Tomorrow, January 19, 2013 is the start of "Nine Days of Prayer, Penance and Pilgrimage" surrounding the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The United States Bishops are calling on Catholics to participate in this novena "for healing and conversion, for elected officials who support abortion and for all people whose lives have been forever changed by an abortion" (USCCB Pro-Life Secretariat). "The bishops recognize that prayer is the foundation of all our efforts on behalf of human life, "said Tom Grenchik, executive director of the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
"Each day's novena content includes an intercession, brief prayers and a reflection, daily suggestions for concrete acts of prayer, penance and charity, and a powerful abortion-related myth/reality fact. People can sign up to receive the novena daily by email by visiting www.usccb.org/9days, or by text message by texting "9days" to 99000. The novena will also be posted daily on "People of Life," the USCCB Pro-Life Secretariat's Facebook page, and tweeted from "USCCB" on Twitter" (USCCB Pro-Life Secretariat).
Let us unite with our bishops and pray for an end to abortion and a respect for all life! For those who are unable to attend the March for Life in Washington D.C. on January 25, this is a great opportunity to participate in the efforts of the March on this 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. As Tom Grenchik stated, "...prayer is the foundation of all our efforts on behalf of human life." As Christians, we are called to pray at all times, to "...in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God" (Philippians 4:6). Let us pray in thanksgiving for the gift of free will and our right to choose right over wrong, for "Freedom is not the ability to do anything we want, whenever we want. Rather, freedom is the ability to live responsibly the truth of our relationship with God and one another" (Pope John Paul II, Youth Gathering in St. Louis Missouri January 26, 1999). God has created us free, free to choose to love and free to be responsible. By using our gift of freedom responsibly, we truly can change the world. This is a great quote from a blog post from January 6, 2013 by Marc Barnes, the author of Bad Catholic Blog, "If every human being in the world is free to love and not to sin, then good people contain within themselves the power to change the world. Be free yourself, and by it inform others they are free. Be good youself, then show others the good they can, in freedom, choose. The man who truly recognizes that all people have the capascity to do good and avoid evil must spend his life tempting people to love, for with his great power comes - you guessed it - a mighty responsibility. You cannot simply know that every human being has the capacity for love and then give a shrug when they choose not to."
Let us join together in this novena and in this defense of the sanctity of life. Let us show the world the great gift of choice - of choosing the good, the true and the beautiful. Let us defend life, lest the Lord say of us, "Forty years I was wearied of that generation; I said: "This people's heart goes astray, they do not know my ways" (Psalm 95:10).
"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).
Written by Kristen
Let us join together in this novena and in this defense of the sanctity of life. Let us show the world the great gift of choice - of choosing the good, the true and the beautiful. Let us defend life, lest the Lord say of us, "Forty years I was wearied of that generation; I said: "This people's heart goes astray, they do not know my ways" (Psalm 95:10).
"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).
Written by Kristen
