Good morning District 27. Today, Catholics, Christians, and people of goodwill celebrate the Feast of All Saints Day. It is one of my favorite feast days on the Church calendar. Of course, it also kicks off the month of November which is my favorite month. The month honors our Veterans, and shortly after that, I get to celebrate my birthday. Finally, we round out the month with my favorite holiday – Thanksgiving – where our families gather to celebrate the end of the fall harvest and to give thanks for the many blessings that we have received this past year.
Last night, here in Martin, we celebrated at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church the Feast of All Saints, and likewise, on Saturday, we will celebrate the Feast of All Souls with mass at the south cemetery at 8:00 AM. The month of November honors those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith, which brings me to the point of this post.
From last night’s first reading, Saint John writes in the Book of Revelation that he had “a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.” Saint John continues that the ones in white robes “have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb [the blood of Christ]” (Rev 7:9, 14). This last verse really struck me when it was read aloud.
Therefore, one may ask, “Who are these saints anyway that you honor and ask for intercessory prayer?” They are our grandparents, parents, sons, daughters, grandchildren, neighbors, close friends, family members, the poor, the lonely, the outcast, the marginalized, and the hungry who have gone before us. They are the ones united with Christ in heaven, which includes the millions of unborn children who never lived to see the light of day because of an abortion (natural or otherwise).
The most recent United States abortion data shows that “1,037,000 reported abortions were committed in 2023” alone (1). To put this in perspective, this would be equivalent to killing every man, woman, and child in the City of Sioux Falls five times in one year, or killing every man, woman, or child in Kansas City, Missouri twice in one year. Think about that? It is a number that we can’t even fathom. And yet, these innocent children are part of the communion of saints united with our loved ones in heaven. They are the ones who Saint John refers to as having survived “the time of great distress.”
As a society, we can do better by being the voice for these children. Right now, you can be the voice of the unborn by voting No on proposed Constitutional Amendment G next Tuesday. If this proposed amendment passes, it will enshrine abortion into our state constitution and will forever have a devastating impact on the culture of life that we cherish within the state of South Dakota.
If elected your state senator, I not only plan to be your strongest advocate, but also, I am committed to being the voice of the people, including the unborn. Somebody needs to be their voice. I will also be the voice for the woman who is carrying an unplanned pregnancy. It is not right to demonize women who find themselves in a situation where they don’t know what to do or where to turn when facing an unplanned pregnancy. I, too, will be your voice, advocating for adoption services and/or for the support of pregnancy centers that want to empower women in these situations. If we truly consider ourselves “our brother’s [and sister’s] keeper” (Gen 4:9), then we ought to respond accordingly by caring for those who are most vulnerable. I recognize this is not an easy task, but God has called me to be the voice of the unborn, the shut-in, the forgotten, and for those who find themselves backed into a corner and have nowhere to turn. After all, if we truly want to join the communion of saints in heaven someday, then the pattern of our lives must reflect “saints-in-the-making.” God bless.
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