Day for Life
Day for Life, initiated by the late Pope John Paul II, is the day of the year the Catholic Church in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales dedicates to celebrating the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.
Day for Life 2010 aims to present the Church’s teaching on death; it will highlight the importance of the sacrament of the sick, of praying for the dead and of accompanying the dying person as they journey towards God. It will also point towards the consoling presence and support of the community of faith and all of those who ‘have gone before us marked with the sign of faith’.
Each year, in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Bishops' Conferences work closely together to celebrate Day for Life. In Scotland the Day is celebrated on 31 May - The Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary. In England and Wales, Day for Life falls on 25 July and in Ireland it will be celebrated on 3 October.
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Death is a formidable foe until we learn to make it a friend.
Death is to be feared if we do not learn to welcome it.
Death is the ultimate absurdity if we do not see it as fulfilment.
Death haunts us when viewed as a journey into nothingness rather than a pilgrimage to a place where true happiness is to be found.
The human mind cannot understand death.
We face it with fear and uncertainty, revulsion even; or we turn away from the thought for it is too hard to bear.
But faith gives answers when reason fails.
The strong instinct to live points to immortality.
Faith admits us into death’s secrets.
Death is not the end of the road, but a gateway to a better place.
It is in this place that our noblest aspirations will be realised.
It is here that we will understand how our experiences of goodness, love, beauty and joy are realities which exist perfectly in God.
It is in heaven that we will shall rest in Him and our hearts will be restless until they rest in God.
May He support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and ourwork is done. Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest and peace at the last.
Oh,my Lord and Saviour, support me in that hour in the strong arms of your Sacraments, and by the fresh fragrance of Your consolations.
Let the absolving words be said over me, and the holy oil sign and seal me, and Your own Body be my food, and Your Blood my sprinkling; and let my sweet Mother, Mary, breathe on me, and my Angel whisper peace to me, and my glorious Saints smile upon me; that in them all, and through the mall, I may receive the gift of perseverance, and die, as I desire to live, in Your faith, in Your Church, in Your service, and in Your love,
Amen.