The Gospel at mass this week was the story of Jesus healing the blind man, Bartimaeus.I love this gospel. Bartimaeus was someone shunned by society because he could not see and he calls out to Jesus, "have pity on me". He is told by others,to be silent but he keeps crying out.Jesus then does just what he asks, He heals him saying, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."
Such a beautiful example of our crying out to the Lord for His mercy and His desire to always heal those who come to Him with faith. A call to ask and to trust, a beautiful message for those post abortive sitting in church thinking they are unforgiveable.
This week I went to church at a different parish. At the
end of mass a member of the Respect Life Group got up and gave a short talk about abortion.
He spoke of abortion being murder, stressing it a couple of times, and went on about mothers killing their children. His talk brought me to tears but not for the right reasons.
Within about 1 minute into his talk, I saw a several women
get up and hurriedly leave the church. I honestly could not blame them. Although I did not leave, I sat there thanking God
I personally knew His mercy and found myself praying for the person giving the
talk as well as the women who walked out.
I could not help but wonder how much despair those women were feeling, instead of having hope in the mercy and love of God. Although we are always called to speak of the wrong of abortion, it is just as important to invite those who may have participated in abortion to Jesus' mercy, but, not one word was spoken on the mercy and forgiveness of God.
Women also took all the blame. The person speaking obviously does not know the statistics that 64% of women are coerced into abortion as shown in this fact sheet put out by the Elliot Institute.
What a lost opportunity. What a fierce judgement, what
a sad experience. We had just heard the beautiful gospel of the blind man who longed to
see and instead of offering that hope and mercy some women left in despair. Sadly, there is so much blindness
surrounding abortion many do not even see the ways they themselves are sinning, that it why it is so important to continue to educate about abortion so that those who speak never sopeak of its gravity without also offering mercy to those who have had them.
I left wondering if those women would ever return...I
know there was a point in my life when I would not have. And so I left in tears, for
those who left the church today feeling condemned instead of Gods great
forgiveness and mercy.
Please pray for those women and all who feel shunned and silenced like the blind man. Pray that they too will continue to call out "Have pity on me", for if they do He will surely heal them in spite of the judgements of others.
