As we gather for our monthly Respect Life Mass, in this very month of October dedicated to respecting life, we find ourselves celebrating a martyr. The very word in Greek means witness. An authentic martyr witnesses to the truth proclaimed by Jesus in the Gospel, even to the point of giving up one’s life. Our Sacred Liturgy today places before us an early witness in the Church’s history, a witness in the first century, Saint Ignatius of Antioch. Let me share with you now a description of this martyred saint, which is found in the Catholic Encyclopedia. “The character of St. Ignatius, as deduced from his own and the extant writings of his contemporaries, is that of a true athlete of Christ. The triple honor of apostle, bishop, and martyr was well merited by this energetic soldier of the Faith. An enthusiastic devotion to duty, a passionate love of sacrifice, and an utter fearlessness in the defense of Christian truth, were his chief characteristics. Zeal for the spiritual well-being of those under his charge breathes from every line of his writings. Ever vigilant lest they be infected by the rampant heresies of those early days; praying for them, that their faith and courage may not be wanting in the hour of persecution; constantly exhorting them to unfailing obedience to their bishops; teaching them all Catholic truth; eagerly sighing for the crown of martyrdom, that his own blood may fructify in added graces in the souls of his flock: he proves himself in every sense a true pastor of souls, the good shepherd that lays down his life for his sheep.”

How appropriate that our monthly Respect Life Mass occurs on the memorial of this witness, this martyr, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, because he does become for us a model, a hero. He is someone to inspire us, someone to imitate. We, too, are called to be witnesses to the truth which Jesus Christ proclaims. We, too, are called to witness to the Gospel of Life, that is, to the truth that every human life, every human life, from its first moment at conception all the way through its many stages of development to its last moment at natural death is sacred and, therefore, deserving of both respect and protection. That is the truth to which from Baptism on we are to witness. At conception human life is present. Before this becomes a religious truth — and it is, it is already a scientific fact because now, through the wonders of technology, we can see into the womb at very early stages. At even less than ten weeks, we see a fully-formed human person. Yes, human life is real and present. Human life is innocent, defenseless, vulnerable, needing not only respect but also protection. The horror with an abortion is that it destroys human life. And so does embryonic stem cell research. But bear in mind that adult stem cell research is approved within the morality of our teaching and already it shows its benefits where nothing has been shown at all from embryonic stem cell research. What defies my understanding is why would we want to spend money on what is yet not even proved itself to be beneficial when we have encouraging results that what is beneficial could be further developed? Human life is destroyed, as well, through euthanasia, mercy killing, and physician-assisted suicide.

Dear brothers and sisters, we are called to witness to the truth about life. It is the role of the bishop to teach. In fact, it is his primary responsibility: to teach the truth, to witness himself to that truth, to join together the flock entrusted to him in a united witness to the truth. That is exactly what that martyr witness, St. Ignatius of Antioch did for as the Bishop of Antioch. This is the responsibility of every bishop. Indeed, not only the bishop but all of us must listen to what Jesus told us in the Gospel: that we are to acknowledge Him before others. If we do, He will acknowledge us before the Father.

In our consciousness these days is the issue of health care. As you know the bishops of the United States surely desire health care for all people, as best we can achieve it, but in seeking that goal we are very clear that unacceptable moral practices cannot be included in any kind of bill. We bishops, through our representatives, have spoken about this clearly for months and I want to share with you the letter written on the 8th of October by three bishops representing us: Bishop Murphy, Cardinal Rigali and Bishop Wester. They wrote to our Congressmen. “On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), we are writing to express our disappointment that progress has not been made on the three priority criteria for health care reform that we have conveyed previously to Congress. In fact, the Senate Finance Committee rejected a conscience rights amendment accepted earlier by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. If final legislation does not meet our principles, we will have no choice but to oppose the bill. We remain committed to working with the Administration, Congressional leadership, and our allies to produce final health reform legislation that will reflect our principles.” I will now share the three principles which the bishops listed. First, “We continue to urge you to Exclude mandated coverage for abortion, and incorporate longstanding policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights. No one should be required to pay for or participate in abortion. It is essential that the legislation clearly apply to this new program longstanding and widely supported federal restrictions on abortion funding and mandates, and protections for rights of conscience. No current bill meets this test.”

Secondly, the bishops stated: “Adopt measures that protect and improve people’s health care. Reform should make quality health care affordable and accessible to everyone, particularly those who are vulnerable and those who live at or near the poverty level.”

Thirdly, they continued: “Include effective measures to safeguard the health of immigrants, their children and all of society. Ensure that legal immigrants and their family members have comprehensive, affordable, and timely access to health care coverage. Maintain an adequate safety net for those who remain uncovered.”

Then, the bishops concluded: “We sincerely hope that the legislation will not fall short of our criteria. However, we remain apprehensive when amendments protecting freedom of conscience and ensuring no taxpayer money for abortion are defeated in committee votes. If acceptable language in these areas cannot be found, we will have to oppose the health care bill vigorously. Catholic moral tradition teaches that health care is a basic human right, essential to protecting human life and dignity. Much-needed reform of our health care system must be pursued in ways that serve the life and dignity of all, never in ways that undermine or violate these fundamental values. We will work tirelessly to remedy these central problems and help pass real reform that clearly protects the life, dignity and health of all.” I shared that entire letter with you because I, too, endorse that strong statement. I, too, share the concern that has been raised. That concern remains because on October 14, a statement from the Conference expressed profound dismay that the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of health care legislation without resolving problems related to abortion funding, conscience rights, affordability, and legal immigrants.

We need to be vigilant and be sure that we know all the facts and all the implications of any proposed bill. Yes, I repeat, we need to be vigilant, we need to be continually informed, and we need to make our convictions known to those who vote in Congress, for we are witnesses and we must witness to the truth about all life and not let not any bill come into being that would destroy and/or not protect human life. Not long ago, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that they were giving the Nobel Peace Prize to our president, and I quote: “for extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and importance of a world without nuclear weapons. Recently, the Vatican official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, published an article signed by one of its writers that urged our president to recall what Mother Teresa said on receiving the Peace Prize in 1979 “that the harshest war with the greatest number of ‘fallen’ is the practice of abortion, legalized and facilitated as well by the international structures.” Earlier this morning (October 17), our president indicated that in terms of the health care bill, we must continue to work and resolve issues. I second that. There is much more work yet to be done on health care. There are many more issues to be resolved and we must not forget that the greatest injustice is the injustice done when an innocent, defenseless, preborn human being has his or her life taken away. It is the longest war. We must see that it is resolved so that life will triumph.

Dear brothers and sisters, truly we are called to be witnesses. Saint Ignatius was that kind of witness in his time; we must do no less in our time. That is why we are here, because alone we cannot do it. Even with all of our human gifts we cannot do it. We can only do it when we are transformed by God’s grace, Who then enables everything else that we have been given to be fruitful. May we be encouraged by the witness of Saint Ignatius of Antioch and witness ourselves to the truth about life in every sphere and in every arena.