September 25, 2024 Daily Devotion

Choose Life, South Dakota

Deuteronomy 30:19

The universal church is blessed to have a holy man such as Fr. Tony Lusvardi, SJ who teaches sacramental theology in Rome. Twice a year we are blessed at St. Isaac Jogues to welcome Father Tony to our parish for sabbaticals.

Here is a portion of his homily that I will share for the next three daily devotions on “Choose life, South Dakota:”

If there is one theme consistently present throughout the whole Bible, from the first chapter of Genesis to today’s Gospel, it is that God desires to give us life. When he reveals the commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, he tells the people of Israel, “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live” (Dt 30:19). Today the Eucharist too is presented as life-giving: “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51).

Amendment G, has been placed on the ballot this November, which would add the right to abortion without significant limits to the South Dakota constitution. As I pointed out last week, Christianity is not a political program, and Catholics can disagree about most political issues while still remaining faithful to the principles of our faith. Amendment G, however, is impossible to reconcile with the fundamental principle that it is always wrong to deliberately kill an innocent human being. Fr. Tony’s homily will continue tomorrow.