Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

I spent this past weekend in the Catskill Mountains.

In my younger days I used to spend quite a bit of time up there. A friend's grandmother had a house in Haines Falls, and it was not unusual for a bunch of us to flee the city and suburbs for the beautiful country for days or weeks at a time.

One of our favorite  places was Kaaterskill Falls where we would hike, play music, sit and draw, and just take in the beauty of nature. I had many great times at that falls with many good friends. It had been years since I had been there before this weekend.

When we got to the falls much had changed. They have made paths and roads down to the fall area, replacing the muddy roads we used to trek down. In  some places they have even made stairs!Posted on the entrance are warning of the dangers of  "fatalities", which caused me to remember the risks I took in my youth by climbing down the mountain to walk behind the falls and then the sometimes very treacherous hike back up.

But it was worth it..I loved it there. It brought me, even when I was very far from God, somehow into His presence by its beauty.

When I went this past weekend much of the mountain was covered in fog and we were unable to see beyond the location where the falls begin to drop. There also was not much water running due to our dry summer.

As I sat at the top of the mountain I could not help but think of St Therese and her quotes about comparing herself to a little bird who was in darkness the clouds covering the Sun. She spoke of the bird gazing at where it knew the sun to be, in spite of the fact that it could not see it because of the darkness it was in. So it was on Sunday,because of the fog of the falls, I was unable to see the beautiful view normally visible from the top of the mountain where the water drops yet I remembered and knew what was there, even though I could not see it.

In times of darkness  healing from abortion, or times of deep hurt, it is hard to see or feel Christ. We often get swayed by our feelings and get assailed by doubts, questioning if He is still there, but like the bird of St Therese, or the fog of Kaaterskill Falls, we need to trust beyond what we see because of who He is. Knowing of His love and mercy for us, His promises to be there always and unfailing trust that the clouds will move away and the fog lift showing His majesty once again.