Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children
Intention: That we all will come to share a deep and unconditional respect for the sanctity and dignity of life in all of its expressions.
Today’s Gospel | Mark 2:23-28
As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
From the Fourteenth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
What you say and do need not be as great a concern in the account you will have to render to God as the intention and the manner of these actions. For the faults of speaking and acting are usually more tangible and come more readily to your mind. Of intention Saint Paul says that whether we speak or whether we act, we must do all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, not in order to please men but to please God. This is the purpose you must have and the sole motive that God wants you to have in your work.
Prayer
Eternal Father, you are the maker of all things. All creation is a reflection of your love and perfection. Still, we often think that we can do well apart from you, passing judgement on which of your gifts to us is deserving of our respect. Open our eyes to your truth, so that we might learn humility and gratefulness as channels of your presence. May we always honor life and wonder, in all of its forms. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.