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Dear friends in Christ and in LIFE,
My warm greetings to you as we complete our observance of Lent and join Catholics and all Christians in this grace-filled Season of Renewal in our faith, and prepare for the joyful celebration of Easter 2016 and embrace our Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and as Savior of the world!
It is a joy and honor to join our wonderful pro-life brothers and sisters in encouraging Catholics and all Christians to mark the 21st Anniversary of the powerful Encyclical "The Gospel of Life" from St. John Paul the Great by praying the blessed Evangelium Vitae Novena this month of March.
In the encyclical Evangelium Vitae (Latin: "The Gospel of Life"), Pope John Paul II expresses the position of the Catholic Church regarding the value and inviolability of all human life from conception through natural death. The Pope issued the encyclical on 25 March 1995, and we join pro-life friends around the world in praying this Novena as we together renew our commitment to our pro-life ministries and to upholding and promoting the values of LIFE here in the 21st century.
I have been blessed as a lay Catholic Christian to be a leader and minister in the respect life movement since 1976, just three years after the sad anniversary of legalized abortion in the United States. And I have been blessed to continue ministry in the pro-life movement as a priest since my ordination in 1987, especially as founder and director of the international organization Marian Advocates for Life, a ministry encouraging prayer for LIFE and for all respect life ministries around the world.
Many of us are involved in various pro-life activities, such as respect life education, lobbying for pro-life legislation and helping elect pro-life government officials, ministering with pregnancy care centers, etc. But I really believe that PRAYER must be at the heart of all our ministry for LIFE, and that we must trust that God is at the center of all our ministry. So in that belief, I truly hope that YOU will join in this Evangelium Vitae Novena, and I trust that all of our prayers for LIFE together will truly be a blessing and powerful witness for LIFE March 16-25!
With my blessings and sincere appreciation for your support of this beautiful Novena , I am Yours in Christ and in LIFE,
Fr. Vincent E. Bertrand, MA, MDiv, JCL+ + +
Many thanks to Fr. Vincent for his thoughtful introduction. Please join us in praying the 2nd Annual Evangelium Vitae Novena, beginning on March 17, 2016. The daily prolife petitions
can be found as a new post, each day, on this blog.
In addition, you may want to join the Evangelium Vitae Novena event page or check it out at Designs by Birgit.
Look for, and use, the official Twitter moniker as well - #EV2016
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