The Angelus

40 Days for Life
The Angelus

Today is Ash Wednesday. Christians are called to begin their preparation for the glory of Easter through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

At the Quebec Life Coalition, we begin our preparation for the joy of Easter as we have done every year since 2009, with prayer, praying for the protection of unborn life.

For the seventeenth consecutive year, together with faithful volunteers, we are adding an outdoor component to our Lenten prayers - an outdoor component, a forty-day vigil near an abortion business.

Our purpose is twofold: to draw the attention of our fellow citizens to the grave injustice of abortion is but also to convert the hearts of those who seek an abortion.

40 Days for Life

Inspired by Our Lord’s experience in the desert, this vigil will last forty days. The Montreal 40-day vigil is not an isolated event. Some 660 vigils are taking place simultaneously around the world this spring, most in the United States, but also in many countries, including Canada, where there are between 15 and 20 vigils.

The proven way to end abortion is simple. Since the 40-day vigils began in College Station, Texas, in 2003, three elements have closed abortion businesses: prayer and fasting; public education, and prayer presence near an abortion facility.

In Montreal, the outdoor component of the vigil will be take place at the intersection of Berri and Saint-Catherine streets from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day for forty days, from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday, April 13.

A small but committed group of men and women, some united by their faith communities, will be present during these forty days. Many have committed themselves to specific blocks of time each week during the vigil. Others will come according to their own personal availability.

All are welcome.

Angelus - would you like to experience the vigil? On Saturday 8 March, you are invited to join us in reciting the Angelus, a traditional Catholic prayer that has been recited for centuries, asking for God’s intervention in favour of life, against the abominable crime of abortion – the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.

On Saturday at noon, we will gather at the corner of Berri Street and St. Catherine Street to recite the angelic prayer and to honour her who said yes so that the promise of abundant life may enter the world.

Wishing one and all a blessed Lenten period.