Day 40: Thank you, Our Lady of the Lakes Parish; Saint John’s Parish (Delmont); Saint Mary’s Parish (Export); FUEL, Sisters of the Holy Spirit, Passionist Nuns, Carmelite Nuns of Latrobe, Sisters of Saint Joseph (Baden), The Little Sisters of the Poor; SHIFT BUDDIES Vince P., Pat S., Joe B, Jim and Cathy S., Steve and Denise McG.; and all of you beloved who accompanied us on these 40 Days for Life on the sidewalk and in your prayers.

*Noontime Prayer at Harvest Time*
(1861), Theodor Schüz (1830-1900)
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany. Copyright akg-images.
https://www.magnificat.com

ALLELUIA

DAY 40

Schüz’s happy group gathers to pray and eat together, surrounded by the fruits of their labor.

Our gathering on DAY 40, with prayers and a feast, in church and on the sidewalk, celebrates God’s gift of fruitfulness. Day after day, morning to evening, crowds of witnesses flooded the sidewalk with prayer, songs, resource-filled offerings and love. Some abortion bound people may have gone into “Planned Parenthood.” All abortion bound people saw friends and neighbors hoping they would let us help them choose life. Shift managers gathered the notes and pix for the Spring 2022 blogs. We recorded our joy. Probably only about 2% of the joy could be recorded. It was so big. The harvest continues.

Early in my witnessing days, I misunderstood the enemy. I had to learn that the enemy is not any of the people you meet … not any of them. I underestimated the magnitude of the harvest. In The Hand of God, Bernard Nathanson exposed the enemy. He bared his soul. Abortion captivated him. It imprisoned him. It broke his heart. Love reached out. Bible wisdom scores!

Kudos, Dr. Nathanson. Thank you. Your witness nailed me. I will always be passionate about witnessing for life!

I am one of those who helped usher in this barbaric age. I worked hard to make abortion legal, affordable, and available on demand. In 1968, I was one of the three founders of the National Abortion Rights League. (NARAL) I ran the largest abortion clinic in the United States, and as its director I oversaw tens of thousands of abortions. I have performed thousands myself. (p. 5)

My father … was a formidable, dominant force in my life and in many ways forged the ruthless, nihilistic, pagan attitudes and beliefs that finally drove me to unleash – with a handful of co-conspirators – the abortion monster. (p. 5)

From my earliest memories, I am deeply disturbed by the pervasive repetitive paradoxes of my childhood: to be learned in Jewish matters, but not to worship. (p. 17)

My childhood image of God was – as I reflect on it six decades later – the brooding, majestic, full-bearded figure of Michelangelo’s Moses … massive, leonine, and forbidding. (p. 28)

I felt the burden of sin growing heavier and more insistent. It was the hour of the wolf that was most trying time. I would awaken each morning at four or five o’clock, staring into the darkness. I was seized by an unremitting black despair. Suicide runs in my family. (p. 194)

Now, I had not been immune to the religious fervor of the pro-life movement. But it was not until I saw the spirit put to the test on those bitterly cold demonstration mornings, with pro-choicers hurling the most fulsome epithets at them, the police surrounding them, the media openly unsympathetic to their cause, the federal judiciary fining and jailing them, and municipal officials threatening them – all through it they sat smiling, quietly praying, singing, confident and righteous of their cause and ineradicably persuaded of their ultimate triumph – that I began seriously to question what indescribable Force generated them to this activity. For the first time in my entire adult life, I began to entertain seriously the notion of God. (p. 194)

The thought violated every eighteenth-century certainty I had cherished; it instantly converted my past into a vile bog of sin and evil; it indicted me and convicted me of high crimes against those who had loved me, and against those whom I did not even know; and simultaneously – miraculously – it held out a shimmering sliver of Hope to me, in the growing belief that Someone had died for my sins and my evil two millennia ago. (p. 200)

I am no longer alone. It has been my fate to wander the globe in search of the One without Whom I am doomed, but now I seize the hem of His robe in desperation, in terror, in celestial access to the purest need I have ever known. (p. 202)

10,000 Reasons | Celtic Worship ft. Steph Macleod

DEE GATHERS OUR FUEL

SHIFT MANAGER NOTES FROM THE SIDEWALK

Al and Sally

JOE 7-9

Thanks to Jen switching with me. It was a blessing to start my shift with Tom and Diane instead of ending it with them. Also, I got to experience scriptural rosary boot camp with Vince leading the charge. I may not have graduated, but it was fulfilling; Vince and Rich let me know I’m no Jen (so very true).
Peace of the Lord be with all of you.

Rich and Vince, Saint Sebastian Parish

KEN 9-11

Our last Sunday shift of this campaign was cold and quiet just like most of the other 9:00 – 11:00 AM Sunday shifts this time of year. We did have a passing female jogger say, “Thank you for being here,” which is always uplifting. No church group scheduled today so it was Rich for the first hour and shift buddy Pat S. and myself for the second hour. We did have, as usual, our faithful Sunday downtown rosary walkers stop briefly to pray. Due to technical difficulty, my thumb was in the way, I wasn’t able to get a picture of the rosary walk today. God bless their year round efforts for life, peace, and God’s Mercy on our land. And may God have Mercy on 40 Days for Life 365 that will continue their saving efforts until our next 40 days campaign. May lives be saved and hearts converted by their faithful witness.

RICH AND ROSEANN 11-1

The last day of our Lenten 40 days and Old Man Winter wouldn’t release us from his grip. We felt it appropriate to read the Passion of Our Lord today in addition to our regular Rosaries and Divine Mercy Chaplets. Like any other day our time on the sidewalk today was mixed with positive and negative remarks. Thanks to our prayer warriors and hope everyone has a Blessed Easter.

Nadine, Bob, Pat and Rich

NIKKI AND JOE 1-3

It was a blessing to pray with a wonderful couple from Saints John and Paul Church and also Judi and Joan from Our Lady of the Lakes Parish during my shift today. The sidewalks were busy with Penguins fans on their way to the game so lots of people saw our witness and who knows how many seeds were planted. Thank you everybody for taking part in this Lenten 40 days!