To honor St. Patrick today, I figured we could gain something from some of his actual words:
“So I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God, and He looked down on my lowliness and had mercy on my youthful ignorance.”
This really struck me today. St. Patrick knew that sometimes, he had probably been foolish. He hadn’t been listening to the wisdom of God OR the wisdom of men in his youth. How often this happens to all of us (whether in our youth or not)! We might not realize that what we need to do is right there in front of us… and we end up making the wrong decision. And yet– the Lord has mercy on us.
May we all seek the Lord and His wisdom and GREAT MERCY.
Reports from the Sidewalk
Cathy (7-9am):
Peg and I were joined by Anthony and my friend Mary this morning. While we prayed the rosary, Peg floated, trying to engage the women who came and give them some literature. Sadly, no one wanted to talk, and the couple who did take info – it ended up in the trash once inside. A mom, after dropping off her daughter, yelled at Peg to leave her alone, as she drove off. Four or five women went in. So sad, and hard to comprehend. Hopefully, later, they will seek help to deal with the problems they will encounter.
Judy (9-11am):
Meredith, Chuck, Karen and Judy came from Lincoln Place Church of the Nazarene, and we were joined by Anthony and Bill. It was a busy day for abortions.
No one was convinced to take any women’s resources. There were several couples and even more individual very young women.
It was encouraging to meet a couple believers on the street. A young man had just had a baby a couple months ago and he wanted pro-life info to hand out to his family and post on his FB page. I gave him 40 DFL info and encouraged him to pray about getting involved.
Towards the end of our shift, there was a lady in a wheelchair across the street on a loudspeaker speaking against abortion and against Planned Parenthood. She prayed against abortion and spoke of forgiveness and help that is available for those who seek it.
The security guard kept coming out and asking us to stop talking to people coming in and kept threatening to call the cops if we didn’t stay outside the circle. At the end of our shift the police arrived. They went in to talk to the guard and then came back out. One of the officers said the guard was complaining about us harassing the people going in and continued harassing them after they got inside the building. The other officer said the guard was complaining that we were blocking the door. The cops left without giving us an ultimatum or anything. Lisa may have more comments for this since she was there also.
Lisa and Linda (11am-1pm):
Two photos. A sign of spring and hope.
Carolyn and Dean (1-3pm):
We had a good day and lots of good conversation with passersby. A young couple came out of Planned Parenthood. The young man listened to me when I told him how precious his child’s new life was. He said, “They are killing black babies in there?” I said yes. His girlfriend did not respond. We prayed for them.
Pete and Virginia (3-5pm):
The streets and, thankfully, Planned Parenthood, were pretty quiet during the 3-5 shift. Shift buddy Virginia and I prayed a Divine Mercy Chaplet and Rosary while Virginia passed out literature to all who were willing to take it. Tom came by at 4 and we assisted in the teardown. We then bookended Planned Parenthood, prayed separately, and greeted all those who passed by. A woman stopped to pray outside ‘the line’ then thanked us for being there. For the most part things were peaceful for our shift. God Bless, Pete.