Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

I am finally getting around to posting a couple of picture of our Entering Canaan Mercy Retreat which was held at the end of August, "The Fullness of Grace". As usual, Jesus poured His graces upon us as we entrusted ourselves to Mary and heard wonderful talks, by Fr. John Paul Ouellette CFR, Fr Luke Leighton, CFR, Nancy Givens and Mary Kominsky..

Below is a reflection on the yearly Entering Canaan Mercy retreats by Mary.

Thank you for sharing your heart!

One of my favorite quotes from St. Faustina is the closing prayer of the Divine Mercy Chaplet. It reads,

“Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.”

When one submits to entering a post abortion healing program, you make the choice to receive God’s mercy, whether you know it or not. His mercy is boundless and comes without attachments, but you must learn to receive and believe it. God forgives us of all our sins, even the sin of abortion.

The hardest part of the healing process is often learning to forgive ourselves. This process is a difficult one and can take a long time as the journey of healing is ongoing. It does not happen with one retreat, one Bible study or one day of healing. These initial offerings are the first step. Although they take tremendous courage to begin and participate in, sometimes the tendency is to stop there. Afterwards one often feels relief and peace, but it is common that your grief, shame and anger may resurface again. It can come as a result of a trigger or something may come up that you have not dealt with in your past. God knows what we can handle and he gives us what we need at the time.

I attended a Rachel’s Vineyard retreat in January of 1999 seeking healing and forgiveness from my own abortion as a teenager in 1972. It was a life changing experience for me, but it was only the beginning of what God had in store for me to become whole again. I joyfully attended the support group and even became a team leader and eventually a facilitator on retreats that followed. I was even called to share my own story publicly. My hope was to help others recognize the depths of God’s mercy and the healing available to all those who were suffering. All these things led me deeper into my Catholic faith and helped me to invite anyone into a deeper relationship with Jesus and Mary. 

After all this time, I am finally learning how to submit to God’s will and not my own. There are countless other graces I have received and have come to realize that our healing journeys are never over in this life. I am twenty years in and still learning new things each day. Continued healing can also help you to go back to places of pain and when the time is right, with the help of Our Lady, Jesus will make all things new. Give yourself the gift of a mercy retreat when it becomes available. You will not be disappointed. Jesus, I trust in you!  

Mary Kominsky