Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Ephesians 2:19-20
We have spent the last 37 days of this campaign as a united community of prayer. This passage brings that reality to mind. As members of the Church, we are part of something not only much bigger than ourselves, but also something that has been divinely instituted, with the Founder of the Church Himself as the capstone upon which the whole rest of us are built. How could we possibly pray and fast for an end to abortion as often as we do without having Jesus Christ as our foundation? We simply could not.
This Scripture passage is the first liturgical reading for today’s Feast of Saints Simon and Jude. Interestingly, St. Simon was known in the time of the Apostles as the Zealot–and St. Jude is known today as the patron of impossible or hopeless cases. I find this interesting because of what we also do on the sidewalk: We are meant to be zealous for the love of life, we are to be zealous in our charity for the mothers and fathers we encounter, and for their unborn children–and for the abortion workers often stuck in the unseen prisons of their own making. We are also called to be there for those impossible or hopeless cases, those women and men who think there is no way out. We can offer them hope and life. May Saints Simon and Jude pray for us all as we finish up these 40 days with ZEAL and with HOPE.
Reports from the Sidewalk:
Fran:
Peggy and I expected that that we would not see another 40DFL participant until 9:00 am but we were pleasantly surprised to see Bill already there, offering assistance to Diane and Tom to set up the displays. The morning unfolded as usual as we exchanged nods and smiles with the familiar faces of workers and students as they passed by. Unfortunately, we also saw at least two abortion-bound women enter PP, and possibly one or two others. If PP was actually a “pro-choice” facility, the women who entered the building would be counseled with options. As it is, no “choice” is offered, only abortion… pro-abortion. We need to continue praying and loving the victims of this mindset. The 9-11 shift greeted us with warm smiles, ready for prayer.
Judy:
Our shift began on a hallelujah note with a young lady coming out of PP crying. She stopped to take our information for free women’s services and said she changed her mind and was going to keep her baby!!!!! She was willing to talk with us briefly and let us know she had supports in place to help her. WOOHOO!!!! Thank you Jesus!!!
Interesting Note: The school around the corner had a fire drill today and myriads of young kids flooded the sidewalk and they were 2 or 3 deep blocking the doors of PP. I thought it was so apropos considering these were all children who were not aborted!!!
The guard came out and scolded us a couple of times for trying to speak to people as they went in or after they were in.
A dog walker who passes by every day walked close to Meredith as she was trying to speak to someone and yelled an obscenity at her and walked on.
It was a busy day at Planned Parenthood today. A tragic day for many unborn babies.
Thank you to Carol, Chuck, Judy, and Meredith!
Barbara:
Johanna, Richard, and I witnessed for life as so many people went in and out of the place that kills babies when you pay their fee, and then sells the killed baby bodies to Pitt for research. That really burns me. It is almost beyond belief. I gag on that.
Bob stopped to pray. He does that regularly, quite often. One man stopped to thank the people who helped him yesterday. “That helped a lot,” he said.
So many regular passersby answered, “God bless you” with a smile and return blessing. Very few looked as if they gagged on that idea … we gave them double the blessing.
People absolutely must stand outside the baby-killing site on abortion days. Evil must not rule our city.
Cecilia:
Regis:
Today’s responsorial Psalm from Psalm 19:
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
Thank you, Regis, for your prayerful witness.
May all babies know the goodness of being known and loved.
And may we have the zeal and hopefulness to help their moms and dads in their time of need.
You are All Heroes! Thank you and God bless you. Much love & prayers for All the babies.