SIGN UP TO PRAY AND FAST!
Our 40 Days for Life Prayer vigil begins on September 27th, so now is the time to begin to prepare! The schedule is filling up with our faithful and dedicated team members and a few churches have already chosen their time slots. To see where we need the most help, CLICK HERE to view the first 20 days, and CLICK HERE to view the second half of the schedule. It is helpful if we can get the schedule as filled as possible, as soon as possible…so please email me at nbruni@40daysforlifepgh.com to get signed up! Please consider choosing a “yellow” time slot, as those times have only the bare minimum of two volunteers. Our goal is to have at least three people praying each hour.
If you are not able to come to the vigil to pray, consider joining our 40 day fast. The goal is to have at least three people fasting each day during the 40 days! CLICK HERE to join!
KICK-OFF EVENTS!
Our Kick-off Mass and Candlelit Eucharistic Procession is set for Tuesday, Sept. 26th at 6:30pm at Divine Mercy Parish, Epiphany Church. CLICK HERE for the event flyer. Fr. Chris Donley, Pastor of Divine Mercy Parish, has invited Fr. Mario Majano, a priest from the Archdiocese of Washington DC, to give the homily. Fr. Majano gave his stunning pro-life testimony at the March for Life Youth Rally Mass in 2015…you won’t want to miss this!!! There will also be a Jericho March around Planned Parenthood on Sunday, Sept. 24th at 3:30 pm, led by Pastor Joe Stump of Lincoln Place Church of the Nazarene.
SECURITY AT THE VIGIL
It is important, with the city not being as safe as it used to be, to have professional security to protect our volunteers. Thankfully, we have two individuals who are pledging to donate very large amounts, which makes raising the remainder of the money much more within reach. The total cost of security (8 hours a day for 40 days) is approximately $16,800. We currently have $11,000 pledged. If you can help us to raise the remaining $5,800, please contact me at nbruni@40daysforlifepgh.com. Any amount is appreciated!
MEN NEEDED TO HOLD BANNER OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
One of our faithful volunteers, Conrad McGuire, has suggested that we dedicate our 40 Days for Life to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and maintain her image at our prayer vigil. I like this idea, as I have tried numerous times in the past to maintain a large image of Jesus and Mary on the sidewalk, but did not have any way of transporting it every day. And after all, what better image is there than the one of Mary as she appeared to the Mexican peasant, Juan Diego? It was her intercession that converted the Aztec people and ended the common practice of child sacrifice 500 years ago in Mexico. We are trusting that she will intercede, through her beloved son Jesus, to do it again for us here in Pittsburgh and in our nation. Conrad will acquire a beautiful replica of the actual image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and mount it on a pole which can be rested on the sidewalk with one individual holding the pole. We would like men to volunteer to hold this banner during all the hours of our prayer vigil in front of Planned Parenthood. (7am-5pm every day from Sept. 27-Nov. 5). If you are willing to commit to a time each week to do this, please contact Conrad at 412-580-1886. To help spread the word about this mission to keep Our Lady of Guadalupe at our prayer vigil, CLICK HERE for a bulletin announcement.
OUR WITNESS IS IMPORTANT!
There has never been more of a need for Christians to bring their faith into the public square. Our culture is sick and dying, as is evidenced by a story that I heard last week. It has haunted me ever since:
You may have read about the 24 week pre-born baby boy in California that was forced to die because his two “fathers”, (the two men who had paid a surrogate to carry him in her womb), decided they did not want him anymore. halfway through her pregnancy, the surrogate mother found out she had cancer and was going to begin chemotherapy. Although she wanted to continue with the pregnancy and the doctors were on board with doing their best to protect the child until it was safe to deliver…the two men demanded that the child be destroyed because they were afraid the child would be born with defects caused by the cancer treatments. The surrogate mother offered to carry the child until it could be safely delivered and allow the baby to be adopted, but the men said they did not want their DNA to be “out there“. They demanded that she abort, and although she sought help from the courts, they sided with the men. According to California law, the child “belonged” to the two men and they could do what they wanted with it. The surrogate had no rights to make any decisions regarding the baby in her womb. She was forced to undergo premature labor induction and the baby boy was delivered at 24 weeks and left to die, gasping for air, without any medical intervention.
What have we come to??? This has to be the epitome of dehumanization! My heart aches for that poor little boy! Talk about betrayal and abandonment!!! The warm womb that he thought was his protection; the soothing maternal voice that he heard each day…it was all just a business transaction. He thought he was a child…a son. In reality, (our sick reality)…he was nothing more than a commodity...a product. He was “owned” by two men, one of which I assume donated his sperm so that he could be conceived in a lab and implanted into a surrogate’s womb. I am reminded of the Jim Carey movie, “The Truman Show”…where a young boy is raised in what he thinks is his real family, in what he thinks is a real community…only to find out that he was used from the time of his birth as an actor in a reality television show. The most unforgettable scene is when he sails out into what he thought was the ocean, and crashes through the set wall. His whole world was a sham. All the people he thought loved him were just paid actors on a set. Everyone was “in the know”…except him. Isn’t this the sort of thing that we have nightmares about, and are so relieved when we wake up and realize it was just a dream? That horrible feeling of being betrayed by those who you thought were the ones who would love you the most.
Anyway, I am sorry for rambling. I guess I just wanted to highlight the need for our pro-life witness in the public square. If we aren’t there, who will be? The sidewalks in front of Planned Parenthood will be empty. It will appear to all that abortion is just fine with everyone. The dehumanization will continue. There will be no voice for the voiceless, and no hope for the hopeless.
I hope you will come to pray during these fall 40 days. Our city needs it.
You can sign yourself up at www.40daysforlife.com/pittsburgh or contact me at nbruni@40daysforlifepgh.com and I will sign you up.
God bless you!
Nikki