March 12, 2009
40 Days for Life is a long road. Here on Day 16, it
may seem that an end is not in sight. There are many
miles (literally, for those of us on the road visiting
dozens of 40 Days for Life locations :-) to go before
we rest.
But as more people like you are discovering, this is
not a road that we walk alone. God is always with us!
"There are times when we doubt our effectiveness,"
said John in Methuen, Massachusetts. But one cold,
windy day recently brought encouragement just when it
was needed the most.
"As we started to gather, a single file procession of
Franciscans came walking towards us. I was truly
inspired when I spotted them coming."
The Franciscans' grey robes told John that this was a
special moment. "God seemed to be whispering to us,
'I'll take care of things. All I ask of you is to
remain faithful.' And He did."
A group of 23 faithful pro-lifers celebrated the day
with the prayer. "Methuen was alive," John said.
"Hundreds of cars going by witnessed this prayerful
gathering, some tooting their horns showing
solidarity. Needless to say, there were many grateful
hearts there that day. It is a joy to participate in
40 Days for Life."
While some areas are enjoying spring-like weather,
they're still dealing with bone-chilling cold in
Canada. But the faith of the 40 Days for Life
participants is generating great warmth.
"We are having a tough time with the 40 Days for Life
campaign," said Maria in Winnipeg. "We chose to do the
vigil for 12 hours a day since our winters are very
harsh." At times it has been as cold as -35 with a
wind chill of -45.
"We can sometimes barely manage to get 2 or 3 people
to come out to vigil. However, the good news is that
many times we get favorable comments or stories.
People are hungry to tell their story. They know that
we will listen!"
Maria is one of the many heroes leading a local
40 Days for Life campaign.
Every evening Maria looks at her vigil sign-up sheet
and prays. "I start calling, and by the time 10 PM
comes around, God has delivered the vigil participants
for the next day -- and I can go to bed tired but
satisfied. Please pray that we will grow in numbers!"
Angela in Beaverton, Oregon helped with the numbers at
the 40 Days for Life vigil when she went to pray --
and brought along her five children.
"My 8-year-old son grabbed a sign almost as big as he,
which read COME JOIN US. Just a couple of minutes
later," she said, "a woman stopped her car to ask how
she could join and help!" One of the leaders said if
he had not taken that particular sign, this woman may
have never stopped.
"The smile on his face was priceless," said Angela.
"What joy and satisfaction at having made a
difference! We shall be out there again tomorrow!"
While on the subject of children involved in pro-life
work, the national Knights of Columbus organization
just interviewed David Bereit -- our 40 Days for Life
national director -- and his wife Margaret for a
podcast on the topic of instilling pro-life values in
our children.
The 10-minute audio recording is now online at:
http://tinyurl.com/an9xeq
To listen via streaming audio (even if you just have a
dial-up connection) be sure to click the word "Play"
on that page or you can download the MP3 file to
listen on your computer or iPod.
Enjoy!
Today's devotional was prepared for you by Randolph
Sly of the National Pro-life Religious Council...
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DAY 16 INTENTION
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May the mystery of the Incarnation increase our zeal
for defending life.
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SCRIPTURE
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Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God. And behold, you
will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and
shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will
be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God
will give Him the throne of His father David. And He
will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His
kingdom there will be no end."
-- Luke 1:30-33
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REFLECTION by Randolph Sly
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"God has assumed Humanity, joining it with Divinity,
and kindled in men's hearts new love of me." These
words were written by a Roman poet in the Fourth
Century. He spent his life finding ways to express the
greatest mystery of the world: the incarnation, in
which God became man.
The womb has been referred to as the "first home of
the whole human race." It is the place where life
begins, where our stories start.
In the womb the great men and women of history began
their magnificent march through life.
In the womb Divinity met humanity, and God the Son was
born into the world.
As one of the Fathers of the early church, St. Leo the
Great, declared, "Within her spotless womb Wisdom
built itself a house and the Word became flesh."
Recently, I was at the hospital for the birth of my
fourth grandchild. Looking through the nursery window
at the rows of newly born babies, I began to think of
the great stories that would be written about these
tiny lives.
During his visitation with the Virgin Mary, the angel
prophesied to Mary about the life of her child. Here
in this hospital, I pondered, what would he say about
each of these?
Would they meet the one who also came from His
mother's womb to redeem the world and kindle our
hearts afresh for God?
I thanked God for each baby alive and prayed for each
story yet to be written.
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PRAYER
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Heavenly Father, you have made the womb of each woman
a very special place.
Help us to hold fast to the sanctity of this first
home of humanity, remembering the wonderful mystery,
that God inhabited the womb of a young woman and came
forth as the savior and deliverer of the world.
We ask this in the Name of the one who came forth,
Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
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PRINTABLE DEVOTIONAL
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To download today's devotional as a formatted,
printable PDF to share with friends:
http://40daysforlife.com/docs/spring2009day16print.pdf
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Yours In Christ,
Shawn Carney
Spring Campaign Director
40 Days for Life
P.S.- There are some really inspiring 40 Days for Life
stories in that Knights of Columbus podcast interview
with David and Margaret Bereit. Be sure to take a few
minutes to listen to the audio recording at:
http://tinyurl.com/an9xeq