It is interesting that two of the
readings that we hear today are ones that we often have in our Catholic funeral
liturgies. From the prophet Isaiah, we hear a vision
of a great banquet that God prepares for us, a banquet of rich food and the
best wines, a vision that foreshadows the heavenly banquet that awaits us when
we unite with God in the eternal life we have after we end our lives here on
earth. At this banquet God will wipe away
our tears, he will destroy death forever by giving us everlasting life. I think that all of us can relate to
this message and this wonderful banquet because food and banquets are so
integral a part of the celebrations that we have here as a part of our lives
here on earth. Think of the wonderful meals Marion,
Natalie, and the Friendship Committee prepare for our funerals and the mass of
anointing, the way our families celebrate Christmas, birthdays, and other
holidays, and the wedding banquet that we had last weekend at the country club
here in Yazoo City to celebrate the marriage of Rachel Parker and Josh Brewer.
Then, in Psalm 23, a psalm most of us
learned about when we were children, we hear about the Lord as our shepherd, a
shepherd who leads us to green pastures and restful waters, who guides us down
the right path, who protects us even when we travel through the dark valleys of
struggle and crisis in our lives. And if we have the Lord as our
shepherd and as the center of our lives, that means that everything else is not
at the center and is not the primary focus of our lives here on earth.
As we hear these readings today, we
recognize the month of October specifically in the way we Catholics should respect
all human life. This year’s theme of Respect Life
month comes directly from Jesus’: “I came so that all might have life and have
it to the full.” As we think about God’s heavenly banquet, about what awaits us
in eternal salvation and in the new life that we gain through Christ’s death
and resurrection, it is good for us to reflect upon all of the goodness and
life that we have here on earth. Even as we go through the ups and downs of life, as we work
hard to provide a good life for ourselves, as we try to live out the Gospel
values and the vocations to which God calls us, I think that we often can take
many aspects of our lives and our faith for granted. Yet, respect for life is something we certainly cannot take for
granted, not in our world today where the modern lifestyles of many in our
society & the policies our nation enacts can be so contrary to the Gospel
of life that our faith proclaims. Pope John Paul II stated in very strong words that the dignity
of life in our society faces multiple threats, both old & new, from the
culture of death that exists today. It might shock us that in all the abundance and opportunities
we have in our world & in our modern American society, that the Pope would
call it a culture of death. Yes, poverty, hunger, endemic diseases, & violence have
plagued humanity since the beginning of civilization. Yet, the new threats that plague our modern world include
abortions that are easily obtained, euthanasia, human cloning, human embryonic
stem cell research, widespread recreational drug use, lack of access to health
care, the use of the death penalty, and tampering with our world's ecological
balance. I can go on to list other abuses that exist in our modern
American society that threaten the dignity of human life, but the list would be
overwhelming. As followers of Christ, we are called to reflect upon what we
can do as individuals & as a community of faith to promote the respect for
life in our society & in our lives. Our Catholic stance on life respects all human life from the
moment of conception to the moment of natural death. A catchy way is remember
it is “from the womb to the tomb.” The
late Cardinal Bernadin of Chicago saw all of the issues that fall under our respect
for human life as a seamless garment encompassing many different aspects of
life.
As I mentioned, the entire month of October is designated as
Respect Life Month for us Catholics each year. However, it is not something that we should recognize just in
one particular month or only during special times of the year. Our respect for human life should becomes an intrinsic part of
the way we live out the Catholic faith that we all profess & believe. There are both little and big ways we can probably think of in
which we can incorporate the Gospel of life into our daily lives. It’s one think to see
God’s glory in the heavenly banquet, or to see Jesus as our Good Shepherd, but
do we relate this to the Gospel of Life that we are taught to follow? Do we see Christ in the unborn baby whose life is threatened,
in the child or youth who is lonely or who is being bullied and picked on in
school? Do we see him in the
prisoner who has no one visiting him & has no one to bring God's message of
salvation to him? Do we see Christ in the homeless person waiting in line to get
something to eat at Manna House? Do we see him in the single mother who decided not to have an
abortion, but who is at the end of her ropes trying to earn a living &
trying to care for & nurture a child at the same time? And how to reach out to these individuals who perhaps need help
or a kind word and encouragement in their lives? Respecting life is not
just an abstract concept, but it is truly living out the Gospel of Life in our
lives.
