Intercessions for Life
February 2000
That the Lord Jesus,
whose cross frees all who repent from evil,
might liberate those in the grip of darkness, sin and death;
we pray to the Lord:
That through the grace of God,
we might love and nurture all forms of human life,
even among those who are sick, forgotten or alone;
we pray to the Lord:
For every woman who has had an abortion,
and for the fathers of their children:
that hearing the voice of the prophet Isaiah,
they might repent of their sin,
and place behind them the sins and pains of the past;
we pray to the Lord:
For a growing love of the Gospel of Life:
that the twenty-first century might begin a millennium of hope,
filled with a fervor for all the gifts of God;
we pray to the Lord:
On the [threshold] of the Third Millennium, the challenge facing us is an arduous one: only the concerted efforts of all those who believe in the value of life can prevent a setback of unforeseeable consequences for civilization.
---John Paul II, The Gospel of Life, 91
The first and most fundamental step towards...cultural transformation consists in forming consciences with regard to the incomparable and inviolable worth of every human life. It is of the greatest importance to re-establish the essential connection between life and freedom. ...There is no true freedom where life is not welcomed and loved; and there is no fullness of life except in freedom. ...Love, as a sincere gift of self, is what gives the life and freedom of the person their truest meaning.
---John Paul II, The Gospel of Life, 96
We are asked to love and honour the life of every man and woman and to work with perseverance and courage so that our time, marked by all too many sighns of death, may at last witness the establishment of a new culture of life, the fruit of the culture of truth and love.
---John Paul II, The Gospel of Life, 77
"Man, as a being, is of no account; he is dust, grass, vanity. But once he is adopted by the God of the universe as a son, he becomes part of the family of that Being, whose excellence and greatness no one can see, hear or understand. What words, thoughts or flight of the spirit can parise the superabundance of this grace? Man surpasses his nature: mortal, he becoces immortal; perishavle, he becomes imperishable; fleeting, he becomes eternal; human, he becomes divine."
---St. Gregory of Nyssa, quoted in John Paul II, The Gospel of Life, 80