Day 15…Thanks to our amazing team!

A Mother’s Haunting Sorrow

(Written by Seamus)

My reflections during the 40 Days Campaign are typically based on Scripture and rightly so, but I am also just a human being with a lifetime of firsthand experiences. I cannot just leave the core of who I am at home when I go to serve. I cannot approach my witness to others with a tabula rasa. Thus…there is one lifetime experience I can never escape.

It’s hard for me to believe, but 56 years ago I returned home from Viet Nam after serving as a Marine Infantryman and Vietnamese Interpreter. I had witnessed more death than I could possibly comprehend and most profoundly, my Squad Leader and best friend Sgt. John B. Moreno died in my arms after a horrific, fatal injury on July 7,1968. There was absolutely no way to forget and move on. My unit stayed “in the field” to battle for another eight days and my uniform remained drenched in John’s blood. No way to change; no way to shower. Twenty-four hours a day, day after day, I figuratively held John in my arms.

Upon my return home, I tried to work through my grief by writing poetry. In one poem, I tried to express the overwhelming and incomprehensible sorrow of each of my fellow Marine’s family members, special someone, friends, and neighbors. In one stanza, I tried to speak of a mother’s sorrow after losing her son:

“Twelve mothers cried today,
His bedroom now a tomb
Rocking again on the rocking chair,
A chilling emptiness in their womb.”

I cannot help but reflect on that stanza expressing a mother’s dreadful sorrow each time a young lady enters that place of pain and death on Liberty Avenue. My heart cries with the knowledge that she will mourn for the rest of her life. Many if not all of us over the years have heard a deeply wounded parent opine that the worst pain one can ever endure is the loss of one’s child, yet we must watch in horror as a mother makes the choice to take the life of her own child.

We do not make personal sacrifices to be an observer, onlooker, or spectator. We act believing that Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ calls us to serve. We can and must stand in the breach. We must witness. We must love. We must pray from the depths of our heart and soul. We must implore mothers, fathers, and grandparents to choose the life of the child.

We fight for each life, and we fight to prevent a mother’s haunting sorrow.

Jesus, please give us the strength to endure.

Seamus

Read on for today’s sidewalk stories…

Cathy & Peggy

A varied shift. The “hearse” was there when we arrived and stayed for most of the shift. The driver took in some empty orange containers and brought out full ones. Somber.

Two parties went into PP just after 8, followed by another a little while later and two more at around 9. None were interested in information or help. We still prayed our Memorares for a change of heart.

The sidewalk was powerwashed. We moved the materials until they were done.

Cathy & Peg

Julie & Katie

(from Katie) – It was just Julie and I for most of our shift, although Cathy stuck around for a while. We think 7, (maybe 8?) women went into PP, some with men and some alone. Two of the men were looking back out the door at us and laughing. (We were holding the 6 week baby sign.) It was rather discouraging how callous people can be, but if a man can stand by and let his child be killed I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that he could laugh about it. One man seemed very insistent that his girlfriend not talk to us or take literature. We were calling to them through the door and I told her that it’s illegal for anyone to pressure her to do this, but I’m not sure if they could hear me. We had a few positive comments from passersby and a few negative, but a very tragic day overall.

Larry

Busy day at Planned Parenthood today. Many couples in and out during our shift. Beth Ann was there, but I forgot to take her picture. We prayed all four mysteries of the rosary. Judy and Ed showed up at noon, and the traffic was still busy going in and out of Planned Parenthood. The man who appeared to be passed out from drugs last week showed up again, and was laying almost faced down on the ground in a crumpled up position a couple doors down from Planned Parenthood. The security guard from Planned Parenthood called 911, and the police and paramedics showed up. The man basically got up and walked away at that point. We did have one gentleman stopped and talked to us and said he was 50 years old and he’s been strongly pro-life since Roe v Wade.

Chris & Kevin

(from Chris) – Joining me in prayer today were my rear-round prayer partners, John and Kevin, from Regina Coeli Parish, and Judy from St. Joseph the Worker Parish.  We prayed three Rosaries and a pair of Chaplets of Divine Mercy and Loreto Litanies.  We heard no comments about us or our praying, either for or against.  Judy did her best to offer life-saving and life-changing help to the women entering or exiting PP.

3-5 shift cancelled today