ARTICLES

40 Days for Life grounded in prayer

By Joan Daniel
Special to The Catholic Virginian

The pro-life campaign 40 Days for Life which began September 26 and ended on November 4 took place in 80 cities in 33 states in this country.

Among the first cities which had the campaign was College Station, Texas — home of the Texas Aggies. People there (including college students) wanted to find a way to join in praying with many others throughout the country for the end to abortion.

They came up with a plan to pray and fast for 40 consecutive days, 24 hours a day keeping vigil outside abortion clinics. The 40 days were meant to be symbolic of Christ’s 40 days in the desert, the Disciples’ 40 days with Christ after the Resurrection, Moses’ 40 days on Mt. Sinai, the 40 days of rain on the Ark.

This prayer would be quiet prayer, not on the property of the abortion facilities, but on sidewalks or property next to the facility. The idea was that the pray-ers would be there in plain sight, but posing no threat and blocking no paths to the buildings. Wherever the 40 Days for Life was held, the people would all be praying at the same time for the same thing — that God would change the hearts and minds of women seeking abortions and whoever was encouraging that as well as the hearts and minds of the abortion providers.

In Richmond the campaign was started and coordinated by Glen and Lori Sturtevant. Glen was in touch with the National 40 Days for Life and kept us up to date with the campaigns being held on other sites in the country.

I was one of the pray-ers at the abortion facility on the corner of Grove and Boulevard in Richmond. We had a list with the names of those who were to be at the facility each week so participants would know who they were taking up vigil from and who followed. It was posted weekly by e-mail to all who took part.

There were people from many Catholic parishes in Richmond, as well as people from other Christian faiths. Among the Catholic parishes represented were St. Benedict’s, Epiphany, St. Gabriel’s and St. Bridget’s. There are no “qualifications” to be a pray-er, just a strong desire to see the end of abortion and faith in prayer. As we walked and prayed, or stood or sat on chairs we’d brought, we began to see the patterns of the people who walk on that street each day in their normal comings and goings. We came to recognize each other and smile and speak. The person who came at 8 a.m. to replace me and the other 7–8 a.m.-ers is a young lady from Harvest Renewal Church. Her name is Charleen and she brought her smiling 8-month-old baby girl every day. This mom brought her baby’s breakfast and fed her in the stroller, and then walked around two sides of the facility, pushing her baby in the stroller, praying and praising very quietly.

I was there before things really got going in the offices, although we were there when the facility opened at 7:30 a.m. We saw several patients going in the back door. I think my young friend Charleen and her beautiful baby must have caused people who went into that building to have second thoughts.

One person from Richmond wrote, “The highlight of my day was having a young woman roll down her car window as they drove away from the abortion clinic and say with a smile on her face, ‘Thanks for the brochure. We decided not to go through with it.’ “

It is an awesome thought to know that there were people there and all the other places every hour of the day and night. It felt like we were all holding hands and raising our arms and hands up to God, imploring Him to change hearts and minds and stop the taking of these most innocent of lives.

And in the process, many of us have remarked that our hearts and minds and spirits are undergoing changes too. God does truly work in wondrous ways.

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