Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

This
week, we will be beginning, the season of Lent. I love this time of year, because
it focuses on the ultimate sacrifice and the great love and mercy God has for each
one of us.

 We
have a beautiful Eucharistic prayer of reconciliation in the Catholic faith
that goes like this…””when we were lost and could not find our way to you, you
loved us more than ever”.  How
beautiful…that when we were lost, he did not forget us but He loved us more than ever…something so hopeful and comforting. We
may not have seen Him or known He was there, but He tells us He is always there
loving us!

 Who
is more lost, than a mother walking into an abortion clinic to participate in
the death of her child? Something totally against everything a mother should be
and do, so unnatural. A mother natural inclination is to protect and nurture.

 There
is a reason abortion is still so controversial after over 40 years of legality,
because everyone knows in their hearts it is not a good thing, even those women
walking into the clinic.  

 With
55 million abortions in our country since 1973 , we all know someone who has
had one whether we realize it I or not.

 We
are a wounded nation. Not only are there millions of babies who have been
denied their right to life, but there are millions more people whose lives have
been stripped of their dignity, living in grief and shame because of abortion.
Mothers, fathers, or even the siblings of these babies who are suffering
because they wonder why their brother or sister is dead and they are alive, or
they are worried about a parent who is depressed or unattached because of an
abortion they had in their past or if their very name would have been the same
if their sibling had lived.

 Grandparents, who are mourning the loss of
their grandchildren through abortion, and yes, society as a whole is suffering.

 I
often have heard people say, ‘I cannot understand how can anyone have an
abortion.” It is something many people cannot even fathom doing.

 I
usually reply “Thank God you can not understand, thank God your husband did not
threaten to leave you if you did not abort, or your parents did not kick you
out of the house and deny you their love, thank God you have not been filled
with fear by a BF who is threatening you if you do not abort, or telling you if
you love him you will get rid of the baby , thank God you never aborted because
you felt like you could not afford another child, or you got an adverse
diagnosis and were told you would be selfish to give birth….thank God.

 Of
course, none of these reasons
ever make abortion right, but we need to understand that women do not walk into
a clinic joyfully. After 20 years of doing post abortion work I can tell you,
most women walk into a clinic not because of free choice, but because they feel
they have no choice.

 We
are called to be a sign to those who are lost, as that Eucharistic prayer says,
 “loving
them more than ever”. We are called to care as much for the soul of those
participating in an abortion, the mothers, father, perhaps grandparents, clinic
escorts, and yes even the abortionist, as we do the unborn child, both when they are going in the clinic and
when they are coming out.

 We
need to offer women in crisis pregnancies help, but we also need to reach out
to all those suffering as a result of a past abortion, so that they can come to
see that forgiveness and healing is possible and they can have joy in their
lives again.

 I
would like to share a little with you about someone who I  believe is a living saint. Monsignor Philip
Riley of Gods Precious Infants.  Fo
rthose of you who may not know who he is, Monsignor riely began ‘The Helpers of
God precious infants” a group of people who pray in front of abortion clinics.
Monsignor himself goes to one in Queens everyday…he prays and fasts from when
he arises until he gets home from the clinic. Right now Monsginor has cancer
from standing out there day after day in the sun. To me he speaks so truly to our
role at an abortion clinic whether it is the helpers or 40 days.

He
says:

 “The
reason we go out is not primarily to save the physical life of the child ,
though we want to do that, absolutely, but if that becomes our primary purpose
we will become limited in what we will achieve 
and we are going to misunderstand why God wants us to be there. Our
purpose will determine the instrument that you use so if your purpose is to
save the physical life of the child then you are going to measure your success
on whether the physical life was spared. But the real purpose should be the salvation of souls, the
abortionist, people working there, the mother, bf, all people who brought her
there… God wants the mother and the people who bring her there. God loves them

 God
willing the mothers will spare the life of the child, but the mystery of the
death & resurrection of Jesus is present on Calvary
in you and me. It took a death, His death to convert many.  It is Jesus who is going there, to calvary,  in us to bring about conversions. Jesus and Jesus
alone can overcome death and error and darkness with His love, be an instrument
of JC..convert with love and prayer..be there in love, be Christ to them, meek,
gentle, kind, treat them with dignity, no shouting, no protesting, enter into
the mystery of the meekness and power of God!”

 “It took a death, His death to convert many.”

 I
believe that for I too am post abortive, I know what it is like to walk into a
place that is going to take the life of your child, but I know that the death
of my son Joshua from abortion, is the very thing God used to convert me teach
me about His love. No that He ever wanted the abortion, but in His mercy He
turns even our worse sins into good. And not only me, but my son brought about
the conversion of my mother, my father who forced me to abort, and countless
others who his death touched.

 There
is another Eucharistic prayer in our church which says “ God of love and mercy
you are always ready to forgive, we are sinners and you invite us to trust in
your mercy.” He does not force us, he invites us…he tells us it is there, we
need only to come to Him who “loved us more than ever” What comforting words,
especially for those who have been involved in abortion…

 It
took Calvary to redeem the world. For the
blood and water to flow from the Jesus and bring our salvation. I know I am
capable of any sin were it not for the grace of God. Each of us are..we are all
weak human beings in need of God mercy. It is there for each of us. For the
woman going into the clinic, for her unborn child, for the father, the BF, the
grandparents, even for the abortionist.

 May
we each be a sign of that mercy as Jesus is a sign for us, to bring about, not
only an end to abortion, but as Monsignor said, for the salvation of souls.