Some ideas for fasting

from one of our prayer volunteers:

1. Wake like a hero. Get up the first time the alarm goes off. Don’t hit the snooze button, instead practice  “the heroic moment"-- Roll out of bed, kiss the floor, and offer your day to Jesus.

2. Be on time. To everything . . . Punctuality shows respect for others and yourself. It’s a perfect fast because it’s a small thing, but hard to do.

3. Be cheerful even when you don’t feel like it. Every one you meet is engaged in a great struggle, not just you. Offer it up and be friendly. You might feel like an old shoe, but your attitude doesn’t need to smell like one. Smiles are free, they’re easy, and they go a long way towards boosting morale—maybe even your own.

4. Order a smaller size. This is a ridiculously simple mortification, but a surprisingly hard one to do. For whatever reason, Americans feel entitled to jumbo-sized beverages and meal portions—they don’t even have small drinks at McDonald’s anymore—so this is a meaningful act of self-denial.

5. Don't eat meat on Friday, the day our Lord gave up his life for us on the Cross.

If he can do it, so can you

I’ll be honest: Pro-Lifers annoy me sometimes...

I wish some Pro-Lifers didn’t play fast and loose with their figures, or quote their enemies out of context. I wish some of them could afford websites that didn’t make me want to gouge my eyes out in aesthetic horror, or proofreaders for their rambling, poorly-spelled emails. I wish some of them didn’t post twenty articles to Facebook a day, all on the same subject, using an overabundance of capital letters.

[snip]

Anyway, for all of the above reasons, I was kind of surprised with myself when the email I got about 40 Days For Life somehow got me to register for a time slot in front of Planned Parenthood.

Because, you know, it’s not really my scene. I’m pretty content with just throwing out a stray Hail Mary for the cause now and then. I’ve been to these things before, because people have dragged me, but never on my own initiative.

[snip]

Pro-Lifers annoy me, sure; but, as my family will tell you, that’s not terribly hard to do. Just chewing the wrong way might be enough.

And they might have terrible grammar (some of ‘em), but while I’m sitting at home and looking at FAIL Blog, they’re out fighting the good fight. And unfortunately for me, I’m pretty sure that excellent grammar doesn’t count for much, Judgment-Day-wise. (“But Lord! When did I ever see thee dangle a preposition, or misplace a modifier, or misuse an apostrophe, and not correct thee?”)

You may want to read the rest of his entry here. I think it speaks to the magnitude of 40Days that it can draw slackers like this blogger against their baser inclinations. I think all of us can relate to his desire to simply shrug it off, that sense of responsibility, that prick of one's conscience.

40DFL succeeds because it allows people to step in quietly and do their part to help a cause that the majority of Americans know in their hearts is just. Not all of us want to be "one of those pro-life people", but all of us know that abortion is wrong. If we give God an inch, even begrudgingly, He will take us miles beyond what we thought we were able to do. 

I really like this one

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DAY 12 INTENTION
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May the King of the Universe, who entered this world
as a helpless infant, give us the humility to be
healed.

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SCRIPTURE
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My power is made perfect in weakness.

--2 Corinthians 12:9

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REFLECTION by Kevin Burke, Rachel's Vineyard
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The great mystery of the Humility of God is very near
and dear to the mission of those serving in pro life
and in a special way, post abortion ministries across
this nation.

For those wounded by their participation in abortion,
the door to healing often feels like crossing an
abyss of great fear: fear of judgment, fear of being
torn apart by the pain, by self hatred and rage at
those who hurt and abandoned you, and manipulated you
in your time of temptation.

For men in particular, entering the unknown waters of
emotional vulnerability, so necessary to healing
calls for a different kind of courage that feels
deceptively like weakness.

The door to healing is humility. It is born in the
inability to no longer control the pain, to live with
the consequences of that tragic decision to reject
life. The hearts cries out, "I have committed a grave
offense against my Creator and I am consumed by
regret, grief and sorrow!"

During these forty days let us pray for all who have
participated in abortion and with love call them to
healing and reconciliation. With healing these women
and men can become as John Paul II proclaimed in the
Gospel of Life, "the most eloquent defenders of
everyone's right to life."

Jesus proclaimed, "I am the Vine, you are the
branches" (John 15:5). To bear the greatest fruit,
the branches must be pruned. Each level of pruning of
the vine requires a deeper level of humility so that
we can abandon ourselves to His will.

This is not a lofty theological concept as much as it
is an earthy experience of pulling weeds, tilling
rocky soil, pruning and healing the vines. "If a man
wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self,
take up his cross, and begin to follow in my
footsteps" (Matthew 16:24).

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PRAYER
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Lord, during these forty days, we ask that with each
day of this sacred vigil, everything in us that
separates us from your perfect will would be pruned
from our hearts and souls.

In this blessed freedom may we experience a powerful
anointing of your Holy Spirit. Filled with confidence
and trust may we proclaim with the mother of Jesus,
"Let it be done to me, according to your Word."

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PRINTABLE DEVOTIONAL
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To download today's devotional as a formatted,
printable PDF to share with friends:

http://40daysforlife.com/docs/fall2010day12print.pdf