Scenes like this stopped me in my tracks this morning on my way home from mass for the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. I prayed that Holy Father Francis might have a long life and continue in the direction that he has set in his first six months.
St. Francis came home from war sick in body and mind. He became a peacemaker. God later revealed to him a greeting: "May the Lord give you peace," which he used throughout his life. As a young man he shunned anything that was unpleasant. Yet when he began to recover from the war he came across some lepers and became involved in caring for them. Eventually he dedicated his life to the poor. Respecting life.
Our Holy Father Francis mirrors his respect for life, especially for the poor. He began an interview this week by saying that the church's main concerns are the young who have no work and the old who are lonely. In his interview last week for the Jesuit publications around the world, he paired capital punishment with slavery as practices clearly against respect for human life. He suggested that we stop focusing on abortion, but he did not deny that loving the child in her mother's womb is another way of respecting life.
Caring for the health of all and welcoming immigrants to our country of immigrants are other ways of respecting life. God loves us and gives us the precious gift of life. God expects us to protect it anywhere that it is threatened.
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