[Salvation]

Today's email -- the red highlighting of a personal testamonial is mine!

It's Saturday, so you may find some unexpected
"guests" at the Days for Life vigil sites today. In
previous messages, I've mentioned some of the
abortion supporters who feel obliged to "challenge"
our prayer vigils, and Saturday seems to be the one
day of the week they find time to come out.

Sarah left a note on the 40 Days for Life blog that
sums up pretty well how to properly respond to these
highly vocal critics. "When I get ridiculed for
telling the truth, it only makes me pray more and
encourages me to tell the truth," she said. "Let's
never give up this good fight."

On a recent Saturday, a California abortion advocate
wrote in her blog that she went out to protest the
40 Days for Life vigil in Riverside. But when she
arrived, "I was told by the security guards that I
was the first counter protester they've seen this
whole two weeks!" She stayed for an hour and a half
and then gave up and went home.

The abortion groups and their supporters are driven
by ideology. The pro-life people are driven by faith.
There's no question that faith is stronger!

Please keep it up!

Speaking of Riverside, Pam -- one of the local
campaign leaders -- told me that volunteers for the
local 40 Days for Life participated in a community
Walk for Life, setting up a booth and distributing
pro-life information. "It was a great way to get the
word out and tell everyone about our midway event,"
she said. "There were 1,000 people at the park."

To see a picture of a few of the 40 Days for Life
team members in Riverside, go here:

http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=351

Rita expected company the first time she went to pray
at a 40 Days for Life vigil at a Planned Parenthood
facility. But she had none. No protesters, which was
good; but nobody else to pray with, which was at
first disappointing.

"I wished someone would come," she said, "but God put
it on my heart that it was a strong statement to see
one person, no picket signs, peacefully praying,
wearing a black shirt with bold white letters
spelling out, 'I Pray.' He was with me and that is
all that matters."

It was, to say the least, an emotional experience for
Rita, "especially when I thought about the fact that
behind those walls babies die a horrible death.
Afterwards, I held my one-month-old grandson and
wept."

Kelly in Southgate, Michigan said it's very rare for
the parking lot of the abortion center to be
absolutely empty on a Saturday, but that's exactly
what happened. The vigil participants were thankful
that no abortions were being done, and continued to
pray as planned.

But then a young, professionally-dressed woman pulled
up on the side street next to the vigil, parked her
car and approached quickly. She had her cell phone in
hand and started scrolling through the pictures on
her phone.

"I was here 10 years ago," she said. "I was going to
have an abortion. I mean I was in there and on the
table. But because someone like you was out here
praying, I just couldn't go through with it."

Then she found the picture she had been searching
for. "This is my son." There wasn't a dry eye among
the volunteers who were listening to her story.

"I just wanted to say thank you," she said. "What you
are doing here is SO worth it!"

As my family and I drive all across New England
visiting 40 Days for Life locations over the next few
days, we wanted to wish you a very blessed weekend!

What you are doing is indeed worth every moment,
every effort, every sacrifice.

[Salvation]

 

Day 19 - October 11

 

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