by Fr. Frank Pavone
Petition One
Dr. King declared, “It really boils down to this: that
all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of
mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one
directly, affects all indirectly.”
Let us pray.
Lord, open our eyes, to see that our own destiny, as
individuals and as a people, is directly tied to the destiny of our youngest
brothers and sisters, the children in the womb. Help us and all our fellow
citizens to understand that when the unborn are deprived of their rights as
persons, this is an assault on the dignity of us all. Give us grace to
understand that our own rights are only as safe as the rights of the
smallest children.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Petition Two
Dr. King declared, “The next thing we must be concerned
about if we are to have peace on earth…is the nonviolent affirmation of the
sacredness of all human life.”
Let us pray.
Lord God, Author of Peace, you created all human beings
that they might live as one, and you entrusted the life of each to the care
of all. We pray for peace in our times – a peace which is not simply the
absence of bombs and tanks, but rather the full protection of everyone’s
rights, and the harmonious relationships of human beings with each other and
with you. Help us to see that the greatest destroyer of peace and love is
abortion, and that peace on earth must begin with peace in the womb.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Petition Three
Dr. King declared, “We have a task, and let us go out
with a ‘divine dissatisfaction’…Let us be dissatisfied, until from every
city hall, justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a
mighty stream.”
Let us pray.
Lord, we are dissatisfied today. We are deeply troubled
that we live in a land where an act of dismembering a baby masquerades as a
legal right. We are dissatisfied, furthermore, that so many of our fellow
citizens have made peace with this travesty of justice, and have
accommodated themselves to this triumph of violence. We pray today that the
institutions of government, which exist for the purpose of ensuring justice
and protecting life, may no longer fail in that purpose, and may no longer
be hijacked by the forces of evil. Rather, may your light shine in every
Court, every legislature, and every executive mansion, and give your people
a Divine impatience to place in those institutions public servants who know
the difference between serving the public and killing the public. May your
kingdom come, and may it come soon.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Petition Four
Dr. King declared, “Power at its best is love
implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power
correcting everything that stands against love.”
Let us pray.
Lord, all power resides in you, and the hearts of the
powerful are in your hands. Infuse those hearts with a true grasp of the
meaning of power, the demands of justice, and the attraction of love. Help
them understand that power does not mean domination, but service. Help them
to know that justice is not subject to the whims and shifting
interpretations of mortals, but rather is based in you, the unchanging and
eternal God. Help them to grasp the fact that love means to sacrifice
oneself for the good of the other, while abortion means one sacrifices the
other for the superficial good of oneself. Give us, Lord, a culture of life,
where power serves justice and love transforms all.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Petition Five
Dr. King declared, “Strangely enough, I can never be
what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what
you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.”
Let us pray.
Lord, give us the courage today to face the biggest
obstacle in our mission to end abortion. Help us realize that this obstacle
does not reside in media, government, or large pro-abortion organizations.
Rather, our greatest obstacle resides within ourselves. Our greatest
challenge is our own fear, our self-doubt, our hesitations, our
second-guessing about the things we need to do and to sacrifice to advance
the cause of justice. Free us, O Lord, from all that weighs us down. Let us
be all that we ought to be, so that the unborn can be all that they ought to
be as well.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Petition Six
Dr. King declared, “We are now faced with the fact that
tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this
unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too
late…Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and
bitter – but beautiful – struggle for a new world.”
Let us pray.
Lord, give us the grace to respond to the fierce
urgency of now, for the time is always right for justice. Later is too late
for the babies killed today. And the thousands of children scheduled for
death tomorrow cannot wait around for us to build a consensus that they
should be protected. Give us, furthermore, a sense of the urgency to bring
healing to those who are in despair today, and to bring freedom to those
whose sin of abortion weighs them down. Let us not wait, let us not delay.
Give us boldness and courage to act now for justice and for life.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Petition Seven
Dr. King declared, “So we’ve come here today to cash a
check…The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were a promissory
note…that all…would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness…America has defaulted on this promissory
note…America has given…a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient
funds.’ We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds…and so we’ve
come to cash this check.”
Let us pray.
Lord, we live in a time when America has returned
another check marked ‘insufficient funds.’ America has failed to protect the
unborn. Yet we are here to cash that check. We too refuse to believe that
the vaults of freedom and justice and opportunity and life are somehow
insufficient to cover the children in the womb. We refuse to believe that,
and therefore we ask you for the strength to do what it takes to demand
their protection and their freedom.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Petition Eight
Dr. King declared, “I know that you are asking today,
“How long will it take?’ I come to say to you this afternoon however
difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long,
because truth pressed to earth will rise again.
How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever.
How long? Not long, because you still reap what you sow.
How long? Not long. Because the arm of the moral
universe is long but it bends toward justice.
How long? Not long, ‘cause mine eyes have seen the
glory of the coming of the Lord…Our God is marching on!”
Let us pray.
Father, we pray today for all those who have declared
themselves to be Freedom Riders for the unborn. We pray for all our brothers
and sisters in this great movement of justice. Lord, some of your people
have fought this evil of abortion from even before the days of Roe v. Wade.
And we hear them echo what is also in our hearts … “How long?” When will be
the day of restoration, the triumph of equality? Renew our conviction today,
O Lord, that it will not be long. For your Son Jesus Christ has promised
that he is coming soon. The day of the Lord does not tarry. Strengthen our
faith, enliven our hope, and deepen our love, that we may hasten the day
when the unborn enjoy equal protection under the law.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.