9 Days for Life 2014

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The 9 Days of Prayer, Penance and Pilgrimage Novena has begun!

What is 9 Days of Prayer?

For those who don't know, 9 Days looks back on and prays concerning the Roe v Wade SCOTUS case, which this year is in its 41st anniversary. This year the novena begins 18 January and runs until 26 January. 9 Days prays for:

• an end to abortion
• consolation and reconciliation for those who have participated in abortion
• renewed conscience of doctors, nurses, scientists and pharmacists who promote abortion
• a greater respect for life in our country

and more.

How does 9 Days of Prayer work?
Each day, participants are encouraged to:

• consider a certain intention (the above list includes examples),
• pray Our Father, three Hail Marys and a Glory Be,
• reflect on a passage of scripture or the life of a saint and/or martyr
• and choose an act of reparation (which often includes prayer).

This sounds great! How do I get involved?
Thanks for asking! This year, there are four ways you can get involved.

1. Join Online. This is a standard and basic option. You can find the intentions, prayers and reflections on the USCCB's website. You can also save black and white or color PDFs, which would be great for printing out and pasting to a notice board or somewhere in your house where you will see it often and remember to pray each day.
2. Join by Email. This is the option I used last year which I will continue to use this year. It is ideal for those on-the-go with smart phones who can get the convenient reminder every morning when the phone dings. Should you continue this novena year after year, you will get reminder emails a couple weeks ahead of time to prepare you as well.
3. Join by Text. Convenient for all cell phone users, this method requires only your texting "9DAYS" to "99000." Rates may apply for these messages, so do look into that.
4. Join by App. Users of Apple and Android can download the newly launched 9 Days for Life app for FREE. This well designed app first asks for your Email or Facebook address, then asks what time each day you would like to be reminded to pray. The intercession, prayers, reflections and acts of reparation are all written out on their own pages for each day. Additionally, you can share through Facebook, Twitter or Email each day to encourage others to get involved. If Apps are your thing, I definitely recommend this one.

If you're joining in the 9 Days for Life, please let me know in the comments! You can totally join even if you aren't Catholic, too. Let's unite our prayers, thoughts and actions for an end to abortion and for a greater respect for life in our country and in the world.