“We
can be certain that when we’re near a place where abortions take place,
the Evil One is especially active there,” Bishop Thomas Olmsted said,
“but we are not alone when we pray. … We give thanks to God for that and
that’s why we pray there together. That’s why we call upon Our Lady of
Guadalupe to be with us and keep us under her mantle.”
The
bishop was speaking during a February 4 Mass at Phoenix’s St. Mary’s
Basilica to commemorate the spring 2016 40 Days for Life vigil, and said
that “those engaged in witnessing to the Gospel of Life, and seeking to
defend the most vulnerable among us,” were not alone.
“He sent the Apostles two by two,” Bishop Olmsted said. “They were not to go alone.”
40
Days for Life prayer, fasting and outreach vigils, conducted twice each
year in both the spring and fall since 2007, kicked off the 2016 spring
vigil on Ash Wednesday, with five campaigns this time in the Diocese of
Phoenix, in Flagstaff, Tempe, Phoenix, Chandler and Glendale.
Bishop Olmsted has been a vocal proponent of the faith, calling on the men of his diocese last fall to fight for marriage and family, leading Good Friday prayer
outside Planned Parenthood last year, and telling a 2013 gathering of
Catholic bishops, cardinals and leaders from the Americas that
Christians must maintain their trust in the “tough truths” regarding marriage, life and religious liberty if the spread of the Gospel is to be preserved.
Mike
Phelan, director of the Phoenix diocese’s Office of Marriage and
Respect Life, also stressed the importance of prayer and the spiritual
component of the 40 Days for Life vigil.
“Forty
Days for Life is doing the most fundamental, foundational and probably
important part of the pro-life movement, which is public prayer and
witness,” said Phelan. “There is a lot of spiritual battle that happens
around these clinics.”
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