During this month of October we are celebrating Respect Life Month. This is an opportunity for each of us to call to mind how very precious the gift of life is, and how each of us — as members of the human family and the Christian community — is called to value life and commissioned to protect it wherever life exists.  

Pope Francis has often lamented that we are now living in a “throw away” society.  He has noted “Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a ‘throw away’ culture which is now spreading.” (Evangelii Gaudium, N. 53).

The theme that the bishops of the United States have given our nation to explore this Respect Life Month is “Every Life is Worth Living.” Life is a gift, a gift given to every person in existence and every person who has ever existed by our Creator. Life has been given to each of us, not by chance or happenstance, but because the Author of Creation has a purpose for each of us. At every moment, through every season of life, each of us is being held in existence by God’s love. Because of this we can be assured that as long as there is life, God has an intentional purpose for that life. However brief, however long, every life has value, every life has purpose, and every life is worth living.

As we witness the natural world around us change with the seasons, we can also recognize that there are different seasons throughout life. The joys of spring time and the glory days of summer are not separate realities from the fading days of autumn and the darkness of winter, but part of the cyclical nature of creation, each season having value and purpose.  So too, each and every life is worth living in the seasons of joy and happiness, and also in times of suffering and even pain.

It is in these times of hardship, pain, or suffering that we might be most tempted to take control of life, to take control of existence itself, in ways that violate the dignity with which God has created us. We witnessed this earlier this month as, tragically, California became the fifth state in our nation to make assisted suicide legal.

Experiencing pain or watching another suffer can be very difficult. But we know that because we are held in existence by God’s love that even in these moments, life has purpose and life is worth living. Even when one’s health deteriorates quickly, when a person is not seen as a “contributing” member of society by the world’s standards, when an unborn child receives a diagnosis indicating he may not live for much longer — even in these seasons, life is a gift that has a purpose and is worth living.

As Christians and Catholics we have great reason to hope, even in the darkest days of suffering.

First, we know that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world and allowed Him to experience suffering. And suffer, He did. As we experience suffering in our lives, we know that we do not experience this alone. We, in fact, can find meaning in our suffering when we unite ours to Christ’s.

We also have great reason to hope, in the midst of suffering and even death, because winter does not last forever. We hope in the resurrection. With our eyes set on Christ’s suffering on the cross and the heavenly goal of eternal life, we can weather the seasons of life with courage and hope.

That understanding of the value of life gives greater meaning to our efforts to comfort the suffering, the lonely or those who don’t fit in.  Just as we must see God’s presence in ourselves, we must always see it in others even if there is something about them physically or emotionally unattractive to us.

As we continue through this Respect Life Month, let us remember to proclaim with our very lives that every life has value, every life has purpose, and every life is worth living.