Evangelium Vitae Novena Day 5: March 20 - For An End to the Sex Industry #EVN2016

Welcome prolife prayer warriors!

As we recall the gift of the great encyclical from Pope John Paul II - Evangelium Vitae - let us call to mind the great need our world has for prayer.

The spilling of innocent blood through abortion and other atrocities against humanity can only be reparated by the pure and Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. With this Novena we contribute our own small effort by petitioning God for the healing of our culture of the following ills.

Contraception * Abortion * Euthanasia * Exploitation (embryonic stem cells, cloning, etc.) * Sex trafficking * Legislators * Clergy * Laity * Chastity

Welcome to Day 5 of our Evangelium Vitae Novena! Please join us in praying for today's intention: an end to the contraceptive mentality which has brought so much chaos into the world. And please remember to pray the daily prayer. God bless you all.

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Daily prayer: Pope Saint John Paul II's Prayer to our Lady.

O Mary
bright dawn of the new world,
Mother of the living,
to you do we entrust the cause
Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers
of babies not allowed to be born,
of the poor whose lives are made difficult,
of men and women
who are victims of brutal violence,
of the elderly and the sick killed
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son
may proclaim the Gospel of Life
with honesty and love
to the people of our time.
Obtain for them the grace
to accept that Gospel
as a gift ever new,
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude
throughout their lives
and the courage to bear witness to it
resolutely, in order to build,
together with all people of good will,
the civilisation of truth and love,
to the praise and glory of God,
the Creator and lover of life.

Day 5: March 20, 2016 - For an end to the sex industry.

In the materialistic perspective described so far, interpersonal relations are seriously         impoverished. The first to be harmed are women, children... The criterion of personal dignity - which demands respect, generosity and service - is replaced by the criterion of efficiency, functionality and usefulness: others are considered not for what they 'are', but for what they 'have, do and produce.' This is the supremacy of the strong over the weak. EV 23.

Heavenly Father, the sex-industry is an 'unfruitful work of darkness' which many Christians would prefer to ignore. Please grant your grace of understanding to assist us in exposing this great evil. Help us to provide dignified work and physical support for sex-workers, and grant freedom to those who are held against their wills. We ask that all people will begin to nurture only those true and loving relationships which value the other over self, which promote mutual respect and which maintain the dignity of all persons involved.  AMEN

Please share this effort with your family and friends and continue to work toward the hopeful goal of a world that respects all life - from fertilization to natural death. 

Remember to us hashtag #EVN2016 when using Twitter.

You may also join the Evangelium Vitae Novena Facebook event  for daily reminders and the opportunity for interaction with like-minded prolife advocates.

If you'd like a bit of history behind the struggle for the respect of life, check out my column at Catholic Stand.

You can also find the daily meditation graphics for sharing on Facebook on the Designs by Birgit fan page. 

In His Name for Life, BirgitJ