(OSV News) – Ahead of Respect Life Month, the pro-life committee chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging “a revival of prayer and action” to end abortion and uphold the sanctity of human life. A statement for the October observance, written by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, was released by officials with the USCCB on Thursday, September 19, and posted to the website of the USCCB’s Respect Life Month initiative. The effort traces its origins to 1972, just prior to the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the two 1973 decisions that broadly legalized abortion. In his message, Bishop Burbidge stressed that “Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, gives us the fullness of life” and “calls each of us to respect that gift of life in every human person.” A  Prayer for Life to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament O  Jesus, you came that we might have life – and have it in abundance. Together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, you form us in our mothers’ wombs and call us to love you for all eternity. As your most precious gift of human life is attacked, draw us ever closer to your Real Presence in the Eucharist. Dispel the darkness of the culture of death, for you are the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. By the power of your Eucharistic Presence, help us to defend the life of every human person at every stage. Transform our hearts to protect and cherish all whose lives are most vulnerable. For you are God, forever and ever. Amen. Source: USCCB The bishop pointed to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, held during July in Indianapolis as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, the U.S. bishops’ three-year effort to rekindle devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The congress and the Eucharistic processions leading up to it “involved hundreds of thousands of Catholics who will never be the same,” he said. “The revival continues, and is so needed, especially in our efforts to defend human life.” He quoted a 2013 address by Pope Francis to Catholic medical professionals in which the pope said that “every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before He was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world’s rejection.” However, “the law and millions of our brothers and sisters have yet to recognize this reality,” Bishop Burbidge wrote. Despite the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, enabling elected officials “to reduce or end abortion … 50 years of virtually unlimited abortion has tragically created a national mindset where many Americans have become comfortable with some amount of abortion,” Bishop Burbidge wrote. “This allows the abortion industry to continue to provide any amount of abortion.” Abortion rates actually rose or stayed at pre-Roe levels in the United States following the Dobbs decision. “Given this challenge, the U.S. bishops have affirmed that, while it is important to address all the ways in which human life is threatened, ‘abortion remains our pre-eminent priority as it directly attacks our most vulnerable brothers and sisters, destroying more than a million lives each year in our country alone,’” said Bishop Burbidge, quoting a 2024 document by the U.S. bishops on conscience formation and political responsibility for Catholics. With the U.S. presidential election just weeks away, Bishop Burbidge asked Catholics in the United States to “renew our commitment to work for the legal protection of every human life, from conception to natural death, and to vote for candidates who will defend the life and dignity of the human person.” In addition, he said, “we must call for policies that assist women and their children in need, while also continuing to help mothers in our own communities through local pregnancy help centers and our nationwide, parish-based initiative, Walking with Moms in Need.” Faithful must “likewise continue to extend the hand of compassion to all who are suffering from participation in abortion,” highlighting the Church’s abortion healing ministries, such as Project Rachel. “Most importantly, we must rededicate ourselves to fervent prayer on behalf of life,” wrote Bishop Burbidge, who invited Catholics “to join me in a concerted effort of prayer between now and our national elections, by daily praying our … ‘Prayer for Life to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament’ (see above).” The post Respect Life Month: ‘Revival of Prayer, Action’ Needed to End Abortion appeared first on Today's Catholic.