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Have you ever considered fasting on bread and water only? … and doing so for forty days?

As we prepare to begin the fall 40 Days for Life prayer vigil for the end of abortion, I am thinking of doing this.

Why?

Yes, Our Lord says that certain spirits can only be expelled by prayer and fasting. (Matthew 17:14-20)

And is there a more vile spirit than one intent at ending the life of an innocent unborn child? Is it any wonder Jesus’ disciples had difficulty at casting it out. (Mt 17:18)

But this is not the reason that has prompted my reflection.

Montreal recently hosted Fr. Claudio Barbut, a Romanian priest who for nine years worked at the Vatican Pontifical Council for the Family with Pope John Paull II and Pope Benedict XVI.

Currently with his bishop’s permission, Fr. Barbut travels the world and participates in healing services such as the one recently held at Saint Jean Baptiste de LaSalle church (in Hochelaga) over the Labour Day weekend.

I did not attend but a friend did and related to me the father’s deep passion in the power of fasting, particularly for forty days on bread and water alone.

Ending abortion and confronting the spirits that move mothers to end the lives of their unborn children and the society that sits complacently require spiritual weapons.

This past August, for 31 days many of us spent sleepless in nocturnal prayer for the cause of life. Is Our Lord now asking us/me to fast? … for for forty days?

Benefits of Fasting

Fasting has obvious corporal benefits, one website noting “weight loss, as well as improved blood sugar control, heart health, brain function, and cancer prevention.”

As for the spiritual benefits, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is cautious of its endorsement of fasting:

• Jesus' warning that outward works are meaningless if unaccompanied by interior conversion (1430);
• Fasting expresses conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others (1434);
• The morality of human acts, including fasting, depends on the object, the end, and the circumstances of our acts.(1755)
• Paragraph 1969 fosters an attitude which directs our actions to the “Father who sees in secret.”

The Catholic Encyclopedia presents a historical overview of the practice while raising important distinctions:

• Which foods and drinks to abstain from?
• Which times to fast – a particular day each week, several days, …?
• What is the physical and/or mental disposition peculiar to each individual?
• Does fasting allow for one solid meal per day? ... the abstaining from meat?
• Is a collation at the end of the day permitted?

The CE concludes noting the importance of fasting on our penitential life as the act confronts sin and its consequences.

Another source of guidance are the lives of the saints, some of whom sustained themselves on the Eucharist alone - Saint Catherine of Sienna and the French mystic and stigmatic Marthe Robin.

What is Our Lord calling me and other prayer volunteers to do over these forthcoming 40 days remains to be discerned.

Please keep us in your prayers, particularly from Wednesday, September 25 to Sunday, November 5.

Yours in Christ Jesus

Brian Jenkins

Outreach Coordinator

Quebec Life Coalition

p.s. We depend entirely on your support for the success of our projects such as the 40-day prayer vigil. Please, consider becoming a monthly donor. Thank you.

I need you to join me in prayer.

I’m dedicating this coming August to glorify Our Lord via nocturnal prayer. And I need you.

A Digression. Three pillars on a solid foundation.

This vision captures the Quebec Life Coalition model for building a culture of life – a Christian society that defends faith, family, and the human person, from conception to natural death.

The pillars need to be solid and the base capable of load bearing.

QLC’s pillars are education, political activism, and aid to women. The base, prayer.

Your support, both in prayer or kind, affirms our work and permits your participation.

The Three Pillars – a few examples

• Education: Apologetics seminars; website updated daily with the latest news; the monthly newsletters either in print or emailed electronically;
• Political activism: yearly participation in the National March for Life; petitions remitted to political leaders; promoting federal and provincial voter election guide;
• Aid to women: supporting women experiencing distress in their pregnancy; offering post-abortion counselling.

These three require a solid foundation to build upon. And what firmer foundation can there be but our faith, as manifested through prayer.

Jesus and Nocturnal Prayer

Prayer is simple, readily possible to each and every one of us with no age requirement, no physical requirement, and no skill requirement.

As for nocturnal prayer, Scriptures contains many examples of praying at night, two of which involving Our Lord – prior to the naming of the twelve apostles and in the garden at Gethsemane.

Further , in this latter instance, Jesus asked three of his apostles to join him.

He is asking us today to do likewise, particularly in moments of great trouble like these present times, when abortion sends shockwaves unsettling many.

Abortion is like an earthquake whose violent shockwaves unsettle the earth for hundreds of miles around. The loss of one child to abortion impacts everyone involved; the mother and father, the grandparents, the siblings, family and friends, even the abortion clinic workers and abortionists themselves. – Leslie Palma-Simoncek, “Healing the Shockwaves of Abortion”

This August I need you to join me in nocturnal prayer.

I will pray continuously from sunset to sunrise, from Thursday, August 1, 2019, to Saturday, August 31, 2019, dedicating these nights, the prayers, and the sleeplessness to the glory of God, silently, with hymns, or otherwise, relying on His strength, provision and wisdom to change hearts and minds about the abortion and to restore our society to a culture of life.

So, again, this August I need you to join me in nocturnal prayer.

Together we can… confront the culture of death, affirming our faith, our families, and life.

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours in Christ Jesus

Brian Jenkins

These days it is hard not to notice the “Abortion Wars” going on south of the border.

The media is awash with the battles raging over the fate of the unborn child throughout the American union.  Just yesterday, I read that the Vermont governor had signed a bill legalizing abortion up to birth and the Maine governor, a bill permitting nurses to kill babies in abortions.

A polarization is occurring as states position themselves either defending the unborn child or legislating for greater access to abortion.

Even more disturbing is that certain states are moving towards infanticide, refusing to protect children that are born alive, after having survived a failed abortion.

All these maneuverings seem to be a preamble to a Supreme Court challenge of the law permitting abortion across the nation – a.k.a., Roe versus Wade. As chief justices retire and are replaced, it seems inevitable R v. W will be overturned thereby permitting states to regulate abortion. States then can outlaw the practice entirely or permit it at all times, for any reason.

An Overview: Alabama versus New York

Typical of the Abortion Wars are the Alabama and New York state legislatures; they are poles apart.

In Alabama, with the approval of their governor, lawmakers have enacted the most stringent piece of legislation – no abortion under any circumstance even under rape and incest.

New York, this past January, legislated abortion for any reason, at any time. Further, the law permits infants born alive after a botched abortion to be killed – a.k.a., infanticide.

The killing of the defenseless newborn has irked many, as it should. When the governor of Virginia condoned the use of infanticide, he was immediately rebuked by Virginians

A Legislative War

A quick survey of the 50 states indicate that since the beginning of 2019, only 14 of the fifty American states have not legislated or proposed bills favoring or opposing abortion.

In the same camp as Alabama, we find Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska, Minnesota, Georgia, and the list goes on. Many of these have introduced a heartbeat legislation, which prevents abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected.

At the other end of the debate, legislatures of the same ilk as New York include Nevada, Illinois, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Massachusetts, among others.

In addition to heartbeat legislation, the bills touch on a variety of issues affecting the unborn such as:

• Whether dismemberment abortions be permitted;
• Whether children born alive after a failed abortion should be protected;
• Whether unborn children with Down Children be permitted to be born;
• Whether taxpayer money be used to pay for abortion and given to Planned Parenthood and other institutions that perform abortions;
• Whether to permit non-doctors to perform abortions;

The most likely scenario to occur is a challenge all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Prognostics for Quebec, for Canada

It’s inevitable that the rumblings south of us will spill over and impact us.

It already has to some extent. Over the past month, I have been interviewed by the French CBC and TVA as well as the Journal de Montreal for my views regarding events in the U.S.

At the Quebec Life Coalition we continue to confront the culture of death by affirming our faith, the family, and life. Thank you for your continued support, in prayer and financially.

Yours in Christ Jesus

Brian Jenkins

Outreach Coordinator

Quebec Life Coalition

P.S. Your financial support is always a welcomed sign of your support and encouragement of our work.

God has blessed us in countless ways.

In this Easter season, He has blessed us with the gift of His Son, whose incarnation, passion and death, and resurrection has restored us to communion with His Father, opening the doors to eternal life.

In particular, God has blessed me, and all of Quebec in general, with a man of faith, my employer – Mr. Georges Buscemi.

Before explaining, a small digression.

Pray, Pay and Obey

I first heard the above maxim not many years ago, though I suspect it has been around for some time, if not centuries.

Pithily, it represents the marching orders of the faithful, in the Roman Catholic tradition or otherwise. Excuse my pedanticizing, the motto defines the degrees of freedom which the people of God are to exercise; to pray … alone or in community, to pay … one’s tithe, and to obey … one's superiors, deacons, clergy, ordinary, the hierarchy in the church.

It’s a simplification.

At least in the Roman Catholic tradition. The RC tradition is governed by a rule of conduct known as the Code of Canon Law.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Canon Law is “the body of laws and regulations made by or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members.”

That is to say, it represents the degrees of freedom which priests and we the lay faithful have in the exercise of our faith.

Incidentally the faithful are given an entire division within the code, ‘The Christian Faithful,” and it is here that Mr. Buscemi, faithful to our tradition, has acted courageously and faithfully.

Canon 212 states “According to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they (the faithful) have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.”

There are other canons that touch upon Mr. Buscemi’s actions which are relevant but I limit myself in this letter to cited canon.

Delict of Heresy

This past April 29, 2019, Mr. Buscemi along some twenty other signatories, including eminent theologian Fr. Adain Nichols OP, made public a letter addressed to the bishops of the Catholic Church accusing the Holy Father of the crime of heresy.

The matter did not go unnoticed as many shared reflections about this letter. All of these, the original letter in its 20-page argument as well as the replies, both favourable and not, are readily available on the internet and may be found with the serch words "delict of heresy".

Returning to Mr. Buscemi, it took faith and courage for him and the other signatories to call the Holy Father to order ... in his words, in what he has done and in what he has failed to do.

It is an act of filial duty that bodes well for his family, our organization, and Quebec, as virtue in matters of faith need to be manifested and not kept hidden and/or silent.

Congratulation, Georges, for identifying the root cause of our culture of death – i.e., the undermining of our tradition in matters of faith, family, and life.

Yours in Christ Jesus

Brian Jenkins

Outreach Coordinator

Quebec Life Coalition

Wishing you and your loved ones perseverance in finishing the Lenten fast and joy in partaking of the Easter celebrations.

We have entered the high point of our liturgical year.

The Easter Triduum begins Friday, April 19, 2019.

We are in Holy Week; Easter Week is upon us.

We visited with our Lord in his moment of triumph – Palm Sunday; walk alongside him and his apostles in his preparation for the Easter Passover; agonize with him during his passion in Gethsemane, before the Sanhedrin, in the praetorium, on his journey to and crucifixion on Golgotha, sharing in his agony as Saint Paul so poignantly remarks in his letter to the Colossians:

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, (Col 1:24)

The Lord has Risen

Finally, we rejoice with Mary Magdala, Peter and John, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, the apostles, and countless others of ages long gone, today, and until the end of time.

Victory over death is accomplished. Reconciliation with our heavenly Father is achieved.

Triumphantly we sing the Te Deum:

Your are God: we praise you;

You are the Lord: we acclaim you;

You are the eternal Father:

All creation worships you.

To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,

Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:

Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might,

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The glorious company of apostles praise you.

The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.

The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.

Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:

Father of majesty unbounded,

Your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,

And the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You Christ, are the king of glory,

The eternal Son of the Father.

When you became man to set us free

You did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.

You overcame the sting of death,

And opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.

We believe that you will come, and be our judge.

Come then, Lord, and help your people,

Bought with the price of your own blood,

And bring us with your saints

To glory everlasting.

Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed Easter Season,

Sincerely Yours,

Brian Jenkins, Outreach Coordinator

Here we are in February and I trust you are standing strong, persevering with your New Year’s resolutions.

Resolving to side with and promote a Culture of Life is a tough stance to take, with its joys and sorrows.

Consider our neighbours to the south.

Sorrows, there are more than a few. On January 22, 2019, the New York state legislature enacted a bill permitting unlimited access to abortion for the entire nine months of gestation. The bill also states that if an infant intended to be aborted was born alive, then he may be left to die. Further, as of press time, legislatures in Vermont, Rhode Island and Virginia are planning the same!

Fortunately, joys are many. Witness the great outpouring of solidarity for unborn life seen this past Friday, January 18, 2019, in Washington, D.C., at the 46^th annual National March for Life, as very large numbers of people of all ages gathered to protest this injustice.

Mario Richard and I were in the American capital for the march and related events. Among the latter was an exhibition at the Renaissance Hotel, a fitting place to gather for those working to stop the million abortions per year in their nation whose governments liberally fund the corporate giant Planned Parenthood which performs a third of these.

The exhibition included between fifty, sixty kiosks showing visitors the concrete ways Americans are working to renew their nation and promote a culture of life. (See picture.)

And then there is prayer

As was to be expected, prayer was integral to the events in the American capital. On a first occasion, we joined several groups on the sidewalks outside a local abortion facility (see photo below), while in a second instance, on the day of the march, we met at the cathedral.

At the march I was awestruck by the size of the crowd that had gathered on the National Mall – the 3 km expanse of land between the Lincoln Memorial and the National Capitol. An estimated 100 000 to 300,000 people of all ages were present, brimming over with enthusiasm, uniting their voice in chants and songs in defense of unborn life as well as the mothers who need assistance.

Our turn to act

Our American neighbours have made a strong show of their defence of vulnerable life. Let us not go lacking.

God calls each and every one of us to work in his vineyard. Which part of the vineyard are you called to work in? Pray and listen to the voice of our creator; surely, He will answer.

Wishing you and your loved ones blessed strength in pursuing your new year’s resolutions.

Brian Jenkins

Outreach Coordinator

Quebec Life Coalition

==> To donate to Quebec Life Coalition, click here

Blessed New Year greetings to all.

The new year at the Quebec Life Coalition began pretty much as it ended – with a prayerful public witnesses for life.

Since the end of the last 40 Days for Life prayer vigil for the end of abortion on November 4, 2018, three of us have been faithfully meeting on Monday mornings at the corner of St-Catherine East and Berri Streets for an hour of prayer for life.

Monday, December 22, 2018, was emblematic of our work.

First, on the way to the vigil, I stopped by the office to retrieve our vigil signs and cross. I’m in the office for a very short time. Yet, while there, the pregnancy resource phone line rang! The caller, a woman, wanted to know where she could get an abortion. I shared our pro-life message saying that we would gladly support her during the pregnancy – counselling, money, materials. Though she was not interested in what I had to say, God’s intervention could not be any clearer I thought.

Next, on arriving at the vigil site, I saw my colleagues speaking with an elderly woman. I later learned that the visitor was sharing her grief at the lost her grandchild, as her daughter had chosen to have an abortion.

The Rich Young Man

Finally, near end of our prayers, a young man and woman, both in their early twenties, stopped within meters of us to read our signs. After a moment, the young lady continued on her way, while the young man approached us and standing in very close proximity to us, began a rant about our presence.

He argued that as a man, I had no right to express publicly a view regarding abortion, as it was solely a woman’s issue and decision. The irony of his comment seemed to escape him, a male, freely opining about abortion in a public area!

We listened, not having a chance to say a word.

As he continued, we understood why he was so angry. He and his girlfriend had undergone an abortion within the past month. His angry outburst was veiled attempt to mourn his lost, his grief!

Three Stories

Supporting women in a crisis pregnancy, consoling persons grieving the loss due to abortion, and expressing publicly this grave injustice are the mainstay of what the Quebec Life Coalition does, in 2018 and in the year to come.

Your support allows us to continue.

Change is on the horizon. In this month’s newsletter, our featured article covers the impact our work is having on Quebec society and its media, targeting the innocent.

Are the walls of the reigning abortion ideology crumbling? We think so as a letter to the editor shows the cracks - see the newsletter.

Your turn to act

As 2019 begins we invite you to become more active in righting this wrong. Becoming a monthly donor to the Operation Mustard Seed program will help us to reach more people.

Again, you may wish to solicit the support from your peers within your faith community to form a caring network for the living victims of abortion.

Finally, helping women undergoing a crisis in their pregnancy or those who find themselves alone for having decided to keep the child, against the wishes of the child’s father, her parents, or an employer are two important contributions within your reach.

God calls each of us to work in his vineyard. Which part of the vineyard? Listen and He will tell you.

Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed New Year.

Brian Jenkins

Outreach Coordinator

Quebec Life Coalition

Warmest season’s greetings to you and your loved ones.

Have you noticed how our Faith is supporting our journey towards holiness with the many memorials in its December calendar?

For example, at the outset of the month there are four days dedicated to our Blessed Mother, two of which I’m particularly fond of.

On December 8^th we venerate her under the title of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the pristine vessel that bore Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Like him and unlike any other creature in all of time – past, present, or future, the Virgin Mary is conceived without the stain of original sin. Hence, she is the chosen instrument to receive her Redeemer Son into this world.

Another important memorial to her occurs on December 12. The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe recalls her appearance in 1531 to a humble Aztec farmer, Juan Diego, who we also memorialize in December. This apparition led to the conversion to the Christian faith of some 9 million men and woman over a nine year period since her apparition!

This celebration is significant for us who defend life. The tilma or cloak which Juan Diego wore bears the very image of the Virgin Mother who appeared to him - a very beautiful Mary, full of gentleness. She appears three months pregnant, a not insignificant detail affirming the importance of unborn children as well as the defense of human life.

Next is the most significant memorial in December: Christmas.

Though being in the form of God,

(Jesus) did not count equality with God something to be grasped.

But he emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave, become as human beings are;

and being in every way like a human being,

(Phil. 2: 6-11, The New Jerusalem Bible)

On December 25^th we celebrate the timeless celebration of Our Lord’s coming into embodiment, beginning his redeeming mission for mankind.

The Holy Innocents

A last memorial to note occurs on December 28^th, the feast of the Holy Innocents, another not insignificant feast for those defending life.

The temporal ruler at the time of Jesus’ birth, King Herod, was of the jealous ilk, having done away with his rivals, his wife, and his own children to secure his power. Hence, word of the birth of the Messiah of the Jewish people had a predictable similar result, as he saw him as a usurper of his throne, not understanding that Christ’s kingdom was of another realm - the spiritual realm.

Herod’s misplaced passions drove him to order the killing of all male infants up to the age of two in Bethlehem and its surrounding region, which the evangelist Matthew links with the prophecy of Jeremiah: “A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning: Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be confronted, because they are not.”

The Ethiopians in their liturgy, as well as the Greeks in their calendar, count fourteen thousand children massacred on this occasion.

These innocent victims epitomize all innocent lives violently lost, particularly those in the mother’s womb.

Thank you for your on-going assistance to help us continue this work to protect the most innocent members of our society, thereby helping to further our Lord’s mission of redemption here on Earth.

Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed trip journey to holiness and a most merry Christmas.

Brian Jenkins

This past Sunday, November 4^th, 2018, we completed our twentieth 40-day prayer vigil for the end of abortion.

Begun in Montreal in 2009 by QLC President Mr. Georges Buscemi, this twice-yearly prayer vigil has taken place every year since, moving from its original site on Saint Joseph Blvd. East to the intersection of Berri and St-Catherine streets when the Morgentaler abortion centre relocated near there in 2014.

This past fall the Montreal site was one of over 400 vigils occurring simultaneously worldwide, which since the inception in 2003 of the 40 Days for Life vigils over 15 000 babies have been spared from abortion through prayer and fasting, and timely information about resources to pregnant women. And that’s 15 000 that we’re aware of!

To quote the movement’s founder, Shawn Carney, “Abortion was imposed upon the world by the highest levels of government. But abortion is ending from the ground up through the faith and fortitude of pro-life Christians like you.”

We are already preparing the next vigil, set to begin on Ash Wednesday – March 6, 2019. Consider joining us to end the culture of abortion in Quebec.

Two signs from this past vigil spur our efforts on.

An unborn child is a human person

whose life has value and deserves to be protected by our society.

First, we witnessed the tragedy of the violation this basic pro-life message, seeing women leave abortion facilities in obvious discomfort, signs of lost life.

As Mr. Carney aptly cites Scriptures, our presence on the streets fulfills our creator’s wishes for us, “For I know the plans I have for you… plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

As people of the Good News, we need to counter the mainstream message about the “right” to abortion, reinforced by the media, government officials, entertainment personalities, and pressure groups.

A second result from this past vigil was the interview of Mr. Buscemi on a local radio station which operates directly across the street from the vigil site. Daily the staff walked by us on their way in and out of the station, seeing us and our signs.

Our pregnancy support sign (the one indicating our toll-free crisis-pregnancy telephone line number) caught the eye of one radio host and incited her to clandestinely call posing as a needy 24 year-old pregnant woman.

The ensuing phone conversation troubled her, hearing about the hard realities of abortion – dismemberments, burnings, etc. Mr. Buscemi aptly addressed her concerns.

“Both faith and reason agree that 'Abortion is murder',” was the clear message he intoned to his hosts and to the radio audience during the 14-minute interview.

He also covered the question whether abortion is justified if the woman conceives when raped – “Should a child be condemned for the crime of his father?”, as well as noted that respect for the unborn does not undermine in anyway whatsoever respect due the mother.

Your presence at the next prayer vigil, beginning on Ash Wednesday, March 6, 2019, will further the work of Mr. Buscemi to foster faith and reason and so rebuild our culture into a culture of life.

Your help is needed. Consider:

• becoming a prayer volunteer, spending an hour every week, whether as part of your Lenten observance or for the sake of upholding the respect for unborn life;
• leading a group from your parish or faith community to “adopt-a-day” – i.e. committing to fill in the time slots from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• supporting us financially so that other eye-catching signs be made, draw the attention of Montrealers to the tragedy of abortion.

In any and all of these ways, we cover ourselves with the love of Christ so that the lives of our unborn brothers and sisters will not be trampled upon.

Thank you for your support to make this initiative possible.

Brian Jenkins, Outreach Coordinator

brian.jenkins@cqv.qc.ca

As you read this newsletter, we are about to begin the second half of the 40 Days for Life prayer vigil for the end of abortion.

This vigil’s goal is to tap into the God’ munificence via prayer and sacrifice so that the gift of life be ever more seen and esteemed by ourselves and all members of our society.

Since, Wednesday, September 26, 2018, the vigil has been going on daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week, at the corner of Berri and St-Catherine streets in downtown Montreal, where five abortion centres ply their deadly commerce.

Below are excerpts from the vigil log; offered for your reading enjoyment and prayerful support:

Day 2, Thursday, September 27, 2018 – Divine Assistance

A sunny day brought more people onto the streets than the previous rainy day. So, more persons walked by the vigil location, many of whom expressing themselves either in favour or not about our presence. I figured the nay sayers outnumbered the yeahs, two to one.

One naysayer surprised me. In mid-afternoon, while praying, I was startled out my revelry by a slight pressure on my back. No sooner, a young appeared before me drawing a large X with a black felt marker on the sign hanging in front of me. He then scurried off.

Removing the signs, I noticed that both had a double X mark swathed on them. Wasting little time, I tried to remove the marks but had limited success.

Then Claude, one of the prayer volunteers, arrived. Quite naturally he offered me his alcohol-based hand cleaner along with a sac of Kleenex. He applied the liquid adroitly along the marks and I worked with the wipes. To my amazement the marks came off easily with no lasting impressions!

Claude was a God send, coming at just the right moment with the right tools. Need I add that alcohol cleaner and wipes are a daily tool I carry with me!

Day 5 – The Life Chain

As the Life Chain is scheduled for this afternoon, a half day will be spent at the vigil location, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. before moving to join

Day 8 – Multiple Encounters

On this overcast day we had multiple interactions with the public, some civilised and others more emotive.

By emotive, I think of three persons – two women and one man, all of whom shouted at us before continuing their way. One lady shouted as she walked by “abat aux obscurantists.” She was followed by a young man who shouted “anti-choix; allez-vous en!” as he cycled by. Finally, near the end of the day, another female pedestrian stopped and shouted for us to go to hell, us and our religion. (How she knew our religion remains to be seen!)

A positive exchange occurred for both Charlotte and I separately. A woman berated Charlotte at first but an exchange followed, particularly so when a man stopped to engage the woman. With me, a young woman stopped to learn my views about rape, my faith, and abstaining until after marriage.

Day 10 – A Day of Visitors (Vigil ¼ mark)

This day many persons dropped by the vigil location to chat and encourage those of us on hand to persevere.

Of this latter group, at the outset of the day were an older gentleman and young Hispanic woman. In the latter part of the morning, Gordon (28) a street evangelizer stopped to chat and blessed me before leaving; we both remember meeting each other at a previous vigil. Charlotte was the recipient of some lauds, with one woman offering her a twoonie. (Interestingly, unlike previous vigils persons have been offering us, particularly Charlotte some monetary gifts - $1, $2, $5)

In the afternoon three visitors came, two of whom chatted for some time – Serge and Joseph. I had 40-minute chats with both. Serge and I saw eye-to-eye on many issues whereas Joseph made me feel uncomfortable on numerous occasions. The latter, a professed Christian, had the tendency during our talk to point his finger at passers-by and stating a judgment about them – “she’s pro abortion”, “him, a good person.. The conversation and exchange flowed better with Serge whereas with Joseph I found myself more listening and questioning the numerous claims he was making. I found he was lacking in mercy.

The third person, Charles, came just as I was closing out the day and when I emerged from 5 p.m. mass he was there with Joseph along with a police officer in conversation.

Day 14 – The Interview

Today’s highlight was the interview by a dozen or so UQAM journalism students.

At around mid-afternoon, I had no sooner taken a break that a first group of four students and then a second and a third approached me almost simultaneously. Young men and women questioned me about what I was doing, why, the support to pregnant women we offer. I gave concrete details about the latter. Finally satisfied, photos were taken and they were off.

I mustn’t forget the post-abortive woman (mid-twenties) who collapsed next to the metro aedicula. This occurred around 11:20 a.m. She was assisted by a male and female of about the same age. I offered the phone no. of a colleague who does post-abortion counselling.

Among the prayer volunteers and well-wishers who came and went on this day are Carlos, Suzanne, Alejandra, Charlotte, Denis, Mary and her son Denison.

Comments heard: young woman: “you should be ashamed of what you are doing,” and an older woman: « Vous faites pitié, Monsieur. »

Day 17 – Parting of the Veil

Because of laws and the construction occurring in the vicinity of the vigil location ( I counted five work sites all in visible range of our prayer location), we have an obstructed line of sight to the two abortion centres close at hand. Yet, this day a veil was parted briefly permitting Charlotte and I to witness the tragedy going on.

In sum three couples travelled through our prayer site, proceeding into the clinics and one of the women noticeably feeling the impact of the abortion on returning needing aid from the man accompanying her.

The latter incident particularly affected Charlotte.. The woman needed visible assistance and comfort from her partner to make her way to the metro. Never had we a greater need for our presence to point out the butchering going on.

Our presence on the streets of Montreal brings the love of Christ front and centre, not only to the men and women seeking to end of the lives of their unborn children, but also to the many others who are struggling and who have forgotten God.

Thank you for your support to make this initiative possible.

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