January 22, 2018 — On Jan. 19, more than 800 students from Jesuit high schools, colleges and universities from across the United States gathered at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Church in Washington, D.C., for the Jesuit Mass for Life.

The annual event observed the 45th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion on Jan. 22, 1973. The day before the Mass, the U.S. Jesuits put out a statement, “Protecting the Least Among Us,” that reaffirmed their commitment to and solidarity with the unborn. The large showing of young people at the Mass was tangible evidence of this commitment to life, from the womb to natural death.

Students traveled hundreds of miles to participate; a group of 43 students from Rockhurst University in Kansas City traveled 22 hours by bus overnight to attend. Other Jesuit schools that sent delegations included Belen Jesuit Preparatory School (Miami); Saint Ignatius College Prep (Chicago); Wheeling Jesuit University (Wheeling, West Virginia); Marquette University (Milwaukee); and Boston College.

Fr. Sam Sawyer, SJ, presided at the Mass with several Jesuits concelebrating, including Fr. Stephen Planning, SJ, president of Gonzaga College High School; Fr. William Muller, SJ, executive director of the Jesuit Schools Network; and Fr. Gasper Lobiondo, SJ, superior of the St Aloysius Gonzaga Jesuit community in D.C.

Fr. Sawyer delivered the homily, which focused on the question: What does it mean to love our enemies in the abortion debate? “The Gospel we heard today is a tactical trainwreck. It tells us to offer no resistance to enemies and love them instead.”

Fr. Sam Sawyer, SJ, delivered the homily at the Jesuit Mass for Life.

And so, Fr. Sawyer called on the students to love their enemies: “The Gospel does not call us to win. It calls us to love. And when we actually go out into the world and risk taking Jesus at his word, truly loving our enemies and walking the extra mile with them, we cooperate with God’s grace, grace so powerful that it was victorious even through death.”

After the Mass, students headed to the 45th March for Life. “When we march,” Fr. Sawyer said, “we must set out both to struggle for justice for the unborn and also to call our brothers and sisters back to the recognition of God’s love for each and every human life — both for the unborn and for themselves.”

Lilly Lutz, from Rockhurst University, said their group would be “promoting life from womb to tomb,” which included visiting elderly people in a nursing home and supporting an organization that helps women who were formerly imprisoned.

Grayson Huldin, a senior at University of Detroit Jesuit High School, said being Jesuit educated taught him to see pro-life activism not just as a political position — but as an act of love.

You can read the full text of Fr. Sawyer’s homily at America magazine.

A group from Regis High School in New York took part in the March for Life following the Mass.

[Source: America magazine; Photos: Ignatian Solidarity Network]