Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará

One of the wonderful blessings during the March for Life youth pilgrimage was the presence of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará. Sister Mary Joy of Martyrs was gracious enough to arrange a caravan of sisters (all with the first name of Mary!) that joined us for dinner and taught us about their mission, and our group kept crossing paths with the sisters during our pilgrimage. They helped direct the confession lines at the Verizon Center and they walked along side of us during the March.

These sisters offer a great witness to how religious who dedicate themselves to the Lord can find true joy and happiness. Too often happiness becomes associated with wealth, power, pleasure, and fame. Yet these humble habited women who spend their lives serving the Church through vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience have discovered a rare happiness of which too few people enjoy.

The following is an excerpt from their website describing their vocation:

We as women religious believe that our primary vocation is to be the "Spouse of Christ." By giving ourselves totally to Christ, the Redeemer of Man and the Spouse of Souls through the vows of our consecration, we fulfill our own femininity. This is a spousal gift: "The woman, called from the beginning to love and to be loved, in her virginal vocation finds Christ above everything, as Redeemer who loved until the end through the total gift of Himself, and she responds to this gift with the sincere gift of her whole self" (On the Dignity of Women, Mulieris Dignitatem, 1988).

Aware of the Father's call and the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we, the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará, want to follow Christ, the chaste, poor, and obedient One. We want to take on His mind and His way of life. By imitating Mary of Nazareth, the exemplar of every religious woman, we desire to be signs of God's tender love towards the human race and to be witnesses to the mystery of the Church who is Virgin, Bride, and Mother.

We ask you to pray for our young Religious Family that our only interest may be to have life in Christ Jesus.

Click here to check out their website and the great work they are doing for the Lord!!!

The Day of the March

The following was submitted by Valerie:

Its 3:30 in the morning and I have no idea how I’m going to manage the full day ahead of me with only two hours of sleep. I look at the chaperons like they’re crazy and then I look around the room and everyone’s fighting their covers over their heads to keep the light out. We all know we need to pack up and get ready for the march but no one wants to do it. Now don’t get me wrong, the whole week had been fantastic with the visits to saint shrines and the beautiful basilicas, but honestly all I wanted was sleep. Of course we had lights out at 11:30 but we didn’t go to sleep until 1:30 talking, because we’re girls and that’s what we do, and every other day we had to wake up at 5 and if we questioned this the response was always ‘because we’re pilgrims not tourists’… I don’t know about you but to me this was pilgrim torture. On top of the lack of sleep, the freezing cold weather froze our hair when we walked outside and no matter how many clothes we had on, we never figured out how to stay warm. While this might sound slightly miserable, it was anything but. The SJA girls coming together and bonding, because that’s what we do, and tormenting Mr. Hallford, or Hulk as we came to know him on the trip, to stand up for a cause we believed in made the whole 23 hours on the bus (one way) worth it.
Being in the Verizon center with the 30,000 other teens is something I will never forget. The power of the Holy Spirit that you feel while being in there is something that cannot be described. Imagine seeing all these high school and college students just jumping around, singing and praising God and coming together to speak for those to have no voice- the unborn. There was a quote that a girl said before the mass started that I found to be somewhat striking- she stated, “I wonder how we manage to look for life on mars, but we can’t seem to find it in the womb of a woman.”

After mass we made our way to the national mall to eat lunch before the march. I have never seen so many people in one area before. Honestly, I thought that it was Mardi Gras in DC and I just didn’t get the memo or something. To see the hundreds of thousands of people was just incredible. To see all the signs that people were holding and seeing people cheering and talking and praying together was awesome. I was looking through my pictures last night and noticed a few more.. one said that ‘well yes it’s just a mass of tissue, but technically so are you’. Another just stated ‘1/3’… That’s 1/3 of our generation lost to abortion. That’s a neighbor, a classmate, a boyfriend, a best friend, maybe even a brother or sister. 1/3 of our generation…If that isn’t considered a holocaust then I’m not sure what is.

As the walk was coming to a close, we were right in front of the capital and I noticed three women standing in front of the steps with the same sign… each said ‘I regret my abortion’. I thought it was incredibly powerful so I took a picture before I was just going to continue walking. Right before I turned away, I noticed the last woman in the line. Her sunglasses weren’t tinted very well and I could see that she was clearly crying. I walked up to her and gave her a hug, and when I did she started crying more and held me tight. At that moment I realized exactly how much abortion affects not only the children that are killed, but the women who get the abortions done. Abortion is not just a physical hurt, but it is also an emotional and spiritual hurt.After participating in the march I realized how exactly we, the SJA students, partook in history. We peacefully stood up for something we believe in. We were the voices for those who cannot speak – the unborn- and as long as abortion is still legal, we will continue to be their voice.

March for Life Safety Video

The March For Life Bus Safety Video from cu|tv » catholicunderground.com on Vimeo.

March for Life Video 2009

High quality option available by selecting this option on triangle in lower right corner after pressing play.

The future of the March for Life

Thank you to all those who participated in this year's March for Life pilgrimage. While the experience is fresh in your mind, we would greatly appreciate your input. A very simple way to help is to fill out the online survey we have composed. It is rather brief. You simply provide your thoughts and click submit. Tada! Most of you will fill out the survey because of your great love for babies, but as an extra incentive we will place the names of all the students who complete this survey into a drawing to receive one of five Bella DVDs. Click on the appropriate link below:

Student March for life-Evaluation
-or-
Adult March for life-Evaluation

The struggle to bring about a culture of life is long and difficult. We must be constant and vigilant in our commitment. A vital part of any pilgrimage is what we do when we return home. We are all called to live out our faith. And to put this simply, faith is our response to God's grace. This response involves our intellect, passions, and will.

Ed Vizenor, in discussing Bella, mentioned the three transcendentals: truth, beauty, and goodness. These transcendentals represent three ways we experience the God of Love who is Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. Our call to holiness compels us to stand up for what is true, good, and beautiful whether hidden in a tiny body beginning to form in a mother's womb or a very seasoned body struggling to survive in old age and nearing the gateway to eternal life.

On this blog we hope to help foster this response of love. This space is meant for you to share and discuss your thoughts, insights, and experiences about March for Life pilgrimage. How can we continue to uphold the dignity of life in our communities? Please participate in this forum so we can explore and pursue opportunities to witness to the sacredness of human life. Stay tuned for updates on this blog (new posts, the March for Life video, and event announcements).