P.L.E.A.

 

Today we have a guest blogger, Arlene B. Muller. Arlene B. Muller (Arlene Clare Muller, OSF) is a lector and EM at St. Pancras parish, a singer in the choir at St. Margaret's parish, a professed Secular Franciscan at St. Adalbert's Secular Franciscan fraternity & an itinerant speech/language therapist working with preschool children with delayed language development. She enjoys writing and music and sharing Christian and pro-life posts on FACEBOOK.

In my first article I proposed an ACRONYM for fighting abortion & the culture of death: P.L.E.A.   P = PRAYER.  L = LOBBY/LEGAL/LEGISLATION. E = EVANGELIZE & EDUCATE.  A = ADVOCATE, which involves charitable donations of money and/or material items, volunteer work, promotion/publicity, & other means of supporting pro-life organizations & resource centers that help women in crisis pregnancies to choose life & often provide support not only during pregnancy, labor & delivery but also after the birth of the child as well.

The first tool to fight abortion & promote the Gospel of the sanctity of ALL human life from conception through natural death is PRAYER. I know there are times when I have felt that our cause seems HOPELESS--especially when the pro-life movement has received a crushing blow when rabidly pro-abortion officials are elected and have begun to seek & threaten to reverse every victory the pro-life cause has achieved under the administrations of officials who, despite their many faults & imperfections, have been extremely supportive of the pro-life cause & the Catholic Church in America. At these times I sigh and say, "All we can do is pray!"  I confess that these words I have tended to say out of disappointment, discouragement, frustration & helplessness, wondering why GOD allowed this defeat, rather than in the spirit of the faith, trust & confidence I should have in our GOD Who is the Author of Life Who works even seeming defeats to our good (Romans 8:28). Prayer is the one thing we CAN do when we don't know what else to do, and GOD still hears our prayers & loves the ones whose lives are at risk more than we do! In fact, prayer should not merely be our last resort but our FIRST course of action, because it is GOD Who can call & inspire us to take additional action & open doors of opportunity to do more good than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20) & it is GOD Whose graces, blessings & help we need in every endeavor. There are many people whose health issues, disabilities, family issues or other life circumstances prevent them from taking any action other than prayer, & their prayers & offering of their sufferings can make them uniquely qualified to be prayer warriors like Moses, Aaron & Hur at the top of the mountain while those called to be like Joshua are actively engaged in the battle.

There are many ways we can pray for the victory of the Gospel of life. We can pray that the many states who, thank the LORD, have been passing pro-life legislation, can become test cases at the Supreme Court (and there is a forthcoming case from Mississippi that could be the test case)-- and that our potentially pro-life majority of either 6-3 or 5-4 will have the courage & moral fortitude to overturn Roe v Wade & thus end decades of a tragic & disgraceful national policy of abortion on demand throughout pregnancy for any or no reason & allow decisions regarding abortion up to the states. We can pray for the conversion of our pro-abortion politicians, especially those who claim to be Catholic. We can & should pray for the many pro-life pregnancy resource centers & organizations like Good Counsel Homes & The Bridge to Life, that they may receive GOD'S protection & provision as they help & support women in crisis pregnancies to choose life for their babies. We can & should pray for women in crisis pregnancies that they will choose life for their babies, receive the help & support they need, & make the right decision whether to raise their children themselves or choose adoption & that these babies will live & thrive in safe, secure & loving homes.

In the 1980s I found the following prayer that is non political & that has been attributed to the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, & I have tried to pray this daily ever since I found it in an elevator at work. It is a daily prayer to spiritually adopt an unborn baby (one baby per year) who is in danger of being aborted, with the hope that the babies whose lives we have saved by our prayers of spiritual adoption will someday greet us in heaven when both they & we have lived our full lives:

"JESUS, MARY & JOSEPH, I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH. I BEG YOU TO SPARE THE LIFE OF THE UNBORN BABY I HAVE SPIRITUALLY ADOPTED WHO IS IN DANGER OF ABORTION." 

Pax et Bonum,