{"id":302832,"date":"2019-10-05T07:49:20","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T11:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=302832"},"modified":"2019-10-05T07:49:20","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T11:49:20","slug":"homily-for-respect-life-sunday-every-life-bears-the-thumbprints-of-the-creator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2019\/10\/homily-for-respect-life-sunday-every-life-bears-the-thumbprints-of-the-creator\/","title":{"rendered":"Homily for Respect Life Sunday: ‘Every life bears the thumbprints of the Creator’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Photo by Alex Boyd on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

This weekend, we mark Respect Life Sunday. Here\u2019s part of my homily<\/a><\/strong> for this Sunday from 2012:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On this Respect Life Sunday, we cannot overlook the ways in which our culture does\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0respect life\u2014and, in fact, dismisses it or even discards it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It happens at abortion mills, like the one down the road on Austin Street.<\/p>\n

It happens in nursing homes, where the old and the frail are ignored or warehoused or so often treated as burdens.<\/p>\n

It happens in schools, where children are taunted or bullied.<\/p>\n

It happens in laboratories, where embryos are treated like commodities to be harvested, instead of lives to be nurtured.<\/p>\n

It happens anywhere in the world where men and women are tortured or denied the most fundamental of human rights, including the right to pray.<\/p>\n

It happens in societies where death is considered just one more freely exercised choice.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re seeing it in our own backyard. A New Jersey state legislator introduced a bill to permit what he called \u201cDeath with Dignity,\u201d allowing the terminally ill to take their own lives. This is nothing less than state-sanctioned suicide\u2014and one more step on a slippery slope.<\/p>\n

In short: we fail to respect life anytime we treat the gift of life\u2014God\u2019s first and greatest gift\u2014as a problem, or an inconvenience, or a hardship, or junk.<\/p>\n

Nothing could be further from the truth<\/strong>. We are Easter people\u2014people of the resurrection, people of\u00a0life.<\/em><\/p>\n

[In 2012] Pope Benedict made a historic trip to Lebanon, and delivered an apostolic exhortation to the Church of the Middle East.\u00a0 It\u2019s a remarkable document. I encourage you to read it.\u00a0 It\u2019s on the Vatican website, Vatican.va<\/strong>.<\/a>\u00a0 In just 100 paragraphs, the Holy Father lays out his vision for that troubled corner of the world\u2014but he speaks, too, of so many vital issues of our time.\u00a0 And that includes our mandate that we reaffirm this morning: to respect life. \u00a0And the Holy Father reminds us: it all begins with the ultimate affirmation of life, the Incarnation, when God became man.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is because of Jesus,\u201d the Pope wrote, \u201cthat Christians are sensitive to the dignity of the human person. God wants life, not death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shouldn\u2019t we want what God wants?<\/p>\n

We need to seek out opportunities to honor the priceless gift we have been given.<\/strong>\u00a0 Listen to those who are ignored. Remember those who are forgotten.\u00a0 Stand up for those who are victims of hate, or violence, or disrespect. Pray for those who will be aborted, or euthanized.<\/p>\n

God wants life, not death.<\/em><\/p>\n

When we look into the eyes of another, no matter what their circumstances, see what the first man saw when God brought a new life to him:\u00a0here is another one like me<\/em>. Here is a life that is unique, and blessed, created by the One who created us all.<\/p>\n

If we think that way, we can\u2019t help but discover this heart-stopping truth:\u00a0 every life bears the thumbprints of the Creator.<\/p>\n

Every life, in fact, is a miracle.<\/p>\n

Read it all.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This weekend, we mark Respect Life Sunday. Here\u2019s part of my homily for this Sunday from 2012:\u00a0 On this Respect Life Sunday, we cannot overlook the ways in which our culture does\u00a0not\u00a0respect life\u2014and, in fact, dismisses it or even discards it. It happens at abortion mills, like the one down the road on Austin Street. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":302838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[12798],"class_list":["post-302832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homilies","tag-respect-life-sunday"],"yoast_head":"\nHomily for Respect Life Sunday: 'Every life bears the thumbprints of the Creator'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This weekend, we mark Respect Life Sunday. 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