Dear Parishioners of St. James:
Praised be Jesus Christ!
October is Respect Life Month: an opportunity to focus on the fact that all human life comes from God as a gift to be welcomed, cherished and redeemed. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that He “came that men might have life, and have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10).
God is the creator of human life so His gift must be welcomed with an openness filled with generosity. We are made in God’s image and likeness. Men and women procreate with God in the conception and raising of children. Any act of intimacy that is not open to the transmission of new life is a grave evil. Actions including masturbation, contraception, sterilization, and homosexual acts are closed to the gift of life and thereby violate God’s creative act.
Each child conceived also deserves to be cherished in the womb. Abortion is a grave evil since it intentionally kills a baby in his mother’s womb. The abominable crime of abortion has taken on staggering proportions in our time. Since the infamous Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, in the United States alone, over 60 million babies have been killed in the womb. Now with the growing use of oral abortion pills, untold numbers of babies are dying because they are unwanted or unloved.
We must respect the lives of human persons that God so generously sends to us. With hearts of chastity may we respect human lives as gifts from God to be cherished, loved and respected. May God have mercy on us for ever misusing our beautiful gift of sexuality that is ordered to the conception and procreation of new persons created in God’s image and likeness.
God bless you,
Fr. Geary
Saint James Catholic Church 