa of Calcutta) referred to the USA as the poorest nation on earth because of the way we disregard life.  

Just take a moment to think about their comments.  We supposedly solve problems with death solutions.  Abortion is our solution for an unwanted or inconvenient pregnancy.  We use euthanasia on the elderly and seriously ill.  We use Capital punishment on criminals thinking that will solve our crime problems. War seems to be the way to negotiate with our enemies.  Both murder and suicide are common in our culture: more common than we think.  Remember, also, that divorce is a death of a marriage.  Even of our entertainment is a death rehearsal with violence on television and games of destruction that amuse us.

Let us not forget the disrespect for life that comes with domestic violence, better called domestic warfare.  The rate of child abuse is very high in New Mexico.  Our state ranks in the bottom of care for children and their education.  There is a darkness in our culture that as Christians we must address with prayer, truth, and courage.

Those who destroy their young are barbaric.  We are an uncivilized people who kill both unborn and elderly.  Pope Benedict XVI said many times that what our world needs is a healthy secularism. He was not even talking about faith; he was talking humanism.  This means that even an atheist or agnostic would have a sense of respect for all human life, the life of the planet and, an agenda of stewardship. 

This Respect for Life month is not something separate from our faith.  Respect for life is our life.  Respect for life is our faith.  When we become comfortable in a culture of death, we have become creatures who no longer reflect in our Creator.

Our culture is a culture of comfort and convenience.  We are a “throw-away” people.  We often hit the delete button on life itself.  When everything around us is disposable, it is easy to see how everyBODY  can also become disposable. 

This is a month of prayer that hopefully will bring us to the truths of who we are, how we were made, and the integrity to live a life of virtue.  We are light to many darkened spaces.  Being respectful in a disrespectful environment is the gospel we live today.  We have many truths needing to be heard in a world of lies.