[Salvation]

March 17, 2010

Day 29 - March 17

 

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.

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life and President, National Pro-life Religious Council

[Salvation]

From today’s email:

Outside abortion centers, faithful volunteers are
praying for God to protect women and their babies from
the tragedy that awaits inside.

Inside these facilities, staffers are scrambling to
find volunteers to shield their clients from people
they refer to as “anti-life zealots,” who are
peacefully standing in prayer.

It seems to be happening more during this current
40 Days for Life campaign than it has at any time in
the past — and that’s a credit to the success of
your prayerful efforts.

Nancy says she’s seen it at the 40 Days for Life
vigil in Plattsburgh, New York.

“Planned Parenthood employees call in ‘escorts’ when
they see us appear,” she said. “Escorts — in their
minds — are needed to ‘safely’ bring in the clients,
as they feel the need to ‘protect’ them from the
pro-life prayers! It’s quite a show on their part.”

Mary has seen it as well. When she went to take part
in the 40 Days for Life vigil in Canton, Ohio
recently, she and the other vigil participants “were
joined by two young men carrying signs of hate.”

The men were trying to stand in the way of the people
praying, all the while laughing and saying hateful
things.

“I told one young man that I would pray for him —
but he didn’t seem to hear me or to care,” Mary said.
“I tried to keep getting around them with my sign but
they were relentless and it almost became a game —
a circus act, if you will.”

Mary said it’s best to ignore protesters — just pray
silently and “stand firm in the truth of what we are
doing together — saving lives.”

At the 40 Days for Life vigil in Providence, Rhode
Island, Joanne said a Planned Parenthood worker
confronted a prayer volunteer who was carrying an
“I regret my abortion” sign. The employee argued that
this woman had no “right” to regret her abortion!

“The employee joined the escorts near me to ridicule
her for having had eight children,” Joanne said,
“even saying vulgar things against her motherhood.”

As the worker and the escorts continued to mock the
woman with the sign, Joanne pulled her aside “to
assure her that God was blessing her greatly.”

Just at that moment, one of the women that the escorts
had been trying to “protect” came bursting out of the
abortion center.

“It’s so scary in there,” she said. “This is the
second time I’ve come for an abortion and couldn’t
do it. I was in the room and on the table, and I
couldn’t do it — so I left. Thank you for being here.
God bless you!”

“What would we do without the courageous and charitable
witness of faithful volunteers?” asked Joanne. “I am
always awed to stand with you who are sent by the Lord
for this work!”