40 Days for Life – a Pro-Life Prayer Marathon organized by Polish Diocese

Марина Вельможко z Pixabay

Young people from the Diocese of Legnica, in Poland, are finalizing next campaign “40 Days for Life.” This is a prayer initiative for unborn children, inspired by the actions of the pro-life movement in the United States. In Poland, it is organized by the Catholic Youth Association of Legnica Diocese.

The prayer crusade began at 1:00 p.m. (CET – Polish time) on Ash Wednesday, and it will continue until 1:00 p.m. on Palm Sunday, 28 March 2021. As the organizers emphasize, “40 Days for Life” is a non-stop, 960-hour assault on heaven for important intentions, such as stopping the world from killing unborn children and also peace on Earth.

Those wanting to participate in the campaign can freely indicate any hour of prayer during which a given person will pray. It can be just one hour during the whole season of Lent; so, it is not necessary to say that this will be done every week or every day. For example, on March 1st, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. - explains Aleksandra Zdobylak of the Catholic Youth Association of the Legnica Diocese.

The participants can choose any prayer – it can be a meditation on the Holy Scriptures, the recitation of the rosary or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. What matters is the intention: to protect the lives of children threatened by abortion.

The details for registration, by phone or e-mail, can be found on the website 40dnidlazycia.pl. The page also contains a calendar with the schedule of the action. Aleksandra Zdobylak admits that the biggest problems are with filling late evening and night hours. “But here people from abroad can help us. Throughout the history of the campaign there have been many calls from Canada and the United States, and also from people in Germany,” adds the representative of the Catholic Youth Association.

This is the eleventh time that the action “40 Days for Life” in the Diocese of Legnica has been organized. The first three years, the prayer crusade took place in a stationary form in front of Legnica’s cathedral. “Raising interest was difficult and there were acts of vandalism, but we received responses from people outside the diocese asking if they could join this prayer action. We are inspired by the American initiative of 40 Days for Life. We are succeeding for another year. I hope that this work will be continued,” underscores Aleksandra Zdobylak.

The partner of the action in Poland is the Polish Association of Human Life Defenders.

Tłumaczenie powstało na zamówienie Fundacji ŻYCIU TAK im. Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny