Bust This Bill

Since my last post, I've been struggling with the roller coaster of feelings that flood me as I fight back the urge to find a way to cheat and get on Facebook. Like any addiction, temptation to give into the addiction is plentiful.  Being addiction specific, it is easy to say "one minute won't hurt," or "I'll just see if they found out why that lady is bleeding," or "I wonder if that kid's eye got infected from the dog-bite?" Fighting each urge is important, as failing doesn't cost 'just one minute.' Failing means the urges to surf FB get stronger, the minutes spent on FB during the day-time get longer and more numerous, and the moments that could have been with my husband and children slip away more easily.  Why? Because the devil does exist. The devil is in the little lies that make it okay to do what we know is wrong. The devil is in the voice that makes transgressing our conscience a small problem when it is really a big one.

That devil. That devil most certainly exists. I had plenty of childhood nightmares about the devil. Sometimes I'd wake up my womb partner when I woke terrified and enlist her help in settling down. Other times, I knew I had to go get Dad, as my 'big, strong Daddy' was the only bridge over the gap between anxiety and peace. I don't know if Dad remembers those nights when I woke him, but I do. They were almost always because I was afraid of death or the devil and I needed to feel his strength and certainty.

But the devil doesn't exist in just dreams. That bugger is real. I came to see how real when I read about Padre Pio and the physical fights he had with the devil, often right before bed. One day, when I was newly twenty years old, when I was with a small group of people, in a foreign land, after dark, and about a mile away from where we lodged, I saw the devil. I heard the devil. Everyone in my small group did. It's the kind of experience that one would question if everyone in the group didn't experience it simultaneously, but we all did.

We were leaving a small chapel known as the Oasis of Peace. It was run by some cloistered nuns just outside of Medjugorje in Bosnia Herzegovina. My cousin, Sarah, a group of women that lodged where we were, and myself decided to go to the chapel for some quiet prayer of thanksgiving before we started the journey home the next day. We prayed the rosary in front of the Tabernacle, had some silent time to ourselves, and got up to leave. We were all outside in the dark, rounding the dimly lit path towards the road home, when we all heard a screech together. Several women, including my cousin Sarah, pointed upward towards the sky. Above us was a huge, red, wolf-like creature that had what looked like a body but flew through the air. This creature, very much a demon, swept high and low above our heads, coming so close to us so as to appear like it would knock us down. Several women screamed as if in a horror movie.

Joan, one of the older ladies who was with us, started to say the St. Michael Prayer. By the time she hit the sixth word, we'd all joined in. We all had slightly different versions, but our voices gained in unity and strength as we prayed together the renditions we knew.

St. Michael the Archangel, 
defend us in battle. 
Be our defense against the malice and snares of the devil. 
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, 
and do Thou, 
O Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, 
by the Divine Power of God, 
thrust into Hell satan, 
and all the other evil spirits, 
who prowl throughout the world 
seeking the ruination of souls. Amen.

As we finished, the demon screeched one final, lengthy wail, scrunched together in the whirl of a tornado-like fashion, and disappeared. Gone. One minute this thing was swooping above us, and the next, after the words of one of my most favorite prayers of protection, it was gone. 

That, my friends, was a very real experience of the devil. And, that, my friends, was spiritual warfare at it's Heavenly best. 

This experience solidified for me personally, the presence of the devil. The devil is real and is around us. Evil spirits are real and around us. Spiritual warfare is absolutely a real and necessary thing. I feel as though a public thank you to St. Michael is necessary for protecting us that day. His protection extended to me at that moment and far beyond, as it impressed upon me the certainty of demonic existence and the necessity to fight against evil.

You know what? I feel the devil and his minions are alive and well working to spread evil in the form of pain, suffering, sin, and the consequences of sin. I feel them work feverishly to build little lies into big lies so that people are unable to call evil, evil.

New Yorkers are poised to expand the codifying of the most evil of evils, the murder of the innocent in abortion. Masked in terminology like 'removing tissue' or 'pre-born embryo,' the act of killing a pre-born baby doesn't seem like the killing of a baby at all. Future scientists, cure finders, teachers, doctors, and everything in between are legally murdered even before they inhale their first breath. Current limitations on how far into a pregnancy this killing can happen are soon to be removed, making it legal and acceptable to terminate a pregnancy up to and through delivery. In fact, the law that is set to pass on January 22, 2019, in the NYS Congress run in both houses by Democrats, will make it so babies born alive after failed attempts at abortion can be left to die on the table without any assistance whatsoever.

--- Warning---- graphic descriptions coming ----

There are different ways that abortion happens. This is largly determined based on how far along a pregnant MOTHER is. There are abortion pills to cause death, and there are abortion instruments to cause death. Early on, wombs as safe places are forced to shed and deny the protection of little life. A bit later, whether using a sickle or a vacuum, human babies are torn apart and removed piece by piece from the womb. Limbs are pulled off, heads are crushed, brain material is removed. Doctors and nurses must actually count body parts and put babies back together before dumping this 'medical waste' to make sure remains are not left behind to form infection.

'The Silent Scream' is a term coined in 1984 that echos in my heart and mind when thinking of the littlest and most vulnerable people torn apart in the sacred space of the womb. The fluid, muscle, and blood vessels meant to nourish and protect, to help and guide fresh, new life until the journey of birth is complete, actually hide the most horrible of screams, the death scream.

New Yorkers are poised to allow that wail even after birth.

The evil is palpable. It is real. It is all around. It seeks to engulf me. I envision my own six children, who safely took the breath of life (but who had the O2 before needing the breath), being left to die. I cannot bear it. I cannot bear it for them or for anyone.

Like the demon that appeared to my group in Medjugorje, the demons abound. The devil has snuck them into the lies that say babies aren't babies; the demons are in the lies of false compassion and the empty promises that abortion will make one's life better; the demons are particularly loud and diabolically active in the procedures that violently end human life one piece at a time.

We must be like Joan. We must cry out in prayer for the blindness to be lifted, for people to understand what is really going on, for the reality of abortion to be crystal clear and to be rejected. We must pray for those involved with abortion to be changed and healed. We must pray for God's Mercy and Forgiveness to be seen and felt by all.....

When it seems like there is no hope.... when it seems the job is too big and the fight cannot be won, we must remember that with God all things are possible. ALL THINGS. We must press on in using the tools God has given us. Pray and Perservere.

St. Michael the Archangel, 
defend us in battle. 
Be our defense against the malice and snares of the devil. 
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, 
and do Thou, 
O Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, 
by the Divine Power of God, 
thrust into Hell satan, 
and all the other evil spirits, 
who prowl throughout the world 
seeking the ruination of souls. Amen.

Lord Jesus, Son of God, Bringer of Mercy, BUST THIS BILL. From baby to abortionist, have mercy on us all. Lord Jesus, please catch me as the anxiety of such an awful bill consumes me. Catch me and bring me peace. Help me to know that while man misuses his Free Will, You give that Free Will to ensure true love and You ultimately will bring safety. Please Lord, for the sake of all, especially those who know not what they do, please 'Bust This Bill.'  In Your Mighty name we pray, Amen.

PS. On Tuesday 1/15/18, my family will make use of our time homeschooling to pray in the legislative building. We will pray together for God to 'Bust This Bill.' Please email me (Sarah) at sstodolka@gmail.com if you would like information on how to participate in prayer or lobbying from Monday 1/14 through Tuesday 1/22/18. The link to the Albany Diocese Novena Prayer is the first link below. Also, below are some links to information on receiving help in a crisis pregnancy or after an abortion has occurred.

https://www.rcda.org/9days (Join the Albany Diocese in Praying to 'Bust This Bill')

http://www.ccrcda.org/get_help/   (Find Help: Catholic Charities of Albany)

http://hopeafterabortion.com/?page_id=47 (Help for those suffering from the effects of abortion)

https://standupgirl.com/girl-help/id-like-help/  (Get help in a crisis pregnancy)