Acies leads the parish in standing up for the unborn
Driving through the small town of St. Mary’s on January 22nd, 2017, one would think time had frozen to attend a mass funeral; in stark silence on either side of Highway 24, extending from Bertrand and Grand Avenue to 5th Street, two, long rows of solemn faces stood, while a slight, cold breeze whipped at rosaries and chilled the awaiting individuals. Then, at 3:10 in the afternoon, bold signs in hand, these two rows simultaneously knelt on the sidewalks, and over loud speakers came the familiar words, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” A sort of mass funeral was indeed observed that day, for the attendees along Bertrand Street prayed the fifteen decades of the holy Rosary for all of the lives lost through abortion and for the end of this horrific modern massacre.
Since 1973, when this law was executed, over 58 million innocent children have been murdered in the U.S alone
The date of January 22nd marked the 44th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which, Americans know, is the Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion up to the third trimester across the United States. Since 1973, when this law was executed, over 58 million innocent children have been murdered in the U.S alone. According to a Pro-Life organization’s statistics, an abortion is committed every 90 seconds in abortion clinics. With outrageous facts such as these, it is no wonder nearly 1,600 people lined the streets for almost an hour to pray for reparation, sorrowful and continuously stunned at these exponentially increasing crimes.
Though this culture of death seems to be swallowing lives by the millions, there is no doubt of there being hope for our future children, a hope which was apparent in the faces of those praying the Rosary on that chilly, Sunday afternoon. Though their prayers were prayers of reparation, they were no less pleas for a brighter, life centered future for the mothers and fathers of preborn children, for the right decisions to be made by our country, for a culture protecting life and not destroying it. Audria Garno, one of the members of Acies, the Catholic youth group which organized the event, says, “ Kneeling there, I remember how grateful I am for the gift of human life, and am glad of the chance to publicly confirm my respect for God’s gift. Our humble prayers are a little act of reparation as we beg God’s mercy on our country’s sins. Here in a small way, we are able to stand up in defense of the helpless unborn.” A small act of love was this rally of defense for the defenseless. Nevertheless, the Pro-Life Rosary is always a manifestation of, and a real participation in, the battle against abortion, both on a natural and supernatural level. “I came in order to publicly defend the rights of God and the unborn,” says Isaac Dailey, a member of Acies. “Because abortion takes away the life created by God and for God, because abortion takes away the life and fruit of the family in society, and because abortion takes away the right which the unborn has to his own life, I wish, by the grace of God, to assist in some small yet powerful way, to restore these things which are taken away.”
Next January 22nd, and in the years to come, join us in the fight for life, meanwhile continuing to storm the gates of Heaven for the abolishment of so heinous a crime.
- Maria Merz
