Day 35: Many thanks to the faithful of Saint Peter, Steubenville, OH; Weirton, WV Catholic Churches; Divine Mercy Parish; Saint Matthew Parish, Shaler; shift managers, shift buddies and all who prayed with us on the sidewalk today.

Hebrews 1:9 Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Justice is described in the CCC 1836 as the firm and constant will to give God and neighbor their due. We can say a right relation with God, and making things right for our neighbor. The definition of iniquity is gross injustice or wickedness. That includes speaking for those in the clutches of wrongdoing, for the widow and orphan, the abandoned or those that society would destroy or throw away, and all unjustly treated. There you have the basis for the battle in which we find ourselves; justice verses injustice, righteousness verses wickedness, life over death. Not that we view any person as wicked, that is for God to decide. Therefore we love the sinner but hate the sin. Rather we see the struggle as described in Ephesians 6:12, ‘For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places’.

The anointing spoken of in Hebrews is the gift the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the living God that sends us forth to do God’s will in the cause for life. Life is the justice that we proclaim, abortion is the iniquity that we witness against. We are called to live a life of Mercy; Lk 6:36 Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Our anointing brings a desire to proclaim and practice the spiritual works of mercy; admonish the sinner, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, comfort the sorrowful. For living for others, saving the lives of the unborn, defending the defenseless, helping others to carry their cross; we have a blueprint for following in the steps of our Savior and living with Him in eternity. For this we can expect to suffer persecution for justice sake as spoken of by our Lord in the sermon on the mount Mt 5:10. The anointing of gladness is the ultimate reward for being meek and humble of heart imitating the God of Calvary.

I remember a quote from Dr. Henry Hyde, congressman, author of the Hyde amendment, and great defender of life, speaking of the Mercy that comes to those that do battle for the unborn. “When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I’ve often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God — and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there’ll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world — and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, ‘Spare him, because he loved us!'”

-Ken

7-9: Tracy

My parish, St. Peter’s of Steubenville, OH, helped out this morning. My friends, Shawn, Beth and Sandi, joined me. Jackie and Bonnie came to help out with sidewalk advocating and Anthony showed up to pray and spread cheer. Bill popped by on his way going through. That made us a strong party of eight. There were five escorts this morning, one at the door and four clustered at the corner. There was a fair amount of traffic going in the door today (but not much escorting from the cluster) and not many were receptive to our literature. Jackie managed to connect with a few, but no one appeared very interested. One young lady going in was teary eyed. It was so sad that she seemed to feel pressed to do something contrary to her heart’s desire. We can never give up being that one shaft of light – of hope!
Tracy

9-11: Beth

Thanks to the faithful helpers from St. Peter in Steubenville who continued through the 9 to 11 shift along with Claudia, Linda,  Marianne and myself. Shawn,  Beth, Tracy and Sandy from Ohio quietly prayed on a busy day at PP.  There were escorts at the end of the block and a “bouncer” who held the door where he stood until 10. Around that time we noticed a very quiet police car parked there. Who called them? Did we say our Chaplet too loud or sincerely?  No one got out of the  police cruiser so maybe they were just there checking. Nonetheless,  we’re always glad to see our men in blue. A very loud man returned to PP and screamed that we should do advocacy instead of traumatizing. We were advocating…for his child. And the trauma was self imposed by the abortion going on inside. We’ll pray for all concerned. So sad, when there’s so much help. 

11-1: Shelia

We enjoyed a fairly warm afternoon.  There was the regular amount of traffic into the clinic. Pray for a young woman who felt that her only recourse to a “bad situation ” was abortion.  She was aware of the sex of the child and how it is developing in the womb.  Adoption was not an option because she’d be “attached to it by then.” 

1-3:  Mike

Kim and I spent the 1 to 3 shift Tuesday praying the rosary. 

3-5: John

Pretty quiet today. Fr. John Sweeney joined us today. We prayed the Rosary, Chaplet and Stations of the Cross. Fr. John from Saint Jude and Dave, Tony, Bob, John and John from Saint Matthew parish came, too. May God bless you and keep you close to His Sacred Heart and Her Immaculate Heart.

5-7: Larry

Coming soon!