January 22nd is the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children and so, in our home, we'll be taking a bit of a break from our usual life and lesson activities to focus on extra measures of prayer, fasting, almsgiving. We encourage others to do the same.
Prayer
Of course, attending Mass and praying for unborn children, for their mothers, and for our nation to respect the rights of the unborn child is an ideal choice for the day.
Praying an intentional Rosary for Life is, too.
Or, for those who seek shorter prayers, the Prayer to End Abortion by Rec. Frank Pavone at PriestsforLife.org is a powerful one.
Fasting
Ideally, all healthy adults will participate in fasting, eating only one full meal and two smaller meals which do not equal one full meal.
Children (and adults!) might choose to offer penances by:
- abstaining from meat
- abstaining from a particular food or beverage
- fasting from one meal
- offering up the day’s challenges and inconveniences
- giving up some form of entertainment for the day
- offering up extra works of charity
Almsgiving
Everyone in the family might offer some money to give to a pro-life organization.
Or, perhaps, the family can shop for baby items to be brought to such an organization or simply collect like-new items from home to gift forward.
For crafty kids (and grown-ups!) decorating bibs and onesies to donate can be fun and meaningful.
Family Time
Counting our own blessings with gratitude is important, too. So, our family will likely gather to chat about specific ways each of us blesses others - affirming the unique gift each person truly is.
I can foresee this leading us into a trip down memory lane, sharing stories and pictures from birth and early childhood and, perhaps, singing our Song of Jack and for each of our other children.
To keep the warmth of family time going, I have also already begun stacking up favorite books for a "read in", when our family snuggles together to read book after book after book together.
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Some of our pro-life favorites are:
Also, since we all enjoy family movie-time, I've also put The Altar Gang's Skif and AJ's Fantastic Voyage in our pile. It's a beloved DVD around here.
God our Creator, we give thanks to you, who alone have the power to impart the breath of life as you form each of us in our mother's womb; grant, we pray, that we, whom you have made stewards of creation, may remain faithful to this sacred trust and constant in safeguarding the dignity of every human life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
~Collect Prayer
