You know 40 Days for Life is off to a great start
when there's a report of a baby saved from abortion
-- at a pre-campaign kickoff event!
The 40 Days for Life team in St. Louis began a day of
preparation prior to the campaign with prayer at a
local church, followed by more prayer on the sidewalk
in front of the Planned Parenthood abortion center --
prayer that was joined by more than 100 people.
At the St. Louis kickoff rally that evening, "we
sang, prayed and had a chance to meet many new
people," said local coordinator Brian Westbrook. "God
truly blessed us with an exciting night."
But the excitement was just beginning. At the end of
the long day, Brian went home, checked his e-mail and
found this message:
"I just wanted to let you know that today just
before we left the clinic, as we were wrapping up
and praying together, one of the sidewalk
counselors came over and let us know that a couple
who had gone into the clinic in the morning had
just left and decided to keep their baby. So praise
God, I believe that's the first fruits of what's to
come over the next 40 days."
Brian said, "What an incredible start to these 40
Days for Life. I cannot wait to see what God has in
store for us this fall. Keep praying and fasting and
one day we will see an end to abortion."
Positive reports from kickoff events and news stories
about 40 Days for Life are pouring in from across
North America as the campaign is getting off to an
incredible start in over 200 locations.
Some of these locations have just been visited by
40 Days for Life's campaign director Shawn Carney,
who got to meet many enthusiastic people in South
Bend, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, Indiana, before
heading back home to help kick off his local 40 Days
for Life campaign in Bryan/College Station, Texas.
There's a picture of Shawn and his wife, Marilisa,
flanked by members of the 40 Days for Life team in
Indianapolis posted at:
http://40daysforlife.com/blog/
And here's where you can listen to the recording of
the electrifying talk Shawn gave at the kickoff event
in South Bend:
http://40daysforlife.com/blog/
If you're not charged up about 40 Days for Life yet,
you surely will be after listening to Shawn!
Yes, this 40 Days for Life campaign is indeed getting
off to a fast start ...
... But 40 Days for Life is also getting off to a
small start. And that's a good thing, too.
Let me explain ...
God is already providing what a member of our
Buffalo, New York team calls "small successes."
Liz's pastor permitted her to speak about 40 Days for
Life at church last Sunday. After she finished, the
pastor added his own endorsement of 40 Days for Life.
After church, about 80 people signed up to pray and
fast for an end to abortion -- including ten people
who registered for a prayer shift at the vigil
outside the abortion center.
Imagine if that happened at every church in every
40 Days for Life community. And it could!
Why not ask your pastor if information about 40 Days
for Life can be presented to your church? Those small
successes could add up pretty quickly!
I am confident that over the course of these 40 days,
that God's victories will multiply over and over
again. Please continue to hold this 40 Days for Life
effort in your prayers.
Here's today's devotional from Fr. Frank Pavone,
National Director of Priests for Life...
------------------------------
DAY 2 INTENTION
------------------------------
Pray for those who work in the abortion industry, and
for those who have repented of committing abortions
and have resolved to defend life.
------------------------------
SCRIPTURE
------------------------------
Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into
your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said
this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing
what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this
was a righteous man."
-- Luke 23:46-47
------------------------------
REFLECTION by Fr. Frank Pavone, Priests for Life
------------------------------
"Those of us who have participated in the killing of
unborn children are the Centurions of today. We have
dropped our swords against the unborn child. Now we
must recognize the depth of our guilt and deal with
the ramifications... To revitalize our humanity we
need to forgive and be forgiven, to reconcile and be
healed."
These words come from a brochure of the Society of
Centurions, an organization for former abortion
providers. These words convey in a beautiful and
moving way what is happening across the nation as
hundreds of abortionists and their staff members
experience repentance, conversion, and healing.
How does this conversion begin? Dr. Philip Ney
writes, "The factors that changed their opinion on
performing abortions, in the following order of
frequency, were: evidence of the infant's humanity, a
spiritual experience, personal distress, evidence of
the mother's distress, scientific articles, being
accepted as a person, a personal relationship with a
pro-lifer, pro-life pickets." (The Centurion's
Pathway, p. 77).
The journey is not easy. But the Jesus who heals us
calls us to face the truth of what we've done, make
restitution where possible, and engage in the hard
work of mending relationships. Let's pray for the
Centurions; may their numbers increase!
------------------------------
PRAYER
------------------------------
Lord, we thank you for those who have repented of
committing abortions and have resolved to defend
life. We too repent and resolve.
We repent of every instance in which fear has made us
silent when we should have spoken. We repent of the
ongoing bloodshed in our land, and for thinking that
we can deprive the unborn of protection but keep it
for ourselves.
We resolve that we will advance the cause of
righteous candidates for public office, and that we
will be more afraid of offending you by our silence
than of offending others by our speech. We resolve
that we will proclaim your name to the nations,
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/docs/
------------------------------
On the eve of the kickoff of this 40 Days for Life, I
was at an exciting event with numerous 40 Days for
Life people from Maryland and Delaware. In a few
hours I'll be on a plane heading to Louisville and
Lexington, Kentucky where I'll be visiting 40 Days
for Life locations.
I've never seen the intensity of excitement that
we're seeing this early in a campaign -- this is
going to be a GREAT 40 Days for Life!
For Life,
David Bereit
National Director
40 Days for Life
P.S.- WOW! I just finished listening to Shawn's South
Bend talk while typing this message to you. As an old
Texas friend of mine says, "if that don't light your
fire, then your wood's wet!" Listen to this right now
-- you'll be glad you did:
http://40daysforlife.com/blog/
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