The Italians call it “ottobrati.” We call it “Indian Summer.” But these sunny days we have been enjoying enhance our sense of living here on such a beautiful island. Life responds to life and joy comes with the sharing of life, sharing the blessings of family and friends, sharing our sense of God’s watchful and loving care of us all.

All of which points to how important it is for us to dedicate the month of October to “Respect Life.” Can we who rejoice together in the many blessings that our lives experience ever be indifferent to human life? Can we be callous about human life, treating it as expendable, inconvenient, not worth caring for? Can we pretend that all is well in our own society where abortion on demand is as common and accepted as cosmetic surgery?

Blessed Mother Teresa many years ago told an audience at Harvard commencement that a culture that allows mothers to kill their own children is a culture doomed to extinction. Unfortunately, the signs of the truth of her prophecy abound. In a world that gives us such joy and so much satisfaction in life, we can never ignore the countersigns. It is not just the abortions on demand, horrific as they are. It is the callousness toward so much of human life as if life is expendable, unimportant, easily given, more easily discarded. Think of all the false and sophistic arguments about “death with dignity” which means euthanizing people because their lives are not useful or they are experiencing struggle or pain. Think of how often young people are given little attention, sending them off to fend for themselves and then wondering why they have become enslaved to alcohol or drugs or sexual libertinism. Think of all the ways we shuttle the elderly and the physically and mentally challenged into places where they can be housed and ignored.

All these and more stand in stark contrast to the beauty of God’s creation and the apogee of his created love: the man and the woman. All of these contradict the wonder of our new creation in Christ Jesus, the Son of God made man who became one with us so that human life could be raised to a dignity beyond any imaginable, by actually sharing in divine life.

That is why observing October as Respect Life Month is so important for us all. In your parish bulletins and on our diocesan Web page, www.drvc.org, you can find the suggestions for this observance prepared and published by our diocesan Respect Life Office under the guidance of Msgr. Frank Maniscalco. This is a month in which we can raise our own awareness of how to celebrate human life, how to protect human life, how to be proponents of human life. Much of this is, of course, prayer. Our prayer is the single most potent force we have to make a difference in our culture and in our world. Besides special prayers, we always have the rosary, so particularly appropriate in this month dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. With prayer, however, we also have many other opportunities to make our views known, to join in solidarity with so many others, especially young people, who know that life is worth living and is thus worth protecting, conserving, loving.

There are some new initiatives as well. There is a “Forty Days for Life” project that is worth considering. Msgr. Maniscalco’s office is also suggesting a special prayer, written by the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II that could be said quietly after communion daily. He also suggests we fast for life, specifically by giving up eating between meals, a simple but effective act of self denial that also reinforces our awareness of and commitment to human life, especially vulnerable human life that depends on another for sustenance.

There are many indicators that tell us that the people of our country do not want abortion on demand and do want a society in which life is protected and advanced. There is a long way for us to go together on the path of building a consensus in our nation that is solidly and knowingly pro-life. We should not underestimate the power of those who stand opposed to us under various kinds of “pro-choice” banners. They are so many of our political leaders, including the governor, who is proposing a sweeping new bill that would protect abortion on demand as a “human and civil right.” There are foundations with great material resources of money and access to the media which, on the whole, is equally opposed to the truths and values of being pro-life.

Yet every January when I participate in the March for Life in Washington, and especially at the Vigil Mass the night before in the Shrine, I encounter a growing number, especially of young people who have been brought up in an abortion and contraceptive culture, who have rejected that culture and embraced life. That is the future because we cannot turn our backs on our own flesh. We cannot abandon any human life because it is inconvenient or vulnerable, weak or defenseless, young or old. For all human life is precious in God’s eyes, and all human life has been redeemed by Jesus who calls us to respect life and rejoice in the beauty of the life God has given us, the life Jesus has made His very own.