©2013 — 40 Days for Life www.40daysforlife.com
Devotional for Day 2, September 26, 2013
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life
Intention:
Pray for those who work in the abortion
industry, and for those who have
repented of committing abortions and
have resolved to defend life.
Scripture:
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father,
into your hands I commit my spirit.”
When he had said this, he breathed
his last. The centurion, seeing what had
happened, praised God and said, “Surely
this was a righteous man.”
—Luke 23:46-47
Reflection:
“Those of us who have participated in
the killing of unborn children are the
Centurions of today. We have dropped
our swords against the unborn child.
Now we must recognize the depth of
our guilt and deal with the ramifications...
To revitalize our humanity we
need to forgive and be forgiven, to reconcile
and be healed.”
These words come from a brochure of
the Society of Centurions, an organization
for former abortion providers.
These words convey in a beautiful and
moving way what is happening across
the nation as hundreds of abortionists
and their staff members experience repentance,
conversion, and healing.
How does this conversion begin? Dr.
Philip Ney writes, “The factors that
changed their opinion on performing
abortions, in the following order of frequency,
were: evidence of the infant’s
humanity, a spiritual experience, personal
distress, evidence of the mother’s
distress, scientific articles, being accepted
as a person, a personal relationship
with a pro-lifer, pro-life pickets.”
(The Centurion’s Pathway, p. 77).
The journey is not easy. But the Jesus
who heals us calls us to face the truth
of what we’ve done, make restitution
where possible, and engage in the hard
work of mending relationships. Let’s
pray for the Centurions; may their
numbers increase!
Prayer:
Lord, we thank you for those who have
repented of committing abortions and
have resolved to defend life. We too
repent and resolve. We repent of every
instance in which fear has made us silent
when we should have spoken.
We repent of the ongoing bloodshed in
our land, and for thinking that we can
deprive the unborn of protection but
keep it for ourselves.
We resolve that we will advance the
cause of righteous candidates for public
office, and that we will be more
afraid of offending you by our silence
than of offending others by our speech.
We resolve that we will proclaim your
name to the nations, through Jesus
Christ our Lord, amen.