1 IVth WORLD-PRAYER-CONGRESS for LIFE in Wigratzbad, Germany October 8 11, 2009 Offered for the Life of the World Talk No. 3 held on October 9, 2009 by Anne R. Lastman BA, Dip Ed. MRel Ed., MTS. MACA. FVC. The Sin of Abortion and the Mercy of God organized by HLI Austria: www.hli.at Talks available at: www.pro-life-congress.com We live in a time of Mercy indeed an extreme Mercy a time in which we need to sow but also to gather in the harvest. This time of Mercy is Harvest time.. Sin abounds in our day especially sins against life and against the Lord and Giver of life. And yet Grace and Mercy abound all the more. Sin against life (abortion) abounds, yet in His infinite Mercy God grants time to return. Yet this Mercy remains mysterious. Mercy does not only consist of empathy, sympathy, compassion and forgiveness, but in its totality is a divine, mysterious response, that clearly shows the intrinsic worth and high estimation of the value which God has for the human person. Mercy is a love shown to those who haven t loved, who may not be loved and who have rejected love. This, most especially, to those who through the fault of others have been stripped of their dignity. Mercy means loving those who have been rejected. It is the dignity of the human being which demands, that Mercy be shown. It is in the essence of its humanity where the restoration of worth through Mercy is most evident. The restoration of an aborted infant to the human family is not only an act of Mercy, (love) which can heal the parents and those who aborted the infant, but can also heal society whose ethos embraced abortion. This happens because the aborted child is part of that human family and as such is invested with worth beyond measure. By this option to restore the aborted child to the human family through recognition of its humanity and worth, and by the acknowledgement that its intended death was a mistake, and a serious sin, this restoration is an act of Mercy by God and a preference for the primacy given to love. Today I want to speak a little about the Anawin. What is an anawim? The anawim is the hungry, the weak, the marginalised, the abandoned, the homeless, the cold, the aged, the outcast. And yet the truest anawim the truest disenfranchised, the truest outcast, must surely be the aborted - the unwanted infants. In charity the option for the poorest of the poor, must gather into its embrace the aborted. These are truly the poorest of the poor. These little aborted babies, in their short lives, live all the categories of the anawim., (poor/outcast/homeless/cold/small/disabled/weak etc).all these categories of anawim can rightly be seen to converge into one in the aborted child. These are the most defenceless, rejected, despised, marginalised; unwanted, and needy group in human society, and these, because of their very aloneness manifest a
2 true reflection of their own innocent poverty, and the poverty of a society whose ethos is one of failure. It is in the treatment of the anawim and especially these anawim that the character of a society is remembered and honoured or not honoured. It is in the treatment of these anawim that the merciful will receive mercy. The healing of post abortion trauma can come only when we first understand the pain, which follows an abortion, is the pain experienced when mother love is assaulted and wounded. Mother love is a mysterious something which is written deep within the heart of woman. It is a portion of the essence of God s maternal like care, and for this reason Mother love is mysterious. And it is this mysterious something which is written in her being, which the aborting woman had not anticipated and found that she could not control. Post abortion grief and trauma is the truth of the very existence of mother love (Mother Mercy), the force and strength of it, which ensures that no baby will pass by unnoticed and unknown and unloved. How interesting it is that the Hebrew word for compassion is Rachman and the Hebrew word for womb is Rechman both have the same root. It is perhaps a compassionate womb or perhaps even that the womb is the genesis of all compassion. How far below this we have come today. Abortion is Satan s desire not only for revenge against God but revenge against the creature of God, who has been designed in His image (Gn. 1:26). It is satan s goal to deprive the child, its mother, father, others and society of its natural life in God and its natural destination heaven. For satan, destruction of the baby has been an attempt at the destruction of hope for that future life in God and against this God offers Mercy and forgiveness. But you know abortion grief and suffering can be a gift of mercy from God that ensures that the child planned and destined by Himself will not be forgotten but is remembered and loved for an earthly lifetime and into eternity. Abortion suffering can be an extraordinary gift because it is a suffering love in lieu of a loss, a unique type of suffering, and in the presence of this suffering a profound grief is witnessed. In this place of great suffering there is found an echo not only of this destruction (abortion) but also of a long ago and distant destruction, (in the garden of Eden) which is then followed by another echo of the response to that destruction.(promise of Mercy-Divine Mercy Jesus) The response is the calling into being of a new and holier creation, which has been ministered to by God Himself who willed Himself to suffer and die, so that the sinner would have sin forgiven. Yes even the sin of abortion. Indeed through the suffering of the abortive woman (and man) the misery of that primal act in Eden, (Gn. 3:1-34) now repeated in the abortion clinic (death of innocence and physical death) is turned upside down and changed into a pilgrimage towards God. Post abortion grief is a legitimate type of suffering which is experienced primarily because the person belongs to the human family with all its sins and imperfections. It is a penitent suffering which is profound and is experienced by the spirit as it travails to achieve metanoia.(change of heart) Yet within this type of suffering is hidden the key to the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. It is at this level where He judges, forgives and heals. Legitimate suffering and penitence produce a fruit of healing because the experience of these, turn one towards understanding of the wrong committed and the regret and sorrow over that wrong.
3 The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, in Savifici Doloris 1 says joy comes from the discovery of the meaning of suffering. This could be interpreted that there is to be found joy in suffering which is abortion. However, to arrive at this understanding is to misinterpret the Holy Father s words or to invest into this act of violence, a value unworthy of it. The suffering which follows abortion of itself is not redemptive, healing or of value, however, recognized rightly, accepted willingly and experienced and expressed with graciousness even this type of suffering can bring with it a moment of divine grace leading to Mercy and conversion. Suffering acquires its final meaning for humanity from God, with its ultimate meaning translated for us by God, in the story of the life and death of Jesus Christ. His experience of man s condition brought Him into solidarity with human suffering and His response to this suffering was to participate and experience suffering for Himself in order to be united with his creature. In this response we can come to understand that the greatest revelation of God took place in the setting of the deepest darkness and most grotesque suffering and failure - the Cross. The origin of suffering is not divine. However, the response to it is, and because this is so, the woman (who has aborted) who turns towards God in an attitude of humility can be forgiven because through the suffering of Jesus Christ the sin of abortion is forgiven and then begins the transformation and reestablishment of the woman within the divine life of God. A particular grace is evident when the sinner (once repentant and forgiven) is met. This person is now marked with a sign of grace and protection (remember Cain) and we know that forgiveness and those forgiven are called to mediate for and on behalf of those who still remain in darkness (Lk 22:32). The forgiveness and conversion of the post-abortive woman is a visible sign of Mercy. The woman forgiven and shown Mercy can then mediate and be a beacon for the one who hasn t yet found her way to the Mercy seat of God. Anne Jenny Heather Melly (and thousands more), Jesus whispers, and she knows that she has heard his voice. She is the woman who has experienced the healing and forgiving power of God, in and through Jesus Christ. She has experienced Mercy. He who is the definitive Rapha-el has through Mercy transformed her post abortion suffering and grief into eternal love. Sorrowing in remembrance, but sanctifying the future through living a life focused on goodness is the mountain top experience of repentance, Mercy and forgiveness. The memory of the abortion remains salvific because it deepens and continues to deepen the understanding of the individual s personal history, action and salvation and be able to see clearly what Jesus meant by the words Blessed are those who mourn. Because through this mourning its possible to see that it has been a Blessing because Mercy has been visibly and truly experienced and seen. In this act of mercy it is possible that even in such depths of Anti Love like abortion, God can show His great Mercy to the infant and to its parents and to society Even in such anti love and anti hope God can redeem and bring home his children. 1 John Paul II Salvifici Doloris. Apostolic Letter On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering. 1984.
4 Without the Mercy of God abortion mourning continues like a dull ache in the heart. An ache which has no ending and it is possible to see a marked difference between those who seek the Lord s forgiveness and receive it and those who do not wish to know about God or His Mercy. Both require psychological care and both require spiritual care (even if it is the counsellor who prays for her client) but unless God is invited into the life of the person mourning over an abortion there will be little healing. Temporary ease of pain? Maybe. But healing no. I would like to now just briefly speak about the salvific suffering which I believe genuine post abortion grief can be placed under. Salvific or redemptive suffering is a mystery because in this type of suffering there is an exchange involved and within this exchange is found the meaning of grief, mourning and suffering. Suffering is an extraordinary gift because it is love and suffering in lieu of loss. In this kind of grief and suffering there can be a moment of deep de profundis silence and awe. Through this suffering there is purgation and the reason for this is that this type of suffering offers a moment of reversal from the effects of that primal destructive act (abortion) and turns the human person into a pilgrim and pilgrimage towards God. Because the mind is so profoundly disturbed by suffering it can then be assumed that suffering for its own sake is not good, but evil. But suffering which can be used or permitted for conversion or rebuilding, if the whole suffering is a call of Divine Mercy to the depths of the human heart. It is interesting to note that the suffering of humanity is a mystery and hidden within this mystery is redemption. Deep within the mysterious human heart God works to recreate the sinner. The soul is in Diaspora. The particular suffering of a soul in Diaspora is the balancing, if not the reversal of sin. The human person is inclined towards self and filled with pride. This suffering lets the person acknowledge his/her part in the genesis of suffering and begins in a certain sense to withdraw permission granted to the self to war against the self. This is important because a post abortive woman who regrets her abortion sets out to war against herself. The Mercy and love of God given to one who has not loved, then stops this war. Sorrow, penitence, moral deterioration and deep mourning are alike in so far as all these are a type of suffering. Sorrow, repentance and mourning over a wrong can cause the individual to renew and return to the order known as good. Continued moral deterioration leads to the deepening of the moral deterioration and increase an increase in ontological suffering, (suffering in my being before God). The enormity of suffering which is attached to an abortion cannot ever be truly reflected because society has placed a veil of denial before this sin. The veil of unreality (it s not a baby, it s tissue) and this veil preserves society from the knowledge of what is being done and because if this veil, abortion is distant and becomes acceptable. Post abortion grief then, is neither useless nor empty, nor unnecessary, but is the most important suffering and mourning of our age (50 million abortions per year). Our age has a need to mourn for the hardness of heart which has overcome us. It has a need to mourn in solidarity with the aborted babies. It has a need for abundant Mercy.
5 Both individual and societal mourning is good because it brings with it reparation and healing. It brings also global healing of Eve (women) and Adam (men), and all the nations. Unless Eve and the nations mourn, they remain outside of God s mercy because sin (abortion) remains unconfessed. It has been said that Justice and Mercy meet in Jesus Christ and they do. However, they must meet before healing comes. It cannot happen otherwise. The Holy Father JPII, in Salfici Doloris, has encouraged us to see beyond suffering and to discover the meaning behind it. This reminds me of Viktor Frankel s Search for Meaning, where he says that if meaning can be found for some horror, then it is possible to endure. When there is no meaning then it becomes pure evil and horrific. It is in the journey that the meaning will be found and the likeness of man to the Divine initiative (his origins), will be discovered. Indeed those who mourn are invited to participate in an Emmanuel type of mercy. Therefore, those who mourn for infants who die in the womb through abortion and for the sin of their parents and society, can be mediators of Mercy. Mercy and forgiveness are not human initiatives, but the work of the Holy Spirit permitted, by God through the intercession of Jesus the Beloved Son, who came to be in solidarity with human beings, even to the point of sharing in the human being s suffering. Regret, whilst good, cannot govern mourning because to remain at regret alone is the second last step to healing and Mercy. It is the understanding that from this huge evil (abortion), a good (conversion) is achieved and therefore God has interceded and changed this horror into a moment of Mercy. In the understanding of what sorrow and suffering is, it is possible to find the answer to the issue of suffering and death and to see that God has always revealed Himself in the context of suffering. Those who mourn cry out to God and yet His response can only be by His own mourning through the death of Jesus, His Son. The earth is the womb of creation. Church is the womb of heaven. Mary is the womb of Jesus the woman is the womb of the future. Mercy and Forgiveness does not mean making excuses, but it does mean beginning a journey which incorporates the hurt, but it also means healing of the muck of the wound. In effect it means cleaning out the wound. The wound needs to be clean before it can begin to heal. Forgiveness means standing on that cross with arms outstretched and looking towards God the Father and saying Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Forgiveness means climbing on the cross with all the pain and interceding for that person who hurt the most and then receiving Mercy.
6 I will conclude by reciting the poem, The Master s Hand. THE MASTERS HAND. Author: Unknown. T was battered, scarred, and the auctioneer Thought it scarcely worth the while To waste his time on the old violin, But he held it up with a smile. What am I bid, good people, he cried, Who ll start the bidding for me? One dollar? Now do I hear two? To dollars now who males it three? Three dollars once three dollars twice, Going for three. But no! From the room far back a greybearded man Came forward and picked up the bow. Then wiping the dust from the old violin And tightening up the strings He played a melody pure and sweet As sweet as the angels sing. The music ceased, and the auctioneer With a voice that was quiet and low Said, What now am I bid for the old violin? As he held it aloft with its bow. One thousand? said he. Two thousand? And now two thousand and who makes it three? Three thousand once, three thousand twice. And going and gone said he. The people cheered, but some of them cried, We don t quite understand What changed its worth? Swift came the reply, The touch of the Master s hand. And many a man with life out of tune, All battered and torn with sin Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd Much like the old violin. A mess of pottage, a glass of wine, A game, a he travels on, He s going once, he is going twice, He is going and almost gone. But the master comes and the foolish crowd Can never quite understand The worth of a soul, the change that was wrought By the touch of the Master s hand. Thank you for your attention.