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Lorenzo

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Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« on: May 24, 2009, 09:20:58 PM »
Intent:

The Bible reveals that human beings, male and female, young and old, from the first moment to the last breath, are made in “the image of God.” This unshakable truth gives profound significance to each human life. The National Pro-life Religious Council is convinced that it is God’s will that human life be held in the high regard that he intends.

 

We are all well aware of the increasing assault on the dignity of human life. It is important that the Church responds with its most effective weapon – prayer. This booklet is designed to help the Christian community do the important work of prayer in the battle for preserving the sanctity of human life.

 

The Lord of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, instructs us to pray that God’s will be “done on earth as it is in heaven.” The hope of the contributors to this booklet is that, by praying with intention, the conscience of the Church will be awakened to the plight of others: the unborn child, the mother struggling with a crisis pregnancy, the elderly who feel increasingly devalued and the severely disabled who are at the mercy of the decisions of others, and, having been awakened, we will be moved to act on their behalf. Toward that end, we must pray that hearts and minds, including our own, would be turned to embrace the beauty and truth of the fact that each human being is “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Such renewal might seem impossible given a pervasive and increasing disregard for human life, but remember -- our Lord teaches that we “always ought to pray and not lose heart.” The One who is Lord of the Church is also Lord of Heaven and Earth!

 

What follows is 30 days worth of Scriptures, meditations and prayers. These have been compiled and created by members of the National Pro-life Religious Council out of love for Christ and his Church.

 

May God be glorified in all that we do.





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Lorenzo

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2009, 09:23:24 PM »
DAY 1

 

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

 

The pro-life message is rooted in the two basic truths of life: 1) There is a God; 2) He isn’t me

 

From the beginning of the Bible until the end the theme is echoed that God alone has dominion over human life. He made it; shared it; died to save it; will raise it up forever. The act of creation described in Genesis 2:7, and earlier in Genesis 1:26-27, is a sovereign act. God did not have to do it and would have been happy forever without us. Yet without our asking for it or earning it, God brought us out of nothingness and into life, and sustains our existence at every moment. And He does so in Christ. “For by Him all things were created…in Him all things exist” (Colossians 1:16-17).

 

“You are not your own,” Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 6. God alone owns us. While He entrusts us to the care of one another, He does not allow any human being to own another. A Southern California abortionist, James McMahon, once explained how he justified killing children after 20 weeks gestation by partial-birth abortion. He did not deny that this was a child, but rather asked, “Who owns the child? It’s got to be the mother.” The struggle over abortion is really a struggle over the dominion of God. The Christian individual, and the Christian Church, cannot sit idly by when others declare that God is not God.

 

Lord, we are yours.  Thank you for breathing into us the breath of life.  Thank you for claiming us as your own.  May our words and actions in defense of human life proclaim to all the world that you alone are Lord of life and death, Lord of our freedom and of our choices.  We pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

Fr. Frank Pavone

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2009, 11:17:17 AM »
DAY 2

 

Psalm 139:13-16

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed and in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

 

Abortion -- the great “no”


 
Unlike the rest of creation, we are capable of a personal relationship with God.  Not only did God create us, but created us according to a plan devised from all eternity. No matter how far back we go in our imagination, there was never a time when God did not know each of us, in every detail of our being. There was not a particular time when God decided to make us.  The decision to make us has been in the mind of God from all eternity.  He decided to make us for as long as He has been God. All our days were written in His book. To dare to say that a human being, developing in the womb, should not be born is as wrong as to say that a born person should not continue to grow and live. In each case, an attack on human life is an attack on the God who formed and made us. Jesus Christ is the great “Yes” to the promises of God; abortion is the great “No.”

 
To assert that the unborn are not human is to ignore indisputable evidence and is a classic manifestation of the oppression and exploitation of people.  When people challenge us to prove that the unborn are human, they should be challenged, in turn, to prove that they are human!  All the scientific evidence that proves born persons are human also proves the unborn to be human.


Lord, I pray today for every unborn child. The beauty of the bodies and souls of these children flows from your hands and your eternal plan. Awaken in every human conscience a profound reverence for human life, and grant us grace to defend our smallest and most defenseless brothers and sisters, those still being formed in the secret places of their mothers’ womb.

This We Pray Through Christ Our Lord,
Who Sitteth on the Right Hand of The Father
Who Reigneth For Ever For Eternal Ages.
Amen

Fr. Frank Pavone

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2009, 12:18:10 PM »
DAY 3

 

Genesis 1:26-27

Then God said, ”Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth..” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created them.
 

All human beings have worth

 

That all human beings are made in the image of God is the basis of human dignity and of human rights. The unborn cannot speak for themselves. Our text teaches that the Lord would have us speak and act on their behalf for to do so is one of the important ways in which we exercise the dominion God has given us over the earth and all the living things upon it, including our fellow human beings, including the unborn. This responsibility is given as a command, and calls for obedience and faithfulness. It is a truth not merely to be accepted and believed, but to be put into practice.

 
From the earliest days of the Christian Church the unborn child was considered a neighbor; made in the image of God and worthy of the respect and compassion we owe all neighbors. Thomas Jefferson drew on this truth in the Declaration of Independence affirming, “all men are created equal.” More recently, in his Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II upheld this fundamental affirmation of human dignity.  Until all human beings, and the unborn in particular, are recognized as being made in God's image, the struggle for universal human rights will go on.
 

To de-legitimize abortion and to elevate the unborn into full acceptance among the human family will be a long and arduous struggle, not unlike the struggle against slavery and racism. As Christians, we are committed for as long as the struggle may take.  It is a matter of truth; for the dignity of the unborn, and of every other human being regardless of race or condition, is apparent to anyone with eyes to see.


O Lord, open the eyes of the blind to the reality and the worth of the unborn. Give to your faithful people the courage and wisdom to endure in this ongoing struggle to bring them fully into the acceptance of the whole human family.  We pray this in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.
 

Rev. John Brown

 

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2009, 03:16:02 PM »
DAY 4

 

Genesis 9: 5-6

Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.

 

God values every human life so highly that those who take a life unjustly shall forfeit their own

 

The value of every human being can hardly be seen more clearly than with this verse. God, the King of the universe, has created all human beings in his image, and declares forthrightly that the unjustified shedding of the blood of any individual will require the blood of the one who shed it.  God's concern for human beings is not limited to any particular group. Indeed, his concern is universal, and includes male and female, young and old, born and unborn, disabled and able-bodied, the citizens of every nation on earth.


Abortion, the deliberate killing of the unborn, is the shedding of innocent blood. Surely the blood of millions upon millions of innocent children cries out to God.  It is true that we live in an age of grace, and yet this passage (among many other texts which express similar sentiments) should give every thinking Christian pause.

 
Christians, of all people, entrusted with the Word of God as we are, must take a stand.  We must speak out.  We must do all that we can to protect the innocent, to pursue justice, and to encourage the repentance of all those who bear responsibility for this great evil.  Only in this manner can we hope to forestall the judgment that must otherwise surely come.

 
This passage should also be seen as an encouragement to educate and disciple our children and grandchildren about what it means to be human, and the responsibility that will become theirs in this ongoing struggle.


O Father, forgive us for our lack of courage and our want of compassion for the unborn and for those lost and hurt by abortion. Fill us anew with your Spirit. Renew our minds. Strengthen us in righteousness. Help us be people of salt and light within our nation. May every human being, from conception to natural death, be treated with the respect due those made in your image. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. The Same Lord.
Amen.

 

Rev. John Brown

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2009, 03:21:02 PM »
Abortion is MURDER.
MURDER is EVIL.


Remember and Read!

The Lord God Of Israel Thundred:

17 You have wearied the LORD with your words.
      "How have we wearied him?" you ask.
      The Lord God Thundered, "By Saying All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them" or "Where is the God of justice?"

--Malachi 2: 17


God Have Mercy On Your Eternal Soul!

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2009, 02:20:59 AM »
Chapter 3: Our Life Is Given by God



John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

 
Divine life, in relationship, creates human life
 

“In the beginning" was God.  Always, before all times, there was God. This particular God -- the God of the Bible, the God of St. John’s Gospel -- is different from all other gods. This God is alive and full of life. This God is not the picture of deadness and death, aloneness and isolation. This God is the picture of life, relationship, and unity. For within this God, within this one God, there are three divine persons who live, who love, and who work -- together. This is the glorious mystery of the Trinity. The Trinity means divine life. The Trinity means three, living Persons -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- who relate to each other. The Trinity means mutual love and service among three Persons.

 
The Word was always with God the Father. This Word was, is, and will be the Trinity’s second person. The Word is also the Son of God or, as revealed in time, Jesus Christ. God the Father and God the Son were never, and are not, self-concerned and self-absorbed Persons. Rather, they live, love, and work for each other. As one, they create "all things" together: the Father creates all things, including all human life, through the Son.

 
So the Father, through the Son, creates all lives, all human lives, all people. The little one swimming in his mother’s womb, the infant smiling in his father’s arms, the child crying in pain in a hospital bed, the energetic teen running another mile, the old man gasping for his last breath -- all were created, at their beginning, by the Father through the Son.  No exceptions.  Divine life creates human life.


O God, may we always be quick to call you Father. And when we call you father, help us to remember that, because of your creating love, we are your children. Also, when we call you Father, let your Spirit remind us that all people, from their beginning to their last day, are your children as well. We praise you, Father, that you sent your Son to reveal to the world that all people are His brothers and sisters, that all people are your children. Through Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.

 

Rev. Paul Stallsworth

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #7 on: May 30, 2009, 07:58:16 AM »
DAY 6

 

Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well. Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

 

At death, the spirit of man returns to the giver of life

 

God is giver of life, human life, all human lives. Short lived or long lived, human lives are lived out in this world. Sooner or later, all people will reach their end. The knock of death is inevitable. All will die. The metaphors for death, even in the above passage from the Old Testament -- the silver cord loosed, the golden bowl broken, the pitcher shattered, the wheel broken, the dust returning to the earth -- are many. But their meaning is clear and singular: all will die. Even so, death is not the absolute end. It is not the end of the story. For life, at its best, does not end in a dark nothingness. We are not forced into existentialism with its crippling angst.

 

For as certainly as God gave life, at death the life or spirit that God gave returns to God. The Church, thanks to the ancient Greeks and Hebrews, believes that the departed’s return to God is in two movements. First, the soul of the departed goes to be with God. Then, in God’s perfect time, the soul of the departed will be reunited with the resurrected body of the departed for eternity.

 

These truths of the Christian faith cover the end story of our earthly lives.  By God, we are created. For God, we live our given days. To God, we return at the end of our earthly days. And with God, we live through eternity. Clearly, all along the way, this gracious, loving God is with us. No human life is random or alone. No human life was created without purpose. Not one human life is without destiny. All human lives, acknowledged or not, are related to God -- from beginning, to end, throughout eternity. Therefore, in this world, all human lives are to be respected and protected, for their lives are signs of God’s sovereignty.

 

O God, we too often try to live in ways that ignore our coming death. We forget that our days are numbered by you, that at the end of our days your judgment awaits, that You are the Lord of our destiny. Help us to repent daily, and then to live each day in joyful obedience. Lead us to live in the light and promise of eternity. Prepare us to live fully and sacrificially. Prepare us to die faithfully and hopefully, so that we might live forever with you. Through Jesus Christ, who has gone before us, we trust and hope and love and pray. Amen.

 

Rev. Paul Stallsworth

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #8 on: June 02, 2009, 10:40:22 AM »
DAY 7

 

Job 12:9-10


Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind

 

We live because God wills it so

 
Job was a man acquainted with grief, trials and tribulation. He had everything taken from him, including his family. He endured sickness, ridicule and judgment from his friends. Everyone gave him advice about his situation, questioning his spirituality and his God.  Job’s circumstances were bad, yet he never loses faith. Why?  Because of what he states, “the hand of the Lord has made all life.”  He knows God created him and he knows his life has meaning and purpose, regardless of the circumstances.

 
In our present culture, we’ve lost that basic truth; every life, mine, yours, Job’s – every life is given, made and allowed to live by God’s sovereign authority. As people who pride ourselves on our independence, we have a hard time acknowledging that we are all dependent upon God for our life. From our creation, when we were knit together in our mother’s womb, to the last breath we breathe, God’s word is clear that “in His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

 
It’s time for us as individuals, and as a society, to recognize that we exist by God’s grace and turn back to Him, honoring His word and His teachings. Why?  Because our world is full of Jobs, people who are dealing with trials and tribulations and hurting desperately.  Job’s response should be ours as well.  Regardless of what we face (even an unplanned pregnancy) God in His wisdom and mercy will redeem it.  How do I know?  I read the end of the book! Job’s story has a happy ending. Job’s friends who doubted God’s sovereignty cry out to God asking for help! God instructs Job to pray for his friends and after he does, God restores all that Job had lost. In other words, because Job never lost faith and knew and trusted His Creator, the Lord blessed Job.


Thank you Father God for being the Creator of my life and every life. Please give me, and the society in which I live, an appreciation for your gift of life.  Please help us set aside our pride and acknowledge that we need you. Show me how I can honor you today in response to all the blessings you bestow so freely. In the name of Jesus, Amen.


 

Mrs. Georgette Forney

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2009, 10:48:40 AM »
DAY 8

 

Psalm 104:27-30


These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season, what you give them they gather in; you open your hand they are filled with good.  You hide your face, they are troubled; you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.  You send forth your Spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.

 

“I am a feather on the breath of God”


As the quote above portrays, we are upheld by the power and purpose of God. Our very existence on earth (from our body’s first breath to its last when we leave to return home) is our Father’s choice and happens only by His willing it so.  He who created the universe also created that which is “me.”  I do not “have” a soul – I AM a soul.  My entire purpose in this life, while I inhabit this body, is to find my way back to my Creator.

 
Beloved Father, remind us today that there is no truth but you.  Do not let us fall prey to the evil one’s lie that we may choose death.  Remind us right now that you who created all life are in control of all life, and let us choose life always. Father, please let us hear your voice more today than yesterday – keep lighting the pathway home. Father - we’re on our way. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

 

Ms. Vera Faith Lord


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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #10 on: June 05, 2009, 09:54:21 AM »

DAY 9

 
Psalm 8:3-9

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?  For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.

 

It seems that every moment of our daily life is so crowded with responsibility that we rarely take much time to consider anything of worth that may be going on around us

 
How many times have we heard the phrase, “Stop and smell the roses”?  Yet, how many times have we ignored that cliché and instead submitted to the all too “urgent” task at hand?  Is it this tendency that keeps us, at least in part, from acknowledging that God’s care for His sacred creation is paramount in His own mind?

 
The Psalmist gives us a hint at something worth considering.  He shares his thoughts concerning God’s handiwork: the heavens, the work of his “fingers,” and then points to God’s masterpiece – human life.  He declares to us that God is mindful of us, or to put it another way, God keeps His masterpiece in His thoughts.


Here is the point: God, the creator of the awe-inspiring heavens, is not distracted by the tasks before Him.  He is not pulled away, as we might be, by thoughts of something “more important.” Despite all that goes on in the universe, we are given the wonderful news that God is paying attention to and attending His crowning glory, His masterpiece of creation, which cannot be duplicated or replaced, which surpasses the beauty of all other created things – the human being.

 
There is no way to adequately describe how God feels about us as human beings.  There are no words to fully portray His love, compassion, or desire to be in communion with us.  Perhaps the closest we can come is to contemplate the thoughts of a mother as she gazes for the first time at her newborn child.  God cares for life.  We, as His followers, should take time to consider the life He has created and which he has called us to love and protect.

 
Lord, you are the creator of all things.  Guide my thoughts to consider your creation in all of its majesty, beauty and holiness.  Guide my heart especially to your creation of precious human life.  Help me to comprehend how essential life is in your own heart.  Teach me to appreciate, love and protect all human life through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.

 

Fr. Terry Gensemer

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #11 on: June 07, 2009, 10:57:11 AM »
DAY 10

 

Luke 4:18-19

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

 

Who has God intended to be the recipients of the Gospel?

 

This passage is a very familiar one.  It has been preached upon on many occasions, even made popular in books and songs.  Though the quote is about Jesus, all Christians take this commission seriously as a directive as to how to reach the world with the gospel.  We, like our Savior, are to bring the good news to the poor, the broken hearted, those in captivity, those who cannot see, and the oppressed.

 

The commission given to us in this passage is clearly a charge to care for those for whom God cares the most. I wonder though, whom do we look for to be touched by the Holy Spirit as we go out into the world?  Who are the poor, if not those unborn children who have been abandoned by their parents before they ever leave the womb?  Who are the broken hearted, if not those unborn children whose only example of love is having their mother take them to an abortion clinic to be destroyed, or the mother of a child who has been deceived by everyone around her into believing that what she is doing is best for her and her child?  Who are the captives, if not those unborn children who are bound over to death by the “choice” of abortion?  Who is more blind than an unborn child in the darkness of a womb that has become a waiting room for their death?  And who is more oppressed than those unborn children whose oppression has been legitimized by their government, their church and even their family and loved ones.

 

Lord, you empower us with your Spirit to do your will in the earth.   Send us to the poorest, the most broken, the most captive, the most blind and the most oppressed of the world, the innocent pre-born children in their mother’s wombs that are scheduled for destruction.  Help us to bring them healing, liberty, sight and justice through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

 

Fr. Terry Gensemer

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #12 on: June 10, 2009, 03:43:11 PM »
DAY 11

 

Matthew 6:25-26


Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

 

God provides, therefore we must protect

 

It seems that everyone these days is on one of those designer diets. What about a diet of heavenly food? Billions of dollars are spent each year on diet plans in order to shed those hard to lose pounds, to look younger, or feel better.  It seems that Americans are deeply worried about their health, their weight, and how they look.  But Jesus tells us to stop worrying so much about our bodies, trusting, rather, in God’s care for our physical needs

 

What would happen if the people who had started on a low-carb diet this year had instead gone on a diet of heavenly food? For non-believers that diet would include trusting in Christ for their salvation, and for believers it would include a renewed prayer life, a new Bible study, or even a spiritual fast during Advent or Lent. The kind of diet I am suggesting doesn’t include giving up on certain kinds of foods.  What this diet includes is giving up on anxiety by resting in the loving arms of Christ, trusting that He will provide. Such a spiritual diet frees us from our worries and allows us to freely praise Him and serve others.  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

 

This promised provision teaches us the inestimable worth of our lives.  We are to be persuaded that He will not allow us to go without.  This intimate knowledge and care for human life on the part of our gracious God is what motivates us to trust him for our own lives and seek for the preservation of all human life no matter what needs they may have.

 

Loving heavenly Father, help us to see the worth of all human beings by the way in which you provide for us. We would ask that you provide also the faith, grace and courage to enable us to protect that which is so precious to you. Through Christ our Lord, amen.

 

Mr. Dennis DiMauro

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Lorenzo

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #13 on: July 03, 2009, 12:30:52 PM »
DAY 12

 

Jonah 4:10-11

But the LORD said “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in the night and perished in the night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in  which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left- and much livestock?  Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

 

Could God love my enemy as much as He loves me?

 

God doesn’t value people and things like we do.  Jonah loved a shade tree more than an entire city of sinful people. We love our dogs more than a terrorist. We love our cars more than a beggar on the side of the road.  And sometimes, we love our money more than a child growing in a desperate teenager’s womb.

 

But God isn’t like us. Genesis 1 tells us that humans were the capstone of God's creation. We were created on the sixth day after God had completed the land, the stars, the plants and the animals.  Therefore, His love for us is greater than His love for a plant, an animal, or any other created thing. And the book of Jonah tells us that He loves even the most sinful of people and seeks to bring them into His merciful arms. It’s a love that seeks to touch all of his created children: that desperate teenager, the baby growing in her womb, even tyrants and terrorists.  So it’s up to us to imitate God's merciful love by helping and praying for those who persecute us, and those who don’t love us back.

 

Gracious God, loving our enemies seems like one of most difficult things you could ask of us. Please remind us that this is how you love and that if you ask it of us then you will give us the grace to do it. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Mr. Dennis DiMauro

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Lorenzo

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Re: Prayer For Life [30 Days]
« Reply #14 on: July 05, 2009, 01:40:11 PM »
Day 13


Psalm 68:5
A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.

 

A Father of the fatherless and . . . fathers

 

I had a friend many years ago who confided in me that he was terrified of being a father. He and his wife already had two children when this revelation came forth. “I never knew my father,” he explained, “and I have no idea what a father is supposed to do.” We continued to share about this, as well as pray together. He began to see he had a father’s heart for his children. His biggest problem was not a limitation on love but not knowing how to act out this love.

One day we talked about the verse quoted at the top of this page. I shared that he did know his Father… not his biological father but his Heavenly Father, who had rescued him from a life of destruction not many years before. “How did your Heavenly Father guide you?” I asked. He talked about the ways he had seen God’s love offered to him and the way the Lord had used circumstances and the Scriptures to mold him and mature him. “Well, the Lord wants to do the same thing through you for your children. Be available to His love and available to your kids. You’ll do fine.”

How wonderful it is to know that God takes a personal interest in each of us, many times using His faithful people – the Church – as channels of this love. No one is fatherless who lives in the Lord. His fatherly care begins at the moment of our conception, as it is written, “you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:12), and continues to be poured upon us throughout our lives.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for caring about each of us so deeply. Help us to see and know you as our Father in heaven each and every day of our lives. Your loving hand also rests on every child today carried in its mother’s womb. May they be born into this world and come to know fully and personally your endless love.  We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Archbishop Randolph Sly

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