In his letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul instructed people to “put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Eph 6:11). I’m not sure what the devil’s schemes looked like in terms of tactics two thousand years ago, but the goal has always been the same—to tear God’s people away from Him
In 2023, the schemes of the devil still persist, and perhaps no scheme is a greater threat than abortion violence.
Abortion takes more innocent lives, damages more women, and destroys more families than any other crisis we have ever faced. Defeating abortion is our most important spiritual battle.
Just as Saint Paul instructed, we put on the armor of God to fight this battle. For American Life League’s Marian Blue Wave program, the armor of choice is our most powerful spiritual weapon—the Rosary.
In 2019, my mentor and dear friend Jim Sedlak asked me to step into his office. Jim, who passed away in 2022, was as seasoned as they come in the pro-life movement. He had been on the front lines of fighting Planned Parenthood since the 1990s.
Jim asked if I would like to help launch and run a new program at American Life League. The details were still to be determined, but he was sure of the name: the Marian Blue Wave.
The name originated from a tweet by Bishop Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas. When then-Governor Cuomo of New York legalized abortion up to birth in the state, Bishop Strickland tweeted, “We need a Marian Blue Wave to defeat abortion.” Jim saw the phrase “Marian Blue Wave” and knew it had potential.
For the Marian Blue Wave’s primary objective, we settled on asking participants to pledge to say one Rosary a week for an end to all types of abortion, for the closure of all Planned Parenthood facilities, and for the protection of Our Lord in the Eucharist.
Within five days of our October 7, 2019, launch, we had prayer partners in all 50 states and in 31 countries around the world sign up to be part of the Marian Blue Wave. It was a humbling reception for our small but mighty program!
Today, we boast a strong group of 10,000 participants throughout the world, all united in prayer for the Marian Blue Wave intentions.
The people who make up the Marian Blue Wave are what I call the hands and feet of the pro-life movement. They organize local prayer rallies, volunteer at women’s shelters, organize donation centers for baby closets, and pray in front of abortion facilities. Our prayer partners are the heart and soul of this movement, shining Christ’s love to their communities through prayer and action.
One Marian Blue Wave prayer partner told us how participating in this initiative has helped him become a defender of the faith. He explained, “It has always been tough to say I’m pro-life above a whisper in Illinois . . . [now] I’m not as afraid to defend my faith.”
When we are close to our faith, the devil and his schemes have a much harder time making an impact on us. A faithful reliance on God gives us hope and strength.
Patricia from Virginia said, “It gives hope that so many people pray the Rosary asking Mary to intercede for the end of abortion and to provide support for mothers. [We] assist mothers AND babies.”
When I think of why this small program has made such an impact, I can’t help but link it back to the armor of God. People across the world who pray with the Marian Blue Wave are taking the spiritual weapon of the rosary into battle every day. This has a ripple effect across their communities, their states, and our nation.
Phil from Ohio exemplifies this well. He said, “Since I joined the Marian Blue Wave, I am more committed than ever to pray for the end of abortion. . . . I really feel a strengthening in my spiritual beliefs.”
No matter what year it is, the devil will always brew up a new scheme as he aims at destroying humanity. The closer we are to God, and the more armor we don, the harder it will be for the devil to cross the line into our hearts.
As Jim used to tell me often, only the Blessed Mother’s intercession to her Son can end the violence of abortion.
His words echo those of Saint John Paul II, who famously said, “The revival of the rosary in Christian families . . . will be an effective aid to countering the devastating effects of [the] crisis typical of our age.”
The crisis of our age is indeed abortion—one of the devil’s greatest schemes against humanity. But we do not come to the battle unarmed; we have the greatest spiritual weapon of all—the Rosary.
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Wonderful Its working.
I pray the rosary to end abortion bans, because I think it is wrong to torture babies
I am not willing to torture babies and kill women and children, which abortion bans do. pro-life is a lie. babies suffer, women and children die.
Should someone murder you for you tortured childishness and the tortured childishness with which you burden the human experience?
Thank you, Katie!
Physical induced abortion and spiritual induced abortion are inseparable and qualitatively equal. Roman catholic church role group ‘teaching’ that “holy virginity surpasses marriage in excellence” (Pope Pius X11, SV, 1954, 24; cf. St Paul, 1Cor7:24-35; Pope St John Paul 2’s Council for the Family “Guidelines”, TTMHS, PCF, 1995, 35) is spiritual induced abortion.
Praying the Rosary is good, but not sufficient. Otherwise, the Battle of Lepanto wouldn’t have been fought.
Theoretically, “ending abortion” should be easy. The executive branch must prosecute it as murder, and arrest every judge and legislator who refuses with, his actions/inactions, to recognize this morality FACT.
Those in the media would need to be arrested for complicity with attempted murder by using the phrase “abortion rights.” I actually researched this phrase, and it appears to have come from psychiatrists as early as 1969.
The old Catholic admonishment of pray as though all depends on God and act as though all depends on us is true enough. A war is fought on many fronts. But give thought to the power of this prayer to Our Holy Mother that, sadly, only a minority of Catholics enthusiastically pray. Imagine a rosary revival. In my own adult life, which began in cynical atheism, I have witnessed a rosary miracle. It has power.
Interesting
Greetings, All, this Oct. 13 Feast of Our Lady of Fatima! In addition to the sun dancing and instantaneous weather changes, Our Lady appeared as Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. She cares for we Her children still on earth, while Queen of Heaven and Earth. The Holy Family appeared at Fatima: The Blessed Mother, and St. Joseph, with toddler Jesus in his arms, both blessed the world 3 times.
God’s building block of souls, the microcosm of society- the family, the Domestic Church- is under attack by Satan, ‘warring against Mother Mary’s children, Christ’s brethren’. But fear not, little Flock, Marian priest Fr. Peyton told us “The family which prays [the Rosary] together stays together”. Modest young women who aren’t brainwashed and deceived into taking birth control (as if! for acne?!), marrying devoted men, all praying the Rosary, bear many fruitful souls for Jesus’ garden. Natural Family Planning, the simple science of reproduction as God willed, produces healthy women, and fertility is perfectly managed both to achieve OR avoid a pregnancy. Rosary devotion abounds at Latin Mass, the Mass of the Ages of Christendom.
In Dr. Taylor Marshall’s Catholic Rosary-touting podcast, he taught, ‘We have only rights gifted us by Our Creator. As God cannot contradict Himself, since His Fifth commandment is: “Thou shalt not kill”, abortion isn’t a RIGHT; it’s a grave, MORTAL SIN’. Recall the miraculous recent overturning of blanket mandate Roe v. Wade; and a pro-life Speaker of the House Steve Scalise; and a pro-life Pres. candidate FL Gov. Ron DeSantis, etc.! March on, Christian “soldiers”. His is the battle and victory.
-Melodie Kirby
PS Thank you; congratulations, Katie for your directorship and presentation of the Marian Blue Wave; it’s origin with Jim’s creativity and Bishop Strickland’s cry to Holy Mary. (Delighted to learn the fruit borne from such a devout Marian shepherd. He it is who “smells like the sheep”.) -🎶Melodie
According to tradition, Mary’s life on earth was 72 years. Several historical events individually spanned 72 years. The most significant is the Fatima visions in 1917 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. 72 years. If 1973 is the beginning of abortion’s reign of terror in the US, then by 2045 we’ll see the end of that culture of death, thanks to Mary and her Rosary.