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August 3rd EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
For every man and woman who sits on death row:
that they may have the courage of repentance,
and that God might give us the wisdom to preserve the life
of every human being;
We pray to the Lord:
August 10th NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
For legislators who work to preserve
the life and liberty of every human being:
that God bless their efforts to enshrine that conviction in American law;
We pray to the Lord:
August 17th TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
For new mothers and fathers:
that through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
and good Saint Joseph, her spouse,
they might cherish and protect the life of their child;
We pray to the Lord:
August 24th TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
For medical researchers:
that they might use their knowledge and skill
for the healing and nurturing of human life
from conception to natural death;
We pray to the Lord:
August 31st TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
For all who work to support new mothers,
and especially for those who provide them a home
and food and love as they await the birth of their child:
that God might bless them abundantly;
We pray to the Lord:
Dear Christian families, do not be afraid to present to others, first and foremost by the witness of your lives, God's authentic plan for the family as a community of life founded on marriage, in other words, on the stable and faithful union of a man and a woman, bound to each other by a bond which is publicly manifested and recognized.
— Pope John Paul II, Mass for Families in Rijeka, June 8, 2003
August 2003: Bulletin Briefs
When human babies are not preferred to material possessions, this preference is a sign not of freedom but of servitude. Material possessions are not signs of freedom; childresn are. The new free will and mind in the world represent that potential innovative force by which the material possissions needed to support us can be invented and come into being in the first place. The child is the parents' contribution to creation. The ultimate wealth is the human mind and will as it refreshingly comes to be in each new human birth.
On the other side [of culture's great struggle] is a "culture of life." It recognizes the equal dignity and precious worth of every person. It abounds in joy and peace. It is rich, not in money buy in forgiveness and reconciliation. It teaches us about the real world, accepting realities that sometimes are hard. Not man buy God alone can transform reality through the power of grace.
I think there are great virtues in suffering and death that come to humanity. I think none of the things that are great in humanity would occur without threat and suffering in the world. If there were not pain, there wouldn't be any need for mercy. If there were not fearful things, there would be no room for courage. One could go through the whole litany of what makes humans different and great or the con-sequences of risk and suffering in the world. I'm distressed enormously by the fact that the slope of evolution in science appears to be steadily upward and that the slope of evolution for human kindness and beneficence and morality seems almost not to have moved at all.
Children are the treasure and hope of the church. — John Paul II