Lent: a New Beginning

Today, Ash Wednesday, is the first day of Lent for various denominations of Christians, including myself as a Catholic.  It marks 40 days before the beginning of the Easter celebration. 

In addition to beginning preparations for Easter, today begins the Spring 40 Days for Life campaign for 2010.  I began participating in 40 Days for Life about this time last year, though I was subscribed to the email list for some time before that campaign had started.  I have to say, this ministry has truly impacted how I approach the issue of abortion, at least inside my own head.

I think that I, like most people, have generally thought of abortion in abstract terms.  Though I've always been on the side that sees abortion as being wrong, it's only been recently that it has truly become a concrete issue for me.  Part of that solidification of the issue is due in great part to 40 Days for life and the lives that have been saved -- both, from death and the emotional trauma caused by abortion.  It is a wonderful, blessed thing when a mother walks away from an abortion clinic with her child still alive within her.  But it is even more powerful when, months later, that mother returns to the abortion site to stand peacefully in prayer with her baby in hopes of saving just one more mother and child.

We live in a physical world, with things to smell and taste, touch and hear.  But we are not limited to these physical things.  Can you touch love?  Can you taste hate? Can you smell LIFE? Only in the poetic sense.

The truth is, our experiences are based not only in the body, but in the mind and spirit as well.  BUT we cannot live ONLY in mind or spirit.  We are innately physical beings.  And so, it makes sense to me that a mother with her child -- abortion survivors, the physical embodiment of prayers answered -- should help make the issue more real to me, not just some lofty concept. 

These are PEOPLE.

*****

I invite you all to join me in this season's 40 days of prayer and fasting.  If you're looking for something to pray for, I suggest "an end to abortion and a resolution of the social issues that drive women to seek it."  If you're looking for something to give up, try some of your time: see www.40daysforlife.com to find a location near you to visit and pray at.