Prayer for Prolife

This project brings awareness to the key topics in the Culture of Death and the fight for the Culture of Life during 8 – 12 Dec 2010.

These 5 key topics are chosen because they are very important in the fight against the culture of death. Each day will be dedicated to the sharing of one topic and also to encourage spending time in prayer to pray for these intentions using the Rosary.

The 5 topics are:

Why 8 Dec to 12 Dec?

The Prayer for Prolife is bounded by two important feastdays of our lady – Wed 8 Dec is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception while Sun 12 Dec is Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

More about the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. c.1678. Oil on canvas. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception celebrates Mary’s conception, without sin. The Immaculate Conception is a uniquely Catholic feast, although the Eastern Church celebrates Mary’s conception.

We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which asserts that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin is a doctrine revealed by God and, for this reason, must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.

With these words, spoken in 1854, Pope Pius IX, in the Papal Bull ineffabilis Dei, declared Mary’s Immaculate Conception to be dogma. Pius did not invent the concept. Rather, he was affirming a belief held by many Christians that came before him, from East and West, that Mary was conceived free of the stain of original sin, on account of Christ’s work. God caused this immaculate conception in order to render Mary a pure vessel to bear God-made-flesh.
Catholic Encyclopedia on the Immaculate Conception
All about the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

More about the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
(from http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=456)

Our Lady of Guadalupe

When we reflect on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe we learn two important lessons, one of faith and one of understanding.
Missionaries who first came to Mexico with the conquistadors had little success in the beginning. After nearly a generation, only a few hundred Native Mexicans had converted to the Christian faith. Whether they simply did not understand what the missionaries had to offer or whether they resented these people who made them slaves, Christianity was not popular among the native people.
Then in 1531 miracles began to happen. Jesus’ own mother appeared to humble Juan Diego. The signs — of the roses, of the uncle miraculously cured of a deadly illness, and especially of her beautiful image on Juan’s mantle — convinced the people there was something to be considered in Christianity. Within a short time, six million Native Mexicans had themselves baptized as Christians.
The first lesson is that God has chosen Mary to lead us to Jesus. No matter what critics may say of the devotion of Mexicans (and Mexican descendants) to Our Lady of Guadalupe, they owe their Christianity to her influence. If it were not for her, they would not know her son, and so they are eternally grateful. The second lesson we take from Mary herself. Mary appeared to Juan Diego not as a European madonna but as a beautiful Aztec princess speaking to him in his own Aztec language. If we want to help someone appreciate the gospel we bring, we must appreciate the culture and the mentality in which they live their lives. By understanding them, we can help them to understand and know Christ. Our Lady of Guadalupe is patron of the Americas and also the Prolife movement.
More on Our Lady of Guadalupe from sancta.org
More on Our Lady of Guadalupe from Catholicism.org

How can you participate?

Share this Prayer for Prolife campaign with your friends and family
Join in by praying the Rosary each day or going to Mass keeping in mind the Prolife intentions

Prayer of John Paul II for Life

O Mary,
bright dawn of the new world,
Mother of the living,
to you do we entrust the cause of life:
Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers
of babies to be born,
of the poor whose lives are made difficult,
of men and women
who are victims of brutal violence,
of the elderly and the sick killed
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son
may proclaim the Gospel of life
with honesty and love
to the people of our time.
Obtain for them the grace
to accept that Gospel
as a gift ever new,
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude
throughout their lives
and the courage to bear witness to it
resolutely, in order to build,
together with all people of good will,
the civilization of truth and love,
to the praise and glory of God,
the Creator and lover of life.

Pope John Paul II / Encyclical Letter “The Gospel of Life” (Evangelium Vitae)
Given in Rome, on March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, in the year 1995.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. c.1678. Oil on canvas. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.