By Mary Kemper – 40 Days for Life coordinator
A blessed Holy Week to each of you. Thank you for praying with us during these last 40 Days for an end to the evil of abortion. You who prayed from home provided strong support for those who prayed publicly on the sidewalks. Together, we spent this Lent praising God for His gift of life, asking His grace to help us end abortion in our state, and witnessing the reality of the unborn to all who saw us.
Some highlights:
One of our amazing sidewalk advocates for life experienced a “save” on the second day of our vigil.
Jackie writes: “A couple sat in their car for the longest time, and she never got out. It was before [my prayer partner] arrived, and when we are by ourselves, we’re not supposed to approach anyone. I just stood behind their car and prayed. … AND GOD ANSWERED! The Holy Spirit totally did the work of moving on their hearts. They drove away!!! I love that because it’s totally something God did more than anything I did or didn’t do.”
What a privilege for Jackie to experience! And a heartening reminder that our prayerful presence changes hearts and saves lives.
Prayer volunteers of all ages were out on the sidewalk each week. One young person in a group of 15 from Holy Rosary Academy said, “It was so fun! Just a few middle fingers and thumbs down, but all the honks were encouraging with thumbs up!”
Another said, “Standing and praying allowed our group to be vulnerable to those who do not believe in the sacredness of human life. This also made our group deepen our faith together.”
To those of us who are older, maybe with the gray hair and the tiredness and maybe a little hopelessness, let us take heart in this next generation of the prolife movement! They are grounded in the Truth, and they bravely and beautifully share that with the world.
Our closing Mass and prayer service drew at least 70 people – at the quite inconvenient time of 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning! Father Tom [Lilly] encouraged those present, stating that we who are prolife will not stop praying publicly and will not stop doing prolife work until “abortion is unthinkable.”
After holy Mass, about 20 people walked over to the abortion facility for continued prayer. Several men both young and old took turns leading the group in praying all 20 mysteries of the Holy Rosary, with prolife meditations offered before each. It was very powerful.
Thank you all for a fruitful 40 Days! May you and your families experience God’s grace and mercy this Holy Week and throughout the long and glorious Easter season.
In Christ, for the unborn.
The views expressed here are those of the author.
