40 Days for Life has shown that prayer and persistence can end abortion where you live. But sometimes, especially with less than two weeks to go in the campaign, you may feel like you're running on fumes.
Be encouraged by Steve Karlen, our North American outreach director!
Steve has traveled since Day 1 of this campaign and has shown no sign of wearing down. However, there was one late night when Steve's energy level was up ... but his car was running out of gas in zero degree weather.
Here’s Steve’s account of a couple of recent stops (and one close call) in Michigan and Illinois.
Marquette, Michigan
The weather was quite cold and there were still mountains of snow in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
I attended a great event in Marquette hosted by Water’s Edge Church, with pastors from three different churches speaking and leading prayer.
The leadership team took a leap of faith in bringing 40 Days for Life to Marquette for the first time, but volunteers have seen many blessings – filling vigil hours … and reaching out to people seeking healing from past abortions.
Planned Parenthood started doing chemical abortions here recently. But there's a strong Christian presence nearby. Care Clinic, a pro-life pregnancy center, is next door. Water’s Edge Church is right behind Planned Parenthood, and St. Michael Catholic Church is right across the street from Water’s Edge.
Care Clinic’s director said they were able to provide ultrasounds for women who were abortion-minded, and that the prayers of the 40 Days for Life vigil participants were definitely needed.
As I left Marquette, I made the mistake of not stopping for gasoline. A couple hours and no gas stations later, I had to call my wife. I was running on empty and the temperature was inching towards zero … and eventually dropped below. Fortunately, she got on the phone and found an open station for me before I got stranded!
Wood Dale, Illinois
Planes, trains and automobiles! The Wood Dale vigil site is just in the backyard of Chicago's O'Hare airport. Every few minutes, planes descended right overhead. That combined with a very busy street made it difficult to speak at times.
This 40 Days for Life vigil is in a high-visibility location for people driving by. And people riding the commuter train across street certainly see this prayerful witness every day on their way to and from their jobs.
A typical abortion day at this facility once included seven abortions, but the volunteers told me that in recent days that number has dropped to three. Or two. Or even just one.
“We have encountered people on the street who do not know that abortions are performed at the Advantage Healthcare Clinic,” said Sandy, the local coordinator. “We also had one gentleman congratulate us on the fine job we are doing to educate the public. It was a good day!”
Thanks again to Steve Karlen for today’s update.
Devotional for Day 29, April 2, 2014
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life
Intention: We pray for the grace to be strong when others ridicule or oppose us. Scripture: Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. —Luke 14:27
Reflection: To stand up for what is right means we stand against what is wrong, and that means that those who love what is wrong will oppose us, just as they opposed Christ. Taking up the cross means we continue speaking and standing for the right even when that opposition comes.
We experience this, in particular, when we are out on the streets, where people are not expecting the pro-life message and where they did not go to hear it. We must remember to never take the opposition personally. When people ridicule or yell at us, we might get a guilty feeling or be tempted to think we did something wrong. We did not.
The insults are not being hurled at us personally, but rather at the truth of what we are standing for, and at the demands of the moral law.
There are many who are trying to run away from those demands, or who have managed to tuck the abortion problem away into a distant corner of their minds where it can no longer disturb them.
By standing publicly for the cause of life, we have short-circuited that denial and frustrated those efforts to ignore the issue. Therefore, some will be angry, perhaps not fully realizing why.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the grace of being pro-life, and of standing strong when others may ridicule or oppose me.
During this 40 Day campaign, may your peace fill my soul, especially when I may endure the opposition of others, and may I become more like your crucified and risen Son. Amen.