Why pray outside an abortion centre?

What disturbs me at the vigil is how diverse reactions are to the gesture of praying outside an abortion centre. Some bless us some curse us, but no one is exactly the same. ´That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee’ (John 17:21). Perhaps this is what disturbs me, the human race is far from being one. 

Is there a right way to see it and a wrong way to see it? Yes, because there is the Truth. If society views praying outside an abortion centre as a violent action, a criminal offence, then no doubt our society is far from the Truth. 

My experience with the Good Counsel Network has been one of clawing my way out of my own spiritual blindness. The first time I made my way to a vigil I was bracing myself, anticipating conflict, that it would simply be a matter of suffering and offering it up. I was pleasantly surprised by the peace that was there, the greatest peace I had ever felt, I was closer to Heaven than I had ever felt, I felt like I was at Mass. 

Going to the vigil is like going to Mass because you are going to the Foot of the Cross. It is to go to where the greatest of all evils is happening, to stand with the innocent victims of our sins, to offer oneself for them.

Not just once have I been standing there when the countenance of someone who is looking at us changes, as though they have seen the Truth or something beautiful. Praying there, we are creating a milieu of grace that hearts are changed by, a wall of light defending the unborn. 

But how to see the Truth? To see through the eyes of Our Lady. At the Foot of the Cross, she was the only one who could see the Truth in all it's fullness, that this man on the cross, her son, was not a criminal. He was innocent, He was God Incarnate. 

Why pray outside an abortion centre? The first time I went I didn’t understand. Sometimes I still don’t understand. Why not just pray at home? And how to be there? Give out leaflets? That didn’t feel right to me, but to other people it did. So it would appear, the vigilants are not ´one´ either. 

´It’s really hard to know how to be here’ I said.

‘All you’ve got to do is show up’ said Trish (another volunteer). 

I found myself asking, would Our Lady really do this? More and more I realise that she would. It is exactly where she is, it’s where to find her. Our Lady went to the Foot of the Cross, she didn’t stay at home and pray. She was just one person, she couldn’t stop what was happening, but she knew that He was in control.                              Anna Maria

With your continued prayers and financial support – however dark things get - we can ensure that women are able to turn away from abortion because we can offer them real alternatives.

Donate To Support Our Work

Bank Details

Name: The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel

Sort Code: 40-06-30

Account Number: 13994678

By Credit Card over the phone:

Call 0207-723-1740 Monday to Friday, 10.30-6pm

Paypal.me/SaveLivesGCN

Sisters of Life visit London: No life is useless; no life is worthless.

In May this year, the Sisters of Life from New York visited England and Ireland. Four of their sisters took time to share their wisdom with some of The Good Counsel Network's staff and volunteers in London.

Here are some extracts from a talk given by Sister Marie Veritas, SV.

As we engage in praying outside of a clinic, we exercise a ministry of reverence. What is this ministry of reverence? Well, I would say it’s entering into the mystery of seeing, knowing, and loving the human person as God does. Seeing: I and three other Sisters were walking through a park one day. This little girl walked past us, looking at us with big eyes; as she passed, she excitedly whispered - in a little-kid whisper, which is, as you know, louder than their regular voice - “Look, mommy! Ghosts!” So many people feel like ghosts in their own lives, and it’s painful. Why? Because we all want to be seen. In a way, that’s what we’re made for. In Genesis we hear 6 times “And God saw that it was good...” And at the creation of man we hear the echo of something even greater… “God saw that it was very good.” God loves every person into existence, body and soul. God sees us and is moved by us. St. Catherine of Siena once said that God is “pazzo d’amore” – literally, “crazy in love”, with us. He looks at us with the eternity of His unbroken gaze. Cardinal O’Connor said, “God is being, that being which keeps the entire world in existence. If Almighty God withdrew His hand from us for a billionth of a second, we wouldn’t simply cease to exist, we wouldn’t be obliterated, it would be as though we had never been. Our being is derived from God. God is the being which extends throughout all the world.”The great glory of life is that my body is me, and I - head and heart and hands and soul - am a gift straight from the heart of the Trinity, made uniquely and unrepeatably in His image. And so I (and all that makes me me — every freckle and every hair and the shape of my nose and the tone of my voice and my temperament and my emotional bent and the stirrings of my heart) - is important to God. I am a unique reflection of the Almighty Beauty of God, I am a portal into the mystery of God Himself. Every human person is an icon of the living God. Every human person is meant to be seen, is meant to be encountered in truth, and is meant to draw us into the mystery of God’s love.

Cardinal O’Connor said: “Our entire search must be for the face of God. …we have to see Him in everyone we meet. We have to see Him in the unborn baby, in those who are helpless in hospital beds, in those who are twisted and deformed and looking like something less than human beings. We have to see Him in the crippled, in the retarded. We have to see Him in those who hate us. We have to hear His voice in the shrieks of those who ridicule us. Always, this must be our search.” Every person is holy ground, sacred. As C.S. Lewis wrote, – “it is hardly possible… to think too often or too deeply of the glory of my neighbour. It is a serious thing… to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship… There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal…  Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses.”. No person is an accessory; no life is useless, no life is worthless.

The Sisters of Life are a religious community of women, founded in 1991 by John Cardinal O’Connor,

who take a fourth vow to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life. Immersed in Eucharistic prayer within a vibrant community life, their missions include caring for vulnerable pregnant women and their unborn children; inviting those wounded by abortion into the healing mercy of Jesus; fostering a Culture of Life through evangelization; retreat works; spiritual accompaniment of college students; and upholding the beauty of marriage and family life.      www.sistersoflife.org

Mercy’s Pregnancy Choice

Mercy is a young African mum who approached us for help last year.

She came to the UK to live with family members and help in their house, as well as to study. When her aunt became terminally ill, she was left alone in the UK. Mercy is a quiet and inexperienced young woman and was easily taken in by a man she met online who then started to date her.

He encouraged her to think he wanted to marry her and settle down.

She became pregnant after a few months and he suddenly told her he did not want her to have the baby. He started pushing abortion all the time and tried to blackmail her into having it done.

Finally, he told her he was already married with children and he would not support her if she had this child.

He changed his phone number, closed all his online accounts and disappeared.

Alone in a country she doesn’t know too well, and abandoned by the baby’s father, Mercy could have easily gone for an abortion, but she decided that she wanted to do the right thing for her baby and respect his or her life.

Luckily, she found Good Counsel, and we have been able to give little bits of support, helping her to keep her accommodation and also providing baby clothes and goods.

Mercy’s daughter was born this spring and has brought her great joy.

Please pray for her as she breaks the news to her family.                                                                  Clare

Even in these difficult times we have been blessed to keep assisting Mothers who would have an abortion without support.

There are many Mothers who we are currently helping with rent, with food and with basic living costs. During the summer holidays donations usually drop considerably but Mums and babies still need help with the necessities of life.

Donate To Support Our Work

 

Bank Details

Name: The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel

Sort Code: 40-06-30

Account Number: 13994678

 

By Credit Card over the phone:

Call 0207-723-1740 Monday to Friday, 10.30-6pm

 

Paypal.me/SaveLivesGCN

Supporting Mothers and babies in these dark times

These days are becoming very dark times. When I heard about the vote to decriminalise abortion, which will result in more, later term abortions, as well as vulnerable women being coerced into abortion after the current six-month time limit and then I heard that Parliament voted to legalize euthanasia, I had to acknowledge things are very dark indeed.

To try and paint any of these decisions, as anything other than evil would be dishonest. Euthanasia which initially will be presented as being available just to help those who really want to end their own lives, will of course be broadened instantly. Looking at any of the countries around the world where euthanasia has been legalized, we can see that most or all ‘safeguards’ are quickly removed and it is the extremely vulnerable who are put to death against their wishes.

Over the years we've seen many women who managed to hide their pregnancy until they were six months pregnant and had thus passed the legal limit for abortion. These were women who feared being pushed into an abortion by those around them. By 6 months of pregnancy, it was too late for anyone to pressure them to abort. Parliament has just voted to ensure that these women no longer have even that much protection in law.

But in the midst of all this darkness there is still light. At our legal, prayerful pro-life vigils near abortion centres around London, and at others around the country, women still reach out to us for the support they need. We even have women approach our vigils with a certain amount of trepidation, after hearing the lies and fantasies spread by our enemies to distort the work we really do. In spite of the buffer zones that keep us away from helping some of the women approaching the abortion centres, we are still today reaching and helping many expectant Mothers.

We are also privileged to have Mothers that we have helped in the past send their friends  -who are strongly thinking of abortion - to us for help to keep their babies. These women  are often set on abortion because they do not believe that the help they need to continue their pregnancy is really available to them. The reason that our old “clients” send their friends to us is because they know from experience that we can and will help them. Just a couple of weeks ago, a twenty-week pregnant woman, who was still considering abortion, was sent into our Centre by one of her friends. We had helped this friend six or seven years ago during her own pregnancy, and we had met her going into the abortion centre in Ealing. Ironically, the abortion centre in Ealing still has a plaque of Saint Michael on its wall, as it once was a Christian house of healing.

With your continued prayers and financial support – however dark things get - we can ensure that women like these are able to turn away from abortion because we can offer them real alternatives.

Please Donate To Support Our Work

Bank Details

Name: The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel

Sort Code: 40-06-30

Account Number: 13994678

By Credit Card over the phone:

Call 0207-723-1740 Monday to Friday, 10.30-6pm

Paypal.me/SaveLivesGCN

40 Days to Give So Others Might Live This Lent

We are called Pray, Fast and Give Alms in Lent. This year, the money you save in Lent could help us to offer women the help they need to keep their babies. 

Why not print off a clear copy of our Lenten Chart and use it to remind yourself what your fasting has helped you to save each day so you can send money to support our pro-life work? 

Easy ways to donate are listed on the Chart.

Saving Lives with Good Counsel this Lent

 

Save whatever you can each day for the 40 days of Lent, 50p, £1, £5, £10 or whatever you can give , and donate the proceeds to help expectant Mothers who choose life in difficult circumstances. In October last year we said that, "We met a young woman a little while ago who was recently married and was living with her husband’s family. They tried to force her to have an abortion against her wishes, to the point of making her homeless while pregnant! We have stepped in to provide the help that she needs and she is able to continue her pregnancy because of your support." We are very pleased to say that with you support and prayers this young Mother has now given birth and is doing well, but still needs our help.

Payment can be made weekly in Lent or in a one off donation if that is easier for you.
You can also share our post far and wide with your pro-life friends.

Online Bank Transfers can be made to: The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel Sort Code: 40-06-30 Account Number: 13994678

Card Payments by Phone: Call 020-7723-1740 Monday - Friday 10-6 (excluding 12-1).

Via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/GB/fundraiser/charity/135949

Cheque
Please make cheques payable to The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel and sent them to:
The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel,

PO Box 46679
LONDON
NW9 8ZT

You can also download Standing Order and Gift Aid forms here https://www.goodcounselnet.co.uk/donate

Entertaining Angels Unaware: 40 Days of Celebrating Mums Choosing Life Day 40!

Danni came to Good Counsel some years ago. She found us through heading past Buckhurst Hill abortion centre on her way to book an abortion somewhere else! As she walked past, a man called to her and said "Hey that man wants to speak to you!" Danni stopped and looked across the road where she saw Michael, one of the Helpers of God's Precious Infants, who were holding a regular vigil there.

She went over to him, not knowing who he was, or what he was doing. "That man told me you wanted to speak to me." she said and Michael said "What man?" they both looked around, the quiet street was empty. "I didn't see anyone. And I didn't tell anyone to call you." he said bemused. Danni was confused but they got chatting and he told her what he was doing there and showed her the help leaflet. He asked if she was there for an abortion. "Well, I'm not having an abortion here, but I am on my way to book one!" 

Danni accepted Michael's offer of help. She came into our office and sat in our reception area with a Rosary beads- given to her by Michael - around her neck. Another young woman from a similar background was there too, she had walked in from another abortion centre after being offered help. She too had accepted a blessed Rosary and was wearing it around her neck too! They soon became friends!

After we helped her make a plan for herself and her baby, offering lots of support, Danni kept her baby. She told us "It must have been the Archangel Michael that called me over to speak to Michael". She also sent in more than one friend who kept their babies too. Several years later, she came back to us pregnant again, this time with a supportive husband, but with a disabled baby. "I'm keeping my baby." she said. "It's a life. It's a human being."

This is the work that is done outside abortion centres. This is the work that reaches out to mums in desperate situations and saves lives, like the 5 lives that we know of that have been saved in the Brixton and Ealing 40 Days for Life Campaigns this Lent. Make no mistake, this is the work that buffer zones are intended to stop.

You can donate to help us support our work here or here.