When in Rome

From October 21-28 I will have the blessing and opportunity to be in Rome, Italy during the Synod for the New Evangelization. Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinals, Bishops, and lay people from around the world have been meeting discussing the New Evangelization and the Catholic Church for almost 2 weeks. Next week, the last week the Synod is meeting I will be in Rome! I cannot express my excitement enough through blog! I'll be arriving in Rome 1 day after the canonization of 7 individuals, 2 of them American. I will arrive in Rome on the feast of Blessed Pope John Paul II- October 22nd and one of the sites we will visit that day is Blessed John Paul II's tomb!

I have this great opportunity to attend because the president and founder of FOCUS, the organization I work for was asked to serve as part of the Synod as a lay person. Less than 20 lay persons from around the world were invited and Curtis Martin, our president was one of them. When Curtis shared this with FOCUS staff earlier this year, he thanked us! It was very humbling to see a man selected for such an honor, to discuss the future path of our Church thank us campus missionaries and students for the work that we do day in and day out on a college campus.

The next 7 days will be a great opportunity for prayer, joy, fasting, and fellowship as nearly 100 FOCUS staff and family members will meet up in Rome for a time of pilgrimage and education. Each day we have trips or tours planned to several locations in Vatican City and Rome and conferences with Bishops and other members participating in the Synod to keep us up to date on what has been discussed during the Synod thus far. On Friday a Franciscan Friar is leading a number of us to Assisi to visit the grounds once walked by St. Francis and St. Clare. Fr. Conrad, the friar, will also be saying Mass for us while we're in Assisi.

I am very excited and equally excited to come back and share my experience. In the mean time please comment with any specific prayer requests you have or feel free to email them to me at aj.garcia@focus.org so that I may take them to the sites I visit while in Rome.

Ciao!

At request of Papa

About one month ago I came up with the “Beards for Breath” idea. I wasn’t quite sure what the response would be or if people would even want to take part in it. Well only a few weeks into the event hundreds of people said that they would be uniting in my prayer for lives of the unborn. And I’m sure it made a difference.

This past month I have prayed so intentionally for an end to abortion. This past month of prayer has been an emotional one for me, I have been in tears and I have rejoiced. I’ve been In tears because if you have a heart and you think about what abortion is and what it does to a person or family..... are you supposed to be happy? I rejoiced after this: about halfway through the month someone asked me to pray for a girl that her 16 year old sister knew at school. The girl was pregnant and asked a friend to take her to an abortion clinic, but the friend said no. (Praise Jesus!) But the friend that said no was worried that the girl would ask someone else to take her. It was at this point that I learned about this girl and asked the “Beards for Breath” group to pray specifically for this girl and her unborn child. About a week later I learned that the girl that was pregnant had since asked her friend that refused to take her to the clinic to be with her when she told her parents that she is pregnant and that she wanted to keep the child!!! (Thanks be to God!!)

About this same time of the month I learned that Pope Benedict XVI called for a worldwide day of prayer with the intention being an end to abortion. Certainly he was calling on the Catholic Church, but really the invitation was to everyone with a pro-life passion. The day was yesterday 11/27/10 and Pope Benedict began the Advent season by celebrating a solemn “Vigil for all nascent human life” at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Yesterday I thought about this day Pope Benedict called for and thought about how neat it is that the entire Catholic Church was praying for the same intention yesterday. I thought about this especially when I prayed my rosary last night. Saturday the mysteries of the rosary are the Joyful mysteries, there are 5.

1.The Annunciation of Gabriel unto Mary. (LK 1:30-38)
2.Mary’s Visitation to Elizabeth (LK 1:39-45)
3.The birth of Jesus (LK 2:1-7)
4.The presentation of Jesus in the Temple (LK 2:22-24)
5.The finding of Jesus in the Temple (LK 2:41-51)

To those unfamiliar with the rosary: it is a devotion to the Blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary. We reflect on moments in the life of Mary and Jesus while reciting the Hail Mary. Tonight it was more special to pray this than usual. I offered the intention of praying my rosary last night for an end to abortion and for the lives of the unborn not realizing that I would soon enter into prayer while contemplating the single greatest pro-life moment in the world. That moment when Mary, a virgin was told she would conceive a child, but instead of taking her fate and the fate of the child into her own hands, she simply said YES to life. Then Mary visits Elizabeth and Elizabeth recognizes her as blessed and finally Mary gives birth to Jesus.

From the beginning life has been a gift from God and although we may not have planned a pregnancy, God has. And even when we think we may have “planned” a pregnancy, God knew even before conception of that child.

I feel there is nothing coincidental about the timing of Pope Benedict’s call out to Pro-lifers to unite yesterday in prayer. Last evening as the official beginning of the Advent season we need to pray for more than an end to abortion and for the gift of life, but we need to pray for and prepare for the most important birth in the history of the world, a birth that we will celebrate in just 27 days. Are you ready?