Respect Life Month

Today is the feast day of dear St. Therese of Lisieux (of course, since it's a Sunday this year, the weekly solemnity of the Lord's Day means that at Mass this morning you celebrated the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time instead...). Hard to believe that it's only a little over a year ago that I was actually in Lisieux! It was such a blessing to be there, I give thanks today for St. Therese and her Little Way of God's love.

I always think that it is fitting that Therese, the one who desired nothing more than to be the littlest so as to be held by God more closely, introduces us to October - the month the Church in America observes as Respect Life month.

No amount of good social policy, such as programs that feed the hungry and shelter the homeless – as vitally important as they are – can make up for bad policies concerning the protection of life itself. Without the fundamental right to live, the right to not be killed, no other rights are meaningful. In fact, without life no other rights can exist.
- from this year's USCCB Respect Life flyer

Take a moment this month to do something for the pro-life movement, especially if you have never taken that step before. Not only is there the ongoing needs of your local pro-life clinics and care centers that you could help with (even by simply dropping off a few bags of diapers!), but with the elections fast approaching there is also urgent need to get out the vote! As we are reminded in that same Respect Life flyer, it is up to Catholic laypeople to participate directly in public life, helping to enact laws and policies that respect the lives of all, especially those who have no voice—unborn children, human embryos targeted for destructive research, and those who are cognitively impaired, disabled or dying.

"Who is my mother and my bretheren?" - Jesus didn't ask that question rhetorically, He asked it to give us thought as to our responsibilities as children of God - who are our mothers and our bretheren?

St. Therese, pray for us, and for all the tiny ones beloved of God who are in danger of death by our complacency - whether they are tiny preborn babies in the womb, or our small and fragile elderly and infirm. Pray for us that we may be strengthened in resolve to stand up for life and to act with love.