[Salvation]

Today’s email:

Prayer makes a difference — especially in front of
the very places where innocent lives are taken. That
is a constant theme of this 40 Days for Life campaign.

That message comes through loud and clear in some of
the many thoughtful comments that have been posted on
the 40 Days for Life blog.

“We all know that our presence and our prayers and
fasting make a difference, yet we don’t always see
it,” wrote Lisa. While she was praying at the vigil,
a car pulled into the clinic drive and stopped right
at the entrance.

“A young woman got out,” she said, “and wanted to
thank us for being there. Four years ago, she came for
an abortion — and did not go through with it because
we were there praying. She pointed to her son in her
car. Then she hugged me. Praise God!”

Something similar happened to Kathy: a taxi driver gave
vigil participants a thumbs-up ... then got out of his
taxi to tell a story. “He said 19 years ago, he and his
wife were very poor when she got pregnant ... and made
an appointment for an abortion.”

When they arrived for the appointment, there were
people praying outside. “This caused him to change his
mind. He showed me pictures of his two children, now
ages 18 and 19,” she said. “We do make a difference.”

Linda wrote that the 40 Days for Life campaign had
inspired her to go pray at the local abortion facility
for the first time ever. “When I realized how many
good people do not like to discuss abortion and its
horrors,” she wrote, “I knew I had to take another
step forward to raise the awareness of this crime
against life.”

Linda said she will pray that she will respond the
way Jesus would want. “Please pray,” she said, “that
I may continue to grow in strength and courage to
become like so many of you who devote time, fasting
and prayer for the respect of all life.”

A number of the people participating in 40 Days for
Life have experienced abortion, and now realize
the impact.

“I made two horrendous mistakes,” Margarita wrote.
“Following the lead of women older than me advising
me, I fell for the deception that promised wisdom and
finances and I aborted two of my precious babies.”

Margarita added that she has gained wisdom over the
years and has come to see that children are indeed a
gift from God. “I have since had eight more beautiful
children that love me unconditionally like only a
child can love its mother.”

Cheryl wrote of kneeling on the sidewalk in prayer
while holding a sign that reads, “Abortion hurts women.”

“Most people were respectful as they drove by, and
some thanked us for being there. There were a few,
though, who chose to use bad language,” she wrote.

“I prayed harder, because the sign I chose to hold
stated who I was — a woman hurt by abortion — and
I don’t want it to happen to anybody else.”

“Whether or not you personally receive a sign,
encouragement or words of thanks,” wrote Jean,
another 40 Days for Life participant, “we can know
with certainty that God is with us, and be
encouraged by each other through these daily
messages. Thank you all!”

[Salvation]

Day 19 - October 10

 

Intention:

We pray for a renewal of our zeal to offer generous help to the unborn and their families.

Scripture:

If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant When they complained against me, What then shall I do when God rises up? When He punishes, how shall I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One fashion us in the womb?

-- Job 31:13-15

Reflection:

The ground is level as we stand before God.

Job lived with an awe provoking sense of God's expectation of him, particularly regarding his obligation to care for the weak and needy. He knew that in God's economy everyone stands on level ground when it comes to our status as God's creatures. Because of that central truth, we must take care of each other.

Job also knew that he didn't deserve any of the good things God gave to him. Instead, those blessings came to Job from God's benevolent heart. As an extension of that knowledge, Job instinctively linked his obligation to be generous to others to God's kindness toward him.

As in Jesus' parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:23-35), Job knew that it is an egregious sin to deny to others what we enjoy ourselves. He actually calls down on his own head severe condemnation and even punishment should he fail to share with others out of his own abundance (see verses 16-23).

Proverbs 3:27 reads, "Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so." Some things are so obvious that we don't even need to pray except to ask of God forgiveness and the power to do what so obviously needs doing.

Prayer:

God, forgive us when we try to explain away the obligation we have to help others who need help. Enable us to not devalue them because they are in the circumstance that they are in, but to see them for what they are, those, who like us, were formed by your hand in their mother's womb. Amen.

Rev. Rob Schenck
President, Faith and Action, and National Clergy Council