Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In this month’s issue of Columbia, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly states that:
This is a hopeful year for all of us who cherish the dignity of human life. For Christians, hope is not just a feeling. It is a reality of our existence, rooted in Christ’s resurrection. Hope, or the lack of it, is also a driving factor behind the sad reality of abortion. Many women whom make that tragic choice do so out of despair. For this reason, protecting life depends on providing hope to women in need. Imagine a future in which every woman has the freedom, care and resources she needs to choose life; where mothers and children have the care they need to thrive.
While reading Supreme Knight Kelly’s inspiring words I was also reminded of Reverend Sylvester Beaman’s words on behalf of our nation in the final benediction at the Presidential Inauguration almost one year ago, praying that “we will become a beacon of life to the world.”
By our very nature, we Christians strive to be “a beacon for life to the world,” bearing witness to a “hope that does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5) as we seek to promote, by our words, our prayers, and our actions a “culture of life,” recognizing “’the truth that each human being is endowed with inherent human dignity and is a gift to our world regardless of age, race, gender, or disability (https://marchforlife.org/equality/).”
We proudly defend the truth of our Catholic faith: that life begins at conception, and the dignity and sanctity of human life must be reverenced, honored and protected at every stage of life until natural death. We celebrate the truth that God has breathed each of us into existence. We pause to meditate on this mystery: that all of us were made for life. The 2022 March for Life theme, “equality begins in the womb,” reminds us that all human rights, justice and liberty, rest on the foundational right of being born, and created in the image and likeness of God. Bearing witness to a consistent ethic of life we passionately advocate that ProLife also means creating a world in which all life can flourish with equal opportunity, where all people have access to adequate nutrition, a clean and healthy environment in which to live, education, health care, family and community support. We pray that the victory of Christ’s love might bring an end to violence against life and human dignity whether through abortion, acts and expressions of hatred and bigotry, exploitation and abuse of the vulnerable, euthanasia, physician assisted suicide and the death penalty.
If not for the pandemic, I am confident that many of us from Saint Mary’s Parish would have joined hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters, Christians of every denomination, nonChristians, and countless others who are inspired by the underlying truths of the ProLife movement. Let us fast and pray for the grace of conversion of heart for all, that our nation might truly be, one day, “a beacon of life to the world,” respecting life from its earliest stages, to natural death and every moment in between.
Gratefully yours in Christ,
Fr. Ryan
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