Respect Life Sunday, October 1, 2006:

“Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!” We hear these powerful words from the Book of Numbers, and what important words they are for us as we mark Respect Life Sunday today. Since 1972, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has declared the first Sunday of October to be Respect Life Sunday. They ask us to focus on the many critical concerns of the Culture of Life that we face today — everything from abortion, euthanasia, family life, capital punishment, poverty, immigration issues, chastity, natural family planning, post-abortion healing and reconciliation, biotechnology, children, teens, persons with disabilities, the elderly, those who are dying, and more.

I think that over the last 30 years since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion that the church has done a good job of getting our message out there. I would venture that everyone here understands that the Church is always and in every way Pro-Life, without exception. We are unequivocally against abortion, against the death penalty, against euthanasia, against the use of fetal stem cells, and for the proper treatment of all people with dignity. This message has gotten out there. I found a wonderful quote that sums this up well from Bishop William Murphy of the Brooklyn Diocese. As a side note, Bishop Murphy is the bishop who ordained Fr. Mike and I as transitional deacons. Bishop Murphy said, “God’s commitment to human life is at the very foundation of our life of faith. It commits us, if we are to follow Jesus, to be ourselves bearers and protectors of human life, especially the most innocent and vulnerable. … When we commit ourselves to being pro-life and living that commitment, we are doing what every human being, without exception, should be doing. This is not a ‘catholic’ position. It is enjoined on us by our very humanity. It is inhuman to destroy innocent human life. It is human to foster and protect it at every stage.”

We get that part of the message very well. But, this is where I think the statement from the Book of Numbers that I quoted already can be a very important one for us to focus on today. “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!”

For the 10 years that I was living and ministering in New Hampshire, I worked very closely with organizations that were trying to defeat the death penalty in New Hampshire. New Hampshire has not held an execution since 1939, but the law remains on the books. As part of different organizations seeking an end to the death penalty there, we would often hold prayer vigils or workshops or panel discussions trying to shed light on the issue. At one particular panel discussion night, my eyes were opened to a new reality. On the panel were people approaching the issue from a variety of angles – Christians, Jews, Muslims from the religious perspective, police officers and lawyers, victims and victims families. One after another each group would explain why their group was against the death penalty. This was when the light bulb went on for me. If all of these different groups profess to be against the death penalty, then how could it possibly be a reality? If Christians, Jews and Muslims are all against the death penalty, and they make up an overwhelming majority of the nation, then the death penalty should be a statistical impossibility in our land. The same can be said for abortion.

And even if it were only the Catholics standing up for life, we should be a force that can make change happen. There are nearly 65 million Catholic Americans. Catholics in this country make up 23% of the population. To put that in another context, not only is the Catholic Church the largest denomination in the United States, it has roughly 7 million more members than the other top-ten Christian denominations combined. If Catholics truly spoke with one voice on these issues, out of nothing more than our sheer numbers, people would have to listen to us.

The problem seems to be that we don’t proclaim our belief, we don’t profess our faith, we don’t stand up for the right to life and the culture of life, in every situation we find ourselves in. “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!” We live in a nation that continues to support the Culture of Death. A majority of Americans continue to count themselves among those who are in favor of death – whether it is by capital punishment, or through the incredible scourge of abortion (where 1.5 million lives are ended each year). Let’s put that number into perspective for a moment. There’s a lot of talk lately about the nearly 2,700 lives of American soldiers that have been lost so far in the Iraq War, and people are concerned – as they should be about any loss of life. In all of America’s Wars from the Revolutionary War to today, almost 630,000 American soldiers have lost their lives. Anyone would rightly lament that loss of life. But, how does that compare with the number of Americans who have lost their lives through abortion in the last 30 years. Since the Supreme Court made abortion legal in the 1970s, more than 45 million American lives have been lost.

And so Moses says, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!” In our reading, the spirit of God comes to rest on 70 elders so that they might prophesy in the name of the Lord. In Moses time, the need for prophets was so great that he would be happy if he had as many prophets as there were people of Israel! And the words of Moses reach from his time to our time today. “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!” How much more do we need prophets today!

When one in four children in their mother’s womb are not safe from being killed by abortion. When euthanasia is advocated as a way of ending the lives of those who are terminally ill or cognitively impaired. When children are abused, neglected, and forced to live on the street. When the divide between poor and rich continues to grow. When the family breaks more often than it thrives. When the very old and the very young are seen as dispensable, a commodity to be warehoused or disposed of or forgotten. We need prophets. May God send forth his spirit to anoint them!

And so, on this Respect Life Sunday, let us ask God to send the same spirit upon us that he bestowed upon Moses and the 70 elders of Israel. Let us ask God to make us the Prophets of Life to our Culture of Death. Let us have the strength to not merely hear what God has to say, to do more than believe what God has told us, but to be people who proclaim it, who pray it, who change the hearts of those who do not yet see the value of each and every human life.

Let me end with a prayer: “Father and maker of all, You adorn all creation
with splendor and beauty, and fashion human lives in Your image and likeness.
Awaken in every heart reverence for the work of Your hands, and renew among Your people a readiness to nurture and sustain Your precious gift of life.”

May God give you peace.