Day 16: Thank you to Lincoln Place Church of the Nazarene, Divine Mercy Parish, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and all of our other prayer volunteers!

Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.

Psalm 1: 1-2

Why would anyone put their faith or trust in an organization whose main source of revenue is gained through the killing of babies and the destroying of lives and families? In what way does any of that seem like a good idea? Women and men are being lied to…. and their lives will never be the same.

There are between 800,000 and 900,000 abortions in the U.S. each year, and about 40 percent of those are performed by Planned Parenthood.

See Facts About Abortion: U.S. Abortion Statistics (abort73.com) and https://www.hli.org/resources/planned-parenthood-abortion-statistics/#:~:text=According%20to%20Planned%20Parenthood%E2%80%99s%202019%20Annual%20Report,%20it,early%20preborn%20lives%20were%20ended%20in%20this%20manner.

This is not an organization in which we can place our trust or our hope. We pray that those clients of Planned Parenthood will also come to understand this, and will put their trust instead in the Lord who loves them and has a plan for their lives. And that plan does not include the slaughter of the innocent unborn.

But every day that the sun rises again over our city is a new opportunity for hope.

Reports from the Sidewalk:

Nikki:

It really is such a blessing and a privilege to get to be part of 40 Days For Life! It is such a joy to be among people who truly love the Lord and want to do his will. It was Peggy and I for the 7 to 9 shift, and after wonderful Diane and Tom set up the materials we began our prayers. We shared some personal joys and sorrows in between prayers, and I am just so grateful for this Christian Fellowship and this witness! It was a blessing to see Barb, a new participant of 40 Days For Life, come to answer the call for somebody for the 9 to 11 shift! God is using her in a very special way and she is putting all of her trust in him and it is a beautiful thing to see also! Please say a prayer for her, for her protection and pray for Judy Stump’s mother-in-law who is in the hospital. God bless all of our 40 Days For Life participants!

Meredith:

Another cold but not unpleasant morning at 933 Liberty Avenue. I had the blessing of being joined by Barbara and Beverly, who responded to the unexpected absence of Judy as the shift manager. Thank you for praying for Pastor Joseph’s mother Jackie. She needs your prayers! Uneventful mornings mean good opportunities to pray! We were joined before the end of our shift by new to 40 Days for Life, Don. Thank you everyone for praying and believing that doing so makes a difference!!!

Lisa K.:

As I walked from the parking garage today toward PP, I knew what was coming when I turned that corner onto Liberty Avenue. The wind… the cold. Every time, right? Those of you who walk by that Starbucks and Billy’s know what I’m talking about. I braced myself as I approached the corner and thought “Here it comes…” And it DID. The wind and cold was a bit jarring. And I couldn’t help but think- as so many of us have mentioned before- that PP is such a place of death and darkness, that no wonder that street is like a wind tunnel where it tends to be extra cold at times. As I thought of this, I was reminded of Shawn Carney’s message from his video this morning on the national blog. He was talking about distractions being of the devil. And I couldn’t help but think something like, “Oh… if the devil is all we’re talking about, then I have nothing to worry about and no need to be afraid.” I mean, friends…. look who we have on OUR side???? Almighty God!!!! So- let the devil play his tricks and cause distractions. Who cares? We serve the Lord of all, and He is in control.

Since it was my birthday today, I began my prayers by thanking God for the gift of my life. We must ALL be thankful for the gift of our own lives. And what better place to contemplate that than at a 40 Days for Life vigil site.

Thank you so much to the wonderful prayer companions who joined me today…. Beth Ann, my dear Shift Buddy…. and faithful Tony who joins us regularly…. Rosa, who brought me birthday flowers…. and Don from SS. John and Paul….. and Chris from St. Teresa of Kolkata…. and Bob, who stops by every time he is downtown. Such a wonderful group of simply regular people who love the Lord and want to protect human life. Thank you all.

Cecilia:

It is great to have Divine Mercy Parish with us each week! Thanks to Dolores, Joyce, Tom and Mike for braving the cold! Thanks to my regular travel and prayer companions, Fr. Jim and Patti from our new St. Francis of Assisi Parish. I do not like to travel alone.
We had the pleasure of meeting local artist, Chiaka Howze and his beautiful friend. Do a search to check out his impressive artwork. He would like to make a mural for us and bring it to the sidewalk in front of PP. That would be a blessing! We will hopefully see him back with his work! Maybe he could team up with our own, Nikki, to open a studio!? Read online about his story of being homeless in Seattle and them coming back to Pittsburgh to be reunited with family. This cold weather and his story reminds me to keep the homeless in our prayer and to pray that Chiaka is in a more stable environment now.

Cil reports: SM Carolyn with Fr. Jim and Patti. Passing the torch to Pete. We huddled against the building to try and keep warm.

Cil continues her report: SM Carolyn started us off with the Stations of the Cross and several rosaries were prayed. Here she is with Fr Jim, Patti, Joyce, Delores, and someone who just stopped by to pray a rosary. Barbara on her bike came by for a rosary too.

Cil completes her report: Chris stayed into our shift praying with Tom and Mike on other side of the arch.

HOUR OF MERCY

Thanks to Fr. Jim from St. Francis of Assissi Parish for praying at the vigil at the 3 PM hour of mercy!

Christine:

Pete and I were joined by Rose K. and we began our shift with The Divine Mercy Chaplet. Passersby were mostly kind in their greetings, and workers ignored us as they left for the day. We said the Luminous and Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, which could be compared to our experiences here. The wind was bitter but our hearts were warmed by the light of Jesus in prayer and fellowship.