40 Days of Prayer, Fellowship, and Blessings

The Fall "40 Days for Life" Campaign is over! I received an email from the 40 Days headquarters letting me know that 546 babies were saved during this campaign! Isn't that amazing? I'm so thankful for all the people who took the time to come and pray.  40 days of peaceful and prayerful vigils. I can only imagine what these young ladies are thinking when they are taken to an abortion facility. I'm so glad that there were people who care standing outside in prayer, telling them that there is help available.  Taking the time to talk to them, hear their stories. We don't have an abortion facility where I live, the Planned Parenthood closed down in September 2013. They did not do surgical abortions, but they did give out the pill that would cause a chemical abortion. We use to pray in front of the Planned Parenthood during the 40 Days for Life Campaigns until it closed down. We still wanted to be involved, and found out that we could still have a campaign in our city as long as it was outside where we would be visible.

Our campaign was held in the courtyard of my parish, Sacred Heart Cathedral. Our vigil hours were from 7:00 am - 7:00 pm each and every day from Wednesday, September 24 - Sunday, November 2, 2104. We had many people come and pray throughout the days of the campaign. Several people came 4 and 5 times a week. Some people came daily. Many stayed and prayed for more than 1 hour at a time. We had rosary groups come and pray in the courtyard. People would stay and visit after their prayers or devotions. It was an amazing time of fellowship. We came together to pray for the unborn, for their families, for the whole world. The courtyard use to be a place we walked through to get inside the school building. It has now become a place of prayer, a peaceful place where you feel the Holy Spirit. You can feel God's Presence there. Time just seemed to slip by as you prayed. You never felt alone there, even if you were the only one there. The big oak trees gave us shade, the daily visits from a squirrel, the birds singing, our courtyard has become a peaceful place of prayer! We did have trouble with pesky mosquitos! They were vicious! We kept bottles of repellant on the table! But those mosquitos were a small nuisance!

The blessings we all received from the devotion to our prayers is indescribable. My life will never be the same. I will hold forever in my heart the beautiful, humbling witness of God's faithful people coming together in prayer. New friendships made, a closer bond with old friends, the joy of worship, the joy of fellowship! At the beginning of the 40 Days for Life Campaign, we would pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet together when the church bells would ring at 3:00 pm. Mid-way through the campaign, we would tentatively sing the chaplet, and towards the end, we would sing with confidence, knowing that our voices lifted up as one made a beautiful melody, a song of praise to our God. One day last week when I had gone home, the ladies shared with me that while they were singing the Divine Mercy Chaplet, a man was standing outside the courtyard, listening to them. The ladies stopped singing before they started the next decade to ask if they could help him. He replied that he didn't want to disturb them, their singing was so beautiful. He explained what he needed, and then they finished singing the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

As I'm writing this post, I can hear the rain pouring outside. We had beautiful weather during the campaign. Here in West Texas, rain is always a welcome blessing. I thank God for the rain, and for the babies saved. I pray for the families of these babies, that they will be given the guidance and help they need. I thank God for all the people who participated in "40 Days for Life" Campaigns everywhere. 

 Written for my blog on November 4, 2014.