ROCKY RIVER – Fred Sokol, Chair – Stop Abortion in Rocky River Committee has called on all to “Walk and Witness by faith, not by sight … with the suffering Christ”.   

Also Sokol calls on all to participate in 40 Days For Life in Rocky River, Ohio and throughout the United States.  Where prayer and fasting … and ‘a call’ for continued prayer and fasting … is now taking place around the clock until November 1, 2009 to stop abortion in Rocky River, Ohio, in the United States and throughout the World.

WALK AND WITNESS BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT … WITH THE SUFFERING CHRIST - AND THE TRUTH HE TESTIFIES TO. [A MEDITATION]

I ask you my friend Walk and Witness by Faith not by Sight … With the Suffering Christ and the Truth He brings.  

As Jesus said to Pilate before Jesus was sentenced to death on the Cross, "…For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." John 18:37

What “Truth” does Jesus testify to … that we as His followers … are called to witness to others about? 

Jesus testified, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  … You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."  Matthew 22:37-40

Or are you willing just to sit back safe within your home, free from controversy, free from confrontation, free from the truth and free from witnessing to others for the Suffering Christ?

So many people have good intentions about what they want to truly do for God, yet fall when the first hint of resistance to the Truth He brings is felt.  No one wants to suffer for what they believe in.  Yet isn’t what we believe in … the truth of what God wants us to share and to teach others?  I think so. 

So let the witnessing and suffering take place.  Do not be afraid of witnessing and suffering.  Do not be afraid of the truth.  Do not be afraid of Our suffering Christ, for He is inside of you … if you walk with Him … and witness to His Truth to others that have not heard it.   

Yes Lord I am willing to step out of the safety and the comfort of my home where no one sees or hears me.  Yes Lord I am willing to do what You want me to do … to speak the truth to all of Your people. 

All the while knowing I will surely drink from the cup You drank from and I will carry The Cross You Carried.

Yes Lord I am willing to be shamelessly humiliated as you were when you were brought out in front of Your Own People beaten, bloodied and wearing a crown of thorns.

“Ecce Homo”, Pontius Pilate said, “Behold the Man!”  You, the King of us all, the Savior of the World treated like a wanted criminal.

You also wore a Crown of Piercing Thorns slammed down and fastened upon Your Head … while Your Most Precious Blood streamed down Your Blessed Face.   

Your Body was also ripped and torn by the whip of Your enemy, us.  Then marched to the filthy, stinking, bug infested City Dump [Golgotha] to be executed on a Cross

… for loving all Life and talking to us about loving Your Father in Heaven. 

Oh Lord, Your Way, Truth and Life was not welcome in Your Time.  Today the World still does not welcome You and it especially does not welcome us who continue to profess Your Way, Truth and Life … Oh Lord. 

Yet we as Your servants will continue to witness to Your Truth to a fallen World that only knows lies.  Yes we will pay dearly for our attempt to tell the truth about the horror of abortion as well.  Like You did Lord when You professed the Truth about Loving Your Father in Heaven and Loving each Human Life.  

Let those at work and our friends ignore us for we also love Life, believe in God and tell the truth about the horror of abortion and the importance of loving each Human Life both born and unborn.  For if we willingly follow Our Lord to the Cross, did not His Own Disciples run from him as well?   Let our family the closest and the most loved of all to us … criticize us, berate us and mock us as well because we love beyond what others dare to love that is the unborn baby.  Also because we stand up for the unborn child while others would rather run away from this challenge.  Oh, I feel the sword cut through my heart when I am chastised because I tell the truth about the horror of abortion … from those I love the most.  Yet Our Lord’s Heart was pierced by a sword as well. 

Oh there is the suffering Christ.  Do not let Him get away.  Embrace Him, hold Him tight and never let Him go.  For by His Stripes, we are healed.

Now let the banquet begin.  The banquet I talk of is in Heaven where our heads will be anointed with oil, where our cup will overflow and where we will wear the white robe of the martyr.  Oh Glad Tidings for us.  For, we will finally be home and we will be with Our God … for eternity.

For we did not follow safety, security and false approval from those that do Satan’s bidding. 

We walked and witnessed fearlessly and truthfully with Love and by Faith, not by Sight … With the Suffering Christ, Amen.

- Fred Sokol

“40 DAYS FOR LIFE” IN ROCKY RIVER, OHIO.

"The abortion industry is breeding our children to become willing 'abortion incubators' for the abortion industry's 'blood money", says Fred Sokol, Chair – Stop Abortion in Rocky River Committee.  

^(1.) "One of the interviewees featured in the movie trailer, Carol Everett, was a part owner of several abortion clinics in the Dallas area who has repented of her involvement in abortion.

In the Blood Money trailer she talks of the unsavory practices her clinics were involved in.

“Our goal was three to five abortions from every girl from the ages 13 to 18,” she says.

Everett describes a plan to “sell abortions” by using sex education to “break down” the natural modesty of children, separate them from their parents and their values, and establish the abortion provider as the sex expert in young people’s lives.

“So they would turn to us when we would give them a low-dose birth control pill they would get pregnant on, or a defective condom,” she says.

Later in the trailer she remarks: “I recognized that I’d been involved in the deaths of over 35,000 babies.” ^(1.) [taken from "Documentary to examine "Blood Money" motive in abortion industry"  - Washington D.C., Sep 1, 2009/ 06:33 CNA Catholic News Agency -

“That is why”, says Sokol, “we on the streets of Rocky River and Fairview Park to pray to stop abortion in Rocky River, in the United States and throughout the World.  This prayer witness, is called “Forty Days For Life” in Rocky River, Ohio and throughout the United States.  

1. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2009 FROM 8:30 PM TO 10:15 PM in front of Rocky River Health Center [Planned Parenthood] … located at 20800 Center Ridge Road that offers ... “Abortion pill (medication abortion) … up to 9 weeks after the start of your last menstrual period.” 

I prayed by myself The Glorious Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary and displayed the sign "Pray to end abortion" to passing motorists, restaurant goers and pedestrians. 

At about 9:15 pm. a Rocky River Resident and a Pro-Lifer came over and stood with me and we talked until 10:10 pm. about pro-life activism and abortion in Rocky River. He said he drove by earlier with his daughter after getting her something to eat. 

He saw me by myself praying and he felt he did not want me standing by myself.  So he took his daughter home and came back to stand with me.  He also said he already stood and prayed in front of Rocky River Planned Parenthood that last week as well. 

Then I recalled to myself ... that in the information given out by 40 Days For Life before it started.  That it mentioned … that through our prayer witness we will draw others to pray with us as well.  That is exactly what happened that night.  Praise God. 

2. MONDAY, OCTOBER 05, 2009 FROM 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM in front of Rocky River Health Center [Planned Parenthood] … located at 20800 Center Ridge Road that offers ... “Abortion pill (medication abortion) … up to 9 weeks after the start of your last menstrual period.”  

I had the honor of leading in prayer the “Glorious Mysteries” of the Most Holy Rosary with eleven pro-lifers that came as well, from a North Ridgeville Catholic Parish … in front of Rocky River Health Center [Planned Parenthood]. 

One lady afterward thanked me for leading the Rosary.  I thanked her for following in the Rosary as well.

3. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2009 FROM 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM in front of Rocky River Health Center [Planned Parenthood] … located at 20800 Center Ridge Road that offers ... “Abortion pill (medication abortion) … up to 9 weeks after the start of your last menstrual period.”  

As my pro-life prayer partner and I were finishing our two hour [6:00 PM to 8:00 PM] pro-life prayer vigil in a driving cold rain.  A man driving west on Center Ridge Road pulled over to the curb and stopped his vehicle in front of Rocky River Health Center [Planned Parenthood] where we stood praying. 

The car window on the rider’s side of the vehicle then opened and the motorist yelled out to us, “Thank You for praying for the unborn baby, I [the motorist] really appreciate it.” 

Then I stepped forward to come closer to his open car window.  I peered into the car at the motorist and I said, “I thank you for your kind words of encouragement … and I ask you to pray for the unborn baby as well.” 

He immediately said that he would.  I thanked him for that.  Then he drove off.  

4. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2009 FROM 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM across the street [on a public sidewalk in the City of Fairview Park, Ohio] from Rocky River Health Center [Planned Parenthood] … located at 20800 Center Ridge Road that offers ... “Abortion pill (medication abortion) … up to 9 weeks after the start of your last menstrual period.”  

As my pro-life prayer partner and I were finishing our 1½ hour [10:00 AM to 11:30 AM] graphic abortion sign display.  A man driving a white truck with the name of another shopping mall other than Westgate Shopping Center [we wrote down the name of the other Shopping Center and the truck’s license plate number] drove slowly by us and photographed me and my partner as we displayed [legally on the public sidewalk] our graphic abortion signs.

The driver of the truck then went to the north side of Center Ridge Road stopped on the busy Center Ridge Road and took pictures of all the praying pro-life people [including “Forty Days For Life” prayer people] who legally stood on a public sidewalk in front of Rocky River Health Center [Planned Parenthood]  

I praise God for the pro-life mission He has given me to display graphic abortion signs, to show the horror of abortion, to turn people away from murdering their own children and to save unborn baby’s lives from abortion and death.

By the actions of pro-death people that oppose us shows me.  That God has given me and others a very important mission.  That is to stop abortion in Rocky River which we shall do that and only with God’s help and through the prayers of the pro-lifers … and from the 40 Days For Life … will it happen.   

Praise Be to Thee Eternal Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One God, Forever and Ever, For You found us worthy of mistreatment in Your Name, Amen.  

5. IN CLOSING:

‘Forty Days For Life in Rocky River, Ohio’ is certainly being noted by people both good and bad.  For they realize and respond both favorably and unfavorably … not to us but to the power of prayer finally coming to Rocky River … and not specifically in our act of Prayer … but to our invitation to Rocky River Citizens to pray.

For those with a Love for God and for Mary … they will rejoice in this invitation to pray … for God and Mary certainly have come to Bless Rocky River … through all of our prayers.   

Yet for those in Rebellion against God and in Rebellion against Mary … they will wail and gnash their teeth and Hell itself will repel … from what God and Mary’s servants have wrought upon Rocky River.  That is an invitation to Love and Pray … this, these ‘human serpents’ cannot bear.    

For it is written “… she shall crush thy head, …” Douay-Rheims Bible: Genesis 3:15 of the Serpent.  “She” is Our Blessed Mother Mary and Her Rosary and “thy head” is Satan who is now being crushed and expelled from Rocky River, Ohio … never to come back again. 

Praise God, Praise His Holy Name, Praise Jesus His Son and Praise the Most Holy Spirit, now and forever, Amen.

FINALLY

As 40 Days For Life ends on November 1, 2009.  I have already been led further on what God wants me to do in a peaceful and prayerful way for Him to stop abortion in Rocky River. 

Stayed Tuned for my announcement on what I plan to do and how I will walk and witness by faith, not by sight … with the Suffering Christ … after the 40 Days For Life is over.

- Fred Sokol

Fred Sokol, Chair – Stop Abortion in Rocky River Committee - JMJ

Paid For By ‘Stop Abortion in Rocky River Committee’ - Fred Sokol, Treasurer - 20021 Parkview Avenue – Rocky River, Ohio 44116