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Today’s email:

Looking for some good news to start your day? Here
are a few stories that show how prayer often makes a
difference ... in little ways. But small victories
really do add up when you take a look at the big
picture of what’s going on in 167 communities!

The 40 Days for Life vigil in Spring Valley, New York,
takes place outside a Planned Parenthood facility that
is open one Saturday each month.

“They were supposed to be open from 9 am until 1 pm
this past Saturday,” said Eileen in Spring Valley,
“and they were booked with appointments.”

However, vigil participants could not get to Planned
Parenthood. In fact, NO ONE could get to Planned
Parenthood.

The roads were blocked off because of a gas leak and
fire in the area, and the police said it just wasn’t
safe to be in the neighborhood.

So the volunteers relocated their prayer vigil to the
district office of their U.S. congressman.

Click here to see a photo of the Spring Valley vigil:

http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=860

Clear across the country in San Marcos, California,
the 40 Days for Life team thinks they may have
witnessed a record for longest distance traveled to
a vigil — 2,423 miles.

A team of students from Franciscan University in
Steubenville, Ohio was on a mission trip to California.

“They came to speak to youth groups, work at soup
kitchens and volunteer in different ways, but had
also a desire to pray in front of a local abortion
clinic,” said Gene in San Marcos. “They found out
about the 40 Days for Life campaign and decided to
join in.”

Click here to see photos of the Steubenville students
in San Marcos:

http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=860

The 40 Days for Life outreach in Birmingham, Alabama
seems to have had an impact on Planned Parenthood’s
bottom line.

Just last week, vigil participants learned that
Planned Parenthood had laid off two staffers who
often served as client escorts — and the accountant
who’d worked there for 17 years. The three employees
were given only two days’ notice that their jobs
were ending.

“The accountant said that she spoke to our volunteer
because we had always been nice to her,” said Judy.
“She asked for our prayers and any help we could give
her in obtaining new employment.” And the Birmingham
team is doing just that — praying, and circulating
the woman’s resume and looking for job leads.

“She seemed a little shaken and nervous losing her job
with such short notice,” said Gwen, another prayer
volunteer, “but she also said she didn’t really want
to work there either.”

“This lesson has taught me that the employees of
Planned Parenthood are not the enemy,” said Judy.
“These people are God’s children and deserve our
prayers for their conversion to the culture of life.”

Gwen added, “As long as we are reaching out in love,
then God will do the rest.”

Amen!

March 25, 2010

Day 37 - March 25

Intention:

We are the defenders of true freedom. May our witness unveil the deception of the "pro-choice" slogan.

Scripture:

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

--2 Corinthians 3:17

Reflection:

Norma McCorvey (the former Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade) used to work at an abortion mill named "A Choice for Women." She now realizes what a cruel irony that title was. She saw first hand, just as pregnancy resource center counselors see, that women don't get abortions because of freedom of choice, but rather because they feel they have no freedom and no choice. They feel trapped, abandoned, desperate and afraid, and have been led to believe that abortion is their only option.

As Frederica Mathewes-Green has written, no want wants an abortion like she wants a Porsche or an ice cream; rather, she wants it like an animal caught in a trap wants to gnaw off its own leg.

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." That doesn't mean that the Spirit allows us to do whatever we want or to decide for ourselves what's right and wrong.

Rather, it means that the Spirit gives us the freedom to do what is right, the power to choose what is good, when we see it before us and yet feel pulled in the opposite direction. Liberty means that we no longer have to feel doomed to do what we know is wrong.

We are the people of the Spirit of the Lord, and when we take action on behalf of life, especially by being present at abortion mills, we are acting on behalf of true freedom, and imparting to those who are in bondage the power to do what is right.

Prayer:

Come, Holy Spirit. You are the Spirit of freedom, the source of all that is good, the power to do what is right. Fill us, and fill those who are in bondage today, feeling doomed to do what is wrong. Set them free, and help us to hasten them on the road to freedom, where your grace overcomes every temptation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life and President, National Pro-life Religious Council