Dear Deacon John,
Men have a huge role in the abortion crisis. Many have pressured women to have abortions ... or paid for abortions ... or failed to take any responsibility for their actions.
However, many men do feel the deep pain of abortion ... 5, 10, or even 20 years later. I’ve seen grown men weep in the parking lots outside abortion facilities as abortion workers tell them this is a “woman’s choice” and they have no legal rights.
Today, we hear about two men in particular who heard the truth and did not cower ... but found the courage and strength to “man up.”
Germantown, Maryland
“Praise God! Three lives were spared from abortion,” said Andrew in Germantown. ”God is continuing to answer our prayers.”
While the Germantown team was holding its midpoint rally, a woman walked into what she thought was the late-term abortion facility. But it was actually the pro-life pregnancy center right across the parking lot.
As it turns out, however, she was in the right place after all. The volunteers there talked and prayed with her – and gave her detailed information about what a late-term abortion entails.
She went back to her car, where her husband was waiting, and they talked for about 20 minutes.
This time, it was the husband who went inside the pregnancy care center … to tell the volunteers they just could not go through with the abortion.
What changed their minds? “He responded he felt loved at the pregnancy center,” Andrew said, “and after reading about the late-term abortion procedure, he said he could not do that to his child.”
Manchester, England
John in Manchester says at least six babies have been spared from abortion during this 40 Days for Life campaign.
“One mother returned to the clinic for a surgical abortion,” he said, “having been previously in January for a chemical abortion which failed.”
One of the women at the vigil spoke to the father, who was waiting outside, and then went to get a model of a child in the womb to show him how the baby was developing.
“The father took the ‘baby’ into the clinic to show the mother,” John said. The abortion facility’s staff, it seems, had told the mother that at this stage of pregnancy, the baby was only “a blob.”
“The couple then came out,” he said, “declaring they would not go ahead with the abortion.”
Today's devotional is from Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life.
Day 29 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 by Fr. Frank Pavone
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.
Printable devotional
To download today's devotional as a formatted, printable PDF to share:
http://40daysforlife.com/docs/
Day 29 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 by Fr. Frank Pavone
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.
Printable devotional
To download today's devotional as a formatted, printable PDF to share:
http://40daysforlife.com/docs/
For Life,
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SHAWN CARNEY
Campaign Director
40 Days for Life
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http://40daysforlife.com/blog/
