Celebrant: Confident in God's love and endless compassion for all people, we place our needs before him in faith.

Deacon/Lector:

That the Church may be faithful to its call to preach repentance and the Good News of Jesus Christ to all people, we pray to the Lord...

That all ministers in the Church may fearlessly proclaim and teach God's love for all people, we pray to the Lord...

For those who govern us, that they may have the heart and mind of a good shepherd, and keep the protection of human life as their first priority, we pray to the Lord...

That those who suffer because of injustice, discrimination or hardship because of race or religion may deepen their faith in God and experience his protection, we pray to the Lord...

That men and women may generously open their hearts to God's invitation to serve his people through the priesthood and religious life, we pray to the Lord...

That all who have died may experience the peace and life of Christ in the heavenly kingdom, we pray to the Lord...

Celebrant: Gracious God, hear our prayers. Give us the grace to do your will each day, and to find the true peace which comes only from you. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

A Consistent Ethic of Life

"A wide spectrum of issues touches on the protection of human life and the promotion of human dignity. As Pope John Paul II has reminded us: "Where life is involved, the service of charity must be profoundly consistent. It cannot tolerate bias and discrimination, for human life is sacred and inviolable at every stage and in every situation; it is an indivisible good" (The Gospel of Life, no. 87).

"Among important issues involving the dignity of human life with which the Church is concerned, abortion necessarily plays a central role. Abortion, the direct killing of an innocent human being, is always gravely immoral (The Gospel of Life, no. 57); its victims are the most vulnerable and defenseless members of the human family. It is imperative that those who are called to serve the least among us give urgent attention and priority to this issue of justice” (2001: US Bishops’ Pastoral Plan for Pro-life Activities: A Campaign in Support of Life).

Jer 23:1-6
Eph 2:13-18
Mk 6:30-34

Watch a video with homily hints

The first reading and the Gospel passage echo the theme of God as our Shepherd. It is in the Second Reading that we see exactly how Christ shepherds us – through the reconciliation achieved in his blood. He shepherds us not simply by teaching us, but by destroying the very power of death.

The Church’s pro-life efforts are to be seen and presented in this context, that is, as an aspect of the reconciliation of the world with God in Christ. The “enmity” of which St. Paul speaks has many dimensions, and in its widest spiritual sense includes the enmity that all sin places between us and God, and between us and one another.

The exaltation of individual “choice” above our responsibilities to the lives of others, especially our children, creates a destructive enmity. The peace that Christ gives is not something to be received only in an internal, spiritual way, but is a reality that transforms relationships, cultures, and nations. That peace demands respect for life and a rejection of the enmity that constitutes the culture of death.