November 1st Mass and Prayer Vigil

November 1st: All Saints Day 2012

Everyone is invited to attend Mass and a Prayer Vigil for Life at St. Adalbert's Church in Berea.

Mass is at 7:00pm.
Adoration until Midnight, with special prayers led on the hour.
Closes with Benediction at Midnight.
Please join us for Mass and a Holy Hour for any portion of the evening to pray for life intentions.

I know that many of us have been without power since the storm hit. I am writing this from the home of a family member because we are still dark at ours. Thursday evening will be a great pick-me-up for us... a chance to get out and get busy praying. I plan on allowing the children to wear their All Saints' finery to Mass. The only challenge will be unearthing it from the dark recesses of our home!

Praying that all of you are safe and that your homes are secure. Hope to see you on Thursday!

Upcoming events:

Every Friday
St. Gerard Rosary for Life
4:00-5:00pm
St. Joseph Catholic Church in the Blessed Sacrament Adoration Chapel
(center driveway, park in front, chapel is across from school main door)
12700 Pearl Rd. Strongsville, OH
We try to pray 10 decades and then a chaplet of Divine Mercy.
If the door is locked... just knock and we will come open it.

I am Voiceless

A number of factors combined this weekend to cause me to entirely lose my voice. It started with a cold and cough. Add some hearty communicating about this and that around the house. Next, throw in an all day craft show where I chatted pretty much incessantly. Now today, after a full morning and afternoon of trying to force my voice to be heard by those who may or may not have wanted to hear it, I can only whisper softly. Super softly.

It's a strange feeling to be responsible for an entire household and not be able to give directions, reply to questions, read a book out loud, or participate in family prayers. Definitely a helpless feeling. Everything else on me still works fine. I just can't be heard when I want to be heard. And sometimes, when I need to be heard.

I'm coming!
Don't touch that hot stove!
Will you please....?
This is how you do the problem.
Are you okay?
I love you.

I laughed at one point and called myself voiceless. I am voiceless. I have no voice. Those words jogged a memory and I thought of the many times I have declared my commitment to speaking on behalf of those who have no voice. Namely, the preborn children who will be destroyed by abortion.

They cannot say what they would want to say. They cannot say what needs to be heard...

I am hungry.
Will you feed me?
I am thirsty.
Will you give me something to drink?
I am cold.
Will you clothe me?
I am afraid.
Will you hold me?
I do not want to die.
Are you okay?
I love you.

I am offering my inconvenient laryngitis today for the children of the world who cannot cry out against the injustice committed against them.

I am also offering my day for all the mothers and fathers who regret their abortions and grieve in silence.

My kids were discussing whether or not my voice would return soon. One of them jokingly suggested that perhaps it would be better for all the kids if my voice were not better tomorrow! She was joking but there was truth in there, too. I am not always careful. I wound with my voice.

For all the unborn, for the grieving mothers and fathers, in reparation for the wounds I have inflicted with my voice.... Lord, here my prayer.

Looking for October/November Photos and Events...

Pro-Life Pumpkin Templates

It was a busy weekend for pro-lifers in Cleveland and I would love to feature some of your stories or photos here. Please drop an email if you've got anything to share from the downtown rally, October Baby showing, or the youth dinner.

Also, please forward me any upcoming pro-life events for your group or parish so that I can add them to the calendar. Aaand... forward the blog address to anyone you know who would like to receive or share info here.

We had a productive weekend in our family with the older kids attending the 4th annual Building a Culture of Life Youth Retreat and Dinner in West Salem, Ohio. They had a great time (as always) with other Ohio youth learning how to be leaders in a Culture of Life. The games, free t-shirts, and spaghetti dinner were nice, too! Unfortunately, we have no photos share yet. A room full of cell phones and teens and no photos. What are the odds? There must be a photo out there somewhere. I intend to track it down.

More great stuff coming up this weekend... Check the October calendar...

Cleveland Lawyers for Life gather Wednesday.
St. Gerard Rosary for Life on Friday.
Respect Life Prayer Vigil in Berea on Friday.
October Baby showing again at St. Ambrose on Sunday.

Am I missing anything?

Saturday, October 20th: Religious Freedom Rally, October Baby, Youth Dinner

There's a lot going on in Cleveland on Saturday! If you are unable to make an event yourself, please spread the word... sometimes the only thing keeping someone from participation is a lack of information...

***At Noon***

2012

Cleveland Public Square

More info HERE

**********************

***At 7:00 PM***

Fr Dennis McNeil and the Saint Ambrose Pro-Life Group will show the movie 

OCTOBER BABY

FREE of Charge at Saint Ambrose Catholic Church, 929 Pearl Rd., Brunswick, Ohio.

                                 Saturday Oct. 20 at 7 PM in Hilkert Hall Rooms 1-3 (doors closest to rectory)

Fr Dennis McNeil will hold a brief discussion afterwards.  

For more information, call 330.460.7300.This film is rated PG-13 due to the subject material. 

Children under 13must be accompanied by a parent.

If you haven't yet seen October Baby, this is a wonderful opportunity. Do not miss it if you can help it! 

***At 6:00 PM***

4th annual Building a Culture of Life Youth Retreat and Dinner 

at St. Stephen Parish, West Salem Ohio

More information HERE.

(I believe that registration takes place at 5:30. Please call first if interested)

A Wave of Light, A Wave of Love: Remembering our lost babies on October 15th

In October of 1988, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed October as National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. He said:

"When a child loses his parent, they are called an orphan. When a spouse loses her or his partner, they are called a widow or widower. When parents lose their child, there isn't a words to describe them. This month recognizes the loss so many parents experience across the United States and the world. It is also meant to inform and provide resources for parents who have lost children due to miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, stillbirths, birth defects, SIDS, and other causes."

How fitting that October is also Respect Life month.

October 15th has become known as "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day" and today, people all over the world will be lighting a candle at 7:00pm to commemorate their lost loved ones. The founders of the day envisioned a day to support, educate, and celebrate about loss and love.

From Catholic Sistas:

“Every year on October 15 the nation quietly pauses to remember lost babies. It’s a day that most people don’t even know about. You won’t find it marked on any calendar when you buy it in a store, or find cards for the occasion in even a tiny corner of Hallmark, but it’s an important day for those of us who have lost babies. The day has existed since President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation in 1988 and serves to, among other things, “inform and educate the public about pregnancy and infant loss.”

A tradition on this day is that at 7:00 pm in each time zone a Wave of Light will move across the country, and the world. All families who have lost a baby either by pregnancy or infant death should light a candle and leave it burning for at least one hour. The wave of light will serve as a reminder that there are those of us who still remember – and those who have not suffered a loss pause to surround us in love.

This is the first year I will celebrate this day and I will be busy running errands for most of it. Fortunately, my errands bring me to a Catholic church at precisely 7:00pm. And I will light a candle for our little Matthew.... and one more in memory of the beautiful children lost to our family and friends, but safe in the arms of Jesus.

Our Holy Innocents, pray for us.

October 17th: 40 Days for Life Mid-Point Mass and Prayer Vigil

We're halfway there! The 40 Days for Life campaign is blessing our country with renewed hope! Please join Fr. Doug Brown and the Mary Queen of Peace community to mark this halfway point this Wednesday...

Wednesday October 17, 2012

5:30 P.M. Mass at the Mary Queen of Peace (Cleveland) lower Chapel

Followed by a prayer vigil at the Cleveland Surgi-Center down the street.

Since it's inception in 2007, the national 40 Days for Life campaign has witnessed:

• 1,894 individual campaigns have taken place in 440 cities
• More than 525,000 have joined together in an historic display of unity to pray and fast for an end to abortion
• More than 15,000 church congregations have participated in the 40 Days for Life campaigns
• Reports document 5,928 lives that have been spared from abortion — and those are just the ones we know about
• 69 abortion workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry
• 24 abortion facilities completely shut down following local 40 Days for Life campaigns
• Hundreds of women and men have been spared from the tragic effects of abortion, including a lifetime of regrets
• More than 2,100 news stories have been featured in newspapers, magazines, radio shows and TV programs from coast to coast ... and overseas
• Many people with past abortion experiences have stepped forward to begin post-abortion healing and recovery

Have you been out to pray yet? Cleveland info and locations Here.

Follow 40 Days for Life, Cleveland on Facebook.

October 13th is Work Saturday at Zechariah House!

Zechariah House is a local home serving the needs of expectant women and their children. They rely on the tremendous support and generosity from the community to keep their beautiful home clean, supplied, and running.

This Saturday (October 13th) is the 2nd Saturday of the month, which mean that it's Work Saturday! Once a month, volunteers of all ages and abilities gather to work alongside the moms and staff of Zechariah House, completing various projects.

If you are available from 9am-12pm, I'm sure your hands will be a great blessing to the community! I hear that students from the Baldwin Wallace pro-life group will be there so you'll be in some great company!

For more information, please contact their Director of Volunteers, Peggy at:
padams@maggiesplace.org or 440-886-2620

Their next Work Saturdays will be November 3rd and December 8th.
Other volunteer opportunities include: providing house coverage, cooking meals, cleaning, gardening, sorting donations, baby-sitting, tutoring, etc.)

They also have an updated needs list on their website: The Zechariah House Need List
Some needs are urgent so please take a look.

Bishop Paprocki: The Democrat Party Supports Intrinsic Evil, the Republican Party Does Not

 Curtsy to Father V. over at Adam's Ale

Novena to St. Gerard, Patron Saint of Pregnant Mothers and Childbirth, begins today

Novena to St. Gerard Majella 

Patron Saint of Pregnant Mothers and of Childbirth

October 8th through 16th

St. Gerard,

You worshipped Jesus as the Lord of Life.

I ask you today to pray 

For my special intention.

(Mention intention here.)

Lift up to Jesus

All those who seek to conceive a child,

All those having difficult pregnancies,

All who have suffered the loss of a child,

And all who lovingly lift up their children to God.

Pray that all of us, 

By caring for mothers, fathers, and children 

born and unborn

May build a Culture of Life

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Respect Life Month Activities for Kids

Pro-Life Pumpkin

American Life League created a template for carving this beautiful pro-life pumpkin. 

PDF template here.

Novena for the Protection of the Unborn & Activity

This project is so sweet. As you and your children make your way through the novena, they are able to place a baby in Blessed Mother's arms each day. At the end, she will have 9 little ones to cradle.

Novena link and PDF printables HERE.

This novena typically starts on the Feast of the Archangels but the Lord will surely hear the voices of the faithful at any time. :)

Additional activities and printables for kids and families can be found under the Printables tab at the top of this blog.