Great News from Shawn Carney from 40 Days for Life
It’s Day 40 — and I have great news to share! As of right now, we know of 541 babies — and their mothers — that God has spared from abortion.
That’s at least 3,352 since the first coordinated 40 Days for Life campaign a mere three years ago. And who knows how many more that we’ll never hear about?
“The Everett Planned Parenthood is closed again,” wrote Ed, one of the local 40 Days for Life leaders in Everett, Washington. “It’s the third Friday closed this campaign!”
In Columbia, Missouri … the Planned Parenthood facility there hasn’t done abortions since August 9. Faithful volunteers are continuing the vigil …
… and Planned Parenthood doesn’t like it.
“We found out that Planned Parenthood in Kansas is watching us on video — over 100 miles away,” said Kathy in Columbia, “and they called in a ‘violation’ to the Columbia police station.”
The “violation”? There was a camera tripod sitting in Planned Parenthood’s driveway. “Soon two police cars showed up and they went in,” Kathy said.
It turns out the tripod belonged to a reporter who was working on a news story. The police quickly left when they found out what was really going on. “One officer has come out twice — and he’s not too happy with Planned Parenthood.”
And all this time … no abortions in Columbia!
And of course … no abortions AT ALL in Severna Park, Maryland … where an abortion facility CLOSED ITS DOORS FOREVER at the very beginning of this campaign!
Who knows how many lives have been saved in Columbia and Severna Park?
There have also been at least four abortion facility employees who have left their jobs during this 40 Days for Life campaign — possibly more. And others may be thinking about it.
And then there’s Anita’s van — a life-saver on wheels. It has “pray to end abortion” painted on the side, along with a pregnancy help center’s phone number and the 40 Days for Life web address.
Lives have been saved because of the information on the van — no one knows how many. But this pro-life mission was about to come to an end. The van was about to be repossessed.
Anita had no idea what would happen. So she prayed. She had to decide whether to pay her tithe … or the note on the van. She paid her tithe.
Anita didn’t know it, but one of her friends sent out an e-mail that explained the situation. And people started giving. Before long, there was enough to pay off the loan!
“This is not my van,” she said. “This van belongs first and foremost to God, and then to every single pro-life person out there.”
The van — and its message — will stay on the road. And who knows how many lives will be saved?
“Abortion will truly be finished one day,” Anita said. “I pray it is very soon. The walls of deception are crumbling as we speak. The truth is spreading — one heart at a time — and all of you have played a part in getting that message out. Thank you all so very much!”
Here’s today’s devotional from Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life.
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DAY 40 INTENTION
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Let us keep our eyes fixed on the New Jerusalem, where death will be no more.
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SCRIPTURE
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He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
–Revelation 21:4-5
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REFLECTION by Fr. Frank Pavone
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Every activity we undertake in defense of the sanctity of life is prophetic, inasmuch as it points to the day when “death will be no more.”
Every victory we have when an act of abortion is prevented is prophetic of that day when death itself will be definitively conquered.
Every triumph of grace in this world, whereby someone is brought to see the value of life and given the strength to welcome it, is a breaking into our history of that definitive future in which the old order of things will have passed, and all things will be made new.
As pro-life warriors, we must keep our eyes fixed on heaven, and our hearts secure in the hope that the day is coming when all evil will be conquered. It is the future that shapes the present; it is victory that informs the battle; it is the destination that determines the journey.
Daily, we are called to reflect on heaven. When we weep, we are to think of the day when every tear will be wiped away.
When we face the destructive power of death, we are to think of the day when death is swallowed up in victory.
When we labor against abortion, we are to think of the day when we will have the rest and peace of the final triumph of life.
Heaven is as real as earth, and its joys will be as real as our present sorrows.
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PRAYER
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Father, you are the God of hope. Your word fills us with the vision of the world to come, when every tear will be wiped away, and death will be no more. Father, how we need that hope, how we are strengthened by that vision!
Keep our hearts focused on heaven, and diligent in the labors of earth. As we struggle against the culture of death, root our souls in the assurance of victory. We pray through Christ our Lord, Amen.
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PRINTABLE DEVOTIONAL
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To download today’s devotional as a formatted, printable PDF to share with friends:
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
