Calling All First-timers! - 40 Days for Life Campaign, Day 14

From Shawn Carney, Campaign Director
40 Days for Life

In the past six years, 575,000 people have participated in 40 Days for Life worldwide. Our surveys show that for more than 30% of those volunteers, 40 Days for Life is their FIRST-EVER pro-life activity!

 

One thing is for sure – they all took that first step because they were all invited by someone. I was first invited to pray outside an abortion facility back in 2001 – by the woman who eventually became my wife.

 

Being invited is part of it – but we still have to respond and go. The first step is always the hardest. During this 40 Days for Life campaign, many people are taking that first step . . . and encouraging others to do the same.

 

Here’s the link to the list of 306 locations – find one and sign up for an hour of prayer:

http://40daysforlife.com/location 

 

 

  Temecula, California 

 

Bekah in Temecula says some of the couples in her bible study for young marrieds prayed at the 40 Days for Life vigil recently. “For most of them,” she said, “it was the first time they had gotten to come out and pray.  It was a blessed time of praying.”

 

Since this is the first 40 Days for Life campaign in Temecula, Bekah said it was exciting to get a good-sized group out there.

 

“Praise the Lord!” she said. “We had many people honking at us, in what mainly seemed an encouraging manner” – and some of these volunteers have returned to pray again.

 

 

Alexandria, Virginia 

Fr. Edward Bresnahan of Bishop Ireton High School accompanied members of the Catholic Witness and Pro-Life Club to the 40 Days for Life vigil in Alexandria.

 

“We had a record school turnout,” he said. Usually, such events only draw a handful of students. Many teens, he said, seem busy with sports and other activities.

“We had about 13 kids stand up for life, and we're just so proud of their involvement,” Fr. Bresnahan said. “They're enthusiastic about helping again in two weeks!” 

 

 

Here's today's devotional from Fr. Frank Pavone, the national director of Priests for Life...

Day 14 intention

Abortion is the great "no." May all of God's people have the freedom and grace to say "yes" to His marvelous plans.

Scripture

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed and in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

-- Psalm 139:13-16

Reflection by Fr. Frank Pavone

Unlike the rest of creation, we are capable of a personal relationship with God. Not only did God create us, but created us according to a plan devised from all eternity. No matter how far back we go in our imagination, there was never a time when God did not know each of us, in every detail of our being.

There was not a particular time when God decided to make us. The decision to make us has been in the mind of God from all eternity. All our days were written in His book.

To dare to say that a human being, developing in the womb, should not be born is as wrong as to say that a born person should not continue to grow and live. In each case, an attack on human life is an attack on  the God who formed and made us. Jesus Christ is the great "yes" to the promises of God; abortion is the great "no."

Prayer

Lord, I pray today for every unborn child. The beauty of the bodies and souls of these children flows from your hands and your eternal plan.

Awaken in every human conscience a profound reverence for human life, and grant us grace to defend our smallest and most defenseless brothers and sisters, those still being formed in the secret places of their mothers' womb. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Printable devotional

To download today's devotional as a formatted, printable PDF to share with friends:

http://40daysforlife.com/docs/fall2013day14print.pdf