Reflection: Choose life...

I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, heeding His voice, and holding fast to Him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the Lord swore He would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Deuteronomy 30:19-20

"The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion, which is war against the child...A direct killing of an innocent child...Murder, by the mother herself...Abortion kills twice. It kills the body of the baby and it kills the conscience of the mother. Abortion is profoundly anti-woman. Three quarters of its victims are women: Half the babies and all the mothers...American needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men...The mother doesn't learn to love, but kills to solve her own problems...How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love...And we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts...Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want...For me, life is the most beautiful gift from God to mankind, therefore people and nations who destroy life by abortion and euthanasia are the poorest. I do not say legal or illegal, since life is God's life within us, even in an unborn child." Saint Teresa of Calcutta

What can you do to promote a culture of life? Pray the Rosary of Life for the protection of the unborn, pray for all souls wounded by abortion and for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life for the unborn. Let us offer Penance and Fast for the sins against the dignity of life through abortion. As we pray for the unborn, we ask Jesus for a conversion of hearts so that every person will come to know the dignity and sacredness of all life. 

This prayer ministry began with an outpouring of prayers for a precious unborn baby who has Down Syndrome. She is thirteen years old now and she brings love to everyone she meets. What a beautiful gift! I thank the Lord for her life!

From the Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776
We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Unborn children are entitled to the unalienable Right to Life endowed by God.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, we implore you to intercede for the protection of life in the womb as you did when you appeared to Juan Diego. Merciful Jesus, we ask you to open hearts and minds to the sanctity of all life. and we pray through the intercession of Saint John Paul II and through his prayers and beautiful writings, Theology of the Body.

Kiss of Mercy Prayer  To be recited while kissing an image of Jesus
Jesus I trust in You.  May my kiss and Your grace, convert, heal and reconcile to the Father one soul wounded by abortion. Amen,  Recite one Hail Mary.

Kiss of Mercy Prayer Apostolate for Healing from Abortion

30 Day Novena Prayer to Saint Joseph for the Protection of the Unborn

The Feast Day of Saint Joseph is March 19th. Today we begin Thirty Days of Prayer. This powerful Novena will conclude on Saint Joseph's Feast Day. Saint Joseph is Patron of Families, Fathers and the Universal Church.

Let us pray for the next thirty days and implore Saint Joseph to intercede for the protection of the baby in the womb, for the baby in the delivery room and for the conversion of U.S. government officials who promote laws for abortion.

Thirty Day Novena Prayer to Saint Joseph
In honor of the 30 years he spent with Jesus and Mary

Ever blessed and glorious Joseph, kind and loving father, and helpful friend of all in sorrow! You are the good father and protector of orphans, the defender of the defenseless, the patron of those in need and sorrow. Look kindly on my request. My sins have drawn down on me the just displeasure of my God, and so I am surrounded with unhappiness. To you, loving guardian of the Family of Nazareth, do I go for help and protection.

Listen, then, I beg you, with fatherly concern, to my earnest prayers, and obtain for me the favors I ask.

I ask it by the infinite mercy of the eternal Son of God, which moved Him to take our nature and to be born into this world of sorrow.

I ask it by the weariness and suffering you endured when you found no shelter at the inn of Bethlehem for the holy Virgin, nor a house where the Son of God could be born. Then, being everywhere refused, you had to allow the Queen of Heaven to give birth to the world's Redeemer in a cave.

I ask it by the loveliness and power of that sacred Name, Jesus, which you conferred on the adorable Infant.

I ask it by that painful torture you felt at the prophecy of holy Simeon, which declared the Child Jesus and His holy Mother future victims of our sins and of their great love for us.

I ask it through your sorrow and pain of soul when the angel declared to you that the life of the Child Jesus was sought by His enemies. From their evil plan you had to flee with Him and His Blessed Mother to Egypt. I ask it by all the suffering, weariness, and labors of that long and dangerous journey.

I ask it by all your care to protect the Sacred Child and His Immaculate Mother during your second journey, when you were ordered to return to your own country. I ask it by your peaceful life in Nazareth where you met with so many joys and sorrows.

I ask it by your great distress when the adorable Child was lost to you and His Mother for three days. I ask it by your joy at finding Him in the Temple, and by the comfort you found at Nazareth, while living in the company of the Child Jesus. I ask it by the wonderful submission He showed in His obedience to you.

I ask it by the perfect love and conformity you showed in accepting the Divine order to depart from this life, and from the company of Jesus and Mary. I ask it by the joy which filled your soul, when the Redeemer of the world, triumphant over death and hell, entered into the possession of His kingdom and led you into it with special honors.

I ask it through Mary's glorious Assumption, and through that endless happiness you have with her in the presence of God. O good father! I beg you, by all your sufferings, sorrows, and joys, to hear me and obtain for me what I ask for the protection of the baby in the womb, for the baby in the delivery room and for the conversion of U.S. government officials who promote laws for abortion.

Obtain for all those who have asked my prayers everything that is useful to them in the plan of God. Finally, my dear patron and father, be with me and all who are dear to me in our last moments, that we may eternally sing the praises of: JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH. 

O Holy Family, pray for us and for the intentions of this novena.

A copy of the novena can be printed:
30 Day Novena to Saint Joseph

Praying this novena, we pray for the tens of millions of souls wounded by abortion:
Kiss of Mercy Prayer Apostolate for Healing from Abortion

Reflection: Come away and rest awhile

We all carry burdens, some are light and some are heavy. Some burdens can be seen by others and some burdens can only be seen by God because they are hidden in the depths of the heart.

Jesus calls you to come away and give your burdens to Him and rest.

Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile. Mark 6:31

Come away and be still with Jesus and give Him your burdens. Open up your heart to Him. As you do, imagine He is holding you in His arms, comforting you. Let Jesus love you.

Come away and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus is there waiting for you. He told Saint Faustina to bring her miseries to the Throne of Grace. This is where you lay down your burdens, your sins, your sufferings and the things hidden deep inside your heart. When you bring them to confession, you receive forgiveness, mercy and so much more. Jesus showers you with sanctifying grace which gives you strength to be holy and to sin no more.

Come away and pray, be still and listen to the Lord. He wants to whisper words of love to you.

Ponder the words of Psalm 103:1-5 as you rest in the arms of Jesus:

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His Holy Name.
Bless the Lord, my soul; and do not forget all His gifts.
Who pardons all your sins and heals all your ills;
Who redeems your life from the pit and
crowns you with mercy and compassion.
Who fills your days with good things,
so your youth is renewed like eagle's.

Come away and rest in the arms of Jesus.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden light.  Matthew 11:29-30