Family Life
project rachel - words of encouragement
"I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not have yet healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. To the same Father and to his mercy you can with sure hope entrust your child. With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life."
Pope John Paul II
Gospel of Life (99)
EPILOGUE
"I visited Mt. St. Helen's a few years after its eruption. The mudslides had devastated everything. However, my mother was quick to point out to me the numerous tiny green seedlings that were beginning to push their way through the ashy soil.
If you have a hard time understanding the healing process of abortion, envision the eruption of a volcano as the abortion, the devastating mudslides as the afterbirth, killing everything in its path; unborn children, relationships, marriages, families, the physical, spiritual, and mental health of those involved, the stability of a nation and a sane society.
You are completely smothered by the afterbirth. Enmeshed in that image for a minute or so with its indescribable darkness and inconsolable fear, imagine a light pushing through that darkness, removing your fear...
-Diana