The Mission Extends Beyond the Sidewalk
When we keep vigil on the sidewalk outside of Planned Parenthood, it is easy to keep the Primary Mission in full and complete focus. Save Babies! However, is that our only mission? I would like to suggest it is not, at least it’s not if we happen to also be followers of Jesus Christ. Even if every Planned Parenthood were shuttered tomorrow,
our mission would still be far from complete. According to certain polls, a majority of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in some form. While that number decreases when longer gestation periods are considered, that is still a lot of hearts and minds we need to win over.
Recently at the Catholic Men’s Fellowship of Western Pennsylvania Conference, Mark Hartfiel of Paradisus Dei spoke on the topic of, “The Dignity of All Persons: Finding your Mission Field.” During his talk he recounted a deep meditation he undertook on the scourging at the pillar. Following the incalculable lacerations endured by our Lord, he noted that the Roman soldiers then proceeded to mock him, even feigning to kneel before him. Imagine, the God of the Universe, with the power to end the agony or at least silence these mere mortals from mocking His Majesty, who instead simply permits the mocking to proceed. Mark, overwhelmed by the emotion of this immersive scene in his meditation, calls out. “Lord, make it stop!” To which the answer immediately came
back to him….”You don’t understand, Mark. I am not fighting against them….I am fighting for them”.
What?!? For them? They are the enemy, Roman soldiers that have exhibited disdain for your Jewish culture. They have no reverence for your ministry nor your Kingdom, Lord Jesus. And that’s exactly right. He went through all of it. He endured all of it for ALL.OF.US.
That means, when we are on the sidewalk, we are not just there to save the babies. We also know that we are saving Moms and Dads and future generations. It’s easy to stay motivated for those missions! But even those are not enough. We are also trying to save those that walk by and mock us. Those that try to spit on us. Those that swear at us and flash venomous hand gestures. Even those seeking to injure us. Our mission reaches even further — to the escorts, the staff, the security guards, and yes, even the abortionists. In the end, Jesus and his Father want them all. Every, last one of them. They ask for nothing less from us. So, let us keep that message front and center as we pray at 933 Liberty Avenue.
We are not fighting against them.
We are fighting for them.
They just don’t realize it.
In order to win this war, in order to complete our Mission, we need to win the hearts and minds of everyone, so that abortion becomes unconscionable, unthinkable, a barbaric action from a dark period in our history. Until then, we must stay focused on the Mission. His Mission. We must prevail.
-Bill
Michael, Mark, and Mary
(from Michael) Great news! PP is closed today, but staff is coming in. Security Guard let the cat out of the bag when we overheard him tell a young lady the clinic is closed. Mark brought 3 prayers warriors from his church who prayed the rosary for 90 minutes straight. Young lady was sitting in part of the circle. She said she was pregnant and needed an ultrasound asap.
She thought PP was open. Mark spent a great deal of time talking with her. Mark ordered an Uber to take her to the nearest prolife clinic. Please pray for this unnamed lady.
Elsie and Susan
(from Elsie) Susan & I shared the sidewalk this morning. We were grateful & relieved to hear from the shift before ours that the death mill seemed to be closed, presumably because of today’s Federal holiday. Heartfelt thanks to Our Lady of Guadalupe (patroness of all Americans, indigenous and immigrant!) and to our unborn LORD of Guadalupe for this ceasefire. May there be true & lasting peace everywhere, beginning between mother & child in the womb.
Marie and Mike
(Marie) This was a quiet shift with PP being closed. There was light sidewalk traffic which provided time for prayer. We also experienced several positive encounters and people stropping to talk and others providing positive acknowledgement of our presence.
Elsie, Tom, and Billy
(Billy) Today I came down with Tom and Elsie, and it looked like Planned Parenthood was open for the day, Tom and Elsie shared with me that there was not a lot of activity going on before I got there and that one woman was in there but she was sent away because Planned Parenthood wasn’t doing anything today. For the most part it was a really quiet day, only postal UPS drivers and other businesses showed up. It was an extremely peaceful day despite a few people who made some comments.
Dan and Joanne
(Dan) Nice weather, quiet day in town, probably because it’s Columbus Day, as we prayed Divine Mercy Chaplets and The Joyous mysteries. Got a thumbs up from the tour guide on the top of the tour bus that rides through town and one lady screamed something out from her car then blew us a kiss ! Another lady stopped and praised us for being there doing God’s work. She said we are killing our offspring and are now relying on immigration to keep our country going . I told her I agreed with her. Then two ladies walked by with one telling us to go home. I didn’t say anything. But they came by again 20 minutes later and told us to go home. This time I replied “I would go home and you’d never see me here again when they stop killing little babies,” then the other chimed in saying “‘why do you care!” I told her they are little babies and deserve to live , they then started with the rape argument which I told her it’s never the babies’ fault and they didn’t deserve to die over it. They start telling me to “mind my own business” then I had enough of their nonsense and told them they are the ones who should mind their own business since I was just standing there when and they start screaming at me. I was glad they finally walked away because I wasn’t intending on backing down from their nonsense.
Very nice reflection from Bill!!! Good perspective for us to keep in mind.
Justice Harry Blackmun wrote in his opinion on Roe vs Wade, that when Congress determines when personhood begins, abortion would become illegal and the unborn child would be protected under the 14th Amendment. Our mission should focus on this point. Perhaps if every prolife person contacted their Congressman about this truth making the case for Life, abortion would end.