Brian Jenkins

We've begun the second half of our 40-day prayer vigil for the end of abortion this past Monday and here are a few of the highlights since.

Wednesday, October-17: Spiritually Powerful Day

Day 22 was an emotion packed day: encouragement at the outset, dread and foreboding in the middle, and the sweet peace of reconciliation at the end.

During the second hour of the day, a young francophone evangelical dropped by to offer a few words of encouragement for the work we are doing. We exchanged a little about our respective faiths and then he was off.

A more powerful event came in the afternoon. At that time, I began feeling dread and foreboding and no matter how much I prayed or shared with one or two persons at the site, these feelings would not subside.

Noris was one such person I shared with. She arrived an hour or so after I first had these experiences. As I described them, she shared her particular devotion to Saint Benedict and to the Saint Benedict medal, the latter being used in instances against Satan and his minions.

We began to pray and as we did so something incredible happened: pro-choice persons began walking up to our site. First came a young man - a student of social work, then a woman pushing her child in a carriage, and finally another woman.

On arrival, they were greeted by vigilers and conversations sprung up. The young man met John and Celeste with whom he spoke for nearly ninety minutes; during this exhange, the second woman arrived and joined in. On the other hand, the woman with the stroller met Yves on arriving and the two spoke for nearly as long.

Throughout these exchanges, Noris and I prayed continuously for peaceful resolutions. I invoked the intercession of powerful saints - Dominique, John Chrysostom, Peter Chrysologus, and John the Baptist, hoping that their inspirations may provide our vigilers with the right words for their listeners to hear. Noris expressed her conviction that positive outcomes would result.

And positive outcomes did occur. On the one hand, the exchanges though intense and passionate weret not belligerent. On the hand, there was one conversion. John and Celeste introduced me to the young man who they told had become pro-life as the result of the encounter. Though the two women did not express any conversion of hearts, we trust that our witness and goodwill affect them in the time to come.

Finally, the day ended with a blessing as one vigiler was able to bring peace to a fractured relationship between two others.

Thursday and Friday, October 18 & 19 – Contrasts in Weather

Days 23 and 24 of the vigil could not have been more unalike. Thursday was sunny and balmy while the following day, rain, rain and more rain.