Dear Deacon John,
Abortion destroys the fabric of society – the family. Over time, those wounds impact entire nations. So your country needs you!That is one of many topics we discuss in this new episode of the 40 Days for Life podcast. Often we are motivated to respond to the crisis of abortion out of love of God and love of neighbor. But we also respond out of love of country.
When participating in 40 Days for Life, some people ask Is this legal? or Will I get arrested? This week’s 40 Days for Life podcast takes a look at your legal rights when you take part in a peaceful prayer vigil.
My guest is seasoned attorney Matt Britton. Matt has an expansive legal career including four terms as an elected prosecutor, county attorney, and VP and counsel to publicly-traded global tech companies.
Matt has written and spoken countless times on a wide range of legal and pro-life issues across the United States as well as in England, Japan, Mexico, Korea, Singapore, China and locations across the European Union.
Matt also serves as 40 Days for Life’s general counsel and chairman of the board. He is married to Libby Britton and they have eight beautiful children. Learn how you can use your rights to save lives ... and why your willingness to do so is so crucial – now more than ever! Here’s that link again to this new episode of the 40 Days for Life podcast.
Allentown, Pennsylvania
“I know it’s cold,” said one of the 40 Days for Life team leaders in Allentown, “so bundle up! We are praying for all involved to change hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life!”
A couple of dozen volunteers joined one morning to pray in the frigid cold. “It was as low as 0 degrees with the wind chill and we bore it as best we could! Stay warm out there!”
The Allentown team also passed along a note from a new volunteer, sharing impressions of joining the vigil.
“It’s amazing the impact we could have if we simply let the women and workers know that we are on their side – that we love them and they are loved. It destroyed me inside to see a young girl my own age walking in there, possibly for an abortion. I can't imagine what was going through her head. I wish I could just hug her and tell her that everything was going to be okay.”
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Vigil participants at the 40 Days for Life site in Milwaukee had an opportunity to speak to a young couple … without the interference that the abortion center’s escorts often create.
They were soon able to learn that this couple had decided against abortion … and had chosen life for their child.
“Please keep this couple and their baby in your prayers,” said one of the team leaders. “Take up your cross and pour your heart into your work for Christ. He will repay you in kind; for you can never outgive God.”
Here’s today’s devotional from Fr. Terry Gensemer, the National Director of the Charismatic Episcopal Church for Life.
Day 7 intention May we have a heart and a zeal to save the poor and release the oppressed.
Scripture The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. — Luke 4:18-19
Reflection This passage is a very familiar one. It has been preached on many occasions, even made popular in books and songs. Though the quote is about Jesus, all Christians take this commission seriously as a directive on how to reach the world with the gospel. We, like our Savior, are to bring the good news to the poor, the brokenhearted, those in captivity, those who cannot see, and the oppressed. The commission given to us in this passage is clearly a charge to care for those for whom God cares the most. I wonder though, whom do we look for to be touched by the Holy Spirit as we go out into the world? Who are the poor, if not those unborn children who have been abandoned by their parents before they ever leave the womb? Who are the brokenhearted, if not those unborn children whose only example of love is having their mother take them to an abortion clinic to be destroyed, or the mother of a child who has been deceived by everyone around her into believing that what she is doing is best for her and her child? Who are the captives, if not those unborn children who are bound over to death by the "choice" of abortion? Who is more blind than an unborn child in the darkness of a womb that has become a waiting room for their death? And who is more oppressed than those unborn children whose oppression has been legitimized by their government, their church and even their family and loved ones?
Prayer
Lord, You empower us with Your Spirit to do your will in the earth. Send us to the poorest, the most broken, the most captive, the most blind and the most oppressed in the world, the innocent pre-born children in their mother's wombs that are scheduled for destruction. Help us to bring them healing, liberty, sight and justice through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Printable devotional
To download today's devotional as a formatted, printable PDF to share with friends:
http://40daysforlife.com/media/day07.pdf
For life,
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SHAWN CARNEY
President
40 Days for Life
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