Posted on 02/12/2013 3:26:33 PM PST by Salvation
I was in frigid Green Bay, Wisconsin yesterday for a closing event that included a march outside the hospital that does abortions in that city. Its a cause for rejoicing when 40 Days for Life volunteers learn that no abortions are scheduling during a day the facility is usually open or even for a whole week. Or even longer in at least one case. One location that had no abortions this week was a notorious late-term facility in Maryland.
Two more lives were spared from abortion, said Andrew in Germantown. Praise God! He also noted that abortionist LeRoy Carhart, who works at the facility where the 40 Days for Life vigil is conducted on the sidewalk outside, had not been seen. So, no abortions at all this week in Germantown, he said. What a great way to end our campaign! Vigil participants say theyve noticed that a particular abortion center employee has not been seen at work in more than four weeks. Please pray, Andrew said, that she no longer works at Germantown Reproductive Health Services and has found employment outside of the abortion industry.
There have been no abortions in 40 weeks at the Planned Parenthood location in Columbia where volunteers pray in the public right-of-way outside. Planned Parenthood simply hasnt been able to find anyone to do abortions there! How awesome is our God and what wondrous signs He gives us, said Kathy in Columbia. She also mentioned a man who stopped to speak with one of the volunteers. He said 23 years ago, he encouraged his girlfriend to have an abortion. She refused. The baby was born by C-section--he held his baby as he cried. He could not believe that he had wanted her to abort his own child. The man gave the volunteer a donation two dollars. It may have been his lunch money. This man has such a priceless treasure -- a child -- and he gave us his widow's mite, Kathy said. People ask us why we stand on the sidewalk. I think you know why.
Cecelia in Lansing shares the story of Ken, who noticed no one had signed up to pray one evening between 6 and 8. The Michigan State basketball game against Big Ten rival Indiana was going on but he chose instead to go pray. At the end of his two hours, two young women drove up. "Is there where they do abortions?" the driver said. "Are you thinking about having an abortion?" Ken replied. "Yes," she said. "Do you know what they do with the fetuses?" That's when I told her that we raise alpacas, Ken said. Well, we raise them for breeding and when we find out one is bred we celebrate. And the mother protects the alpaca carefully. If she loses one, she goes there and stands in the same spot to grieve. He said a quick prayer to the Holy Spirit and showed the woman a flyer describing stages of the babys growth and when the heartbeat begins. She started to cry. As tears were streaming down, I gave her the phone numbers of the various pregnancy clinics, Ken said. I told her that something so precious and valuable as a baby alpaca doesn't compare at all with a child." |
©2013
40 Days for Life, Inc. www.40daysforlife.comDevotional for Day 40, March 24, 2013
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life
Intention:
Let us keep our eyes fixed on the New Jerusalem, where death will be no more.
Scripture:
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order
of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new!
Revelation 21:4-5Reflection:
Every activity we undertake in defense of the sanctity of life is
prophetic, inasmuchas it points to the day when death will be no more. Every victory we have when an act of abortion is prevented is prophetic of that day when death itself will be definitively conquered.Every triumph of grace in this world, whereby someone is brought to see the value of life and given the strength to welcome it, is a breaking into our history of that definitive future in which the old order of things will have passed, and all things will be made new.
As pro-life warriors, we must keep our eyes fixed on heaven, and our hearts secure in the hope that the day is coming when all evil will be conquered. It is the future that shapes the present; it is victory that informs the battle; it is the destination that determines the journey.
Daily, we are called to reflect on heaven. When we weep, we are to think of the day when every tear will be wiped away. When we face the destructive power of death, we are to think of the day when death is swallowed up in victory.
When we labor against abortion, we are to think of the day when we will have the rest and peace of the final triumph of life.
Heaven is as real as earth, and its joys will be as real as our present sorrows.
Prayer: Father, you are the God of hope. Your word fills us with the vision of the world to come, when every tear will be wiped away, and death will be no more. Father, how we need that hope, how we are strengthened by that vision! Keep our hearts focused on heaven, and diligent in the labors of earth. As we struggle against the culture ofdeath, root our souls in the assurance of victory. We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
I just got home from closing events in Wisconsin ... where they fed me fried cheese curds (look it up if you aren't aware of these) and bratwurst. But the highlight was meeting a mom who chose life for her baby during a previous 40 Days for Life campaign ... and now goes out to pray at the vigil! Today is Day 40, and I have just one story -- a very powerful story. Ill keep her identity and location confidential but heres the story, in her own words, of how hearts are changing ... one at a time. I WANT THEM TO KNOW
|
©2013
40 Days for Life, Inc. www.40daysforlife.comDevotional for Day 41, March 25, 2013
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life
Intention:
Pray that the witness of 40 Days for Life bears abundant fruit, and that we begin again each day to storm the gates of hell until God welcomes us into the gates of heaven.
Scripture:
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. On this rock I will build my church; the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18Reflection:
When we read this verse, we usually think that the Lord is promising that the church, which is His Body, will withstand all the attacks launched against it. Of course, that is true. But when we think about it more carefully, we realize that in a battle, the gates do not run out into the battlefield to attack the enemy.
Rather, they stand still to defend the city from the enemy attacking it. So when the Lord says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, who is doing the attacking?
It is the church storming the gates!
The church, all of Gods people in Christ, is called to take the offensive, to run into enemy territory, and to gain ground for Jesus Christ. We do not wait for an invitation; we already have a command.We prepare, but we do not wait for circumstances to be perfect; we already have one who has gone before us. During these 40 days, we have stormed the gates. We have taken the offensive.
We have pushed forward the boundaries of the kingdom. And we must keep doing so, in numerous ways. Indeed, the gates of hell will not prevail.
The gates of falsehood will flee in the presence of truth. The gates of sin will melt in the presence of grace. The gates of death will fall in the presence of the church, the People of Life!
Prayer:
Father, we praise you. We have heard the voice of your Son, and therefore we can make our voices heard. We have done battle with the power of evil, and therefore we can have compassion on those still within its grip. We have been freed from the kingdom of darkness, and therefore we can bear witness to your Kingdom of Light.
May the witness of all your people through these 40 Days for Life bear abundant fruit, and may we begin again each day to storm the gates of hell until You welcome us into the gates of heaven.
We pray in the victorious name of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.
Before I take a break from email, I do want to thank you for all youve done the past 40 days and to let you know that we are aware of
554 babies spared from abortion through Gods mercy these past 40 days!
Those are 554 stories of children -- made in God's image and likeness -- who were so close to becoming another statistic. But because of your prayers, and your courage to be there for their moms, they have life.
It is in this spirit of thanksgiving -- for their lives and our lives -- that we enter into the most important week of the year. This week we hand all of our weaknesses and doubts over to Christ, who takes them to the Cross, overcomes death ... and reminds us that with Him, all things are possible -- even ending abortion.
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK
Gerald was praying at the vigil in White Plains when somebody walked off with his backpack. But before he could get too concerned about that, he noticed two women heading his way an older woman and a younger one.
The older woman told him they had driven two hours from upstate New York. The young woman had an abortion appointment, but now she is probably going to have the baby. She asked Gerald for information about pregnancy services.
That information, of course, was in Geralds backpack. But he passed along two pro-life pregnancy hotline numbers that he knew, as well as the web address of the Sisters of Life.
The young woman was smiling and said God bless you as Gerald waved good-bye. He said hed been praying about the missing backpack, but God responded with a much greater blessing!
KALISPELL, MONTANA
Floyd in Kalispell says two babies were saved from abortion. In both cases, the mothers are 16-year-old girls.
One of these young women arrived at the abortion center with her mother, her aunt and one of her mothers friends. Inside, the girl had an ultrasound exam.
The technician was telling her that she had a tissue growth that they could take care of for her. At that point, the girls aunt snatched the sonogram printout from the technicians hand. Look at this ultrasound! She said. Its a baby!
The aunt convinced the young lady that it was in her best interest to have the baby, said Floyd. All the ladies left the clinic and haven't been seen since. We have heard that the young lady went to the pregnancy center with her aunt -- and all is well.
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA
A man stopped his car next to the prayer volunteers and asked where the abortion center was, since his wife had an appointment. One of the vigil participants talked to him, gave him some information and convinced him to not keep the appointment.
A while later, the volunteer saw that same car, around the corner, parked off the side of the road.
The man and woman were feeling pressured and confused because the abortionist called to pressure them, asking why they had not shown up for their appointment.
The prayer volunteer assured them they were doing the right thing that God will take care of them, to leave and not to have any second thoughts. The woman was very grateful, and told him God had sent him.
They contacted a pregnancy support center, where one of the workers confirmed that they had made a definitive choice to keep the baby.
We at the prayer site are all rejoicing, said one of the local leaders, and giving thanks and praise to God for this wonderful miracle of life.
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