Be Our Guest / Rhonda Branham

Participate in 40 Days for Life campaign and help build a culture of life

The 1935 Nuremburg Laws aggressively targeted the Jewish people in Nazi Germany, stripping them of their citizenship and civil rights, and eventually removing them completely from German society.

The horrific events surrounding the Holocaust led to the mass slaughter of more than 6 million Jews, and more than 3 million prisoners of war who suffered from starvation or being worked to death.

While much of the world turned a blind eye to this unjust and violent killing, 3 million Polish citizens risked their own lives to stop the unspeakable crimes against humanity. Because of their belief that all human life must be protected, nearly half a million lives were saved. The grisly nightmare of the Holocaust continues today, but now the target is the unborn child.

Every year, abortion destroys nearly 50 million innocent and defenseless human lives worldwide. The tragic war of abortion targets the unborn child with a death so violent that even the abortion industry hides the truth.

The culture of death continues to cultivate its evil agenda by destroying the virtue of purity, and by deceptively lying to women, scarring them both emotionally and physically for the rest of their lives.

Many of these women will carry the heavy burden of guilt, and will lose hope in God’s mercy, a mercy far greater than the sin of abortion.

As followers of Christ and his Church, we cannot turn a blind eye and pretend like we have no responsibility in ending the evil of abortion. Too many lives have been destroyed, and souls are being lost. If we do not stand up and give a voice for the unborn child, then who will?

The Catholic Church firmly teaches that “human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2270). Through the sacrament of confirmation, Catholics are armed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and are called to be soldiers for Christ.

We are fighting a spiritual battle—a battle that will only be won on the front lines outside of abortion clinics, where the graces of conversion can touch the most hardened hearts.

Through prayer, sacrifice and our witness to the truth, the evil of abortion will be conquered once and for all, but it will take a universal army to unite together to put an end to this violence.

40 Days for Life is a powerful worldwide force committed to converting hearts and saving lives through the acts of prayer and sacrifice. Since 2007, the 40 Days for Life campaigns have resulted in 133 workers leaving the abortion industry, 73 abortion facilities permanently closing their doors, and nearly 12,000 unborn babies being saved from the violence of abortion.

Together, we can unite during these 40 days and concentrate our prayers and sacrifices to ending the most tragic violence our world has ever seen. Please join us in the upcoming 40 Days for Life campaign on Sept. 28 through Nov. 6 taking place in Bloomington, Indianapolis and other neighboring communities. You can sign up at 40daysforlife.com.

Our presence outside of abortion clinics is absolutely vital to ending abortion and to building a culture of life. Every minute we spend on the sidewalks in prayer and in truth, God showers his graces upon the abortion industry, touching hearts with conversion.

And one by one, those who see human life as a disposable commodity will begin to see the truth—that every human life is sacred and deserves the right to life.
 

(Rhonda Branham is a member of St. John the Apostle Parish in Bloomington.) †