"Life Chain" - ever participate in one? Today we can!

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MariaChristi

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Annually in the Month of October, our parish has the opportunity to participate in the “Life Chain” along with many others in this national effort to pray for the end of abortion. We stand in public witness praying silently and holding signs that encourage those who drive past us – “Pray for the End of Abortion”. (Sometimes older parishioners bring chairs so they can sit. Some mothers bring babies in strollers. )

In recent years, numbers have declined, but we are praying this year we will see more persons, young, old and in between. Hopefully we will see whole families on the sidewalk outside our Town Hall from 2:30 to 3:30 PM praying – many with Rosaries in their hands along with their signs.

Most times we get horns of cars honking in support or thumbs up, and we do also get some crude words and/or gestures, occasionally, but we are instructed never to answer back but to keep praying.

If you have never participated in any form of “Life Chain” before, then I encourage you today YOU CAN join us “in Spirit” by praying with us – Especially praying our Mother Mary’s Rosary and perhaps also the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Both are powerful prayers.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness of the Unborn, and so we ask her special help for our country and the countries of the World to pray with us and for us.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us and with us. Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the USA, under your title of the Immaculate Conception, pray for us. Mary Mother and Model for the Church, pray for us. Jesus we trust in You!

Thanks for reading this thread, and I hope you will pray with us – if not at the same time – sometime today and everyday – please pray for ALL those in most need of God’s Mercy.
 
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Dear s.cono and CajunJoy,

Thank you both for stopping by to read this thread and liking it. Thanks also to anyone else who may have read and prayed for us who participated in the “Life Chain”. Your prayers and willingness to join “in Spirit” to pray with us for the end of Abortion – were very much appreciated! I think we may have had a few more persons join us, this year.

I was especially grateful to see a young couple with two beautiful children join us as well as some other new faces. 🙂
 
In my American city we have a big Lifechains one day a year. The numbers are getting smaller, but we are hanging in there. This month we also did a Rosary on the Coast.

We have an ongoing presence at the abortion clinic, at least every Saturday
We also are in 40 days for Life, prayer vigil in front of the clinic 12 hours a day. In a few places, a parish will hold a Lifechains at a public location one hour a month.

There apprears to be fewer Catholics overall who Care about abortion, but those who do, including young priests, are getting more active.
 
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Hi MariaChristi. My wife and I attended our first Life Chain two weeks ago. We have both returned to the Catholic Church fairly recently, after being away for many years. The experience was moving. As you mentioned, there was support from many passing drivers, and also some thumb-downs. We will definitely do it again in the future, Lord willing.

S.Cono
 
Dear commenter,

Thanks for your reply and for your participation in Life Chain in your American City. The Catholic Church in the USA is in much confusion these days and we need to prayerfully give witness to God’s Truth, in Love (cf Eph 4).

The Love of Christ for every soul He creates, compels me to participate every year in “Life Chain”. It gives us an opportunity to pray silently together for a whole hour standing before all sorts of people passing in their cars. We holding signs to speak a message I believe God wants us to proclaim: “Pray for the end of Abortion”.

The woman who began to organize Life Chain at our Parish many years ago, was a member of our Legion of Mary Praesidium. She is now deceased but her work has been taken up by two other Legion Members. One has continued the “Life Chain” and the other has continued the “Fatima Rosary Rally” – both events have seen less and less participation but we are "hanging in there too!

I believe Pope John Paul II saw the beginning of the decline in numbers as far back as 1982 when he addressed a group of Legion Members in Italy and said:
…Where the Mother is, there too is the Son. When one moves away from the Mother, sooner or later he ends up keeping distant from the Son as well. It is no wonder that today, in various sectors of secularised society, we note a widespread crisis of faith in God, preceded by a drop in devotion to the Virgin Mother.…"
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The full address can be read HERE– in the Official Handbook of the Legion of Mary pages 5-6.

I hope you are right about more young priests caring about Abortion; perhaps they will begin to preach about the evil of both contraception and abortion as sins against the Family. I wonder how many aborted babies might have become priests had their mothers and fathers not killed them in the womb. Catholics need to hear more Truth preached if some are ever to learn the difference between Truth and the lies of the evil one.

We have too many “Catholics” in name only, who do not really know and some do not even care to hear the Truth of the Faith in which they were baptized. Please let us continue to pray for one another and for the Church – especially those Catholics who are in leadership positions in the Church and in the world.
 
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Dear LittleLady,

Thanks so much for your reply and for sharing the good news that your town has been involved for many years. Yes, the woman who organized our “Life Chain” chose the alternate date because we are in the South and last year was so hot we had a few people close to fainting from the heat; several had to leave the “Chain” sit down in the shade and drink more water.

It was a blessing yesterday to be able to stand with a slightly cool breeze that helped. I think the high was only 72 degrees compared to the 90’s of last year. God never gives a cross we cannot carry with His Grace! He is Merciful. No one passed out last year nor needed medical assistance, thank God. The organizer has a cooler with water bottles on hand because standing outside City Hall we face the sun every year. One year a woman did faint and an ambulance was called – I believe she had become dehydrated.

Thanks for your willingness to “Defend the Unborn”!
 
Such an outstanding initiative, I can’t stand abortion!
 
Dear S.cono,

Thanks for your reply and thanks to you and your wife for attending your first Life Chain!
Thanks also for “Yes” to God’s Grace in returning to your Catholic Faith – Welcome Home!!!

The organizer of our Life Chain urged us all to keep praying so that we may truly see an end to Abortion – then we will not need a “Life Chain” !!! It was an inspiring and hopeful thought, but I believe our battle agains sin will not end on this earth, but when the Lord comes again! Then we will see a new heaven and a new earth as we read in Scripture (cf Rev. 21:1)

We may have a few more “Life Chains” to attend and I’m happy to read that you and your wife will definitely do it again, Lord willing – my husband and I are hoping to do the same!
 
Dear CatholicSpirit,

Thanks for your reply. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. In our day, we weep with Jesus, pondering His Words: “How I longed to gather you as a Hen gathers her chicks but you would not!” How can so many continue to ignore God and disobey Him, preferring to love self more than God?

We all need to hate sin! God did not hate us but loved us so much He gave His only Begotten Son to save us. “Life Chain” is an "outstanding initiative enabling us to stand together, witnessing to God’s Love and Truth, and praying together. Prayer in reparation for the sin of Abortion and every sin against God and against one another is an important part of “Life Chain”.

Even if we are unable for one reason or another to particpate in a “Life Chain” we can all pray with attention and devotion, fervently asking God to forgive our sins and the sins of all who ignore Him and His Commandments, preferring the lies of the evil one to His Truth. We can also lie to ourselves and convince ourselves that what the world tells us is really OK – is really deadly wrong.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn, pray for us. Jesus, we trust in You!
 
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Dear Catholic Spirit,

Thanks for the reference, I was not familiar with the legend but I found this:
According to a Christian legend, Carnations first appeared on earth as Jesus carried the Cross. Carnations sprang up from where the Virgin Mary’s tears fell as she cried over her son’s plight.
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It was a special blessing for me to read this legend, since the Carnation is my “birthday flower”. I really like carnations since they last long. Red is the color of the Holy Spirit and also the color of the Legion of Mary, so when I buy flowers for our Legion meeting and place them before our Mother I’m happy they will last for awhile. Even as I pray for final perseverance for the Church, that every one of our Lady’s children, (her “flowers”) will last long into eternity.

Perhaps you 've read about Mary’s apparitions to the three young girls in Kibeho, Africa. In one of Mary’s Apparitions, she told one of the girls to “water her flowers” and the young girl thought she meant to bless the crowd with holy water but she saw there would not be enough for the entire crowd - but then, the heavens opened and it poured out rain!

It is an approved apparition. To learn more, See HERE. I read the book entitled “Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa” by Immaculee Ilibagiza (Paperback $13.97). I read it on Kindle, ($3.82) and continue to go back to it at different times.

When Mary was asked her name, she said she was “Mother of the Word”. How special that title! Mary pondered in her heart, all that Jesus said and did! How truly she is Mother of the Word now, in the hearts of the children Jesus gave to her on Calvary.

Thanks dear CatholicSpirit for helping us to ponder with Mary and to weep with her and with Jesus over our sins and the sins of the world. Let us pray and offer our little sacrifices, let us do everything with love for Jesus through Mary.

Mary, Mother of the Word pray for us. Jesus we trust in you! Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in us the Fire of Your Love.
 
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That is the exact same legend I was referring to! I’m going to look into the legion of Mary, thanks for the information!
 
Dear CatholicSpirit,

Thanks for looking into the Legion of Mary. The official website is HERE in case anyone else may be interested in learning more. It is a worldwide Lay Apostolate begun in 1921 and now extends to almost every country in the world with millions of men, women and children as either Active or Auxiliary members.

You may want to look into your own Diocese and /or parish first. The Legion does not go anywhere unless it is first approved by the Bishop and then accepted into a parish by the pastor. I began as a “Junior Lagionary” in high school. We had a visiting priest from Africa a year ago who also joined the Legion in his youth and came to our meetings whle he was living in our parish. He is now upstate in another parish but recently we were blessed by another priest from Africa who has joined us as a Legion Auxiliary Member in our Parish.

The founder of the Legion was a layman to whom God gave great graces and insights into the Mystical Body of Christ and Mary’s unique role in God’s Plan. The Handbook of the Legion of Mary is on line in pdf and is written by the founder, it is also sold at Amazon, seeHERE

One last suggestion, if you cannot find a local “Praesidium” ( The Legion uses many Latin words – Praesidium was in the Roman Legion – a garrison or guard, a place for soldiers) The founder fashioned the Legion of Mary on the Roman Legion because it was probably the most “successful” army in human history, conquering the known world of its time. but the founder of the Legion wanted to conquer the world for Jesus through Mary.

If there is no Legion Praesidium in your parish, then call the Diocesan Office and see if the Legion is in your Diocese. If you want to see it in your Diocese or Parish meet with your Bishop first and then your pastor, if there is no praesideium in the Diocese. If you do not feel impelled by the Holy Spirit to go that far, and you can find no other way to become active in the Legion, I would offer you an “Auxiliary Membership” in our Praesidium in our parish in South Carolina, USA. We already have Auxiliaries in the Phillipines, in the UK. in Canada and other places who could not find a Legion in their locality. So you do have options if God is calling you into this beautiful Apostolate.

This thread began with a discussion on “Life Chain” and prayer for the end of Abortion, – how the Holy Spirit continues to work!!! He now has led us to discuss a wider net to cast and gather ALL who are in most need of Him, through Mary by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Thanks again for your reply. May the Holy Spirit continue to guide us all for God’s Glory to the Truth of Jesus through Mary.
 
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Does anyone know of a good website or Facebook page where pro life events for various US cities are listed? Im on East coast mid Atlantic region. I’m interested in abortion clinic protest times or other events. I can’t seem to find any.
Thanks
 
MariaChristi: Thank you for the invitation, I believe I know someone besides myself who is interested in becoming an Auxiliary member.

Zach: Use the search term “pregnancy center” I sent you a link to one that knows of recent happenings.
 
You are very welcome, dear CatholicSpirit,

We would be happy to welcome you – and anyone else who may desire to join but cannot find a local Legion of Mary Praesidium near enough. I’ll send you a Private message with more info, since I don’t want to go too far “off topic” here.
 
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