This month we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Respect Life in the Dioceses of the United States. As stated on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB): “Every October, we consider more deeply why every human life is valuable and reflect on how to build a culture that protects life from conception to natural death.” This time of prayer and reflection leads hopefully to our own renewed commitment to work for the ongoing understanding of the Sanctity Life in all its stages from Conception to Natural Death; and is key to our own intentional discipleship and its accompanying proclamation of the Gospel of Life. Reiterating the words of Pope Benedict XVI, our encounter with the Gospel is not with concepts or ideas, but with the person of Jesus Christ himself.
In its reflection for Respect Life Month, the USCB notes: “Shortly before he suffered his Passion, Jesus proclaimed to his disciples: ‘I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another’ (Jn 13:34). The Church’s entire social doctrine is guided by the fundamental principle that every human life has innate dignity and incomparable value. … Fulfilling Christ’s command to love one another takes shape in our practice of solidarity. Solidarity means putting our love for others into action and making the good of others our own.”
This “Radical Solidarity” that is the focus of the 2023-24 Respect Life Program is also the theme of my homily as I am privileged to offer four Masses “For Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life” in our Diocesan Catholic High Schools. To begin the homily, I speak of the recent World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, and its theme, “Mary arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39). I then explain to them the connection between the Annunciation of Mary and her visit to Elizabeth as a moment of “Radical Solidarity” for the beginning of human life, along with as active care for one’s neighbor. In doing so, I refer to these words of prayer originating from this year’s theme:
O Blessed Mother, at the angel’s word you went in haste to the aid of your cousin Elizabeth. Although pregnant yourself, you placed her needs before your own.
By your example of radical solidarity, teach us to reverence and protect those in need, without conditions or expectations. Ask your Son to give us unfailing determination to witness to the profound dignity of every person, at every stage and in every circumstance.
In that first Eucharistic procession, you carried Jesus to Elizabeth in her time of need. Obtain for us the grace to bring Christ to all who are alone or afraid on the road of life from the first moments of life in the womb until the moment you call us back to the Father’s House.
May our support help them to find hope and strength in the Lord. Amen.
After sharing this prayer with them, I discuss the specific meaning of the words “radical and solidarity.” Their definitions I find most helpful in relating to the students the difference they can make through their own lives in promoting the care for and sanctity of all human life. The two definitions courtesy of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary are these:
• Radical – Radix/Radice – to the root
° Relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something
° Advocating/Representing/Supporting
• Solidarity – Solidum – Whole/Sum
In explaining these words, I use a quote of St. John Paul II from his encyclical On Social Concern (Sollicitudo rei Socialis): “[Solidarity] is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say, to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all” (#38). I remind them that unlike what we hear these days about my body and my rights over my body — Radical Solidarity is about acknowledging the Divine Image in which we are made; and the Face of God … the family resemblance we are being missioned to let shine out into a world where the darkness of selfishness (sin) seeks to inundate our world and its population (see Is 49:6 — “I will make you a light to the nations …”).
Referring to the Gospel reading of the Little Children and the Lost Sheep (Mt 18, 1-5, 10, 12-14), I talk to the students of the tender compassion of our God towards each and every person and the challenge for them to do so with all persons they meet along the way. I share with them a personal witness of my own experience of encountering a person in need on the street and how even if we don’t have money — a conversation and prayer can make all the difference to the person.
I conclude my homily with the story of the Lamplighter:
When Charles Spurgeon was a boy one of his favorite activities was watching the Lamp-Lighter light the streetlamps. Each evening as darkness settled upon the vast city of London, the Lamplighters would go to work. He would watch the Lamplighter in his part of town, from his second-story window.
The Lamplighter would come down the street, pausing to light each streetlamp, then quickly moving on to the next, always taking a moment to wave to young Charles. He would watch the Lamplighter appear smaller and smaller until he disappeared in the distance.
Then the real fun began for Charles. Even though he could no longer “see” the actual Lamplighter, he could “see” where the Lamplighter was going…because each lamp lit up that part of town. Sometimes Charles would watch for an hour or more as the various lamplighters “zigzagged” across London … making the trail of lights meet up, completely removing the ever-smaller pockets of darkness. One by one the dark areas completely disappeared, and soon the whole of London shined in the bright light, its skyscrapers — of that day — gracing the skyline.
I remind the students that they are today’s lamplighters in proclaiming the Gospel of Life. This is what it means to be a people in radical solidarity with the gift of life — it is letting God’s light shining through you and me remind people that wherever they are on the road of life they are not alone … that each person from the tiniest child in the womb, to our own peers in this school, to the person we meet on the sidewalk, to the dying person in a hospital or the elderly at home … all are special! How do we … you and I … help them to know that about themselves today?!
