From the time we are knit together in our mothers’ wombs until we take our final breaths, each moment of our lives is a gift from God. While every season of life brings its own challenges and trials, each season also gives us new opportunities to grow in our relationship with God.
Today the gift of life is threatened in countless ways. Those who are most vulnerable, rather than receiving the protection they deserve, are all too often seen as a burden and as expendable. As new attacks on human life continue to emerge, we can be tempted to despair, but Christ instead offers us unfailing hope.
Hope is not false optimism or empty positivity. Christian hope is something much more profound and goes to the very depths of our identity as followers of Christ.
Hope is the virtue “by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1817).
Like us, Christ entered the world through the womb of a woman. He willingly experienced the fullness of human suffering. He breathed his last on the Cross at Calvary in order that He might save us. Therefore, “God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end” (“Spe salvi,” 31).
Christians know “they have a future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness” (“Spe salvi,” 2).
For this reason, a woman experiencing a difficult pregnancy can find the strength to welcome her precious child into the world. A man facing a terminal diagnosis can see that the end of his earthly life is only the beginning of eternal life with Christ.
The Church teaches us that “the one who has hope lives differently” (“Spe salvi,” 2). Christ’s promise of salvation does not mean that we will be spared from suffering. Rather, the promise of salvation ensures that even in the darkest moments of our lives, we will be given the strength to persevere. By virtue of this Christian hope, we can face any challenge or trial. When the seas of life swell and we are battered by the waves, hope allows us to remain anchored in the heart of God. May we hold fast to Christ our hope, from the beginning of life to its very end.
— USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities
‘Christ Our Hope: In every season of life’
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‘Christ Our Hope: In every season of life’
The Problem
Watching the news and reading the headlines, we may feel helpless seeing the heartbreaking lack of respect for human life. How do we respond when our efforts seem small in the face of the culture of death?
Our Christian Identity
To understand more fully how to defend and protect human life, we must first consider who we are, at the deepest level. God creates us in His image and likeness, which means we are made to be in loving relationship with Him. The essence of our identity and worth, the source of our dignity, is that we are loved by God: “We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son.” (John Paul II, homily for the 17th World Youth Day 2002)
We are called to divine intimacy, true communion with God, and we can grow in this closeness with Him through daily prayer, reading the Scriptures, and frequent participation in the sacraments, especially confession and the Eucharist.
Our Mission as Christians
The knowledge and realization of how deeply we are loved by God elicits a response of love that simultaneously draws us closer to God and, at the same time, impels us to share His love with others.
Embracing a relationship with God means following in His footsteps, wherever He may call. Just as Jesus invited St. Peter and St. Andrew to become His disciples, He invites us to do the same: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4:19).
Being a disciple of Jesus naturally includes sharing the Gospel with others and inviting them into a deeper relationship with God. As Christians, our identity and our mission are two sides of the same coin; like the apostles, we are called to be missionary disciples.
Missionary Discipleship
This doesn’t necessarily mean quitting our jobs or moving to foreign countries. For most of us, our mission field is daily life: “Christ teaches us how to evangelize, how to invite people into communion with Him, and how to create a culture of witness: namely, through love. A Christian life lived with charity and faith is the most effective form of evangelization.” (USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, “Disciples Called to Witness: The New Evangelization,” 2012)
The first step towards living this life is allowing Jesus to meet and transform us daily. If we respond to His grace, our lives will show we have something beyond what the world offers: we follow a person whose love changes our lives, so we want others to also experience His transforming love.
When we live in union with God, open to His prompting, we’re more able to see the opportunities for witness and His guidance in responding to these opportunities. We may fear doing the wrong thing or saying the wrong thing, but we do not need to be afraid. Jesus promised His disciples, “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20).Identity Crisis
As a society and as individuals, we often measure ourselves by false standards: by what and how much we do, our successes or failures, how others treat us, the degree of our pleasure or independence, etc. And when these changeable substitutes prove to be insufficient, or when we are faced with challenges and suffering, we may feel helpless, alone, or abandoned; we may be tempted to feel as though our lives have decreased value or worth.
But God’s love – individual, real, unchanging –is the true source of our worth, identity and dignity. It really is not a question of who we are, but rather whose we are. Because His love will never change, nothing can reduce our God-given dignity, and nothing can diminish the immeasurable worth of our lives.
Our Response
When someone is facing great trials, we need to meet them where they are, walk with them on their journey, intercede for them, and be open to sharing Christ’s love however He directs.
When a woman becomes pregnant, and her boyfriend threatens to leave if she continues the pregnancy, we need to lovingly walk with her. When family members or friends become seriously ill, we need to assure them that God still offers them something in this life, and they still have purpose. We need to consistently be with them every step of the way.
Sometimes our actions speak for themselves; other times, words are needed. Whatever the situation, Jesus knows how to speak to each person’s heart; we simply need to follow where He leads.
A Culture of Life
This is how we answer our missionary call. This is how we build a culture of life, a culture that joyfully proclaims the truth of God’s love, purpose and plan for each person. Changing the culture is a process of conversion that begins in our own hearts and includes a willingness to be instructed and a desire to be close to Jesus – the source of joy and love.
When we encounter Christ, experience His love, and deepen our relationship with Him, we become more aware of our own worth and that of others. His love for each person is cause for great joy, and growing understanding of this priceless treasure motivates us to share His love with others. Our lives are often changed by the witness of others; so too, others’ lives may be changed by our witness and authentic friendship with them.
Let us go, therefore, and not be afraid. God is always with us.
— Reprinted with permission from the 2019 Respect Life Program, USCCB. All rights reserved.A prayer for life
Father and maker of all, you adorn all creation with splendor and beauty, and fashion human lives in your image and likeness. Awaken in every heart reverence for the work of your hands, and renew among your people a readiness to nurture and sustain your precious gift of life. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.
— USCCB Celebrate Respect Life Month
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Celebrate Respect Life Month
CHARLOTTE — Catholics in the Diocese of Charlotte will join millions of others around the United States in celebrating the month of October as Respect Life Month. This year’s theme is “Christ Our Hope: In Every Season of Life.”
Respect Life Month is sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Pro-Life Activities, and includes observing the first Sunday of October as Respect Life Sunday.
As Catholics, we are called to cherish, defend and protect those who are most vulnerable, from the beginning of life to its end, and at every point in between. During the month of October, the Church asks us to reflect more deeply on the dignity of every human life.
“The theme this year ‘Christ Our Hope: In Every Season of Life’ reminds us not only of our duty to be followers of Christ in all that we do but specifically to follow Christ and be the voice for those who are vulnerable in every season of their lives from conception until natural death,” says Jessica Grabowski, Respect Life program director for the Diocese of Charlotte.
A Respect Life Conference will be held Saturday, Oct. 5, at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Paul Scherz, a theologian at The Catholic University of America who focuses on bioethics.
The day will also include sessions on poor prenatal diagnosis, dignity at the beginning of life, end-of-life issues, chemical abortions and abortion pill reversal, ground-breaking abortion research, and an opportunity to network with local pro-life ministries and organizations.
The day begins with a Mass at 9 a.m. and includes breakfast refreshments and lunch.
“The Respect Life Conference is a unique event to the diocese of Charlotte and is a wonderful way to learn more about pro-life work and stay ahead of the game in the fight for life,” Grabowski notes. “It is also encouraging to spend a day of prayer and learning with so many other pro-life advocates and network with pro-life groups and organizations from around the diocese.”
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter. USCCB contributed.