Day Two - Choose Life

Today's Reflection

by Grace Chaffins

"Moses said to the people: [I have] set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, but loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him." (Dt. 30:19-20)

This verse, from the first Mass reading today, shows us the reality of our earthly existence. It can be so easy to become complacent and comfortable with life, forgetting that we are truly fighting in a war. A war between life and death; between light and darkness. Each person holds their own destiny in their hands and decides the outcome of this war for themselves.

Lent is the period that wakes us from this complacency and reminds us that our faith and life are anything but comfortable. Full of sacrifices, penance, and reflections on death, we may be tempted to think of Lent as the "season of death". But Lent is the season of life. Jesus' death would have no meaning without the resurrection. Likewise, our lives would be meaningless without the hope of everlasting life. Do we act like we believe this? Does the knowledge of life in Christ give our lives meaning?

As pro-lifers, the call to choose life is our battle cry! While we can only make the choice to choose life for ourselves, we must continue to speak out as God's voice to the world as Moses did today in the first reading. This choice is everything. It is the difference between winning the war and losing it. May we always remember this fact and have the courage to live it!

Prayer to Choose Life
Lord, we rejoice in Your commands!
You give us the opportunity to freely choose You and serve You!
Your gift of freedom puts our destiny in our own hands.

Lord, to choose life is to choose blessing,
And to choose death is to choose curses.
We have the power to choose either one,
But not the power to change the consequences.

You give us the command
To freely love the children entrusted to our care
And to respect their right to life.

You warn us that to choose abortion
Means to bring devastation not only on them,
But on us.

Your command to choose life
Is a choice of You, Your covenant,
The way of Your commands, Your love, Your peace
And Your gift of salvation and life eternal.

Lord, we choose life today
And we pray that all will do so!

Lord, give us individuals and families who choose life!
Give us a nation that chooses life!
Give us a world that chooses life!

We pray through the One who is The Way, the Truth and the Life,
The Resurrection and the Life,
The Bread of Life,
The Author of Life and the Conqueror of Death,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life