DAY 40: The beginning of the end
It’s Day 40 — the final day of this fall’s 40 Days for Life effort.
Together we have witnessed God accomplishing amazing miracles through His faithful people, and I really believe that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of abortion in our land.
THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for being a part of the most profoundly touching 40 Days for Life campaign yet. As we wrap up the fifth coordinated 40 Days for Life effort, the seeds you have planted are beginning to bear incredible fruit.
One sign of that is the level of opposition that has been seen in many communities.
The abortion industry is starting to squirm.
Ann Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League sent photos of people praying at the 40 Days for Life vigil in Chicago — and a picture of people actually demonstrating against 40 Days for Life.
On the day the demonstrators were there, she said, “they managed to create enough of an obstruction along the street that no one came in for an abortion.”
Now that’s what I call utterly amazing — and it’s clearly the hand of God at work. “Little do they realize,” Ann said, “they are saving babies by their presence.”
Here are the pictures from Chicago:
A nurse walked out of the Planned Parenthood location where the 40 Days for Life vigil is being held in Houston, Texas. One of the vigil participants wished her a cheerful “Good morning!” and asked how she was doing.
The answer was quick and unexpected. “I need a new job now,” she said. This may, in fact, have been her first day at Planned Parenthood. But it was also the last.
“I went in one of the rooms,” the nurse said, “and this is not for me.”
Planned Parenthood, of course, bills itself as a health care organization. What this nurse found there was certainly NOT health care.
Vigil participants suggested a few leads for finding a REAL health care position, and asked if there was anything else she needed.
“Not really,” the nurse responded. “I’m going home to hug my children.”
This nurse becomes the EIGHTH employee to leave an abortion industry job during this 40 Days for Life campaign. Praise God!
In Psalm 119:18, the psalmist prays to God, “Open my eyes to see clearly the wonders of your teachings.”
Thanks to you, many eyes have been opened during this 40 Days for Life campaign.
A prayer volunteer in Reno, Nevada who has spent many hours at the 40 Days for Life vigil has noticed a trend at the abortion center. Business has been down significantly — and there’s no doubt that the prayers of faithful volunteers, especially during the 40 Days for Life campaigns, are being heard.
When the first 40 Days for Life vigil was held there two years ago, the clinic was open five days a week. Now it is open only three days a week. The abortionist used to arrive around 9 am. Now he often doesn’t show up until 11.
Two years ago, the prayer volunteers say the clinic had about 15 patients each day. Now it is only around five. Staff members are working fewer hours. They often have days — even weeks — between shifts.
Carol Marie noted that one of the prayer volunteers in Reno had set a goal of praying for at least 40 hours during the 40 Days for Life vigil. She has met and exceeded that goal.
“She’s not finished yet,” Carol Marie said, “nor does she expect to stop when the campaign ends. She realizes that while she’s tired and her spirits are hard pressed to continue what she’s doing, she knows that we’re making a difference. She has seen that lives are saved.”
Day 40 is not the end. It’s only the beginning!
Here’s today’s devotional from Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life and President of the National Pro-life Religious Council…
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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:
http://40daysforlife.com/docs/fall2009day40print.pdf
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For Life,
David Bereit
National Director
40 Days for Life
November 1st, 2009 at 7:29 am
Let us all pray for an end to abortion
November 1st, 2009 at 8:39 am
May God bless all those who participated in 40 Days for Life. We pray that the evil of abortion be removed from the world.
November 1st, 2009 at 8:59 am
May God continue to shower each of the both physical and spiritual participants of the 2009 Fall Campaign with countless blessings. You are all such stalwart members of the Body of Christ. We shall overcome.
November 1st, 2009 at 9:01 am
40 Days For Life may be ending,but I am just getting started. I am not stopping until the Abortion Industry and America sees Abortion for the Truth.
Praise God, for everything that has happened. Our prayers are reaching heaven. God’s light is shining through the darkness of the abortion Industry.
My friend Rebecca called me one day asking me if I had been protesting against Abortion in Maryville. I said,” no,but I have been here.” She said,” oh well, I kept driving back and fourth trying to see if you were there.”Please keep her and her family in your prayers. They are Pro-Abortion. I have known them since 5th grade and I am now a sophomore in College.
November 1st, 2009 at 9:11 am
The Lord used my wrong choice of aborting my only child to finally bring me to my knees and see where I was. Living outside His Will and His Word, and supporting death! Praise God, for His Light that exposes all Truth, and allows man to see his wrong path, and seek His Way!
Like that nurse who was leaving that PP facility saying, ” I’m going home to hug my children.” Every truly repentant heart that turns from choosing death to choosing life can also, Go home and hug their Children, but for those who got the message too late, their home is in Heaven now, and only God can lead us there! Bless all those who turn today, and bless each one that God usesto aid in their choice!
Through the Grace offered every sinner who turns,
may they now choose the Light of the World, Jesus Christ! Amen!
Just as every believer starts their walk on a different day, I’m only on Day 17 with my 40 Day Walk, but it took almost 40 years for me to get the message, so I’ll be doing this for quite a while longer, for I’m now letting God do the counting!! Praise God that my “life saving sandals” are renewed daily by His Word!
November 1st, 2009 at 9:25 am
I praise the Lord for Gary.
November 1st, 2009 at 9:44 am
While reading Father Pavone’s words this morning, it occurred to me that in the last day, when the dead are resurrected, both great and small…that will include all the millions (maybe billions) of children who were aborted! I never thought of that before this morning! They won’t miss out on eternal life with Jesus just because we decided to play God and choose who gets to live out their lives here on earth and who doesn’t.
November 1st, 2009 at 9:46 am
This was my first time prarying outside an abortion clinic. Some of my family members and frieds might think I am an not with the times. But God never changes because he is the Rock of Ages. Kateri gave me a little tiny baby doll showing the size of an infant in the early stages of life. When I got home it was as big as my baby Jesus statue on my altar. To think that Jesus was that small once touched ny heart. Mary said YES! Life is precious! What can be closer to God than a baby. I choose LIFE! Blessings.
November 1st, 2009 at 11:01 am
I too also this morning read chapter from Luke about the Resurrection of Jesus when the women find the tomb empty and Peter also finds just the linen clothes. How often women that have abortion must find their wombs empty and just linen clothes left from the abortion. Workers they have to clean up after. As a volunteer I believe we help bring the healing spices and words of comfort that Christ offers to the people hurting from abortion. I believe the 40 days for Life is how God will bring about the victory and change their hearts and see that the womb that their child is in that Jesus is the way, the life and truth.
November 1st, 2009 at 11:11 am
Thank you to all that participated in this 40 Days for Life Campaign.
It is amazing to see the power of prayer and the hand of our Heavenly Father at work. I have witnessed an increase in an awareness over the last few campaigns. The youth are more involved and it can only grow with each 40 Days for Life Campaign. Thank you Beth and James for leading the 40 Days for Life team in Phoenix, AZ and thank you to all that committed themselves to leading and participating in praying to end abortion.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Let us pray for those that are “Silent no More” and regret their abortions that we will be the vessels for LIfe. Thanks to 40 Days for LIfe we have a community to embrace us and also allows us to serve The Lord and pray for others to choose life. Peace!
November 1st, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Obedience is what we are showing the Lord as we continue on after the 40 days have ended. Our small group is going to pray every Saturday until God tells us not to…
November 1st, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Thank you to each and every one of those who either fasted, prayed and/or stood vigil over the abortion clinics this season. Please be assured that the prayers of those unable to attend a vigil with you were with you. May God bless you all for your efforts.
November 1st, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I am always a little sad to see the 40 Days for Life Campaign come to an end. There is such a special fellowship and prayer in unity with others of the same convictions. There is strength and blessings in numbers. I was priveleged to pray at two of the vigil sites in Kentucky. I am always blessed by the people that I meet and pray with there.
When I found 40 Days for Life in the fall 2007 I was feeling very desperate and hopeless. God has brought me from a very dark place in my life into the light and love of His truth. I know it was the result of the prayers of other people in the pro-life community that were praying for post abortive women like myself. We never know who will be pulled from the clutches of the evil one by our prayers.
This 40 Days has been a training session for us. It is the beginning of the end for abortion in our nation and we have much work yet to complete. Let us continue to pray for an end of abortion in our nation and claim the wonderful blessings of life that God offers His children.
Thank you David and all the leaders and prayer warriors of 40 Days for Life across our nation under God!
God is Great! All the Time!
November 1st, 2009 at 5:21 pm
David,
I really didn’t get a chance to talk to you when you were here for the Foundation for Life fundraiser. I thank God frequently for all the pro-life warriors who came up with such beautiful ideas to bring us together nationwide so we can hold each other up as we continue to fight for our King, Jesus Christ. May God continue to bless this ministry which He has begun and may He continue to flood the minds and hearts of His faithful flock with the ideas to change this country and this world once again into a culture of LIFE. Thanks, Linda
November 1st, 2009 at 5:26 pm
GOD ALSO SAID THAT HE BOTTLED EVERY TEAR.
WE WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE LIQUID PRAYERS.
I WILL CONTINUE TO PRAY AND STAND IN THE GAP
AROUND THE “SLAUGHTER HOUSES” IN PERSON IN
LAS VEGAS .PS.35.
November 1st, 2009 at 5:32 pm
It has been my first 40 Days for Life Campaign. I have participated through internet because I do not live in the US. The sense of community and a prayerful presence of so many people united in order to save and protect the little ones have been enormous. I’m ready for the next campaign until everyone is fully protected.
Thank you so much! God bless all of you!
November 1st, 2009 at 5:33 pm
THANK YOU DAVID,KEN WILSON AND EVERY WARRIOR
MY FAITH HAS BEEN INCREASED BY ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS.WE WILL PLEAD WITH FATHER GOD UNTIL A TOTAL BREAKTRHOUGH.
November 1st, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Oh, Heavenly Father, I am satisfied and content with my first 40 Days For Life Vigil. I want to THANK ALL OF THE PRAYER INTERCESSORS WHO HAVE STOOD IN THE GAP AND WILL CONTINUE TO STAND IN THE GAP as this Fall Campaign soon comes to an end today at 12:00 pm. Now, as evil never ever ever takes time off from death & destruction; WE TOO MUST NEVER EVER EVER EVER waiver in OUR meditations and prayers for the LEAST OF THESE. I want to give a big thank you to the local director, Monica Oberlin, here in Seattle for all her efforts during this beautiful time of growth & renewal in spirit. Hallelujah, today is a day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!!! Thank you, David, for your words of encouragement during these 40 Days. They were very much welcomed each morning as I LOVE TO SEE THE SAVED BABIES total on the upper right corner!!!! How satisfying it will continue to be as we all stand in witness of death leaving our communities like a wild fire consumes a dry, dry, brittle & dead forest which cannot & will not stand against this movement of our Father, in Jesus name, I LOVE YOU ALL, Amen & Amen.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Amen to all of you who participated in this 40 days to life. Let’s all pray to end abortion in this country and throughout the whole world. God Bless all you pro-life people.
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:03 am
The best I could do is offer weekday masses, rosaries, Chaplets of Divine Mercy, and other prayers and sacrifices and no brownies for 40 days. I have some health problems that prevent me from being a vigil volunteer, but my heart and prayers were with all of you each day. May God see fit to reward you David, and all who participated in these 40 Days, His best blessings and graces for all you have done for Him and the unborn, for all the “wee little ones” who have been saved from abortion and for all the good things that have happened during this campaign. May He be praised forever and ever. Amen..
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:19 am
I hope to meet Shawn in Grand Prairie on the 12th when he addresses us at the fundraiser banquet for the Pregnancy Resource Center. Many of my co-prayer warriors in 40 Days for Life will be there with me.
Praise God for Shawn, David and their wives who prayed for this ministry. God lit a candle and it has started a great blaze.
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:27 am
Thanks to God and the Blessed Mother for all babies saved, and workers who leave their jobs at abortion centers.
Lets pray to God Who can change their stone heart to flesh.
Thank you all of you for your work. Praise the Lord
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:07 am
Thank you all of you for having taught me many things. I am amazed by the good results and praise the Lord.
However I am aware that abortion will never stop, as war, evil, and so on. But the 40 Days for Life participants have done all what they could and should carry one. There is a huge fight in the sky as well as on the earth that will end only when our Jesus comes back at the very end.
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:33 am
Thank you all who participated in every way. Let’s continue our prayers, not allowing the father of lies to gain a single foothold. Choose Life!!
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:53 pm
How do we encourage the other Christian denominations to participate in the 40 days for Life?
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Praise Jesus!! You shall know the truth and the truth set you free!!!!
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
It was my first time at a ProLife event at an abortion clinic. Next time, I would like to have an informational listing of facilities and services that are available for those who would Choose Life but don’t know where to turn for help. I truly believe that most women who abort, are pressured by those around them to do that, and would choose Life if they were better guided and informed. The photos are good. They must be accompanied by guidance and information. These women are frightened and confused, I believe. They certainly are not making a Choice if they are uninformed.
November 2nd, 2009 at 3:47 pm
wow the devil can be dumb