Fighting for Life

There is an intense spiritual battle going on nearby...

A brand-new huge Planned Parenthood Clinic (said to be the largest in the nation) is scheduled to open next Tuesday, September 18th in Aurora, IL... and the pro-life response has been tremendous. Numerous Catholic, evangelical, and even non-denominational organizations and literally thousands of individuals have banded together, unified to fight against this fortress of death. On August 9th (40 days before the scheduled opening), an around-the-clock 40-day vigil was begun by the faithful. There have been special events, vigils, and rallies attended by hundreds of people and youth. This past Sunday a 7-day "Jericho March" (see Joshua 6:1-20) was begun, which will culminate this Saturday in a massive march of seven battalions circling the block! Tonight, Joliet's Bishop J. Peter Sartain will offer a special Mass at our Lady of Mercy Church in Aurora.

Because of being gone the last two weeks, we have not yet been able to physically join in the vigil, but by keeping the intention foremost in our prayers and family rosaries have been spiritually joining the battle. Tonight we plan to attend the Jericho March (7:00) and the Mass with Bishop Sartain (7:30). And we've been receiving email updates from from Eric Scheidler (son of longtime pro-life activist Joe Scheidler), whose Pro-Life Action League has been behind many of the efforts.

Just reading through the special website made for this effort has left me completely in awe. The way so many have banded together nothing short of an incredible testimony to God's grace bringing goodness even through the presence of evil. "The only way for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing". Good people are indeed doing something, doing much; they have risen up in droves to join the fight!

And when I just saw on the site that from midnight to 8am next Tuesday (the scheduled opening of the clinic), husbands, fathers, and sons will keep vigil "in defense of their wives, daughters, and sisters," tears came to my eyes and goosebumps to my arms. What a witness. What a testimony to the truth of the pro-life movement: not degradation of womanhood, but defense of it. By our fathers and brothers and sons. By men of God. By all of us who realize with wonder how precious womanhood is, and how precious life is. And who are willing to fight and sacrifice to protect both.

If you are from anywhere near the Aurora/Naperville area, I encourage and challenge you to become part of the army! And actually... anyone can, near or far, by uniting in prayer, fasting, and sacrifice!

For more information, updates, action items, press releases, news coverage...
visit http://www.familiesagainstplannedparenthood.org/.


"Then the LORD said to Joshua, 'See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands...'" ~Joshua 6:2

*Note: Just a very tiny confirmation that this is, indeed, a heated spiritual battle was evidenced when I tried to publish this post. I hit "Publish", only to be greeted by an error page saying "something went wrong"... and when I clicked "back", the whole post was gone. A few months ago, this would have meant it was completely lost. But Praise God that Blogger has a new automatic save, which enabled me to recover this post!