Category Archives: Pro-Life

40 Days for Life Journal

Day 17 – October 12, 2012

As the week draws to a close I continue to pray for the clinic worker at the Germantown clinic and especially pray for this new worker who began working there this week.  I pray that she will have the courage to stay away and not return to the clinic next week.  I pray that she will be influenced by the light of Christ, even after only one day in Germantown.  I believe that she can and was affected by His light.

Today I would like to share a devotional by Father Frank Pavone from Priests for Life

INTENTION

May all understand more deeply that the pro-life message is rooted in the two basic truths of life:

There is a God

He isn’t me

SCRIPTURE

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7

REFLECTION

From the beginning of the Bible until the end, the theme is echoed that God alone has dominion over human life. He made it; shared it; died to save it; will raise it up forever.

The act of creation described in Genesis 2:7, and earlier in Genesis 1:26-27, is a sovereign act. God did not have to do it, and would have been happy forever without us.

Yet without our asking for it or earning it, God brought us out of nothingness and into life, and sustains our existence at every moment. And He does so in Christ. “For by Him all things were created…in Him all things exist” (Colossians 1:16-17).

“You are not your own,” Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 6. God alone owns us. While He entrusts us to the care of one another, He does not allow any human being to own another.

A Southern California abortionist, James McMahon, once explained how he justified killing children after 20 weeks gestation by partial-birth abortion.  He did not deny that this was a child, but rather asked, “Who owns the child? It’s got to be the mother.”

The struggle over abortion is really a struggle over the dominion of God. The Christian individual, and the Christian Church, cannot sit idly by when others declare that God is not God.

PRAYER

Lord, we are yours. Thank you for breathing into us the breath of life. Thank you for claiming us as your own. May our words and actions in defense of human life proclaim to all the world that you alone are Lord of life and death, Lord of our freedom and of our choices. We pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Day 16 – October 11, 2012

I have to say that I really love it when I find out that I am on the same page with God!  Yesterday, I wrote about how I prayed for a miracle, for just one person who would receive the gift of courage to walk away from the abortion industry forever and last night I received an email from the Germantown Campaign Director who wrote the following:

“Praise: Two of the workers from Germantown Reproductive Health Services have not been there for over a month and we believe they have stopped working for Carhart.  Praise God! Please pray for the two workers that have left (as well as those that remain).”

Amazing right, I know!  So, now the second part of his email was a continued prayer request which is:

“Prayer: A new clinic worker started work at the abortion facility today.  Please pray that she was horrified by what she saw on her first day.  For those that don’t know, Wednesday’s are the day that the babies are dismembered and delivered piece by piece.  Please pray that she was so disturbed by what she saw today that she will quit and not come back on Monday.”
 
I will continue to pray for this woman who started work at the clinic yesterday.  I know that it can be tough to find a job in this economy these days, so I’m sure that even if she was horrified by what she saw yesterday, quitting a job, any job, takes a lot of courage.  You never know when you will find another one.  I recently watched a video that Abby Johnson made which was directed toward clinic workers, and in that video she said, none of you, as a little girl or a little boy said that when you grew up you wanted to kill babies.  When I heard that statement, I was completely blown away.  I had never thought about the life of a clinic worker from that perspective.  Of course that’s true. No one would ever consider this as a child and say this is what I want to do when I grow up or aspire to a career in the abortion industry.  More than likely, the person who works in the abortion clinic or with Planned Parenthood ended up there because they were looking for a way to help women and thought this was the way to do it.  Now they are trapped and can’t get out or think they can’t get out.  But God is greater than any circumstance and it’s our job as believers, when given the opportunity, to show the love of God to people in such a way that all fear is disarmed. 
 
Please pray for this new employee at the clinic and all of the employees that they will find the courage to walk away from the horror of abortion.
 
For God has not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of  a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7
 

Days 14 & 15 – October 9-10, 2012

I’m once again writing for two days since I did not have the chance to write anything yesterday.  Sometimes our prayer times are just not that exciting and we do not always receiving exciting revelations or pray exciting prayers.  Yesterday was that kind of day.  I showed up on time, I prayed through the Luminous mysteries of the Rosary and tried to meditate on them as best I could, but I will admit that my mind wandered quite often and I had to keep trying to re-focus myself and stay on track.  Yesterday was a day that I will have to believe that something was still accomplished in the heavenlies simply because I chose to keep a commitment because it is the Lord who is faithful and according to 2 Thessalonians 3 it is the Lord who will establish me and guard me from the evil one!

Today, I’m happy to say, was quite different.  I felt encouraged, almost energized during my prayer time this morning.  As I prayed this morning I had a real sense of expectation today; a sense that there has been a spiritual break-through in Germantown.  The Lord was giving me wonderful prayers to pray this morning for the clinic workers.  While reflecting on Jesus as the Light of the World, I prayed earnestly that as each individual, who works at the Germantown clinic, arrives for work today and encounters someone on the sidewalk from 40 Days for Life, that they will be overwhelmed with the light of Christ in that person.  I don’t know how many people work at the abortion clinic in Germantown.  It may be only a couple of people or it may be 10 people, but, one thing I do know is that beginning today, those individuals can no longer ignore the people praying on sidewalk in front of the clinic because the light will be too bright!  I asked the Lord for a miracle today.  I asked that at least one person would receive the courage needed to turn away from the abortion industry forever. 

 

“It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;

he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.”
(Psalm 18:32-36)

Day 13 – October 8, 2012

Today is the start of a new week and a new focus for prayer.  This week I will meditate on the Luminous mysteries of the Rosary.  This set of mysteries is somewhat new for the Catholic church.  I’m not sure exactly when they were added but they were not part of the standard set of mysteries that existed when I was a child.  These mysteries are meant to reveal Christ as the Light of World and indeed He is!  His light is so greatly needed in the dark places of the abortion clinic.  It is only His light that allows us to see in those hidden places as the Lord reveals to us how we should pray.  The mysteries are:

  • The Baptism of our Lord
  • The Wedding Feast at Cana
  • The Proclamation of the gospel
  • The Transfiguration
  • The Institution of the Eucharist

These are all significant moments in the Lord’s life on earth.  The proclamation of the gospel obviously being more than one moment in His life.  My focus for prayer this week is on the clinic worker. I was reflecting on the strategy that the pro-life movement has used since the mid 1980’s when the first crisis pregnancy centers opened their doors.  The focus has been on the moms and saving the babies, which is certainly a right strategy and an effective one.  But I believe a new strategy is beginning to emerge that will also be instrumental in bringing down abortion and that is to focus on the clinic worker.  The clinic worker, the person on the inside with the first hand knowledge of exactly what is going on behind the closed doors is the very person who will be able to effectively and convincingly change the minds of all those who are so entrenched in the culture of death.  The clinic worker whose life has been touched by the light of Christ is the very person who will be able to talk to women who so staunchly believe that their right to choose must be maintained at all costs.  It is the clinic worker who has walked away from the abortion industry who can tell the real truth behind this industry.

I was reminded this morning during prayer of Abby Johnson, a very brave and courageous woman who was the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas.  As the light of Christ touched her life and opened her eyes to horrors of abortion, she walked away from it all.  Now as she walks with the Lord, she has a ministry specifically to those clinic workers who want to leave the industry – And Then There Were None .

Pray this week with me for the clinic workers in Germantown, that the light of Christ will touch their lives and that they will walk away from the abortion industry forever.  Pray also for Abby Johnson and her ministry to those seeking to leave the abortion industry.

Day 12 – October 7, 2012

Sunday, October 7, 2012, day 12 of the 40 days campaign and also the restarting of the abortion process all over again at the Germantown clinic.  I was remembering this morning that Dr. Carhart starts the 4 day process on Sunday with the women who come to the clinic today.  Sunday is not only the first day of the week it also marked the day of our Lord’s resurrection.  Sunday is a day to remember that the One who died for us, who died willingly to save us, is now raised from death to life everlasting.  But, in Germantown it is a day that signals death for the innocents who go unknowingly to their demise.

Part of the gospel reading for today was taken from Mark 10:13-14 – “Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.”  I was reflecting on these verses in this context today and just prayed that there would be children to come to Him.  I prayed that there would be many more survivors of the abortion holocaust who would have the chance to live and know the Lord.  This January will mark 40 years since the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision and since that time over 50,000,000 children have succumb to this holocaust.

Lord Jesus, may this be the year that we see an end to abortion.

Day 11 – October 6, 2012

Today started out as I had planned.  I woke up early to go and pray before the clinic but enemy had other plans. He thought that he could thwart prayer to end abortion and for the salvation of souls simply by causing a small mishap with a vehicle.  He is not very bright, nor is he very creative.  I was on my way to the clinic and I blew a tire on the highway – I was fine, the car was fine, just a bit inconvenienced.  I was able to pull off the road safely and figure out what I needed to do and then just wait where I was for someone to come and change my tire.  But, what the enemy hadn’t realized was I COULD STILL PRAY!  It didn’t matter that I wasn’t physically in front of the clinic – prayer can happen anywhere.

I will go off topic slightly today because something is on my heart that I would like to write about.  I was reading this morning in The Message out Luke’s gospel and Jesus said “Get ready for trouble. Look to what you’ll need; there are difficult times ahead. Pawn your coat and get a sword. What was written in Scripture, ‘He was lumped in with the criminals,’ gets its final meaning in me. Everything written about me is now coming to a conclusion.”  I believe we may need to consider taking this scripture to heart given the times we live in.  If things in this country do not turn around we will be looking at difficult times ahead.  If the church remains complacent too much longer about the abortion issue it will see other unwanted invasions.  Right now our religious liberty is at stake with the current HHS mandate as it is written which provides for tax payer funded contraception, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization.  By virtue of the fact that ALL employers, including those religious convictions go against such things, must provide these must provide these at no cost to their employees, they believe they would be forced to go against their conscience.  Many Christian employers have already filed law suits against the government. If these employers hold fast to their convictions and do provide their employees with insurance they will be fined and the fines will bankrupt the companies.  This kind of government coercion in America is unheard of.  Last weekend a movement began in Washington DC that I pray will continue, no matter the outcome of the election.  That movement is known as ActsFive29, which taken from the scripture is referring to Peter standing before the Jewish Council and declaring that they will obey God rather than men when it comes to unjust laws.  The church of Jesus Christ can no longer sit by idly while these things happen.  We will be like the frogs in the slowly boiling water, never aware of how hot the water is getting until we are suddenly cooked.  I would challenge anyone reading this blog today to watch the movie For Greater Glory.  Here is what is posted on the movie’s website:

What price would you pay for freedom?

In the exhilarating action epic FOR GREATER GLORY an impassioned group of men and women each make the decision to risk it all for family, faith and the very future of their country, as the film’s adventure unfolds against the long-hidden, true story of the 1920s Cristero War ­the daring people¹s revolt that rocked 20th Century North America.

This movie is based on a true story on something that happened virtually overnight less than 100 years ago!

Day 10 – October 5, 2012

Wow, day 10 of the campaign already.  The time is going by really fast even though this has been a tough week. I was realizing this morning as I was trying to pray through the sorrowful mysteries, they are just that – sorrowful – and there is much pain involved as Jesus walked through those last hours of his life.  I kept focusing on the supposedly “painless” fatal heart attack that is inflicted on the baby at the start of the abortion procedure in Dr. Carhart’s clinic and the crown of thorns being pushed onto Jesus’ head.  I’ve heard a heart attack described as sharp piercing pain in the chest sometimes and certainly that crown of thorns was a sharp piercing pain in Jesus’ head.  Jesus suffered that pain for us – willingly.  He suffered through the entire ordeal on our behalf, for our salvation, for Dr. Carhart’s salvation because of His great and overwhelming love.  I know I was dedicating this week to praying for his salvation and I did come back to that but initially, I could not get beyond this one point of the pain and suffering.  Again, today I found myself so grieved that I began to cry over the lives that were lost this week. The Lord very graciously reminded me that He took the sin of the abortionist upon Himself just as He took my sin upon Himself when He went to that cross.  My sin was forgiven, so the sin of the abortionist is also forgivable when there is repentance.  I count it a privilege to continue praying for the Dr. Carhart’s salvation, believing that God is ready to hold him in His everlasting arms.

I wondered if it was alright to allow myself to be comforted in the fact that the children who were aborted this week in Germantown and everywhere else in the world for that matter, are now in heaven with the Lord.  Maybe.  But, of course, what is not okay is that ANY child died at all this week in such a horrific way.

Days 8 & 9 – October 4, 2012

I did not get a chance to write anything yesterday, so I will combine my thoughts from both yesterday and today into one posting. 

I was thinking to myself this morning how difficult this week has been.  I have been trying to pray for Dr. Carhart’s salvation this week while continuing to meditate on the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary.  However, the more I meditate on the sorrowful mysteries the more I think about the horrific death these poor children are suffering and I find myself weeping for these little lives. 

After doing a little research I discovered that Dr. Carhart uses a four step method over four days to complete the abortion.  The method was initially developed by George Tiller after partial birth abortions were banned as a work around.  This method uses a combination of four drugs beginning with a lethal dose of digoxin to induce a heart attack in the baby.  This is suppose to make this painless for the baby according George Tiller.  Since when is a fatal heart attack ever painless?  I am still wondering how a woman could carry her child for nearly five months and then decide she has to kill the child.  You see Dr. Carhart usually does abortions beginning at 19 weeks gestation.  At the end of the process, one of the drugs used induces labor, so now the woman is giving birth to her dead child.  I earnestly pray that our society wakes up to this reality one day very soon before we go too far and cross a line that we can’t get back over. 

I pray for Dr. Carhart’s salvation.  I know God is able and that He desires that none should perish but that all should come to repentence, as I’ve said before, but sometimes it can be so hard to see how this is going to happen.  It’s my understanding that the actual abortion process begins on Sunday at the Germantown clinic, so that it is concluded by Wednesday.  I assume that to mean that perhaps no babies will die today in Germantown, I don’t know.  But still, prayer goes up for the babies, the women who come for abortions, Dr. Carhart, and his staff around the clock no matter what!

I was encouraged this morning by seeing Douglas, one of the faithful 12 that I met on Tuesday morning.  Douglas told me how much he believes in prayer and how much he believes that God will close the doors of this clinic in a way that will allow all of Germantown to know that it was through His power and His grace that this was accomplished.  I say AMEN to that!!!  Douglas and I concluded the hour by praying together.

Day 7 – October 2, 2012

In the unbelievable pooring rain this morning 12 faithful men gathered on the sidewalk in front of the office park where the Germantown abortion clinic is located to pray for an end to abortion.  I learned this morning from one of the men, Douglas, that they have been meeting for quite some time now every Tuesday morning at 6AM to pray in front of this clinic.  That is real dedication on the part of these men.  They all come from different churches united by this cause that has become such an urgent cry in America to end abortion.

I continued with my focus for this week and meditated on the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary while praying for Dr. Carhart’s salvation.  Jesus died for all mankind and I firmly believe that one day, Dr. Leroy Carhart’s eyes will be opened to the truth, that he will recognize it, and repent of his sin and receive the gift of salvation.

Today, as I received a daily update from Shawn Carney, the National Director for the 40 days for life campaign, there was a devotional printed by Fr. Terry Gensemer of CEC for Life which I found particularly moving and so wish reprint it here:

SCRIPTURE

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has
anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has
sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

— Luke 4:18-19

REFLECTION

This passage is a very familiar one. It has been
preached on many occasions, even made popular in
books and songs. Though the quote is about Jesus, all
Christians take this commission seriously as a
directive on how to reach the world with the gospel.

We, like our Savior, are to bring the good news to
the poor, the brokenhearted, those in captivity,
those who cannot see, and the oppressed.

The commission given to us in this passage is clearly
a charge to care for those for whom God cares the
most. I wonder though, whom do we look for to be
touched by the Holy Spirit as we go out into the
world?

Who are the poor, if not those unborn children who
have been abandoned by their parents before they ever
leave the womb?

Who are the brokenhearted, if not those unborn
children whose only example of love is having their
mother take them to an abortion clinic to be
destroyed, or the mother of a child who has been
deceived by everyone around her into believing that
what she is doing is best for her and her child?

Who are the captives, if not those unborn children
who are bound over to death by the “choice” of
abortion?

Who is more blind than an unborn child in the
darkness of a womb that has become a waiting room for
their death?

And who is more oppressed than those unborn children
whose oppression has been legitimized by their
government, their church and even their family and
loved ones?

PRAYER

Lord, You empower us with Your Spirit to do your will
in the earth. Send us to the poorest, the most
broken, the most captive, the most blind and the most
oppressed in the world, the innocent pre-born
children in their mother’s wombs that are scheduled
for destruction. Help us to bring them healing,
liberty, sight and justice through Jesus Christ our
Lord, Amen.

Day 6 – October 1, 2012

To day is day 6 in the 40 days for life journey and also the start of a new week.  In my prayer journey during these 40 days, a new week means a new focus for prayer.  This week I am praying through the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary – the agony in the garden, the scourging at the pillar, the crowing of thorns, the carrying of the cross, and the crucifixion.  In conjunction with meditating on these sorrowful mysteries I am praying for the salvation of Dr. Leroy Carhart, the abortionist at the Germantown abortion clinic.  Dr. Carhart truly believes that what he is doing is God’s will.  He says that he believes in God, that he is a religious man, and that God has given us abortion to take care of a “flawed pregnancy.”  In an interview Dr. Carhart gave with the Germantown Patch last year, he stated that “People wouldn’t think God created a flawed pregnancy to punish or test the parents. I think that it’s just like any other medical condition, something that happens. God has provided us with a way to educate people to help take care of it.” This has to be one of the saddest and most twisted things I’ve ever seen.  Since I began praying in front of the clinic I’ve had one thing on my mind every day, one question – how could someone do this to fully developed babies who clearly feel the pain of these abortions day after day, week after week and still sleep at night?  After reading this interview that Dr. Carhart gave last year, I have my answer.  Satan has so deceived him and blinded him to the truth that he actually believes he is doing the will of God by performing abortions!

Yesterday, in church, Father Terry Gensemer of CEC for Life was the guest speaker and he was encouraging us to pray according to Matthew 10:26 in the fight against abortion.  “Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.”  Learning this bit of information about Dr. Carhart has revealed a lot to me and encourages me to continue to pray for his salvation.  Jesus died on the cross for Leroy Carhart and the Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  

Please pray with me this week for the salvation of Dr. Leroy Carhart.