Restoring the culture requires reasoned talking points and acts of service. However, the battles we face are primarily spiritual. A turning back to a culture of life and a civilisation of love will only come through a turning back to God.
These pro-life and family prayers will assist you in praying for the various needs of the day.
- 54-Day Rosary Novena for New Zealand
- Prayers for a Culture of Life
- Prayers for Marriage and the Family
- Spiritual Adoption of the Unborn Child
- Stations of the Cross in Reparation for Sins Against Life
A great prayer for life is urgently needed, a prayer which will rise up throughout the world. Through special initiatives and in daily prayer, may an impassioned plea rise to God, the Creator and lover of life, from every Christian community, from every group and association, from every family and from the heart of every believer.
Saint John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae #100
The Spiritual Battle
To understand the nature and cause of the very pervasive and destructive arguments against life and to deal effectively with them, it is necessary to grasp and accept several fundamental principles:
- There exists both good and evil; they are in no way equal. God alone is good. He is eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, Creator of all things, and He created them good.
- Satan, also known as the devil, the serpent, the dragon, prince of darkness, is a creature created with enormous but limited power, but who is in rebellion against God. He is not evil in his nature but in his will and in what he does.’
- Human beings are created in the image of God, the Creator of all life.
- Satan wages war against God and is bent on corrupting and destroying human beings because we bear the image and likeness of God.
God, the creator and giver of life, has promised eternal life to those who believe in His Son Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-13). But, on the other hand, Satan has come to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). He is variously called: the destroyer, the father of lies and the accuser of the brethren. Satan comes disguised as an angel of light. His proposals, suggestions and counsels appear reasonable, balanced, practical, sensible and responsible, but his intention is death and destruction.
Since Christ said a tree is known by its fruit (Luke 6:44), knowing the character of God and of Satan, we can readily recognise by its fruits the traits of each in the works done.
The anti-life and anti-family movements readily and repeatedly use falsehoods and half-truths.
Satan’s web of lies deceives the unsuspecting, leading them, as lambs to the slaughter, to death – spiritual death.
Organisations and even countries can be tricked into embracing ways of thinking and acting that can only be described as godless, if not evil. These traits can be attributed to the actions of evil spirits and demons.
Readers may be familiar with the reference made to the “prince of the kingdom of Persia” in the book of Daniel, chapter 10. Likewise, the book of Job (chapters 1 and 2) describe Satan’s attack, with God’s permission, on Job.
In the letter to the Romans, we find that the sinfulness of a group, even a nation, will cause God to give them over to degrading passions (Romans 1:26) and depraved mind (Romans 1:28). To reach this stage, the Scriptures tell us that certain things must happen:
- The people exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).
- They see fit not to acknowledge God any longer (Romans 1:26).
Where do we stand in New Zealand?
Common experience has shown that a family, organisation or nation begins to take on the likeness of the one in control. This is particularly true of a country that has formally and officially sanctioned a particular course of action, be it right or wrong.
Abortion is morally wrong, and individuals who partake in it need to ask God’s forgiveness. However, when abortion is legislated into law and paid for by the rulers, it becomes the sin of the nation.
Will we allow the blood of the elderly, disabled and terminally ill to be spilled and mingled with the blood of unborn innocents?
Let us, as individuals, humble ourselves, confess our sins, repent and pray so that God will heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14). Change for the better begins with God’s people.
The reader might consider the example that Daniel sets when interceding for Judah. Daniel humbled himself before God and asked for forgiveness for the sinful actions of God’s people that had led to the sacking of Jerusalem and the people being taken to exile in Babylon.
Was it just a coincidence that there was a call for a return to Christian morality while Wilberforce was campaigning against slavery? And what about Churchill’s call for a day of prayer just before the Battle of Britain?
The spiritual forces at work are far more powerful than we realise. They have an undeniable influence on our lives. “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Saint Michael, Pray for us!
