January 22, 2004

March for Life

Today marks 31 years of legalized murder in the United States. Since that time the value placed on life in all its stages from beginning to end and every stage in between has been cheapened to the point of no value at all. God has been kicked completely out of the picture to the point of non existence for many people who embrace this culture of death.

Each year "Parish Church" charters a bus to attend the March for Life and today was the 4th year I have attended this event. I attended mass and then went home and ate breakfast with S.C.C. before having to be back for the 10:15 departure. When I returned back to "Parish Church" I glanced at my watch at the very instant the truck came to a complete stop and it said XX:XX:13.

We boarded the bus and it was filled to capacity just like every year. Just as the bus left and arrived at the stop sign at the intersection of Edmondson and Main Street I suddenly felt the strong sense of peace that I have come to know and recognize. At that very instant I looked up and saw a dump truck passing in front of us with very large numbers on its side that said 333.

During the ride to Washington I led the rosary. We arrived and there was a very large crowd of people who came from all over the country for the march. It would be impossible for me to guess how many people were there but I know for sure it was many, many thousands more than the 15,000 that USA Today reported the following day in their next to nothing article on page 3.

We were waiting for the march to begin when President Bush spoke by phone from Roswell, New Mexico supporting the cause for life. Within a few seconds after he started speaking I again felt the unmistakable feeling of peace run through me. I knew to glance at my watch and the time was 12:13.

We continued to wait for the march to begin. It was cold outside but not as bad as last year. I was talking to Katherine A on the phone because we were trying to get the youth group to meet up with our group. While we were talking Bob and Jean Nichols from the Mission of Mercy saw me and came up to say hello. Again the peaceful feeling came and the time that I ran into my friends from Emmitsburg was 1:13.

The March for Life got underway and we started marching towards the Supreme Court building. It was very crowded. We had not been marching very long when suddenly that peaceful feeling hit again just as I had a thought about not being able to even understand what motivates the pro-death groups. I turned my head and there was a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe coming directly towards me. The peaceful feeling was suddenly intensified and I glanced at my watch and the time was 2:13:00.

We continued the march but it came to a near standstill because the route we had to use narrowed down to a bottleneck. We knew we would not make it to the Supreme Court and back to the bus in time. We decided shorten our march and go back to where the bus was supposed to pick us up at the Air and Space Museum. At the very instant we arrived I had a sudden thought that as far as Our Lady was concerned our march was complete. It was so strong I glanced at my watch and the time was 3:13:33.

The bus arrived and we had to wait for a few missing people to show up before we could leave. During the ride home I called S.C.C. and told her that I was going to go to the nursing home and visit Bob G before I came home. Fr. ____ asked me if I was going to take the Eucharist to him. I had not planned on doing that because I had taken the Eucharist to him the previous Sunday. Fr. ____ said it would be good for Bob to receive the Eucharist more often.

We returned to "Parish Church" and I picked up the Eucharist to take to Bob. When I got to the nursing home Bob looked very bad but he was very happy to receive the Eucharist. He thanked me and tried to explain how much it meant to him. He could hardly talk. While I was there talking to Bob I started thinking about the value of life and how God values it at both ends of the spectrum and that the March for Life is for everyone. I drove home and pulled in my drive way and the time was 6:33.

R_____ C___

January 26, 2004

12:33 am