We Must Not Take His Life March 17

Prayer

Jesus, you taught us that every life is precious. That is so easy to understand when we look at the face of a baby. Or a member of our own family. Our neighbors. Our friends.

Jesus, send the Holy Spirit to give us the fortitude to be consistent in our support of life. Help us to turn away from the culture of death that surrounds us.
Help the families of those victimized by crimes to cope, survive, forgive and go on with life. Help us to recognize that taking any life reenacts your own unjust execution. Strengthen our commitment to protect all God-given life, which is threatened in today's world by war, abortion, poverty, racism, capital punishment and euthanasia. Give us the spirit of Joseph who forgave his brothers for their betrayal. Help us understand that these issues are linked under a 'consistent ethic of life'. Help us to challenge those working on all or some of these issues to maintain a cooperative spirit of peace, reconciliation, and respect in protecting the unprotected. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/031706.shtml

“We must not take his life.”

All life is precious. These words of Reuben appeal to the brothers and to us to spare Joseph. No one was there in the Gospel to help the son of the vineyard owner of the parable. No death penalty lawyers represented Christ in front of Pilate and Herod.

Jim and Randy have shared how much time they spend in prison ministry reaching out with hope to those without hope as Jesus called us to visit those in prison. Even on the cross, Jesus reached out to the repentant thief.

Today, Patrick Lane Moody died via lethal injection administered by the State of North Carolina for the murder of Donnie Ray Robbins. That Patrick Lane Moody was convicted of a heinous crime is not in doubt. The wife of the victim conspired and coerced his aid in killing her husband. Wanda Robbins was only sentenced to life in prison plus 65 years after pleading guilty to murder and insurance fraud charges.

Yesterday, Thursday, Patrick had his last supper. Today, ironically on St. Patrick’s Day at 2 a.m., Mr. Moody was pronounced dead at 2:19 a.m. EST. News accounts say that Moody gave an unspecified poem to the prison warden as his last statement. He chose a last meal of turkey with dressing, tossed salad with blue cheese dressing, strawberry cheesecake and a soda. He became the 41st person executed in North Carolina since the current death penalty statute was enacted in 1984. Of the 210 people sent to Death Row there, 152 have gotten new trials and different sentences. What if they were executed before their appeals could be heard?

Patrick was the 1,014 person in the United States executed since 1972. During this time 123 people on death row have been exonerated of the crimes that lead to their sentence. The next execution will take place in Virginia on April 27, 2006 at 9 p.m. Mr. Dexter Lee Vinson is schedule to die at the Greenville Correctional Facility in Jarrett.

Let us remember the words of Reuben in today’s first reading. “We must not take his life.”

Action

The Catholic bishops have spoken loud and clear about abolishing the death penalty.
Will you join with other people of faith to appeal to Governor Kaine and our elected representatives to put in place a moratorium on the death penalty?