Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

I remember thinking: "Can this be true? Did I hear him correctly? Can God really forgive abortion?" After years of suffering, it seemed a foreign thought. However, that evening I left with the first ray of hope I had known in years.

It took time and courage, but I contacted that priest and asked him to hear my confession. The priest was gentle, leading me through the commandments and into the arms of Jesus. He showed great empathy and support. At last, I was on my way home.

I began to see that priest regularly for spiritual direction. At first, all I knew was darkness. It was an effort to do the things he asked of me, like examining my life. I was sure I would uncover what a terrible person I was, but tired of the depression that had become my constant companion, I decided to try. I began going to daily Mass, and spent time before the Blessed Sacrament. I needed so badly to trust in this God I had been told was so good.

I understand now that the fullness of healing must come in God's time, but it was through the words of that priest that hope was born in me. His invitation to the mercy of God was something I had been waiting to hear for years. Instead of the hell I was sure I was heading for because of my abortion, he opened the door to the possibility of heaven.

If you speak to other women and men who are post abortive, you are sure to hear similar stories. The power of the priest to invite, through his words, someone lost in the despair of abortion, back into union with the church through its sacraments.

As a man from one of our retreats relates: "As I sat in a pew in of the church listening to the priest, I started to feel myself opening up to God in a way I never had before. ..  It was clear to me that this was the man I needed to speak to about the guilt and shame that had eaten through every aspect of my life for a decade and a half.