Miracles still happen!

I spent years sidewalk counseling at an abortion mill in Alexandria, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Then I moved to the Shenandoah Valley where, thank God, abortion mills are nowhere around. But I still pray and keep up with the sidewalk counseling movement. I'm on Fr. Francis McCloskey's email list and get regular updates about the activities of sidewalk counselors around the country. (Father organizes Oh Saratoga every year, a weeklong counseling and prayer witness at abortion mills in the Saratoga, NY area.) Today's email was so inspiring I wanted to share it.

It was another cold day on Warren Street but this time with lots of rain falling and icing up the snow on sidewalks and lawns. Business at the Moloch was off as usual but the sidewalk warriors were at their best because it was a time of reminiscences of what once happened at this site.

And with 11 warriors most of whom remembered Judge Mannix - John, Alan, Mike, Cheryl, Steve, Marion and her sister Barbara, Francis, Jean, Olga and this writer - it was worth the telling of the time the Judge would come out in his Cadillac to pray with us. As the story goes...

One day the Cadillac pulls up, a man wearing a special surgical slipper and limping on a cane, gets out and comes to pray with us. He is the City Court Judge of Glens Falls. But why did he come out, not just once but repeatedly over weeks and months, and join us on the sidewalk? Which increased the beeps and toots as he was well-known in the City.

Judge Mannix, limping over leaning on his cane, introduces himself. He, a diabetic, had just exited Glens Falls Hospital where he had been admitted with a gangrenous left leg for amputation. While in the hospital he prayed to St. Joseph [understand that with so many Quebecois French in the Glens Falls area, most locals intuit the connection, i.e. the famous healing Shrine of St. Joseph on Mount Royal in Montreal and its founder Brother Andre Bessette with its famous healing oil, l'huile de Saint-Joseph]. When one visits the Shrine one sees the mountains of crutches, back braces and other medical paraphernalia that were left behind by the many healings recorded there.

So Judge Mannix said to us "I said to St. Joseph... St. Joseph, if I don't have to have my leg amputated I'll go out and pray with those crazy people in front of the Planned Parenthood".

Each time Judge Mannix returned he was walking better. One day the special slipper was gone. Finally the cane was gone and he was totally healed.

And so today we recalled those Judge Mannix days and thanked God for the judge's witness. There is more to be told especially about the next door lady who called us over and told us how within a month after the first Scripture Wall, she saw the PP building get hit by lightning and their circuits were out for a week. More to come on this. Since we had both snow and rain to deal with today we finished up with Isaiah 55:10-11.

If you've never prayed at an abortion mill, you are missing a powerful experience. Put it on your bucket list of things to do. You will never regret it. And who knows, you might personally witness a baby being saved. I have photos of quite a few from my days at the mill including a sweet little Muslim girl, the sixth child in her family. Life is beautiful!

This is part one of a sidewalk counseling series. To see the others visit the Pro-Life Action League.