Jan. 22 is the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. To help you with prayer on this day, here are five pro-life prayers you can pray and meditate on with your family.
Prayer for Those Who have Lost a Child to Abortion
by Fr. Frank Pavone
Lord of all Life,
You have entrusted us to the care of one another,
And called us to be one Body in Christ.
You call us to rejoice with those who rejoice,
And to weep with those who weep.
Hear our prayer today
For our brothers and sisters who have lost children to abortion.
Help us to understand
The pain that is in their hearts,
And to be a living sign to them
Of your welcome, your mercy, and your healing.
Help them to undergo with courage
The process of grief and the journey of healing.
Never allow them to feel alone;
Always refresh them with the presence of Your Spirit
And of their brothers and sisters in Christ.
Console them with the sure hope
That you love and care for their children.
Give them new strength,
That even while they grieve what they have lost,
They may look forward to all the good
That you still have in store for them.
Lord of healing and hope,
Give us all the forgiveness of our sins,
And the joy of your salvation.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.
Source: PriestsforLife.org
At Abortuary
by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades
We mourn the death of these children who were denied the right to life. Lord, look upon their mothers and fathers with mercy; and lead them to blessed forgiveness, we pray.
Source: ProLifeHelp.org/pro-life-prayers.html
From St. John Paul II
O Mary,
bright dawn of the new world,
Mother of the living,
to you do we entrust the cause of life
Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers
of babies not allowed to be born,
of the poor whose lives are made difficult,
of men and women
who are victims of brutal violence,
of the elderly and the sick killed
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son
may proclaim the Gospel of life
with honesty and love
to the people of our time.
Obtain for them the grace
to accept that Gospel
as a gift ever new,
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude
throughout their lives
and the courage to bear witness to it
resolutely, in order to build,
together with all people of good will,
the civilization of truth and love,
to the praise and glory of God,
the Creator and lover of life.
Evangelium Vitae, The Gospel of Life, 105
Source: Vatican.va
Redeemer in the Womb
Lord Jesus Christ, You took our human nature upon Yourself. You shared our life and death, our childhood and adulthood.
You also shared our time in the womb. While still God, while worshipped and adored by the angels, while Almighty and filling every part of the universe, You dwelt for nine months in the womb of Mary. You were our Redeemer in the womb, our God who has a preborn child.
Lord Jesus, we ask You to bless and protect the children who today are in their mothers’ womb. Save them from the danger of abortion. Give their mothers the grace to sacrifice themselves, in body and soul, for their children. Help all people to recognize in the preborn child a brother, a sister, saved by You, our Redeemer in the womb.
Source: StPaulsPISMoBeach.com/respectlifeprayers.html
excerpt from the Prayer of Blessing
God, author of all life,
bless, we pray, this unborn child;
give constant protection
and grant a healthy birth
that is the sign of our rebirth one day
into the eternal rejoicing of heaven …
Source: USCCB.org/about/pro-life-activities/prayers/pro-life-blessings.cfm/