- The ‘Day for Life 2025’ message: Hope does not disappoint: Finding meaning in suffering – will be celebrated tomorrow, Trinity Sunday
The 2025 ‘Day for Life’ joint pastoral message will be celebrated by the Catholic Church in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales this Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity, 15 June, on the theme: Hope does not disappoint: Finding meaning in suffering. This annual day offers the faithful the opportunity to express their prayerful support for all human life from conception to natural end. This year’s message is an invitation to pray for those who suffer and to remain with them like the Good Samaritan, bearing witness to their unique and unrepeatable value.
Bishops encourage parishes to make the 2025 ‘Day for Life’ pastoral message, which includes prayer resources, available at Masses this weekend. Its content can be accessed on councilforlife.ie The pastoral message opens with:
“For as long as history has been written, the world has never been without struggle and suffering. Through the lens of television and social media, however, the suffering of the whole world appears on our personal devices.
“Many of us find it hard to make sense of a world in which suffering seems to press down from every direction: pandemic; war; homelessness; violence in our streets, addiction. Then, often without warning, we find ourselves caught up in the struggle when serious illness comes into our own lives.
“Suffering touches every person at some point in their lives. It is often associated with illness, grief, and loss. It is not only caused by physical pain but includes emotional suffering as well as ‘soul pain’, such as depression and despair. Christians are not immune to this mystery and we often struggle to know how best to respond to it, and where we can find hope.
“‘Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us’ (Rom 5:5-6). Saint Paul invites us to see that Christian hope is not just naïve optimism but, rather, an unshakeable trust in the power and presence of God who is with us always. This hope can endure the darkness of human suffering and even see beyond it. That is because Christian hope is anchored in God who is Love and whose love reaches out to us and lifts us up day after day.
“Care for the sick and suffering was central to the ministry of Jesus. Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan as a way of explaining what it means to be a “neighbour” to another person. The Good Samaritan is someone who sees and is moved to compassion (while others turn away), who draws close, who “binds up wounds”, who accompanies the person in need, and who continues to care for as long as it is needed.”
ENDS