Having trained hundreds of sidewalk counselors in our first 34 years as an organization, we at the Pro-Life Action League have heard from many, many sidewalk counselors and prayer partners over the years who have struggled at one point or another with a very basic human problem: namely, burnout.
When you take time on a regular basis to stand outside an abortion clinic to offer help to women, or simply to pray, your goal is clear: you hope that women change their minds and decide instead to choose life for their baby.
When that happens — and it certainly does happen — it’s nothing short of amazing, for a child that was scheduled to be killed will now be allowed to live, and your presence helped to make that happen.
But what if you experience long periods of time when it never happens? Long periods of time when, as far as you know, no babies’ lives are saved, despite your consistent, tireless presence outside your local abortion clinic?
Click “like” if you are PRO-LIFE!
It’s easy to see how a dry spell like this might tempt you to think you’re simply wasting your time.
But when thoughts like this creep up on us, we have to remind ourselves that every time — every. single. time. — we stand outside of an abortion clinic and pray in mourning for the babies being killed there, we offer them what is perhaps the only act of human love they will ever receive.
And therefore, our time is never wasted when we stand outside an abortion clinic.
Consider that Our Lady, and Mary Magdalene, and St. John did not save Jesus when they stood at the foot of the Cross. But they wanted to near Him when He died — to be, literally, “close to Jesus to the last” — for no other reason than because they loved Him.
In a similar way, we may not be able to save every baby from abortion. But we can be near them when they die and thereby love them in this uniquely powerful way. And in so doing, we fulfill the beatitude: “Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Reprinted with permission from the Pro-Life Action League.