Let God Break Your Heart!!!

My purpose in writing this post is to try to break as many hearts as possible. If that seems cruel, please allow me to explain.

You see, it is about this time...three weeks or so before every 40 Days for Life campaign begins…that I feel discouragement and doubt creeping into my soul. If I were smarter, I would put it on my calendar in order to be expecting it! It happened early yesterday morning, during my time of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. A feeling of unworthiness and inadequacy was nagging, and I thought about my failure to inspire enough people to fill the fall 40 Days for Life prayer vigil in front of Planned Parenthood. I remembered how it was 10 years ago…when we had almost 100 churches adopt time slots…and all 480 hours were easily filled. As of today, we only have 66 hours covered with church groups! Could it be that 40 Days for Life has become obsolete? Or maybe it is just ME who has become obsolete! Either way, I felt completely unworthy to accomplish this task. The feeling reminded me of how I felt when I was young; never feeling like I fit in; socially awkward and having no confidence in myself. I was even feeling guilty, like I must have done something wrong. So, as I prayed, I examined my conscience, but there was nothing glaringly wrong that would seem to prove these self-accusations true. And that is when I realized, “Oh, that’s right! We are three weeks from the fall 40 days! Now I get it!” What a relief to realize it was just the enemy’s same old strategy that he uses every time! Thankfully he is not very creative! Realizing I was under a spiritual attack actually helped to encourage me because it means that 40 Days for Life is anything but obsolete!!! It must be VERY EFFECTIVE, in fact, if satan hates what we are doing enough to bother with an unimportant person like me!

But still, that doesn’t change the fact that many Christians who are pro-life have stopped participating in 40 Days for Life. I totally get why participation is down. This is a hard thing to do! Downtown is not a nice place to be standing on the sidewalk in front of an abortion clinic! It is scary and inconvenient….and expensive! For those who are struggling to make ends meet, the cost of gas and parking can be a deterrent. And many people are not in a season of their lives that allow for pro-life activism. They are raising young families or taking care of elderly parents or grandkids…all important pro-life work! So, this message is not for those Christians. It is for the Christians who have simply gotten too busy, or too discouraged, or too scared. I wish to speak to you, and to try to break your hearts. I understand how you feel. I was scared when I first started going to pray at PP also. If you haven’t read my mini “testimony” of how God broke my heart and helped me get up my courage to go for the first time, you can read it HERE.

If your heart isn’t broken over abortion, ask yourself why isn’t it? If the legal killing of babies in the womb isn’t terrible enough to compel you to action, then what is? When God broke my heart over abortion, and I SAW it for the first time…I cried. I SOBBED! I HAD to do something! As painful and difficult as it was going there, it would have been MORE painful to do nothing. The only analogy I can think of is that of a toothache. You know that going to the dentist is going to be painful, but leaving the tooth to fester is going to be worse. You just have to get up your courage and go.

You can see from the photo above that we know exactly how many babies die a gruesome death at Planned Parenthood in Pittsburgh. These numbers are for the fourth quarter of 2022. For the entire year of 2022, there were exactly 3,048 precious lives lost to abortion at Planned Parenthood. We also get the reports from Allegheny Reproductive, in East Liberty (just a few blocks away from Sacred Heart Catholic Church and one block from Target). In 2022 they killed 4,116 little ones.

If the sidewalks are empty in front of these killing places, won’t it appear that Christians don’t care?

I understand that even for pro-life Christians, it is easy for them to go about their busy lives and forget all about the reality of what is happening just a few miles from their own front doors. Abortion is easy to forget about because it is a hidden crime. (Crime against God if not the state.) No one except the abortion workers actually SEE abortion. So…please forgive me, but I want to show you what actually happens to over 150 preborn babies EVERY WEEK here in our own city:

I know that we don’t have the ability to stop this. God does. He is allowing it for a reason that we don’t understand. But it DOES break His Heart…and He wants it to break ours as well!

What can we do to show that our heart breaks? Well, I am glad you asked! Because I just happen to be working on filling the final 68 hours of our 400 hour prayer vigil at Planned Parenthood for the upcoming fall 40 Days for Life (Sept. 27-Nov.5)! Here are the hours that we need help:

Please consider helping with some of the following times…

Mon., 10/2 from 11am-1pm, 1-3pm ; Tues., 10/3 from 9-11am ; Thurs., 10/4 from 3-5pm ; Fri., 10/6 from 7:30-9am ; Sat., 10/7 from 11am-1pm ; Mon., 10/9 from 7:30-9am, 1-3pm, 3-5pm ; Tues, 10/10 from 7:30-9am, 3-5pm ; Fri., 10/13 from 11am-1pm ; Sat., 10/14 11am-1pm, 1-3pm ; Sun., 10/15 from 9-11am, 11am-1pm ; Mon., Oct. 16 (March for Life in Harrisburg, but one individual has volunteered to stand alone at PP all day, so if you are not going to Harrisburg please sign up to stand with him for an hour or two!) ; Tues., 10/17 from 7:30-9am, 9-11am, 3-5pm ; Sat. 10/21 from 2-3pm ; Sun., 10/22 from 9-11am ; Mon., 10/23 from 7:30-9am ; Tues, 10/24 from 3-5pm ; Sat., 10/28 from 9-11am, 11am-1pm, 1-3pm ; Sun., 10/29 from 9-11am ; Mon., 10/30 from 7:30-9am, 9-11am, 11am-1pm, 1-3pm ; Tues, 10/31 from 7:30-9am, 3-5pm ; Sat., 11/4 from 9-11am, 11am-1pm, 1-3pm ; Sun., 11/5 from 9-11am, 11am-1pm

Please sign yourself up online at www.40daysforlife.com/pittsburgh, or email me or Donna. nbruni@40daysforlifepgh.com or gdgoss620@gmail.com

Even if you can only help with a few hours during the entire campaign, if enough people are willing to sacrifice a few hours, together it makes for a strong, prayerful witness! Many hearts and minds will be changed, and lives will surely be saved!

Here are more ways to take part in 40 Days for Life:

• Attend the TWO Kick-off Events! CLICK HERE FOR Sept. 26th Kick off Mass & Procession DETAILS ALSO join in a Jericho March around PP on Sun., Sept. 24th. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO!
• Sign up to FAST from food during the 40 days! CLICK HERE!
• Attend our Mid-point event! CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS!
• Help us to keep Our Lady of Guadalupe at our vigil by signing up to hold the banner! CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS!
• Mark your calendar for our CLOSING MASS and Eucharistic Procession with his Excellency, Bishop Waltersheid, on Nov. 5th!

Thank you and God bless you!

Nikki