3/13/2009

This one I had to share

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DAY 17 INTENTION
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Pray that we choose to trust God to bring an end to
abortion soon, no matter how impossible that may seem
to others.

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SCRIPTURE
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The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me
out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle
of a valley; it was full of bones.

He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great
many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were
very dry.

He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I
said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know."

-- Ezekiel 37:1-3

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REFLECTION by Fr. Frank Pavone, Priests for Life
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You and I are standing in a world today over a field
of dry bones: those who have been killed by abortion,
those who have been killed by so many other things
attacking the dignity of human life. And God has
placed us here; we find ourselves here in the midst of
this incredible tragedy.

Like Ezekiel, you and I are in a dilemma because God
says to us: "Speak and proclaim the Word of Life. Keep
doing it. Let nothing deter you."

People can say, "This is humanly foolish, humanly
impossible. How can we transform the world from the
path of death that it's on?"

Yet we choose to do the "foolish" thing rather than
the dangerous thing.

If you ever doubt that we can bring an end to this
culture of death, this destruction of the family, this
destruction of life by abortion, if you ever think for
a moment that it's impossible, then ask yourself this:
Can a man who has been scourged, crowned with thorns,
nailed hands and feet to a cross, pierced with a
lance, has died and been buried; can such a man ever
live again?

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PRAYER
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Lord, I thank you for giving me the holy dilemma of
having to choose between the foolish thing or the
dangerous thing.

Yet for me the solution is clear.

Lord, I will obey you, even if it means aiming for a
goal which, in the eyes of others, seems foolish.

I will obey you, and will hope for the end of abortion
soon, no matter how impossible that may seem to
others. I dare not mistrust you; I dare not doubt your
power; I dare not fail to follow your call. In you,
who raise the dead, all hope comes alive. 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/spring2009day17print.pdf

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When my brother visited El Salvador, and saw the killing field where thousands of disparecidos were massacred during that country's ruthless civil war, he returned with pictures that made many people at my parish cry.

Some of these same parishioners, when confronted with 50 million aborted children, will roll their eyes and flit their hand, as if to say, "Oh, here we go again! Another pro-life fanatic-- when will they get a clue?"

Why is one event a crime against humanity, but the other must be respectfully set aside so that 'reasonable' people can agree to disagree?

Why would we demand justice for the disparecidos of El Salvador and fail to demand the same for the exponentially more victims we have massacred because their presence would be inconvenient? Why is one a crime and the other a respectable choice?

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