From Fr. Ed Broom, OMV's blog....
1 . MERCY. (P.A.S.) If you meet somebody who has had an abortion, never condemn but be merciful and tell them of the mercy of God. Remind them of the Parables of mercy in Lk. 15: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost and found son, the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Remember also that many women go back for a second or third abortion, mostly because they have not experienced the mercy of God. The Psalmist reminds us of the tenderness of the Heart of God: “God is slow to anger but rich in kindness and mercy…” ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The devil tempts us to believe that after sin--- especially a serious sin (like that of abortion) that God is angry and unwilling to forgive. This could not be further from the truth. St. Paul teaches that where sin abounds the mercy of God abounds all the more. Furthermore, one of the key themes of the Diary of mercy in my soul of Saint Faustina is that the greatest sinners have the greatest right to God’s mercy and that the greatest sinners can become the greatest saints if they simply TRUST in His mercy. JESUS I TRUST IN YOU!
2. TEACH OUR YOUNG. It is incumbent upon parents to teach their children, and teens the virtue of CHASTITY—the proper use of their body and that their body is truly the temple of the Holy Spirit and should be respected and honored at all times; also that that they should respect the bodies of others. Still more parents should teach their children that there is a time for everything. There is a time to plant and a time to gather; a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to work and a time to sleep; there is a time to have a courtship and a time to avoid. There is a time for everything underneath the sun. Often abortions occur among the youth because they are involved in premature courtships, with raging hormones, uncontrollable passions and a society that abets and encourages sexual license and expression without limits! We must teach the young the meaning of the Beatitude: “”Blessed are the pure of heart, they will see God. “(Mt. 5:8).
2. TEACH OUR YOUNG. It is incumbent upon parents to teach their children, and teens the virtue of CHASTITY—the proper use of their body and that their body is truly the temple of the Holy Spirit and should be respected and honored at all times; also that that they should respect the bodies of others. Still more parents should teach their children that there is a time for everything. There is a time to plant and a time to gather; a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to work and a time to sleep; there is a time to have a courtship and a time to avoid. There is a time for everything underneath the sun. Often abortions occur among the youth because they are involved in premature courtships, with raging hormones, uncontrollable passions and a society that abets and encourages sexual license and expression without limits! We must teach the young the meaning of the Beatitude: “”Blessed are the pure of heart, they will see God. “(Mt. 5:8).
3. PRO-LIFE REMINDERS. We should surround ourselves and the world that we live with Pro-life reminders and there are many and thanks especially to the Pro-life Movement and its tireless efforts! Buy Pro-life checks! Where exteriorly on your lapel or pocket the “Precious feet” of the unborn baby. Display on Face-book the beauty of the unborn as well as the baby already born. Of course we should never forget nor neglect catchy and attractive Pro-life Bumper stickers, for example: “It is a child and not a choice!” These reminders force people to think. Believe it or not there are still many people who are still sitting on the fence and as of yet do not have clear ideas on the topic of abortion and Pro-Life. Let us try to win them over to the “Pro-life” side!
planned UNparenthood4. EUPHEMISMS/ MANIPULATION OF LANGUAGE. Be aware of how those who promote abortion utilize euphemisms—manipulating language for their own benefit—to trick and deceive. For example, “Pro-choice!” “Terminate-pregnancy”, “My-Body” “Woman’s health center”. These and many other euphemisms can be utilized to deceive the gullible and naïve into diluting the reality that abortion is truly infanticide—killing an innocent child!
5. LEARN KEY BIBLICAL PASSAGES TO DEFEND THE BABY. Throughout the entire Bible, which is the Word of God and the Word of life, the child us always seen as a great blessing. Try to learn some of the key passages in defense of the unborn human life. Obviously one of the best is the Visitation of Mary to St. Elizabeth, two pregnant women, who would be prime targets for abortion in the modern technologically advanced society. Why? One would be considered way too young to have a baby—a mere teenager and that would be the Blessed Virgin Mary; the other, would be considered way to old and that would be St. Elizabeth. We know the beautiful story’s ending: they both trusted totally in God’s loving Providence and said “Yes” to life and brought forth the two greatest: St. John the Baptist and Jesus, the Son of God who would call Himself, THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE! Check out this passage: (Lk. 1:39-45).
6. ADOPTION NOT ABORTION! A truly valid option or alternative to abortion is that of adoption. Even now there are thousands and thousands of couples that for various reasons could not have their own biological children and are longing for a child of their own and desire to adopt. These couples are screened, studied underneath a fine-tooth-comb to see if they would be good parents. Therefore, the child to be born would be placed in an excellent household and receive an excellent human formation and very often a good Christian formation.
7. ULTRASOUND! If you meet a confused women who is seriously considering an abortion why not provide her with the opportunity to see the little baby through an ULTRASOUND. For the mother to see the real and live baby within her womb smiling, yawning, stretching her/is little limbs, sleeping, sneezing or even scratching the little nose could be the determining moment to help that mother to say “Yes” to life and to have and cherish that precious little infant in her womb. Remember the famous case of Dr. Bernard Nathanson who saw an ultrasound of a baby aborted and stopped aborting—after having been ahead of the key abortion clinic in NYC that had carried out 80,000 abortions! It all started by seeing, visualizing the image of the live baby. We live in a world of images. Why not use live images through the Ultrasound to save the lives of the most innocent?
8. SPEAK OUT! Many women have recourse to abortion because they are confused, filled with groundless fears, and unfortunately they have been surrounded by “friends” (really enemies) that convince them that the best decision is to abort the child. We must learn to speak up. We must learn to express the truth with love. The child in the womb cannot speak and therefore we must be the voice of the unborn child in the womb. We must stop “Bullying”. The worst form of bullying in the world is the bullying and the actual killing of the most innocent and defenseless--- the unborn child. Who knows how many women have had recourse to abortion because timid Christians have failed to speak out. Remember the words of the Political philosopher Edmund Burke: “So that evil progress it is sufficient that good men do nothing!” In catholic moral theology we call this “Sin of omission”.
9. PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT! Get involved in the “Pro-life” movement. There is so much that can be done; get involved in one way or another. What to do?
a) WALK/MARCH AT WASHINGTON. Get together with a group of “Pro-lifer” and travel to Washington to do a silent March of Protest. We want to manifest publicly but peacefully our love and defense for the unborn.
b) ABORTION CLINICS: PRAYER RALLIES. Why not seek out the closest abortion clinic to your home and once a week to silently protest by praying many Rosaries and Chaplets of Divine Mercy.
c) SIDEWALK COUNSELING. Why not go through training to give “Sidewalk-counseling” to those confused women who are walking into the Abortion clinic to abort their baby. Of course prayer is the key; however a timely word of wisdom, an image, a word of encouragement, a smile of love--- all could help the confused woman to turn around and have the child!
d) EMERGENCY PHONE LINE. Volunteer to receive phone-calls of the confused woman who is pondering the abortion to give her the many other “Helps” that she has to support her in her pregnancy and say “Yes” to life! Below are a series of numbers to have at your fingertips: OPTION LIFE IF CARE/NET/HEARBEAT: 1-800-712-HELP (4357) NATIONAL LIFE CENTER: 1-800-848-LOVE (5683), OPTION LINE: 1- 800-712-HELP (4357). Post-abortion syndrome (P.A.S.) RACHEL’S VINEYARD 1-877-HOPE-4-ME (467- 3463). NATIONAL HELPLINE FOR ABORTION RECOVERY: 1-866-482 LIFE (5433) www. NationalHelpline.org. These numbers can be invaluable help in time of need and emergency!
e) PARISH LEVEL. Approach your Pastor and ask him if you could set up a Pro-life group in the Parish. Many things can be done on a Parish level. Here are a few: Holy Hours of Reparation, Pro-life Masses, DVD’s and movies like “October Baby? And “Bella” to enhance the awareness on a parochial level of the value of the baby in the womb. Having the “Baby”bottle” project wherein the parishioners give their coins or dollars to women who say “Yes” to life but are struggling economically.
f) EMERGENCY NUMBERS! Have emergency numbers to give to confused women to call to help them in their plight.
10. PRAYER AND PENANCE. Jesus stated with utmost clarity that some devils can be expelled only through prayer and penance. He Himself taught us in Person when He prayed and fasted for 40 days and nights in the desert. Then Jesus defeated the devil who came at Him with three different temptations. Behind the abortion industry is the devil; Jesus calls the devil a liar and murderer from the beginning. Lies are uttered! (Remember the euphemisms, # 4). Worse yet, the devil is a murdered because abortion is truly murder and murder of the most innocent and defenseless. Motivating the abortion industry is the devil and also lust form money. It is a multi-billion dollar industry every year in which close to 1.2 million babies are aborted (through surgical abortion) every year in the United States. Therefore we must pray and add to prayer concrete acts of penance. With respect to prayer, of course all prayers said with purity of heart and good intention are pleasing to the Lord. However, three could be of great value to repair the abominable crime and sin of abortion as well as to prevent future abortions.
a) CHAPLET OF DIVINE MERCY. We invoke the Body, BLOOD, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus to repair for our sins as well as for the sins of the whole of world--- that of course includes abortion, the shedding of the Blood of the Innocent ones!
b) HOLY MASS: OFFERTORY, CONSECRATION, AND HOLY COMMUNION. Under the stars, moon, and heaven itself there is no greater prayer than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Included in this is the Pro-life dimension. Why? Abortion is the innocent blood-shed of the babies. Holy Mass is the offering of the Blood of the Innocent Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. We offer Jesus begging mercy and pardon; we adore Jesus who descends from heaven in the Consecration of the Host; we receive Jesus in the moment of Holy Communion. These three key moments in Mass can be offered in reparation and prevention for the deluge of innocent blood that has been shed since the legalization of abortion 40 years ago in the decision Roe vs. Wade. Calculations estimate in between 52-53 surgical abortions!!!! However, we should never forget that one drop of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus that He shed on Calvary and is renewed perpetually in every Holy Mass is sufficient to repair for and save the whole world!
c) HAIL MARY AND ROSARY. Finally, the prayer, so dear to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Hail Mary and the most Holy Rosary, is obviously a “Pro-life” prayer. Pay attention to these words in the Hail Mary which were pronounced by Saint Elizabeth to Mary in the mystery of the Visitation: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus…” This powerful prayer that penetrates and consoles the most pure and Immaculate Heart of Mary lauds and praises the “Yes” of Mary that resulted in the Incarnation and the presence of the Unborn Baby Jesus in the womb of Mary. A beautiful practice for us to undertake would be to beg that through the praying of the Hail Mary in the context of the Rosary that 50 abortions would be repaired for as well as prevented every time we pray this powerful Pro-life prayer. What God can do with His power Mary can do with her prayer. God can never resist the prayers of Mary His Heavenly Mother.
In conclusion, we are people of life. God calls us to believe in the value of life, love life, speak up and defend life. May Jesus who is the WAY, TRUTH AND LIFE, and Mary who is the Mother of God and Mother of He who gave us life and life in abundance help us to lift of the Banner of life so as to one day enjoy forever and eve r eternal life!
VIVA CHRISTO REY!
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