God of life....
According to Zenit, a Catholic news agency, the World Apostolate of Fatima hopes to send a billion prayers to heaven October 8. The occasion is a worldwide prayer day for the Sanctity of Human Life in which all Catholics are being asked to pray the rosary, and non-Catholics are invited to pray for 20 minutes, creating a worldwide current of prayer. According to the organizers, the primary objective of the congress is to respond to Pope John Paul II's insistence that "a great prayer for life is urgent, which will embrace the whole world."
As I reflect on the Holy Bible, I come to know that God is life; He is the Author of all life that we know. He is the Creator. He is the One Who gives us life at conception. That is why we rightfully call Him our Father. When people were separated from God through the sin of Adam and Eve, rather than let us die in our sins, the Son of God came to expiate and to make satisfaction for our sins. He died on the Cross so that each of us could have eternal life.
From his miracles in the Gospels and the miracles wrought by the Apostles in the New Testament, the Church has consistently tried to save lives and to improve their conditions. So, we have had the great Saints, the missionaries and ordinary people sent by the Church to work among the poor, the oppressed and the sick. They understood that God is Life and wanted them to help their brothers and sisters throughout the world. These were men and women of faith and of prayer. Because of their faith, they did all that they could to protect others from anything that would compromise human life.
We love God, our Father, and want to continue the work of his Son Jesus Christ by doing what we can to save lives from the moment of conception. Because each life is given by God, we realize that every human life is sacred. May each of us take the time today to pray the rosary for the lives of everyone, whether they be in the womb or outside of it. May we be part of the billion prayers sent to heaven this day.
Fr. Stanley
