Week 4 in Review - Looking ahead to the Final week of Fall 2010 campaign

As we complete week 4 of the Fall 2010 40 Days for Life campaign, we look ahead to next week (the last week) and after the campaign. If you have not been out to pray at Womancare this Fall, please come and join us in this final week. We could sure use the help as we have many open hours and some of our "regulars" are going on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  Bring your children and grandchildren. The presence of children has a profound effect, their joy for life is truly inspiring, as many of you saw as you read the Day 28 blog entry from the National 40 Days for Life team.

Check out the pictures taken by our own Rich Mucha.  They can be seen at our website, www.40daysforlife.com/southfield or on Facebook 40 Days for Life Southfield.

Please pray for the women and men who will be at the Rachel's Vineyard retreat in Grand Rapids this weekend; pray for the post-abortive people and also for the counselors, that all may experience the loving peace of Jesus Christ.

Special Events:

Please mark your calendars for the Closing hour Service (11 p.m., October 31^st) at Womancare and for the Post-Campaign potluck dinner at Mother of God Church on November 3^rd (6:30 p.m.). The church is at 25585 Berg Road, Southfield.

We are interested in hearing about your experiences while praying at Womancare, so please give it some thought and come to our potluck.

After the Fall Campaign

At completion of the 40 Days for Life, we will set up the on-going vigil calendar to allow people to sign up for vigil hours during the daytime business hours. As you have noticed, Womancare only has business when they are performing abortions, so we try to maintain a prayerful presence at these times. It is a blessing to be able to pray for the babies during their final hours on earth or to pray for the persons who caused their deaths as they leave the facility. It is a blessing that Womancare staff do not perform abortions everyday, so it is a blessing for us to be there during their quiet days to pray for them. It is also a blessing to be able to recognize and mourn these infants as their remains are placed into the Stericycle truck (on Mondays and Thursdays).

Please continue to come to pray at Womancare Monday through Saturday; I will plan to be there most Fridays from 11 am to 1:30 pm.

Praise

Some questions came up regarding the Praise prayers that I mentioned last week. There is a book, “Power in Praise,” by Merlin Carothers, recommended by Marie  (who was the inspiration for my remarks). Putting the recommendations of the book into practice, her family praised God for everything, good or bad (in their judgment). They found that they could trust God more because He didn't really ever abandon them. So how do we praise God?

Our 40 Days for Life Prayer and Song booklet has a number of praise hymns (e.g., How Great Thou Art) and psalms (e.g., Psalm 36, 139 and Daniel's Canticle). Also, two of the most beautiful praise canticles are one by Mary, the Mother of Jesus, her Magnificat and another by Zechariah, found in Luke's Gospel Chapter 1:46-55 and Chapter 1:68-79, respectively. Verses 78-79 bring tears to my eyes when I read them.