Saving Lives This Lent

During Lent we often struggle with Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. Yet these Lenten duties aren’t given to us as a punishment but as a means to help us overcome our own spiritual weakness, our greed and selfishness and even our lack of self-control and our lack of vigour in attaining holiness. In other words, Lent is a kind of spiritual workout for the soul. It can be hard sometimes to feel that giving up chocolate and saying an extra prayer or two is making much difference. Sometimes it is even harder to just keep doing the penances or spiritual extras we have taken on, or knowing where best to give alms!

Pro-life work provides an opportunity for all these things. Firstly, in order to try to help women considering abortion, we have to have hope ourselves – abortion is an act of despair, so if we don’t have hope, we have nothing to offer women in need. So we need to keep our own faith alive and active through a deep prayer life. Secondly, some demons can only be cast out through prayer and fasting, as Our Lord told the apostles. And sometimes it is very clear that abortion is one of the issues that requires both prayer and fasting for us to overcome it. Finally, almsgiving. The women we see come to us with every kind of problem: homelessness, trafficking, abuse, illegal immigration, poverty, drug and alcohol addiction, imprisonment, prostitution, depression, marriage breakdown, and so many other difficult situations. Money is not the answer to every problem, but money can often buy help, keep food on the table and a roof over someone’s head. With your support, we can reach and help many more Mothers, so they can choose life and we can support them as they do so.

The women who choose abortion come from every walk of life, rich and poor, black and white and every race and colour. We can use Lent to profit our own soul as well as to help save the lives of others by deepening our prayer, fasting and almsgiving for those tempted to abort.

A young Mother, Joanna, who we helped recently, changed her mind as she was going to the Ealing abortion centre. The thing that made her feel able to choose life was our offer to help with part of her rent for the months she would be off work because she did not qualify for maternity pay. That promise has been honoured and she is now the delighted Mother of Jennifer, who is the apple of her eye. It’s amazing that a relatively small amount of financial help can save a life, but it is true! Not just has it saved Jennifer’s life, but it has also brought Joanna to the point where she recognises that abortion would have been wrong, and a terrible mistake. Something she would never want to consider again, no matter how difficult the circumstances.

So, this Lent, please join us and spare some prayer, fasting and almsgiving for the pro-life movement.

Prayer

Why not join us in prayer during Lent? See the options to join our Rosary or Adoration Rotas, or join us at 40 Days for Life – see GoodCounselNetwork.com for details. And follow the daily updates here on our blog, which includes details of the Bishop, Archbishop and Cardinal who have attended 40 Days for Life vigils in London this Lent.

Fasting

Can you offer your fasting and any suffering you have for the end of abortion, the closure of abortion centres and for particular Mothers considering abortion?

Almsgiving

Can you support our work and help the Mothers we are assisting by donating during Lent? Or could you start making a regular (e.g. monthly) donation to our work? See our bank details below.

Clare

DONATE TO SUPPORT OUR WORK

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The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel

Sort Code: 40-06-30                       

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