WATCH: Fr. Mark Mary Ames explains how to fight spiritual attacks against life

Attendees at Live Action's Young Leaders Summit in March heard from Fr. Mark Mary Ames, a Franciscan friar who spoke to the audience about the spiritual element to the fight for life.

Key Takeaways:

• Fr. Mark Mary Ames spoke to attendees at the Young Leaders Summit in March.

• He touched on the spiritual side in the fight for life, noting that "this is a battle."

• He outlined the "four Ds" of the enemy's tactics: discouragement, distraction, feigned domination, and direct attacks on holiness.

• These can all be fought with prayer, community, and meekness.

The Details:

The Devil Hates Life. Here's How We Fight Back | Young Leaders Summit 2026

Fr. Ames noted that the fight against abortion is both cultural and spiritual, urging attendees to recognize both the visible and invisible dimensions of the fight for life.

“This is a battle,” he explained. “The battle for our culture, the battle for our souls, the battle to build a culture of life. It’s just a real battle.”

Drawing from his experiences in New York City, he described monthly prayer processions to a Planned Parenthood facility in Manhattan. These peaceful walks often drew aggressive counter protesters, especially after the overturning of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Often, police would be on hand to intervene as these protestors tried to block and stop the pro-lifers.

“We’re just trying to walk, trying to pray, trying to give witness,” he explained. “And there’s another opposing force who’s quite angry, quite aggressive… trying to intimidate us.”

He attributed some of the aggression and anger seen from these protestors to a spiritual struggle. “There’s certainly a human component to it,” he said, “but also there’s very much a spiritual component to it.”

Zoom In:

Fr. Ames outlined what he called the “four Ds” of the enemy’s tactics: discouragement, distraction, feigned domination, and direct attacks on holiness.

Discouragement convinces pro-life advocates their efforts are meaningless. “Satan’s going to try and tell you your efforts aren’t going anywhere… that you’re wasting your time,” he told the audience.

Distraction, he said, is another tactic which pulls believers away from prayer and focus.

Feigned domination is the illusion that pro-life advocates are isolated or losing. “There’s going to be a lot of voices trying to tell you that you are all by yourself,” he said. “But my brothers and sisters, this is not real.”

Finally, Satan will directly attack our holiness through an interior battle. "Satan is coming after you," he warned. "And he's coming after your own relationship with the Lord, trying to tempt you into sin, trying to lead you down the wrong path."

The Bottom Line:

Fr. Ames offers three ways to fight the enemy's tactics: prayer, community, and meekness.

“The battle begins by you and I becoming men and women who know the Lord,” he said, stressing that faith must move beyond private devotion into public witness.

Pro-lifers must then go out "as a team," witnessing together doing things like the prayer procession to Planned Parenthood.

Finally, it is important to be meek, which, he emphasizes, does not mean to become a "doormat."

"Meekness is to have this confident posture that the victory is already won."