Today marks the
anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion
in the USA. It is possible according to Law to end a pregnancy throughout all
nine months. A prayerful response to this atrocity the Church has proposed to
us to observe January 22 as the Day of Prayer and Penance making
reparation for the sin the abortion, praying that true freedom would be engaged
in respecting all of human life, from conception to natural death, and that the
Law would be changed.
The rubric for prayer for the day:
In all the dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life. The Mass "For Peace and Justice" (no. 22 of the "Masses for Various Needs") should be celebrated with violet vestments as an appropriate liturgical observance for this day. (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 373)
A prayer for the unborn
O Heavenly Father, Creator and Giver of all life, Author of justice, Source of love and mercy: Although it is deserving of thine anger and punishment, look with mercy on our nation, which has offended thee by condoning the killing of millions of innocent children, thy precious sons and daughters, who, like all of us, were created in thine image and likeness, but whose only offense was their very existence. Amen.
O Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer, whose inestimable gift of self-sacrificing love provided the means of Salvation for all mankind through the shedding of thine innocent blood: grant that all may come to know thee, serve thee and love thee, and thus may know the meaning of true freedom and true liberty, which never destroys, but always serves and protects life. Amen.
O Holy Spirit, source of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety and holy fear: inspire us with these gifts. Fill the hearts of the leaders of this nation, especially those who have the temporal power and the grave responsibility to make and interpret and execute laws, with the desire to do God's will, to restore justice and to establish laws that govern the people of this land in conformity with the Divine Law -- laws that will preserve, protect and defend the lives of all sons and daughters of God, from their earliest beginnings until death. Amen.
O Mary, Mother of Jesus, entrusted to be the mother of God's only begotten Son, Our Savior, through thine obedient consent to God's will, and who thus became for all people and all time the model of faith and of the self-giving love and devotion of Motherhood: take into thy motherly arms all the babies who are victims of abortion, that they may receive eternally the comfort of a mother's love. May thine example and intercession open the hearts of all who reject God and His holy laws, comfort all those who suffer remorse because of abortion, and restore to hope in Christ those mothers and fathers who grieve and repent the killing of their children. Amen.
All Angels and Saints: may thy guidance and example show fallen humanity the way to perfect joy and freedom and peace found only in unity with God in obedience to His will through salvation in Christ Jesus; and may thy constant prayers be joined by those of all the little children -- the "slaughtered innocents" -- as a "cloud of witnesses" interceding for sinful man. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
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