Monday, January 22, 2018

Overview of initial apostolate goals

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Save Babies - Save Souls

Below is my initial blog outlining the mission of this apostolate. Please check out the "older posts" for additional prolife resources.
Save babies - Save souls
I have an apostolate called St. Gerard Majella Prolife Prayer Project. It has many components, but it starts with prayer. I have found the rosary to be such a powerful prayer tool and want to share it's benefits with others. It has a calming psyiological affect because of the rhytmn and because you are meditating on the mysteries of Jesus' life and praying for specific virtues on each decade, the prayer is focused. This focus allows God to put different people in mind for intentions based on what they might be going through, or show me a reflection of Jesus' life I did not have before. The beauty and power of these mysteries is infinite. Here is just one example, when I am praying the sorrowful mysteries and get to the third decade of the crowning of thorns (virtue focus is courage), I might think of Jesus' head with the crown of thorns and pray for all those suffering from mental anquish, depression, brain cancer, eye problems, etc) These prayers bring me so much peace and take my mind off of my own problems, giving God the control to work miracles in people's lives and give them strength to carry their own crosses as well as me carry my own. People of all ages need something to hold on to during difficult and joyous times in their lives and I want to give them the rosary. My original work included providing rosary packets to parishes that included the prayer sheet I made up regarding how to pray the rosary (some people do not remember exactly how to do it or noncatholics can learn) - it included the virtue prayed for during each decade which really helps to focus. I always feel that even if God's will is not the specific thing we are asking for, it is definitely His will to help me grow in these virtues. IT IS VERY EMPOWERING! My goal is for the priests to announce this distribution but more importantly, to share with the parishoners of all ages, about the power and benefits of the rosary in reaching personal potential to feel God's love fully and sharing this with the world. This will strengthen the parish over time and I feel, could save a life. There might be a young person contemplating suicide sitting in the pew and this could be just the small piece of hope they need to hear. It could benefit the sick or lonely - any trial is lightened with prayer and hope, especially knowing that you have a faith family that really believes in God's power!
The next step in this project is for the parish to enlist the patron saint of the parish for intercession and introduce or reintroduce the parishoners to the saint, their gifts and mission. The churches are named after a particular saint for a reason. That saint can come alive and produce those same virtuous results in their parish today. Book/discusssion groups about the saint is a great way to involve people in the parish life, especially teens. I like to put a quote from that saint in the bulletin every week just to pique the interest in them. Blessed medals of the saint can be distributed, novenas started, and celebrations of their feast days honored.
This is just the first couple of steps in my apostolate - I will write more each day. You will see, the prolife aspects unfold as well as personal sanctity strived for. We can change our world - give people hope - love and respect everyone from conception until natural death - and defeat the evil forces in our world with hope and trust in God.

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