Respect Life Month celebrates life in all its stages

The month of October has been commemorated as Respect Life Month by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, with Oct. 1 designated as Respect Life Sunday. Holy Hours, life chains, prayer witnesses and other events held throughout the Diocese of Trenton and beyond will offer multiple opportunities for faithful to demonstrate their belief in the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. You can learn more about the planned events, here.

While the month is an opportunity to celebrate the gift of life, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., advises that should not be limited to only one day or one month each year.

It is “one day, one month in the annual calendar when respect for life at all its stages, from conception to natural death, is highlighted and lifted up for the special consideration of the faith­ful – clergy, religious and laity,” Bishop O’Connell writes in his Respect Life Month message. “Every day, every month throughout the year, however, is a time to consider and respect life as the most basic and most precious gift given us by the Creator.”

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops chose “Be Not Afraid” as the theme for the 2017 observation. Bishop O’Connell suggests that when we trust in God and remember that Jesus died so that we might fully live, there is nothing to fear.

“In the fears that confront us in life, in life’s good and difficult moments, in life’s routines and surprises, in life’s triumphs and disappointments, in life’s sickness and health, in life’s loves and heartaches, in life’s freedoms and captivities, in life’s familiarities and uncertainties, in life’s infancy and old-age and in between, never forget that the Lord Jesus himself lived and came among us that we might have life in its fullness (John 10: 10), in a fullness that God alone gives and takes. Through it all, listen to him as he says ‘be not afraid.’

You can read Bishop O’Connell’s full message, here, or listen to a podcast version, here.