January 16, 2022 - Pastor Message
December 30, 2024This week we mark two events that call us to overcome division and work for greater unity in the Church and in the world: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (January 17), and the National Day of Prayer for the Protection of the Unborn (January 22).
“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ…Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy” (1 Corinthians 12:12, 22-26).
This week we mark two events that call us to overcome division and work for greater unity in the Church and in the world: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (January 17), and the National Day of Prayer for the Protection of the Unborn (January 22). The first, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, calls us to work for unity among different races and ethnicities. Unity in this sense does not mean erasing all differences and compelling people to embrace the same racial or ethic identity, customs, and practices. The unity called for by Christ is one of mutual love and respect for all races and ethnicities, which compels us to eliminate any racism or ethnic bigotry in our own hearts and actions as well as in social, economic, and political structures. As long as anyone is denied their fundamental rights because of their race or ethnicity, we have work to do on that front.
The second, the National Day of Prayer for the Protection of the Unborn, calls us to work for unity as a nation to protect the fundamental rights of all people, regardless of age or condition. Whether someone is one second old or 100 years old, their fundamental rights as human beings do not change. That is the very meaning of a right an unalienable expectation, even demand, placed on all people in regards to a person by virtue of the fact that all people are created in the image and likeness of God, who endows us with our basic rights and who alone has the authority to remove them. Rights do not place merely a negative demand on us not to violate a person’s rights, but a positive demand to protect and promote those rights for all people, especially the most vulnerable, and it is hard to imagine anyone more vulnerable than a helpless child in the womb.
Both of these events remind us of our duty as Christians, as Americans, and as human beings, to work together for the betterment of all, which Catholic social teaching refers to as the common good. The common good does not mean simply what is best for most people or even what is best for good people or those whom we deem worthy. It means establishing and building up the conditions necessary for all people of all races, ethnicities, and walks of life to enjoy and freely exercise their fundamental, Godgiven rights from the very beginning of life until its natural end. May our participation in this week’s events bring us all closer together in our shared commitment to that common good.
Fr. Marc Stockton
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