Respect Life Month

BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY

Since 1972, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been promoting the month of October as Respect Life Month. The theme for this year’s Respect Life Month is “St. Joseph, Defender of Life.” You can find a wealth of material and resources at the USCCB website. We pray through the intercession of St. Joseph, that he would inspire us to “defend life” as he defended and protected the lives of Mary and the child Jesus, especially during the journey to Bethlehem, as Mary carried her unborn child, through the birth of Our Savior in the stable in Bethlehem, through the flight into Egypt, the slaughter of the Holy Innocents and the return to Nazareth (Mt. 2:13–24).

I do not believe that it is a coincidence that Bishops chose October as Respect Life Month, as it is one of the two months (with May) that we dedicate to Mary, Our Blessed Mother. October is also called the “Month of the Holy Rosary.” On Oct. 7, we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as the Feast of Our Lady of Victory. One of my favorite websites, Franciscan Media’s, “Catholic Saint of the Day,” tells us:

St. Pius V established this feast (Our Lady of the Rosary) in 1573. The purpose was to thank God for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto — a victory attributed to the praying of the rosary. Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church in 1716.

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/our-lady-of-the-rosary

The month of October is also (literally) filled with the feast days of saints who can inspire and teach us to see the dignity and value of every human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. Three of the first four days of the month can attest to this:

On Oct. 1, we celebrate St. Therese of Lisieux, the “Little Flower,” in her short life of 24 years, she literally changed the world, when, after her death, her autobiography, “The Story of a Soul,” was published and the world came to know her “little way,” teaching us to “do little things with great love.”

On Oct. 2, the Guardian Angels remind us that each and every human life is so precious to God that we are each given a guardian angel, whose role (as we read on the Franciscan media site) is: to represent individuals before God, to watch over them always, to aid their prayer, and to present their souls to God at death.

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/feast-of-the-guardian-angels

On Oct. 4, we commemorate one of the best-known or most popular saints of all, St. Francis of Assisi. While St. Francis is well-known for his love of animals and the beauty of nature, as well as for his prayer “Make me an instrument of your Peace,” perhaps his greatest impact on the Church and human history for the past 800 years, is the way in which he taught and continues to teach us to see and serve Jesus in the “distressing disguise of the poor,” in the poor, the least of our sisters and brothers. It is sad to say that in our society and culture, the very least and most vulnerable of all our sisters and brothers is a child in the womb.

The USCCB invites us to “go to Joseph, defender of life” during this month of October, this Respect Life Month of 2021. As we pray through the intercession of St. Joseph and are inspired and taught by his example, let us also look to the “Lives of the (October) Saints” to intercede for us and teach us.

There are 31 feast days in the month of October, leading us to All Saints Day on Nov. 1. There are more than 31 saints who are celebrated during the month — see: Oct. 9, Denis and Companions, Oct. 19, Isaac Jogues, John de Brebeuf, and the North American Martyrs, and Oct. 28, Ss. Simon and Jude.

Of all the October saints, one stands out during Respect Life Month. On Oct. 22, we celebrate the Feast of St. Pope John Paul II, the Great “Champion of Life,” who proclaimed the “Gospel of Life” and a “Culture of Life” that would defeat the darkness of a “culture of death.” As his Papal Motto “Totus Tuus,” dedicated his papacy to the care and intercession of Mary, Our Blessed Mother, he gave us the beautiful “Luminous Mysteries” of the Holy Rosary.

So, in this Respect Life Month and Month of the Holy Rosary, we pray through the intercession of Mary, St. Joseph her spouse, and all the angels and saints, that we may continue to proclaim the “Gospel of Life” and that a true respect for the dignity and value of every human life will be restored, not only in our own country, but also throughout the world.