Nine days of prayer, penance and pilgrimage

Details: 10 January 2014

Recently I received an e-mail message entitled “Praying for you.” It was from Tom Grenchik, the Executive Director of the U.S. Bishops’ Pro Life Office. He was announcing that his office staff would begin praying a Divine Mercy Chaplet every week at 3 p.m. (EST) and offering a monthly Mass on the third Thursday of each month for those of us who do pro-life work at the diocesan and parish level.
Mr. Grenchik began his e-mail with this wonderful reminder of the importance of prayer from the USCCB Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities:
“Prayer is the foundation of all that we do in defense of human life. Our efforts—whether educational, pastoral, or legislative—will be less than fully fruitful if we do not change hearts and if we do not ourselves overcome our own spiritual blindness. Only with prayer—prayer that storms the heavens for justice and mercy, prayer that cleanses our hearts and our souls—will the culture of death that surrounds us today be replaced with a culture of life.”

As we labor day after day in the work of building a civilization of life and love, it is so easy to forget the importance—and efficacy—of prayer. Our human tendency is to overinflate our human efforts and to underestimate God’s supernatural efforts. But as the previous quote reminds us, “only with prayer… will the culture of death that surrounds us today be replaced with a culture of life.”
Anyone who has seriously engaged the culture of death knows that this admonition about the importance of prayer is true. In the pro-life battle there are constant reminders of the limitations of our human efforts and the need for God’s grace.
The offer of regular prayers for our pro-life efforts from Mr. Grenchik and his staff is a beautiful gift—and one of those reminders that prayer must be at the foundation of all our efforts. Mr. Grenchik encourages us to join our prayers with those of his staff asking this intention: “May our hearts and souls be cleansed and may God help us to remain faithful to the task of building up a culture that welcomes and protects life.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is offering another opportunity to offer prayers for the pro-life cause on the occasion of the 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade January 22, 2014. From Jan. 18-26, the USCCB is sponsoring Nine Days of Prayer, Penance and Pilgrimage in prayerful recognition of the more than 55 million children’s lives lost to abortion and the millions of parents whose lives have been shattered.
Catholics across the country are invited to participate in this nine-day period of Prayer, Penance and Pilgrimage for the healing and conversion of our nation and people impacted by the culture of death. The USCCB has produced some excellent prayer, programmatic, and promotional resources to encourage participation in this nationwide prayer effort.
According to the USCCB, the centerpiece of this prayer effort is a simple, youth-friendly novena with different intercessions, brief reflections and suggested acts of reparation that can be received directly each day by email, text message or through a new mobile application for smartphones (soon to be made available for both Android and iOS phones). Information about subscribing through any of these means is available on the 9daysforlife.com website.
In addition to the novena, the prayer resources include a Holy Hour for Reparation and Healing, a Blessing of Pro Life Pilgrims, and Pro Life Rosary Prayer Intentions. These resources can be accessed at www.9daysforlife.com (under “Resources for Leaders”) or by calling my office.
No matter what one’s limitations are in life, each of us is capable of offering prayers and penance for success in the effort to build a civilization of life and love. Please use these opportunities (and helpful resources) to commit yourself to this important and efficacious work.