“Vessel of the Preborn Jesus in Watercolor” by Lea Marie Ravotti
Last week, we had a post about St. Louise de Marillac’s chaplet to Unborn Jesus. Amazingly, there is a new apostolate that has just formed with a similar idea to St. Louise’s. A few months ago we became aware of this new apostolate. This apostolate encourages Christians to make rosaries while praying the Joyful Mysteries and meditating on Preborn Jesus. These prayers would be said for mothers with unplanned pregnancies.
How did this originate? Bernie Conklin tells the story:
“It started in the spring of 2009 after completing the 33 day St. Louis de Montfort consecration to Jesus through Mary. A practicing OBGYN I know mentioned to me that a girl was considering an abortion. I told her that I would pray a rosary for the young girl and after seeing her baby on a sonogram, this young mother chose life for her child. Isn’t that a beautiful miracle?
This incident lead me to begin discerning about creating a ministry where cord rosaries, using knots instead of beads, could be made and prayed. Then, the mother with an unplanned pregnancy could be given one of these rosaries as a token of love. The following thoughts kept coming to me, ‘ We meditate on Jesus as the Risen Savior, the Crucified Lord, a Babe in the manger, but not as Preborn Jesus in the womb!’ I thought it would be enlightening if people could visualize Jesus’ presence in Mary’s womb. So as a favor to me for my birthday in July one of my sons sketched the image of Preborn Jesus.”
Here is the image of Preborn Jesus that he drew.
At this point Bernie prayed:
“Lord, this is a beautiful image of You in the womb. It is estimated at about $50.00 to enlarge it onto an 18×24 foam board, which seemed like a lot. If you want this done, I know You’ll open a window.”
And here is how our Lord answered her prayer:
“I had cleaned this patient’s teeth a few times before, but on this day in July when I was done with his cleaning, he placed money in my hand and complimented my work. Well, you certainly don’t tip your hygienist, but after a few rounds of back and forth he curled my hand around the money and left, yelling, ‘Merry Christmas’ as he went out the door of our office.
As my eyes fell upon the $50 bill, I recalled my prayer from the night before…‘If you want this done, I know You’ll open a window.’
Of course I immediately had the image of the Preborn Jesus enlarged and since then it has been at pregnancy centers, the ‘Truth Booth’ at the Butler Farm Show, an abortion clinic in Pittsburgh and at church functions.”
She adds: ” Presently, we are making the variegated pink and blue cord rosaries with a medal of Baby Jesus attached. As the rosary is made, the ‘Joyful Mysteries’ of the rosary are prayed. Meditation on the image of Preborn Jesus in the womb is central to this devotion. The rosary is a gift to the mother as well as her child.”
Recently Lea Ravotti, an artist from Pittsburgh, completed the watercolor after seeing the original sketch that Bernie’s son drew. They have worked together to distribute pamphlets that encourage others to take up this devotion. The pamphlets are beautifully illustrated with both images. Also included in the pamphlet is a poem from Preborn Jesus to the mother with child.
If you want to obtain one of these pamphlets you can email Preborn Jesus Ministry at:
PrebornJesusMinistry@zoominternet.net
or visit their website
Luke 18:1-8 The Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge
A few years ago I had a situation happen to me that was rather funny. I had been praying for a family member who needed to change. I actually had prayed about this situation for over nine years. I finally got a bit frustrated and started to complain to God about it – I reminded him about the widow and the unjust judge. I pointed out to him that I had been praying for nine years and this situation hadn’t changed. One week later, through an unusual set of circumstances this person revealed to me that they had made the change I was praying for – a year earlier – but for their own private reasons never told anyone.
I know that many of us are frustrated about the situation in our country over abortion. We pray fervently, we wonder why! But we need to pray and keep praying. There is a new project called Luke 18:1 (yes, the parable mentioned above.) Click here to see their website.
What they want to do is begin a prayer campaign on March 25, 2010 (the feast of the Annunciation, when Our Lord was conceived in Mary’s womb). They want people to sign up to pray for an end to abortion. The idea is that individuals would sign up for a 20 minute period during the year and that hopefully they would get enough people so that someone was praying at all times during the year to end abortion. I urge you to check out the website.
I have always admired those on the front line. Compassionate heroes who counsel women at pregnancy crisis centers and courageous pro-lifers who week after week pray in front of abortion facilities. God has a special place in His Heart for all of these dedicated pro-lifers.
If you haven’t seen this video (click here) – you might find it interesting. It shows the great evil happening at the abortion facility in Rockford Illinois. But it also shows the grace of God (through the dedication of committed pro-lifers) that is being poured into this sad situation. Here is a blog detailing the efforts made to save lives at this abortion facility during the last 40 days for life.
Another wonderful witness for the unborn that just concluded is in an annual walk for life across the country called Crossroads. Every summer a group of young people walk across the U.S. giving witness to the humanity of the unborn. Along the way: “Each walker averaged over 1,000 miles and spoke to parishes and youth groups. They also engaged in “peaceful, prayerful” protests and sidewalk counseling at abortion (facilities).” Click here to find out more about this wonderful effort.
When we are discouraged we should remember what Saint Paul said in Romans 5:20, “…where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more”. In many cities and towns across our country there are good people who have started pregnancy crisis centers. At most if not all of the abortion facilities across our country – pro-lifers come out to pray.
Grace pours forth as each of us lives with love and dedication for the unborn – with prayer for them always in our hearts and often on our lips.
This statue of the “Virgin Mary of Hope Expectant” was on display at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish in Fort Myers July 25 during a Novena for Life Mass. The statue appeared at different parishes throughout the nine-month novena.
I wanted to let you know about a wonderful group called Laity for Life because one of their objectives is to “provide spiritual and moral support for lay Catholics who are active in the pro-life movement”. Other objectives of the group are to ‘train Catholics to be persuasive pro-life speakers and encourage Church financial support for pro-life efforts’.
One way that they are fulfilling this objective is by promoting a Novena of Masses for Life. They have “borrowed and broadened the term ‘Novena’ to refer to the nine months of Our Lady’s pregnancy”.
During 2008 a series of 28 Masses for Life were celebrated throughout the Diocese of Venice in Florida starting on the feast of the Annunciation and thereafter on the 25th of each month until Christmas. Click here to see a schedule of these Masses. A statue of “Virgin Mary of Hope Expectant” was brought to each of these Masses throughout the Diocese. The statue was designed by Antonio Reyes of Ecuador. These Masses for Life bring Catholics together to pray for the unborn and to open their hearts to God for the spiritual strength needed to bring about a new culture of life.
This year they have expanded the Masses for Life to include 48 parishes and 121 Novena Masses following the same schedule from the Annunciation to Christmas. Click here to see the 2009 schedule. Laity for Life wants to promote the Novena of Masses for Life all over the U.S.. If you would be interested in working with Laity for Life on this project you can contact them at :
LAITY for LIFE, Inc.
P.O. Box 111478
Naples FL 34108
VoiceMail : 239.352.6333
E-Mail: info@LaityForLife.org
Today, during the Stations of the Cross , Pope Benedict prayed this prayer at the Seventh Station.
“We have faith, Lord, but not enough. Help us to have more. May we never question or mock serious things in life like a cynic. Allow us not to drift into the desert of godlessness. Enable us to perceive you in the gentle breeze, see you in street corners, love you in the unborn child.
God, enable us to understand that on Tabor or Calvary, your Son is the Lord. Robed or stripped of his garments, he is the Saviour of the world. Make us attentive to his quiet presences: in his “word”, in tabernacles, shrines, humble places, simple persons, the life of the poor, laughter of children, whispering pines, rolling hills, the tiniest living cell, the smallest atom, and the distant galaxies.
May we watch with wonder as he walks on the waters of the Rhine and the Nile and the Tanganyika.”
God is Pro-life A Catholic Mom in Hawaii
But the answer is always sure to come.
Nor a breath of holy desire
Poured out in prayer to God
Will ever be lost.
And fall in showers of mercy on you
And on all those for whom you work and pray.
We consider now the last two verses of this beautiful Psalm, verses 5-6.
In the early Church, Psalm 23 was associated with the three sacraments of initiation: Baptism – verse 2 “beside the still waters”, Confirmation – verse 5 “thou anointest my head with oil”, Eucharist – verse 5 “Thou preparest a table before me”. Further, it even seemed to comment on one’s new life in the Church and one’s promised life hereafter: “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (verse 6). It seems like a prophetic Ecclesiastical Psalm.
But let’s step back and look at two other simple themes running through this Psalm: the Path of Righteousness and the Will of God.
THE PATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: “he leadeth me” (v.2), “he leadeth me” (v.3), “in the paths of righteousness” (v.3), “I walk…thou art with me” (v.4), “shall follow me” (v.6). Psalm 23 describes a journey of faith, a journey along a path which leads us to a place; the Church. Nature reveals God’s creative hand to us (v.2), but proceeding we experience the tender hand of God as “He restoreth my soul” (v.3) and then comforts me (v.4). By the time we arrive at His Eucharistic liturgy, “He preparest a table before me” (v.5), almost like a servant – reminding us of Jesus washing the feet of His apostles at the Last Supper. And Jesus did prepare the table for them at that last supper as He changed the bread into His Body and the wine into His Blood – this was thoughtful loving preparation. So the “waters” of verse 2 have now been changed into wine “my cup runneth over”, and within the Church, into His blood. “He prepares the mystical table” as the early Church Father, St. Gregory of Nyssa, commented concerning verse 5.
THE WILL OF GOD: “The Lord is my shepherd” tells us right away that we are sheep who must follow the Shepherd’s “will”. It is His tender-hearted will that we rest and eat in “green pastures” and rest and drink “the still waters” (v.2) because He intends to “restoreth” our souls. He wills that we represent Him even within the “valley of the shadow of death” (v.4) – today read “valley of the culture of death”. He protects us by being with us; “for thou art with me” (v.4). He is strong and mighty, inspiring His flock to witness to the truth of His Culture of Life “for his name’s sake” (v.3). Verses 5-6 speak of the abundant blessings which the Lord intends for us; sacramentally, mystically, eternally, first in this world, then in the next. “Mercy and goodness shall follow me” within the Mystical Body of Christ, as God wills.
The Good Shepherd also entrusted Peter with this shepherding tradition and mandate: “Feed my lambs”, “Tend my sheep”, “Feed my sheep” (Jn 21:15,16,17).
The second of three reflections on Psalm 23, considers verse 4.
The last line of verse 3 – “he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name sake” – brings us to “walking the walk” in verse 4:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
Are we surprised that righteousness has led us into a certain element of risk and danger? Confronting evil in the world has become difficult. 21st century consequences – that is, problematic and unexpected ones – are now multiplying. What seemed simple has become much more complicated, partly due to the sins and weaknesses of the Good Shepherd’s followers, and partly due to the moral shambles of modern civilization.
We are walking through the sinister valley of the “culture of death”! But God is with us – that changes everything! “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20). So the Christian, that is, the follower of the Good Shepherd, should not be afraid. Just stay close to Him, don’t wander off…
King David, the author of this Psalm, was a shepherd and later a king. Christ the Lord is also both Shepherd and King. But when Christ was coming into the world it was an awesome fearsome thing. First, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the priest Zechariah. His first words were: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah…(Lk 1:13). Then Gabriel appeared to Mary: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!…Do not be afraid, Mary…(Lk 1:28,30). Later, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife…(Mt 1:20). And finally in the hills of Bethlehem an angel of the Lord came to the shepherds watching their flocks: “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy…(Lk 2:10).
He is Emmanuel, which means “God is with us” (Isa 7:14). So, as verse 4 tells us: “I will fear no evil: for (God) art with me”…God is with us.
“Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”. The shepherd’s rod and staff remind us of the prophecy that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs” (Gen 49:10). The rod (scepter-like) is for exercising power by striking an enemy, defending against evil. The staff is for steadying one on his journey, leaning upon it for comforting rest.
So the Messiah would be Emmanuel, “God with us”, a Shepherd King guiding and protecting us. His sign is a cross of two beams, much like a rod and staff intersecting and fastened together.With the cross He has already defeated death and evil. From our 21st century vantage point we look out to Nazareth and Bethlehem and we see Him coming: The Shepherd King of the Culture of Life.
See also: Another reflection on Psalm 23.
The first of three reflections on Psalm 23, considers verses 1-3.
In one of his great Messianic outpourings, Isaiah told us that the Messiah would be “like a shepherd”: feeding his flock, gently leading them, gathering them in his arms and holding them “in his bosom” (Isa 40:11). So when we read “The Lord is my shepherd” we are to picture the tenderhearted Christ who once told His followers “I am the good shepherd” (Jn 10:11). In verse 3 of the Psalm we read that the shepherd “leadeth me in the paths of righteousness”. Jesus alluded to this when He described the good shepherd: “…the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out…he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice” (Jn 10:2-4). So Jesus the good shepherd leads us in the paths of righteousness, into all good.
When we read about the green pastures, first we should appreciate the fact that these are “His pastures”, but for our benefit. St. Cyril of Alexandria, an early Church Father, says the pastures are “the ever-fresh words of Holy Scripture, which nourishes the hearts of believers and gives them spiritual strength”.
But to my mind, perhaps the key to this entire Psalm is found in the following words: “He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul” (Ps 23:2-3). Many early Church Fathers took this reference to “waters” as a reference to baptism. So, just as Jesus Himself was baptized, so He leads us along this righteous path to also be baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:18-20).
This baptism “restoreth my soul” in the proper and holy relationship it is meant to have with the Holy Trinity. These still waters, beside which we rest, are also very deep waters. That is, they are deep mystically speaking, like the waters of the Jordan River within which Jesus was baptized. When Jesus emerged from the water witnesses beheld a Trinitarian Theophany: a Dove (the Holy Spirit) came down upon Him and a Voice (the Father’s) resounded around Him: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:13-17). We can quietly meditate beside these still waters, beside this pool of Revelation, discovering here the deep mysteries of the Holy Trinity.
Gaze again upon these still mystical waters into the mystery of the Incarnation. See how the Incarnate Unborn Jesus first meets John the Baptist when both dwelled within the deep amniotic waters of their mothers’ wombs. In this first meeting, Christ anointed the unborn baby John with His Spirit and John leaped for joy (Lk 1:39-44).
The Good Shepherd leads us “beside still waters”, where we rejoice as we contemplate the deep teaching of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation. As baptized Christians we rest here, content. Another early Church Father, St. Gregory of Nyssa, reflecting on verses 2-3 of this Psalm refers to “the pastures and fountains of doctrine”. In due course, we hear again the voice of the Good Shepherd: “…whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14).
Vierge Ouvrante (Opening Virgin) click on picture to open and see scenes from the Gospel
Loving Mother of the Redeemer
Gate of heaven, Star of the Sea,
Assist your people who have fallen
yet strive to rise again.
To the wonderment of nature
you bore your Creator,
yet remained a virgin after as before.
You who received Gabriel’s joyful greeting,
have pity on us poor sinners.
Sister Linus sent this to me: During Advent, this is the antiphon used in Compline for the Divine Office. She points out that, “Today it’s like a prayer of sorrow and reparation.”
I feel sorry for those who are unaware of the power of prayer! Every citizen has but one vote. Does he or she cast it prayerfully? Your vote should be like a spark en kindled by prayer striking conscience. Don’t waste your one solitary vote – vote your faith. Vote for the Culture of Life!
Your vote is like an angel’s arrow aimed at the heart of the body politic, not to kill it but to enliven it, to thrill it with a passion for justice, to ignite a firestorm of compassion for those in need and enkindle the social conscience, especially for the unborn.
But to vote well you must pray. Prayer is like a strong wind perfectly calibrated to deliver your vote to its proper place in the plan of God.
Your vote can be like a Word to enlighten others who are listening.
Your vote can be like an outstretched hand extended to those who need to be lifted up.
Your vote can be like a bandage which can be applied to those most bloodied.
Your prayerful vote is important. Send forth your prayers – ten thousand strong if you will – to deliver your one vote to society’s heart.
Today your Vote is Unborn – nurture it with prayer, deliver it on Election Day with conviction! Vote for the highest common good. Vote for a Culture of Life!
One of Matteo Perez d’Aleccio’s fresco’s depicting the Great Siege. The frescos started being painted eleven years after the siege and although Matteo Perez d’Aleccio himself was not a witness to the event he relied heavily on Francisco Balbi di Corregio’s account of the Great Siege and on surviving Knights, including the Grand Master who surely furnished the artist with more information. They are on display in the Palace of the Grand Master in Malta
Father Corapi has been asking Catholics to pray a rosary novena to Our Lady of Victory for the election, click here to see our post on this novena.
Today I received an email from Dan Engler with a letter from Luis Mendoza encouraging others to pray this Novena for the election. He gave a personal testimony about how powerful this novena is and what happened after he and his wife and a small group prayed it:
Dear Pro-Life Friends,
I have attached Father Corapi’s letter explaining the importance of our uniting in prayer for a “Moral” outcome to this election.
This is an effective novena. My wife and I plus a small group prayed this Novena for Justice to be done in regards to Bertha Bugarin the owner of the CLINICA MEDICA abortion mill chain. On the final day of the the novena Bertha was arrested in a Los Angeles courtroom , brought to San Diego in shakles and paraded before the local television stations. And the most notorious abortion mill chain in California was eliminated…
Yours in Christ through Mary
Here are links and pictures that detail this story:
Unlicensed Abortionist Bertha Bugarin Arrested And Jailed After Botched Abortion Victims Come Forward
Fernando Bertelli: Battle of Lepanto (1571), Venedig 1572
The Holy League was outfitted with around 208 galleys; while the Turks had nearly 300. Click here to find out more about the Battle of Lepanto which the Christians won despite the odds against them.
I believe that millions are praying fervently for this elections. My hope for this election is in God and with this in mind I would like to make everyone aware of a Novena to Our Lady of Victory that Father Corapi is promoting. Click here to read his entire text. (It is a flyer from Father Corapi’s website that can be handed out to promote this Novena.) Below is Father Corapi’s explanation of this feast day and it’s significance for our times.
“Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.
Today we have a similar spiritual battle in progress—a battle between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, truth and lies, life and death. If we do not soon stop the genocide of abortion in the United States, we shall run the course of all those that prove by their actions that they are enemies of God—total collapse, economic, social, and national. The moral demise of a nation results in the ultimate demise of a nation. God is not a disinterested spectator to the affairs of man. Life begins at conception. This is an unalterable formal teaching of the Catholic Church. If you do not accept this you are a heretic in plain English. A single abortion is homicide. The more than 48,000,000 abortions since Roe v. Wade in the United States constitute genocide by definition. The group singled out for death—unwanted, unborn children
No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.”
With this in mind, Father Corapi is calling on Catholics to pray a Rosary Novena for the nine days preceding the election (October 27 to November 4th) to Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary.
Solemn Novena to Our Lady of Victory, Click here.
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I would like to add my voice to those who are encouraging prayer for this election and the unborn. Here are a few ideas and websites that encourage this most important prayer.
A Prayer for our Nation as we Prepare to Elect our Leaders
For nine weeks, from September 1 to Election Day (November 4), Priests for Life calls upon believers to participate in the “Election Novena” by saying the following prayer each day:
We thank you for the privilege
Of being able to organize ourselves politically
And of knowing that political loyalty
Does not have to mean disloyalty to you.
We thank you for your law,
Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged
And recognized as higher than any human law.
We thank you for the opportunity that this election year puts before us,
To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote,
But to influence countless others to vote,
And to vote correctly.
Lord, we pray that your people may be awakened.
Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation,
Their response to you requires that they be politically active.
Awaken your people to know that they are not called to be a sect fleeing the world
But rather a community of faith renewing the world.
Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to you in prayer
Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth;
That the same eyes that read your Word
Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot,
And that they do not cease to be Christians
When they enter the voting booth.
Awaken your people to a commitment to justice
To the sanctity of marriage and the family,
To the dignity of each individual human life,
And to the truth that human rights begin when human lives begin,
And not one moment later.
Lord, we rejoice today
That we are citizens of your kingdom.
May that make us all the more committed
To being faithful citizens on earth.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A few other websites encouraging prayer for this election:
National Day of Prayer Website is encouraging Christians to pray for the election. They have many good suggestions to help you pray for this noble intention.
54 Day Rosary Novena “For an outcome of the November Elections which is pleasing to Almighty God, and which serves the eternal and temporal interests of all of His children.”
Other wonderful endeavors to encourage prayer for the unborn – one of the most important reasons that we need to pray for this election.
40 Days for Life A campaign of prayer and fasting that will take place September 24 – November 2 and will be conducted in cities from coast to coast.
World Prayer for Life On the 12th October 2007 all the participants of the II World-Prayer-Congress for Life unanimously reached the decision of starting the World Prayer for Life crusade. From that day, people from all over the world will pray every day, asking for God’s expiation for every rejected gift of life, for the increase of respect for human life and for ensuring in the legislation of all countries unconditional right to live for every human being from the conception until natural death.
The Gospel of Matthew tells us about the “wise men from the East”. They really had only one objective for their long journey. If their journey could be compared to a race, then Bethlehem was the finish line, but what was the prize? In fact, when they set out they didn’t know where the finish line was either. Wise men on a Mission!
So when they arrived in Jerusalem, they were saying to various people: “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him” (Mt 2:1-12).
The Infant King of the Jews was the prize they sought. To see Him and worship Him! These wise men were prepared for the realization of their objective. So when they finally found “the child with Mary his mother”, what did they do? “They fell down and worshipped him“. If this had been a test of some kind – they passed with flying colors!
It is interesting that they fell down – physically, probably kneeling in holy reverence – and that the infant was “with Mary his mother”. So is it possible that someone looking from a distance might wonder whether they were worshipping the infant or the mother or both? This is the criticism sometimes leveled at Catholics. Do they worship Mary the mother of Jesus? Of course not! By virtue of her Divinely determined maternal role, Mary is always close to Jesus Christ her Son. But she is always distinct from Him. He is God, she is human. But Matthew presents the Infant King of the Jews “with Mary his mother” because the Infant King needed His mother – He would have been lost without her! On earth, when He was a small child, she was His heaven. This shows us how much the Father trusted Mary to be the best of mothers to the Father’s only begotten Son.)
Of course, these wise men are remembered primarily for what they did next: “Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” But this lavish gift-giving was part of their worship! We mustn’t separate their worship from their gift-giving. First came the worship, then the gift-giving. The worship established the context, the gift-giving was an extension of the worship, part of the worship. Worship of God is the heartbeat of the Church, and refreshment to the spiritual life.
Hands of Elizabeth welcomes the yet unborn Jesus (IHS) into her home
Stained glass window from
BLESSED SACRAMENT CHAPEL
St. Edmunds College Canberra
How does God receive one’s intimate Christian prayer? If one prays simply: “Jesus I adore You”, how does the Lord view such a prayer? Or if one prays: “Jesus please protect the unborn children in my community who are at risk today”, what does the Lord do with such a simple prayer?
Doesn’t the Lord appreciate simplicity and heartfelt intimacy such as this?
And what if we whisper an intimate prayer to the Lord that He doesn’t hear from others, that is somewhat unusual, yet sincere and heartfelt, what does He do with such a prayer?
For example: “Unborn Jesus I adore You!” Or “Unborn Jesus please have pity upon the unborn children in my community who are at risk today”.
Is it possible that a prayer that is so different in its simplicity and intimacy could be perceived by God as something like a rare flower? Might it be that God especially cherishes one’s unique heartfelt expression of one’s love of Him or one’s petition to Him?
Let’s find out!
One of our readers who gathers each Saturday with a large group in front of an abortion mill sent us this prayer. They obtained this prayer from the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. I was very moved by this prayer and thought that it was a very appropriate prayer for Holy Week. I thank God for all those who pray outside abortion mills and are a presence of love for these little ones.
___________________________________________
Heavenly Father, we are gathered here to spend some time with the little babies before they die. It is important that we be here. It is a way to redeem the abandonment of Jesus by His apostles when they refused to be with Him at His death. We do not fear the Cross.
These little ones dying today are intricately connected with the sufferings and death of Our Savior. There is a bond here that must not be overlooked. All the political action, educating, donation of funds, demonstrations, alternative work, important and necessary as these are, do not make up for an absence at the death scene. Thus, our presence at this killing center is where You, God, want us to be. With our rosaries and our prayers, this is our Calvary, where Christ is being crucified today in our midst.
We may not be able to save their lives, but we plead on their behalf. And should they die, as usually happens (God forgive us!), let us lift up our hearts to You on their behalf … it will be the only human love they will know on this earth… Amen
UNBORN WORD of the day 