Today, January 22, marks the 49th anniversary of the US Supreme Court voting 7-2 in the case of Roe v. Wade in order to legalize abortion across the United States of America.

Hence, in all the Dioceses of the United States, January 22 is observed as a particular day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion.

On Wednesday of this week, January 19, hundreds of people gathered on the steps of the State Capitol in Lansing to offer just such prayer and penance. They were led in prayer by Father John Fain, Pastor of Saint Therese Parish in Lansing. Father Fain’s prayer for life is now reproduced below. Let us pray.

Lord our God,

We give you thanks for those women and men who,

for over the past 50 years,

have stood outside abortion clinics,

offering peaceful sidewalk counseling

to protect both the life of mother and of baby.

We give you thanks for the beauty of science

which through ultrasounds and sonograms

have shown us that human life truly is real

at its earliest stages.

We give you thanks for the power

of transformation and conversion.

May it soften the hearts

of justices, judges and legislators

so that they might value the dignity and value

of every human being, no matter how small.

May this be the last anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.

Today we commit ourselves

Never to be silent,

Never to be passive,

Never to be forgetful of the unborn.

We ask this through your Holy Name. Amen.