Family Life
project rachel
An open letter from the staff of Project Rachel.
Dear Friend,
Thank you for taking the time to visit this web site and to read our message of hope and healing. We are sorry you are hurting so much. Please understand that no matter what has happened, each person is and always will be a daughter or a son of God. Despite the gravity of abortion, God never withdraws His love nor turns His back on anyone. On the contrary, your search for healing is itself a sign of the Lord's grace at work in your life. The first moment of repentance occurs in someone's life thanks only to the mysterious workings of the Holy Spirit. You can be assured that God is very close to you, even if you don't think so or can't feel that God is near.
You can (perhaps over time) come to realize and understand this on an intellectual level; the harder part is coming to realize it on the level of the heart. Here is where time, support, professional counseling and (perhaps most of all) prayer come into the picture. All these are necessary, to one degree or another. The hardest thing is learning to forgive yourself for having an abortion. But you can forgive yourself because God has first forgiven you. The fact that God always welcomes us back into His arms makes it possible for a woman who has had an abortion (or a man who has encouraged one) to overcome feelings of hatred and despair.
The devil clearly does not want anyone to seek reconciliation. Thus his greatest deception is to try to convince people that they are bad or evil. But nothing can make a person be evil. We may do evil things-perform evil actions and make evil choices-but we cannot become evil in our being . We are, and always remain, children of God.
Catholic moral theology has constantly taught that in order to commit a mortal sin, three conditions have to be fulfilled simultaneously. First, there must be serious matter; second, there must be full knowledge of this gravity; third, there must be full consent to perform the action. By repenting of your decision, without minimizing the seriousness and moral wrong of abortion in any way, you are showing that you have not become evil, but that you instead are seeking to heal and to put things right in your life once again.
At this point, you have a choice: to remain caught up in guilt and hurt, or to open up to the Lord and experience His forgiving love. But just as the Lord is always willing to forgive you, so you must be willing to forgive others. Remaining trapped in hatred only adds fuel to the fire and ultimately never resolves anything. Each person must, at some point, make a conscious decision and effort to let go and turn away from the cycle of hatred and violence that contributed to the abortion in the first place. The words of the Lord's Prayer-" forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us -must really mean something and be lived day to day. The only way to do this is by just doing it-by just beginning (aided, of course, by grace, prayer, and support of others, etc.). Please contact us at Project Rachel if you would like to talk to someone about your experience-we are here to help. Daily you remain in our prayers.
May God bless you,
The Project Rachel Staff
Contact Project Rachel
1-888-456-HOPE or 703-841-2504 or email projectrachel@arlingtondiocese.org