The grandson of a friend of mine was diagnosed with a terminal neuromuscular disease over a year ago. At the age of 2 years, he is unable to move by himself or hold his head up. My friend is the only person locally who can babysit when needed. I was asking him how the baby was doing and he said he is growing and getting bigger and he is so sweet. I pondered about how innocent this child is and how in his lifetime he will always remain innocent and not be corrupted by our culture or sin. My friend agreed and said that it is really something to hold this child. Not particularly religious or practicing his faith, he said he feels very close to God when holding him. He has started praying and now keeps a rosary on his desk. I couldn’t help but think of the impact of this child’s life. He is bringing his grandfather back to God, what a beautiful legacy and purposeful life he is leading!
-Sue
7-9: Tracy
Grateful for the warmer temperatures, we kept our vigil this morning. Greg and Karen made efforts to connect with PP clients as well as most passersby. Several young ladies entered PP and thankfully accepted literature before going in. Shawn and Beth, fellow parishioners of St. Peter’s in Steubenville, joined us. Except for the comings and goings at PP, the sidewalk seems so empty these days. I miss seeing all the kids going to school!
9-11: Beth
According to Mother Teresa, God is pleased if we’re faithful even if not successful. Well, that’s a load off my mind because today we had a great group of faithful friends. From Steubenville, Sean, Beth and Tracey, Helen from St. Joseph along with Claudia, Sidewalk Advocate. So many clients and sad stories but God knows if we had any success. We’ll just keep going.
11-1: Fran
When we arrived, Beth asked us to watch for a woman, M., who had spoken with a sidewalk counselor earlier and who seemed open to accepting assistance but I’m sorry to say we did not see her. During the 11-1 shift Elsie was able to talk with several women and 2 of them were still unsure of what they are going to do. One of the women, D. asked that we all pray for her so that she is able to make the right decision. Please remember to keep both D. and M. in your prayers.Today we had several devoutly prayerful souls gathered for the 11-1 shift: Chris, Judy, Ken, Pat (his first time with us), Gaetano and Mary. Our group prayers included the Petitions typed on the back side of the baby signs, the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary and the Pro-Life Meditations of the Stations of the Cross. We were also joined briefly by 2 other men who were passing by. One of the men has been stopping to pray with us at this same time for several years. May we all remain faithful in prayer for as long as it takes…
1-3: Mike & Kim
It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures finally reaching into the 40s and so nice to see snow melting. Rather windy at times with our signs and hats trying to fly away. Sadly, a busy day at PP. There were not many passerbys due to covid. I was blessed to have my dedicated prayer warriors, Kim and Michael, back this year. They are such an awesome married couple and a joy to have at 40 DFL Pittsburgh. They inspire me to keep praying for the babies, families and all those associated with the horrible abortion industry. Prayer 🙏 is always the best way to combat this injustice. The Lord is in total control and will end this holocaust someday. We hope and pray it will end in our lifetime.
Shift manager Kim with her husband Michael and shift buddy Mike, along with volunteer Bonnie who came to help.
HOUR OF MERCY
We are so grateful to Fr. John Sweeney of St. Jude Parish for responding to our request for priests to pray the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy at the vigil at 3 PM, a time known as the “hour of mercy” since we believe that our Lord died on the cross at that time of day. May God bless you for your generous sacrifice!
3-5: Nikki
It was beautiful weather during my 3 to 5 shift! So wonderful to see the sunshine and the beautiful blue sky! And even more beautiful to see the smiling faces of a group of seven prayer warriors from Saint Matthew Parish and St. Jude Parish! Fr. John Sweeney, of Saint Jude Parish answered our call for priests to come and pray the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet on the hour of mercy, which he did today. And it also happened to be the day that his former parish, Saint Matthew parish as it’s called now, had signed up to pray, so he was with many of his former parishioners. It is a sad time to be there, as we saw quite a few women leaving after their procedures. I was happy to hear the good news that there were possibly two women who may have changed their minds today! Thank you Lord for bringing your faithful children to the sidewalk and thank you for changed hearts and minds!
5-7: Lisa
First Tuesday 5 – 7 shift for these 40 Days for Life. Four of us prayed to “Melt the Frozen Hearts” of those who work at 933 Liberty Avenue. One of the last PP workers to leave this evening spent quite some time from their front door while waiting for her ride filming me as I chipped away at the ice piles around where we stand. Hopefully tomorrow’s warmth will now be able to melt it all away. When she did leave she stopped to take flowers that were on the windowsill of 933 while making the comment do not leave these here and threw them in the gutter. How sad that she felt the need to do this but I can understand her reasoning and would hope that we think twice about placing flowers there. Praying her frozen heart was melted just a little by our prayers.
Catholic organizations represented tonight with much prayer: Johanna, Catholic Daughters of the Americas, Larry, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Mary Anne, Legion of Mary. Thank you team!
The sun shines even here sometimes!