As we gather together to bless our memorial to the unborn,\u00a0 let us recall some very insightful words from our newest canonized saint- St. Theresa of Calcutta.\u00a0 St. Theresa said, and I quote:\u00a0 “Abortion kills twice. \u00a0It kills the body of the baby and it kills the conscience of the mother. \u00a0Abortion is profoundly anti-women. \u00a0Three quarters of its victims are women: half the babies and all the mothers.” End quote.<\/p>\n
St. Theresa was always keen in her understanding of the poor.\u00a0 And the poorest of the poor are those whose spirits are broken.\u00a0 Truly, St. Theresa understood the long term implications of abortion- that the women who have abortions are wounded, broken, and suffering- they are victims, poor in spirit.<\/p>\n
Studies have shown that in the first weeks after an abortion, the majority of women are emotionally paralyzed by the event, some 80 percent.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want to talk about it; they can\u2019t talk about it.\u00a0 By the 8th<\/sup> week, some begin to open up.\u00a0 Those that do, express negative feelings and emotions-\u00a0 55% express guilt; 44 percent experience nervous disorders; and 31 percent regret their decision.\u00a0 More than one in ten required psychotropic medication from their doctors just to cope.<\/p>\n And, it doesn\u2019t seem to get better with time.\u00a0 In a Canadian study done over 5 years,\u00a0 25 percent of post abortive women made visits to psychiatrists, some 6 times higher than the control group.\u00a0 Other studies over multiple populations have shown that post abortive women are from 4 to 6 times more suicidal.\u00a0 Post abortive women are indeed victims, they are poor in spirit.\u00a0 St. Theresa understood this.\u00a0 And as with other victims, St. Theresa understood the need for the Church to be merciful to such victims and minister to them.<\/p>\n All of us gathered here are sickened by the blight of abortion.\u00a0 It has taken over 40 million American lives in less than 50 years; and almost 25% of American women have had abortions sometime in their lifetime.\u00a0 There are avowed \u201cCatholics\u201d at the highest levels of our government defending a woman\u2019s \u201cright\u201d to abortion.\u00a0 The clinics are unhealthy and data shows it\u2019s all about the money for the providers.\u00a0 Despite having fought the problem for decades, we don\u2019t seem to be winning.\u00a0 And so, we project anger and disgust at this major problem.\u00a0 This anger and disgust is certainly justified.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to be angry at the system; it\u2019s easy to be angry that people make the wrong decision.<\/p>\n But we need to understand something very profound about our anger.\u00a0 Our attitudes can be misunderstood by the surviving victims of abortion- the post abortive women.\u00a0 Our anger and frustration can be interpreted as a lack of willingness to extend mercy to them.\u00a0 At a time when these women feel guilty and abandoned, \u00a0when they have recognized that they have made a mistake, and that they need to take a step to make a change in their lives;\u00a0 it is at exactly that time, they may feel shut out by those who can help the most because they sense the anger we have over abortion, and they interpret that anger as being directed at them.<\/p>\n St. Theresa understood that; and she was always there to open the fount of mercy that God has for his people.\u00a0 All of us are sinners in one way or another.\u00a0 All of us need the mercy that God is willing to extend to us.\u00a0 One of the things that is special about Christianity is the fact that God is a God of Love; and that God is love.\u00a0 God loves all of us.\u00a0 And there is much rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.\u00a0 All of us have an obligation to make that love apparent to our brothers and sisters who need it the most.<\/p>\n Pope Francis has commissioned all of us to extend mercy during this year of Mercy.\u00a0 His papal message made it clear that the Church needs to go out where the people are rather than wait for them to come to us.\u00a0 That is a challenge.\u00a0 But chances are, every one of us knows someone who has had an abortion.\u00a0 They are likely hurting in the ways I indicated earlier.\u00a0 But they have separated themselves from the Church.<\/p>\n I go to Health Central Hospital twice a week to help the chaplain.\u00a0 The Chaplain sends me to all those who indicated they are Catholic on the incoming census. \u00a0\u00a0Last Ash Wednesday I distributed ashes there.\u00a0 As I entered one patient\u2019s room, and asked the lady if she would like ashes.\u00a0 She told me she no longer goes to Church because, because…\u00a0 She just knew that she was not worthy of receiving ashes.\u00a0 I told her that God loves all his creation, and that He is constantly looking for his lost ones.\u00a0 I told her that she was precisely the kind of person who needed that Ash Wednesday blessing the most.<\/p>\n But there simply are not enough Deacons and Priests to go around to minister to all of these women like that.\u00a0 That\u2019s where all of you come in.\u00a0 These post abortive women are all around us.\u00a0 They may be defensive about their situation; they may be tight lipped about it; or they may be openly distraught and in despair.\u00a0 But with our eyes and ears, we need to be Christian witnesses and bring them back to the fold.\u00a0 Through our help, we can turn these victims into strong soldiers for Christ.<\/p>\n At the end of every Mass, it is my privilege to say these words.\u00a0 Hopefully, you will take them to heart because that is what we need to bring post-abortive women back into the fold.\u00a0 \u201cGo in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blessing of the Memorial to the Unborn Deacon Larry Brockman As we gather together to bless our memorial to the unborn,\u00a0 let us recall some very insightful words from our newest canonized saint- St. Theresa of Calcutta.\u00a0 St. Theresa said, and I quote:\u00a0 “Abortion kills twice. \u00a0It kills the body of the baby and it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[235],"tags":[429,431,430],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}