Celebrant: Trusting that
God knows our desires and needs, we bring to Him in a spirit of sincere
humility, the needs of the world and ourselves.
Deacon/Lector:
For those who lead the people of God that they may seek after integrity
and be true to their call to service, we pray to the Lord...
That those who defend and promote abortion may be transformed by the
renewal of their minds, and always defend the right of every person to life,
we pray to the Lord...
For all who work, that they may see their labor as a way of becoming like
God, the Creator of all things, we pray to the Lord....
For blessing on all God’s priests, that they will more and more be
conformed to the radiant image of God’s Son and inspire many to offer their
lives in the service of the Church, we pray to the Lord..
For young people to learn to love charity, justice, and a gentle spirit,
we pray to the Lord...
For all those who suffer in body, mind or spirit that they may be cared
for with gentleness and patience, we pray to the Lord...
Celebrant:
Giver of all life, we ask you to sustain our life and the life of the
world. Hear our cries for help. Make us as generous as you are in answering
those who turn to you. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Bulletin Insert
The Pope to Youth
“Do we recognize that the innate dignity of every individual rests on his
or her deepest identity – as image of the Creator – and therefore that human
rights are universal, based on the natural law, and not something dependent
upon negotiation or patronage, let alone compromise? And so we are led to
reflect on what place the poor and the elderly, immigrants and the
voiceless, have in our societies. How can it be that domestic violence
torments so many mothers and children? How can it be that the most wondrous
and sacred human space – the womb – has become a place of unutterable
violence? My dear friends, God’s creation is one and it is good. the
concerns for non-violence, sustainable development, justice and peace, and
care for our environment are of vital importance for humanity.” – Pope
Benedict XVI Address at World Youth Day, Sydney, Australia, July 17, 2008.
Homily Suggestions on Pro-life Themes
Jer 20:7-9
Rom 12:1-2
Mt 16:21-27
The Church’s efforts to proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of Life
are marked by the themes in today’s readings.
First, the effort to defend life is based on the thirst for God that
today’s first reading from Jeremiah and today’s Psalm express. We long for
him, who is life itself, and we long for others to possess him as well. We
serve the Kingdom of Life because it has first captured us, enthralled us,
and convinced us that all our happiness and fulfillment are found in it –
the Kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love, and
peace.
Second, it is that conviction which departs from a worldly way of
thinking, which would see no connection between freedom and truth, but which
instead asserts that individual belief and choice are primary, even over
life itself. This attitude builds a culture of death. As St. Paul says in
the second reading today, we must not conform ourselves to this age, nor to
its “pro-choice” ways of thinking, especially about the unborn and the
disabled. The pro-life movement is based on the renewal of our mind of which
Paul speaks, a renewal that results in the ability to discern “what is good,
pleasing, and perfect.” It is the basis of seeing, as John Paul II wrote in
Evangelium Vitae, that “life is always a good.”
Third, the Gospel passage reinforces the need for this discernment. Peter
was thinking in a worldly way when he saw suffering and crucifixion as
something to be avoided at all costs. Such thinking today leads some to see
abortion as a solution to the suffering of a “crisis pregnancy,” or
euthanasia as the escape from illness and disability. But that is not Godly
thinking. As someone has said, “The false god transforms suffering into
violence; the true God transforms violence into suffering.” Thus Jesus did
by his cross; thus he calls us to do by embracing ours.
