36 hours on a bus from KC to DC.
22 hours back home.
58 total hours on a bus.
All of that for the the most amazing 36 hours of our lives in Washington DC.
On Friday afternoon, we all met for a send-off mass with everyone from the Archdiocese of KCK. Fr. Gary's homily pertained specifically to the fact that when we do good things for the world, people and other forces are going to oppose us. After seeing the effects of driving straight into a huge snow and ice storm on the bus, we realized that truer words have never been said. Satan obviously knows the impact that the March for Life has on so many people, so he tried to stop us. Several times. Stopping the busses for the ice storm, getting us kicked out of a mall and left trying to find somewhere for food, and stopping our busses at yet another wreck on the highway. But did Satan stop us from saving those babies? Absolutely not. Satan's got nothing on us.
The first full day we were DC, Kyle found something on Twitter that totally changed our outlook on the entire march. The tweet said that the March for Life wasn't just a pilgrimage, it is the front line of battle. That hit all of us like a ton of bricks. Standing up against Roe v. Wade and the killing of 1.3 million babies per year is not something that we should take lightly. This is spiritual warfare we're dealing with here. That's intense stuff. So from that point on, we referred to all of our actions as preparing for the battle. The battle between life and death. And as Archbishop Naumann always says, "Vitae Victoria Erit" -- LIFE WILL BE VICTORIOUS. We will pray, fight, and march until our side, the side of LIFE, claims victory.
Another thing I realized on this fantastic trip: The power of PRAYER. Prayer is our number one weapon going into battle. It's peaceful, purposeful, and powerful. One of the first times we saw this power on the trip was when our bus was stopped for three and a half hours on the highway. Someone suggested that we pray a Rosary while we waited. Literally, the second we all picked up our Rosaries, the traffic began moving and the bus started inching forward. That moment definitely called for an "Ohhh yeahhhh, Virgin Mary, yeahhh!" But it all seriousness, we realized that God had his hand in every little thing that happened that weekend, as he always does. Prayer is our way of knowing that he's there all the time, watching our backs, and getting us through. Praying to St. Michael was another method of prayer that we found really helpful. The St. Michael prayer is absolutely fitting for our battle for LIFE, considering that it begins with "St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil." With St. Michael, Mary, all the saints and angels, and of course Jesus on our side, how could we not be confident going onto the front lines?
The actual march itself was mind-blowing. Over 300,000 people marched the streets of our nation's capitol, and those people ranged anywhere from newborn babies to toddlers to teenagers to college students to middle aged people to the elderly. This is a fight for everyone. Why? Because it affects each and every one of us on a personal level. Because we all have life... Seeing all of these people marching for one cause was life-changing. Especially because the media totally downplays it, in fact, they don't really cover it at all. But that's alright, because we don't do it for the media, we don't do it for attention. We do it to save lives. If even one woman decides to keep her baby instead of abort it, because of our efforts, then we've done well. At first, I had this mindset of "Yes! Let's go save the world!" And this isn't totally impossible, but we have to change the world little by little, one person at a time. Like Mother Teresa said, "There are no great things, only small things with great love."
The final big idea I have to share about what changed me at the March for Life is the idea that our generation has so much power. The youth of church has sooooo much potential to do so much good for this world. “Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity” (1 Timothy 5:12). We can be leaders. Especially through all the technology we have available. On the march, we realized that if we want young people around us to care about being pro-life, we had to bring this pilgrimage to them, through Twitter especially. Everyday, we all tweeted hundreds of times using #savethebabies. So simple, yet so impactful. Technology can be our friend if we use it correctly.
So overall, it was an absolutely fantastic trip. It opened our eyes, hearts, and minds to the thing we should all be fighting for -- LIFE.
#March4Life #savethebabies
you gave me goosebumps.
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