Committed to Christ (Comprometido a Cristo)

According to the Webster dictionary, “committed” means to “to obligate or pledge oneself” and one person that stands out as being committed to Christ has always been our friend Alfonso Avendaño.

In the Fall of 2007, Alfonso said that he wanted to make a difference, he wanted to help those babies in danger of abortion and the only way he knew how was with prayer, prayer, prayer. That Fall during the 40 days for life campaign, Alfonso, Don Manuel and others met in the evenings outside Calvary (Hilltop) abortion clinic and prayed. Other people joined, but there were very few men, so Alfonso came up with a plan.

In the Spring of 2008, Alfonso who is a very active member of the Legionarios’ Regnum Christi asked his fellow brothers to join in. They joined and we started having male coverage during the evening prayer vigils! Two men every evening!

Alfonso continued his prayerful witness outside that abortion clinic on a regular basis, even between vigil campaigns. Alfonso, like many other beautiful persons has been the voice of those babies who never had a voice. He has interceded for the babies, the mothers, the fathers, the abortionists, the nurses, the security guards, for so many. Because of his intercessory prayers, Alfonso has helped to bring a little piece of the Kingdom of God to every one of us. Alfonso has cooperated with Our Lord in bringing the Good News to those persons in need.

We recently received news that after a brief illness, Alfonso went to meet Our Lord in heaven. We lost a true hero, a true gentleman, a friend in Christ. In moments like these, we remember the words of another pro life advocate (Henry Hyde) when he said:

“When the time comes as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment… I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there will be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world – and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, ‘Spare him because he loved us,’ – and God will look at you and say not, ‘Did you succeed?’ but ‘Did you try?’”

Alfonso tried, we know he did, and many babies are alive today because of his intercessory prayers, and those babies who did not make it, I’m sure they escorted Alfonso to meet Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Alfonso, Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.


Your friends for Life!

Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (Mathew 25:34)

$260 Refund

Today a shower of blessings came to Hilltop clinic. A total of 21 people showed up to pray while we only saw about 7 women going into the clinic. Saturdays are usually big abortion days, but not today in El Paso. One youth choir from Queen of Peace showed up, here is a clip. Or click here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx6XgxiehSQ No Greater Love

As people were arriving to pray and others finished their prayer shift, a car from Juarez shows up and doesn't want any information. The couple finally leaves, and as they exit I tried offering information and I saw that they had a check in their hands for $260. I asked the woman, "Did you change your mind?" She said, "Yes," with tears in her eyes. I talked to them for a few minutes gave them some really beautiful crocheted booties and a rosary. A men's ACTS group witnessed this and gave them all chills! They were extremely encouraged and promised to come back to pray more!
Friends this is what prayer does, saves souls! 40 Days for Life is a great opportunity to impact people's lives. Thanks to everyone committed to pray to end abortion.

God Sent Me an Angel

We're at the final days of 40 Days for Life and these days are usually the most tiring. As I dragged myself to the clinic to pray and sidewalk counsel, I thought that maybe we won't do 40 Days for Life next year. It's not fun being out there by myself at all. 

After finishing my St. Michael prayer, I soon started my Rosary. A mother and daughter walked out of the abortion clinic. As I tried talking to them, only the mom, Irma, approached me and said that her daughter, Estefania, couldn't do it. Irma told me that last night she was still trying to convince her daughter to not have an abortion. The mother showed incredible faith in God and seemed sure that her daughter would not have an abortion. I gave them all the information and pamphlets and handed her some baby booties some great friends crocheted. This makes it 25 lives saved since September 22! 

Moments later, a truck drove out, and the woman inside was in tears of despair. If you've ever seen this when praying at the mill, it's very disheartening because you know she didn't want to do it, was maybe pressured or just regretted it moments later. 

So while I'm still in awe of the saved baby, sad seeing a crying mom, a young man walks by the clinic, and turns back to ask me how to get to the Cathedral. I tell him and he looks at Our Lady of Guadalupe, sighs, and just stares at her image with so much love. He asks me, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm praying because they kill babies here." He grabbed one of my rosaries I had on the chair to give out to the women and he said, "Let's pray a rosary then." As soon as he said this, I knew he was heaven sent. We began to pray and I just felt so much peace. I was so happy because I no longer was by myself. As we were praying, he kept staring at Our Lady with so much love and reverence and his face would brighten. He then would then glance at the 8 week baby in the womb poster with a lot of sadness. [One of the main reasons we have the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is because of what the image represents. In the image she is pregnant with Jesus.]

After we prayed a decade of the Rosary, he stopped and said, "I have to go to the Cathedral to pray. I have to make a trip somewhere very far and I won't come back." He then asked, "Please say a prayer for me at 12. I am going now." I then asked, "What is your name?" He said, "I'm just a twin, I have no name." He said bye but I hugged him instead. I told him, "God bless you and I will pray." He looked sad to leave, but content and accomplished. He sighed and walked away. The back of his jacket said EAGLE. 

Minutes later, after wiping my tears and thanking God for sending him, I see 6 beautiful white doves flying across the street in front of the clinic. I thought, "God why 6? Why not a biblical number, like 7?" The instant answer was, "The angel I sent you was the 7th."

What a blessing to be directly encouraged by His Holy Angels! The angels are here to help us and encourage us! Don't be afraid to talk to your guardian angel. They are just waiting to give us good counsel and protect us. 

Hope to see you all next week for the Jericho March. Hilltop clinic October 25 - 31st.  Monday - Sunday. Each day at 6:30pm.  

God bless you and may the Holy Angels protect you! 

Moving Mountains

Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him. Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours. – Jesus Christ (Mark 11:23-24)

It was an awesome day at Calvary abortion clinic this morning. The Glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ was manifested with each life saving event! I believe that Jesus is trying to teach that when we are faithful, many wonderful things can happen. In other words, our faith can move mountains!

Pat was sidewalk counseling this morning, but had to leave for awhile to attend a Funeral Mass, so I went to cover for Pat. As I was handing out information to the women arriving at the abortion clinic, Olivia came to pray. She had been moved to return to the clinic after a long hiatus. I asked Olivia to help me counsel and the first couple she talked to decided for LIFE! First baby saved and I’m sure that Our Lord used Olivia so she would know that she is welcomed back in the front lines. 

Meanwhile Estefania came over to help Sonia and Aria and give intercessory prayer support. I left to run some errands. Right after I left, another baby saved! Praise God for using Estefania, Sonia and Aria!

During the time when these two babies where being spared from abortion, Pat was at the Funeral Mass. She later commented on the timing: “As Jesus' Precious blood was elevated in the Chalice this morning at the Funeral Mass I placed all the babies at the mill in danger of abortion into the Chalice at 10:00A.M. At his time, within a few minutes apart, 2 babies were saved at the mill. Jesus, your power is awesome! Thank you!”

Later when Pat had returned to the abortion clinic from the Funeral Mass another mom decided to keep her baby! Praise God, this was the third baby in one day!

Pat continued her efforts to save the new security guard from the regrets of working at that place of death. He proceeded to tell her that yesterday (Friday) a young mom approached him and told him that her boyfriend wanted her to abort, but she didn’t. She was expecting twins! The guard told her to do what her heart was telling her to do. The boyfriend is a military police officer, so the guard told the boyfriend that if he forced the young mom to have an abortion, she could press charges against him. That he should set his head on straight. The boyfriend broke down in tears and realized his mistake. Those baby twins were saved from abortion!  Our Lord used the security guard to save these twin babies! Although these last two babies were saved a day earlier, we counted them today when we found out. 

A sixth baby that we found out about today was saved by Our Lord through the help line, 915-564-4444. These six babies, plus the other 5 in the first 4 days of the 40 Days for Life prayer campaign make 11 babies and their parents spared from abortion!

The icing on the cake was when a nurse approached Pat, gave her phone number and told her that she had quit! She is now looking for another job.

Please offer prayers for the babies, their moms, the security guards, the nurse and all those faithful persons that proved that in fact mountains can be moved with a little bit of faith.

--Miguel

Day 2 - Singing in the Rain!

Tropical storm Georgette did not stop Louisa who arrived first at the mill from Juarez in a t-shirt and capris.  In the pouring rain while being completely soaked and saying, "It's cold,"  she received pro-life information, a rosary, and a miraculous medal. At this time Miguel was being drenched in the rain, but praying the rosary for Louisa's change of heart. 

About 11:00A.M. she came out of the mill with her friend, hurried to her car in the sprinkling rain, said she was keeping her baby, and received her gift with a big smile and with a reminder that we are praying for her.

 

In the rain, Abbie hurried into the mill  while hearing some heartening, pro-life words from me.

 

When she ran out of the mill in her t-shirt and pants in the drizzling rain, she said with a smile that she was keeping her one-month old baby.  She also said,"I don't like this place," after being encouraged to use pro-life medical services.  She received only a soggy, blue rosary- blame it on Georgette!

 

This is what happened, "Singing in the Rain," while I got some exercise running after the mothers!! 

 

Pat

 

Day 1 of 40 Days for Life

It's difficult to express the joy that comes every time 40 Days for Life begins! And it is even more difficult to describe the feeling every time a child is saved from death! That was the case on this first day of the national prayer campaign. This is probably the world's largest prayer campaign ever! 
 

But this is such a big deal. 
  

Two lives were saved today. 
   
Imagine that you're at a pool with your family or friends. You're having such a great time, or maybe you're busy cooking up some food for everyone. There are a bunch of kids in the pool and you realize that one of them is drowning. The kid could probably die because he can't swim. He can't scream either because he's drowning. What would be the right thing to do? Actually, you don't even question that, you automatically jump into the pool and try to get him out. After seeing you jump into the pool, someone else follows to help you out. Someone in the crowd says, "I know CPR," and the child is breathing again and finally safe.

Same thing goes with these precious little infants. We sometimes need to stop what we're doing, and sacrifice our time to help save a human being. Just like the drowning child, the unborn baby can't scream for help. They need our assistance. We need to jump in our cars and get to these places where many die. And when someone sees what you're doing, they will hopefully join you also and jump into this life-saving campaign. 

Please pray for Vivian and Pauline. These are the mother's that chose life today. They changed their minds because someone was involved in showing them the truth and saved them from "drowning." Pauline's friend talked her out of it. Vivian's partner was there for her. The sidewalk counselors provided the information. And 30 prayer warriors that prayed at the clinic that day made the biggest impact with their prayers.

Security saved! Praise God!

A man went over to our table and extended his hand to me while I was at lunch with my friend Fletcher. He held on to my hand for a long time and finally said, “Do you recognize me?” Somehow he looked familiar, but for a few odd seconds I couldn’t tell who he was. Then it came to me, it was Juan the gardener/security guard from the Calvary abortion clinic!

The last time I had seen Juan was on day 16 of the Spring 40 days for life campaign. Thursday March 4th of this year, a mare eight weeks ago, but Juan looked so different now than before. He is as skinny as a rail, his face a bit twisted, his speech is blurred, and his movements are slow and painful. Juan had suffered a stroke.

I have no idea how long Juan had worked at that abortion clinic. At first he was the gardener and the one who trained the new security guards, but they wouldn’t last very long, so more and more he would cover for them until one day they bought him a baseball cap and a t-shirt that read “SECURITY.” Juan took pride in getting the women into the abortion clinic by any way he could. I won’t go into all the different methods he used as not to give any misguided soul any ideas, but suffice to say that Juan was good at what he did. Juan was more than a security guard; he was an escort and took pride in escorting hundreds, possibly thousands of women and their babies to their death.

People go peacefully to pray outside that abortion clinic; To pray for the babies and their parents, for the conversion of the abortionist, the clinic staff and Juan. Juan knew this because he would stand a few feet from us. Countless times we prayed for the conversion of Juan, he was mentioned in countless Rosaries and prayers. And he remained the most faithful of clinic employees. Juan was very entrenched in his ways and only by the Grace of God will he ever change.

Then Juan disappeared and there was no way of knowing exactly what had happened to him, at least not by asking the other clinic workers. So today when Juan came over we talked for awhile and although I did most of the talking because of his speech problems, he made it clear that Our Lord had shown him that he had one opportunity to change his ways, that he is now closer to God and that he realizes now the evil of what goes on at the abortion clinic. Juan is a changed man and you could see it in his eyes. We hugged and he kept holding on to my hand again when I went over to his table to say good bye to him. I offered that if he needed someone to pray over him to let me know and I will find him good people that can do that. I told him that a lot of persons had been praying for him.

Today I was again given an opportunity to see how prayer works. Today, I saw my reflection in Juan’s eyes. Today, I saw my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ walking amongst us. When a mom decides for LIFE, we text the other sidewalk counselors: “Baby saved, Praise God!” Today we saw a security guard saved, and we Praise God!

For Life,

Miguel

Pray with great confidence, with confidence based upon the goodness and infinite generosity of God and upon the promises of Jesus Christ. God is a spring of living water which flows unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray. -- St. Louis de Montfort