Why the name?

It's a little play on words. Allow me to explain:

In 1969, Alexander Calder built a sculpture that has come to symbolize the city of Grand Rapids. It's used on our city logo, on our streetsigns, and on our sewer caps. He titled his sculpture La Grande Vitesse, which means "the grand swiftness" or, more loosely, "grand rapids". [If you follow the link on the photo of this sculpture in the sidebar, you can learn more about Calder's work.]

In 1995, Pope John Paul the Great published a letter addressed to all people of goodwill titled Evangelium Vitae, the Gospel of Life, in which he calls for the building of a culture of life.

LIFE. We are going to spend 40 days, from Sept.23 thru Nov.2, praying & fasting for an end to abortion in this city. We want this end to come swiftly, yet we know that we must cooperate with God's plan in carrying out this end. We also know that the end of abortion is actually a beginning.

And so we pray, peacefully, silently, trusting that God is at work...even in places like 320 E. Fulton St.

We are called to build the culture of life not with our hands, not with metal, nor by any effort on our part. We are going to build this culture of life one prayer at a time, one person at a time, one life at a time.

My apologies to any linguists who may be reading this blog. I'm melding a French nominative phrase with a Latin genitive (the title technically translates as "the grand...of life"). You'll have to excuse the pun.

Grand Rapids 40 Days for Life simply wants to convey the truth: Life is Grand. Life is Good. Life, in fact, is SACRED.

The mothers who brings their children to 320 E. Fulton need our prayers.
The staff who work at 320 E. Fulton need our prayers.
The children who perish at 320 E. Fulton need our prayers.
The city that ignores 320 E. Fulton needs our prayers.

God bless Grand Rapids: May the end to abortion here come swiftly and rapidly and finally!

God bless you, dear readers of this blog: May the Lord enter your life and reveal something Grand, something Good, something Sacred.

God bless our efforts: May they please the Lord at all times~