In his Day for Life Greeting Pope Francis writes: “Even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God’s creation, made in his own image, destined to live forever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect.”
Since all human beings are masterpieces of God, made in his image, with precision and purpose, we must look on ourselves and others with the same wonder and awe with which God looks on us. Pope Francis encourages us to treat each person as the masterpiece that God has made.
St. John Paul II’s prayer to Mary in his March 25, 1995 Encyclical Letter, The Gospel of Life is a prayer appropriate for Respect Life Sunday: “O Mary, bright dawn of the new world, Mother of the living, to you do we entrust the cause of life: Look down, O Mother, upon the vast numbers of babies not allowed to be born, of the poor whose lives are made difficult, of men and women who are victims of brutal violence, of the elderly and the sick killed by indifference or out of misguided mercy. Grant that all who believe in your Son may proclaim the Gospel of life with honesty and love to the people of our time. Obtain for them the grace to accept that Gospel as a gift ever new, the joy of celebrating it with gratitude throughout their lives and the courage to bear witness to it resolutely, in order to build together with all people of good will, the civilization of truth and love, to the praise and glory of God, the Creator and lover of life.”