A Gift from the Heart of God
By John Graveline, Director of Parish Life
October 5, 2025
“‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’”
–Matthew 25:37-40
As we continue the Jubilee Year of Hope, this weekend we celebrate the Jubilee of Migrants and the Jubilee of Missions. In the United States, it is also Respect Life Sunday, the kickoff of Respect Life Month throughout October. Finally, it is pledge Sunday for this year’s diocesan Christ’s Mission Appeal, our bishop’s annual collection that supports diocesan ministry to parish leaders and volunteers, formation of lay ministers and deacons, help for families in need, assistance for migrants, prison and jail ministry for inmates and their family members, encouragement and aid for pregnant mothers and new mothers, care for divorced persons including assistance seeking an annulment and/or marriage convalidation, spiritual and intellectual formation for high school/college-age young adults and seminarians, and evangelization outreach.
Every Person is Loved into Existence
The underlying theme of all these commemorations is the centrality of the Catholic belief in respect for the life and dignity of every human person. The foundational truth about each and every human person, regardless of age, sex, country of origin, skin color, orientation, material wealth or poverty, health, education level, occupation, marital or relationship status, immigration or citizenship status, political party or opinion, or any other distinction among people, is that he or she is created in the image of God: loved into existence by God our Creator, called to receive that love with gratitude, worthy of love, and oriented toward putting our lives at the service of God and neighbor through love. We also share a common destiny; namely, to participate in the eternal life of God through the Grace of Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection, to live completely in communion with God and all people in the “love of God that has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5) “In Christ, the Lord, the Church indicates and strives to be the first to embark upon the path of the human person, and she invites all people to recognize in everyone . . . above all in the poor and suffering, a brother or sister for whom Christ has died.” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church, no. 105)
Every Person is a Gift from the Eternal Heart of God
In April of 2024, the Vatican released a teaching document entitled, Dignitas Infinita (in English, Infinite Dignity) on Human Dignity in our times. It recalled that our infinite human dignity and all human rights are rooted in the truth that we are created in the image of the infinite God, that Christ the Son of God elevated human dignity by becoming human and offering his life for the salvation of all, and that we are made for communion with the same infinite God and all God’s children. Each and every person is a gift directly from the eternal heart of God and each and every person is created to use his or her freedom to become a gift of love to God and neighbor. A human person, from conception to natural death, from every background, is first and foremost a blessing to be received, not a “problem” to be “thrown away.” In our culture which values efficiency and productivity so highly, we can be easily tempted to see an unborn child, immigrants and migrants, those living with disabilities, those convicted of crimes, the elderly and terminally ill as problems to be solved (or rejected) rather than sisters and brothers to be loved and to be cared for compassionately. A human person or group of people can never be reduced merely to a “problem,” much less seen primarily as an existential threat. I was speaking to a parishioner this week who said something I found very insightful: that almost every problem, either personal or societal, has its roots in a sense that either myself, someone else, or some group of people are “not worthy” of love, respect, or compassionate care.
The Vatican document Dignitas Infinita was significantly modified before publication “to meet a specific request of [Pope Francis]: namely, he explicitly urged that more attention be given to the grave violations of human dignity in our time” such as extreme poverty; the violence and destruction of war; the rejection of migrants; slavery and human trafficking; sexual abuse; sexism and violence against women; abortion and surrogacy; euthanasia and assisted suicide; marginalization of people living with disabilities; gender ideology and reassignment; and online violence (cyberbullying, pornography, exploitation of human frailty, theft and fraud). “Even today, in the face of so many violations of human dignity that seriously threaten the future of the human family, the Church encourages the promotion of the dignity of every human person, regardless of their physical, mental, cultural, social, and religious characteristics. The Church does this with hope, confident of the power that flows from the Risen Christ, who has fully revealed the integral dignity of every man and woman.”
The Gospel of Life is at the Heart of Jesus’ Message
Thirty years ago, in 1995, Pope John Paul II wrote The Gospel of Life. It was profound and challenging (I know that parts of it challenged me and my thinking at the time). In it, he wrote, “The Gospel of Life is at the heart of Jesus’ message. Lovingly received day after day by the Church, it is to be preached with dauntless fidelity as ‘good news’ to the people of every age and culture . . . When he presents the heart of his redemptive mission, Jesus says: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.’” (John 10:10)
May we, as disciples of Jesus, promote and defend the right to life and dignity of every human person, receiving each person as a gift with infinite dignity the way Mary, our parish patroness, received the gift of new life offered to her by God through the angel Gabriel. (Luke 1:26-38) May we, like her, receive Christ within us and give birth to Christ in our world, so that all people, created in the image of God, may have life, and have it most abundantly!
John