A 54-Day Novena for Justice and Life
How Father Gordon Was Inspired to Fight Like Heaven
How Father Gordon Was Inspired to Fight Like Heaven
One evening in July, Father Gordon Reigle was praying in his rectory chapel at St. Thomas Aquinas in East Lansing aboutthe possibility of an abortion ballot proposal this fall. Knowing the coming months would be critical to protecting countless vulnerable mothers and innocent lives in the womb, he asked God what can be done to overcome such powerful and well-financed lobby groups as Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union. Father Reigle now explains what happened next:
One evening in July, Father Gordon Reigle was praying in his rectory chapel at St. Thomas Aquinas in East Lansing aboutthe possibility of an abortion ballot proposal this fall. Knowing the coming months would be critical to protecting countless vulnerable mothers and innocent lives in the womb, he asked God what can be done to overcome such powerful and well-financed lobby groups as Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union. Father Reigle now explains what happened next:
Within a matter of minutes, the idea of a 54-day Rosary Novena popped into my head! To be honest, I’ve never prayed a 54-day Rosary Novena before. I know that it exists and is very powerful, but this came as a surprise.
A novena is nine days of prayer. Hence, a 54-day Rosary Novena is actually a series of six novenas: Three novenas to petition God and three novenas to thank God. It has roots going back to the 19th century and the miraculous cure of a young Italian woman, Fortuna Agrelli, who was visited by Our Lady of Pompeii and given the instructions for this novena to heal her seemingly incurable affliction.
I then looked at the calendar and counted back 54 days from the conclusion of this novena on the day before the General Election, Nov. 7. I was delighted to discover that this novena needs to start on Thursday, Sept. 15, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. The Blessed Mother is the patroness of the Gospel of Life. Her sorrowful heart grieves over the sufferings of her children, especially when our most innocent and vulnerable are threatened. Next, I took my prayerful insight to Bishop Boyea, who heartily approved of it.
Hence, please do join Bishop Boyea, me and many others across the Diocese of Lansing in praying the holy rosary each day right up until the General Election, Nov. 8, to protect our state constitution from corruption.
You can receive a daily text reminder of the novena each day by texting FightLikeHeaven to 84576. Alternatively, you can simply pray a rosary, or part of a rosary as best you can, each day until Nov. 7 to keep our state abortion free. Even if you start late or miss a few days, your effort is needed and appreciated. Our world needs all the prayers it can get!
May Our Lady protect us and save our children!
