In prayer, the word Martyrdom kept coming to mind. Why? Will being pro-life lead some of us to be called? I can’t imagine myself being that strong, but saints have said, trust in God and He will give us the strength. Let us never stop reaching out to the strong and protective hand of God. Let us rest in the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Let us breathe in the soft and pure breath of the Holy Spirit as He guides our way.
Our world wants to whittle down the majesty of God. The social norm is to make Jesus just one of the guys. We will stand strong together and witness and exalt His splendor and glory.
Speaking of martyrdom and suffering, Archbishop Fulton Sheen asked this question: “Why did God suffer so much?” His answer in part was this: “Well, there are more grains of sand in this world than necessary; and so, love knows no limits and He loved us unto the end.”
Archbishop Sheen asked a second question: “When God took the form of a babe in Bethlehem; what did we have?” He poetically taught: “He who made the world, Was born into it. Maker of the Sun, Under the Sun. Molder of the Earth, On the Earth. Inevitably wise, A little infant. Healing the world, Lying in a manger. Ruling the stars, Nursed by His mother. The mirth of heaven weeps, God becomes man. Eternity, Time. Lord, Scourged. King, Crowned with Thorns. And if I were the only person in the world who sinned, He would come to this earth, and suffer and die, just for me, alone. That is how much he loves me.”
I pray we God lovers and Life lovers continue to grow in strength and intimacy with our Creator.
-Claudia
Stories from the Sidewalk
Heaven always hears my prayers. The abortion center was closed today on what is often the busiest day of the week. The streets were quiet with the exception of parents and kids in martial arts clothing heading to the convention center. Hopefully our display, signs, and witness touched them.
We were further blessed to have Jill and Betsy in the Choices Pregnancy Services mobile sonogram parked nearby. We were hopeful that if any abortion-bound women came to the clinic, we could redirect them; but thank God, none came to go into the clinic today.
My faithful year-round partners, Joe and David, along with Bill H, were there well before dawn and led the set up. What a blessing they are. We were joined by Jean and Ken from Christ the Divine Shepherd and they increased our presence.
Heaven heard our prayers and God smiled on us and diminished the wind and ended the rain early. GBY
Tim
As noted by others, we were happy to see that Planned Parenthood was closed again today! It was gray, windy, and colder than the thermometer read; but it was dry and for that we were grateful.
For the 9 o’clock hour, it was relatively quiet with Joe, me, and Conrad (standing sentry with the Our Lady of Guadalupe banner on display) keeping vigil. Typical for me, I marched back and forth while praying. I completed the shift having logged 7500 steps, two Rosaries ,and two Divine Mercy Chaplets.
For the 10 o’clock hour we were joined by members of the St. Oscar Romero Parish. As the ladies in their group approached, I walked over to meet them. “We are Prayer Warriors,” they announced. “I know,” I said, “I could see your Halos.” They smiled. Maybe it was the fact that I recognized them from a past shift or maybe those Halos were visible. It is up to you to decide. They lived up to their Prayer Warrior moniker as they set up with chair and signs and a began to pray a series of Rosaries providing strong witness to those passing by.
At one point during the shift, as I was passed by a woman jogger, I heard her say (almost under her breath,) “Don’t you have anything better to do?” While I had no time to respond, I thought to myself, “Well no, this is actually the best and most important thing that I do all week!”
Bill
It was a quiet day at Planned Parenthood as they were closed for the second Saturday in a row. Thank you to Jason from C.C. for praying with us today. No babies were aborted. Thank God.
Dean
Shift buddy, Charlie, was delighted to have Chris, Shari, and Mary from his parish. Downtown was busy but we praised God that PP was closed! The art gallery had a performance, and several people accepted our info! A young man in his 20’s stopped and reviewed each fetal model. He eagerly accepted several prolife brochures. He then read each sign on other side, so I shared the number of abortions done in 2022. He seemed to soak in reality of abortions. The temperature was dropping but we were warmed with God’s presence.
Kathy
Happy Saturday, folks, from the 3 to 5 crew. Today I was with Katie B., Seth and Jimmy. We had Lisa M. with us praying too. We had a lot of passersby. We had many positive comments and a few negative ones. Other than that we had a lovely day.
Billy