My previous Lenten experience

Mar 21, 2014

By Roeshan Gomez, 22, Sg Buloh
My last Lent was a memorable one. At that time I was studying in Cardiff, Wales in the United Kingdom. The weekend before Lent, the local church reached out to the Catholic students from the chaplaincy. They were organising a Lenten mission in Cardiff called ‘40 days for life.’ It was an international movement, its aim to put an end to abortion through prayer. Everyday for the forty days of Lent, those on the mission around the world would gather close to an abortion clinic and just pray for the lives of the mother and child.

We the students of the Cardiff chaplaincy agreed to be put on the roster. The mission started on Ash Wednesday. We were blessed by the brilliant local priest Fr. Gareth Jones. Now the thing about doing a prayer vigil in the UK is not the same as in Malaysia, the main difference being the weather. Ash Wednesday itself was extremely cold, about zero degrees, on top of that there was the annoying drizzle that would never go away. That was the general theme of the weather during the forty days. It eventually became compulsory to wear two pairs of socks, gloves and head gear. It was an amazing experience.

The group consisted of mostly the elderly (there was a man I met, a British soldier who served in Malaysia during the communist era) and young, men and women. Everyday there was an average of twenty people, it would vary from hour to hour, but the minimum was two. It was just a whole day of prayers, we did all the mysteries of the rosary, the divine office prayers, stations of the cross, psalms, songs and many more.

However, it was not easy especially when we were insulted by those passing by. Some shouted uncharitable things that hurt. Then the feminists came. I am all for feminism but this particular group was more extreme. They organised a counter protest every Saturday, their strategy being to rile people up by belittling and making as much noise as possible.

As a person who was there, I can testify that they spread lies and put up posters that were targeted not at us but our religion. One of the milder posters were ‘keep your rosaries away from our rosaries.’ It truly hurt.

The people I prayed with however were just so amazing that I can only call them anointed. They truly represented Jesus. The group just huddled close and reminded each other to continue praying quietly. However much we were insulted just meant we had to also pray for those who had hurt us. It was affirming when some of the crowd would stop to show us their support. Even non-Christians would stop for a minute to pray. God is truly great. I will never forget that particular season of Lent, I thank God for allowing me the opportunity to meet these amazing people and to suffer just a bit as He did for us. It’s often said that Europe has lost its faith. I don’t really agree. I think the Catholics in Europe have quality over quantity. In a society where being
religious is considered being a fool, the religious face enormous pressures but they are still loyal to Him. I was humbled being with them.

Let us this Lent never take for granted what we have, and continue to live the way Christ would, in prayer and action.

In the United Kingdom one can obtain a medical abortion anytime before the 24th week. In the United Kingdom over 180 000 abortions and in the United States over 1.04 million abortions were reported in 2012. ‘40 days for life’ is an American mission. It has over 600,000 participants over 21 countries. It has saved 8,245 lives and closed over 45 clinics.