A MOST unusual thing happened outside Chicago’s Palmer House hotel last week. A Planned Parenthood conference was in progress inside the hotel when a young woman knelt on the sidewalk right beside a prolife protestor holding a poster showing the iconic baby Malachi.
Then the woman started praying!
I said “unusual” because up until then I didn’t know that abortionists pray, much less thank God in their prayers for the singular privilege of being an abortionist!
I mean everyone knows what an abortionist is. One cannot be an abortionist if that one has the job of making sure that the fetus inside Mom’s womb develops into a healthy full-term soon-to-be-born baby. No, that one’s called an Ob-Gyne doctor. Her opposite is the “health worker” who thrusts an oversized forceps into a pregnant woman’s vagina and with the help of an ultra-sound machine, locates the baby’s head, crushes it, tears apart the body limb by limb, and flushes everything out. THAT one is called an abortionist.
Ordinarily, an abortionist on her knees praying is cause for great joy! Imagine a serial killer repenting of her sins—heaven must be beside itself with joy!
But no. Slowly go over the transcription of the young lady’s prayer:
“My dear heavenly Father. I’m grateful today to be here at this wonderful meeting, and I wanted to express to you the gratitude and humility that I feel as an abortionist.
“And I’m thankful for the support that I have from my community from those who love me, my family, and my faith.
“I can imagine no person who is in greater need of Christ-like love and excellent medical care than a woman faced with an untenable pregnancy. And I’m grateful everyday to feel thy spirit and thy guiding hand in my work as I speak to women of all faiths, of all creeds.
“And so I’m grateful to have spent the last few days communing with those who share my faith and who share my passion even though I don’t have an organized faith community to support me.
“I have the support of the world and the support of thy spirit every day.
“And I just want to pray to continue to have the humility to accept that I’m incapable of knowing anyone else’s heart and mind, and my role as a human being is not to judge others, but to give them care and compassion when I can know nothing of their heart and leave the judgment to you, to thy divine wisdom and thy omnipotence and just provide them the love of Christ that we all need and deserve.
“And I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be here and to… and I and to pray and to praise thee and to ask for you to touch the hearts of those that in their pride fail to have compassion and truly love the example of Christ and to love all.
“And to reserve judgment and humble themselves before thee as the all-seeing and the all-knowing and the magnanimous and loving being. And I would hope that you would soften their hearts and help them see the cruelty and the damage that their actions lead to.”
“That the evidence, the scientific, the rigorous study of abortion stigma does hurt women far more than anything else they could be going through, and that stigma regarding any woman’s choice of pregnancy outcome whether it’s abortion, adoption, or parenting when there is an actual stigma or when there is a perception of stigma.”
“This is what leads to negative outcomes for emotional and mental and social health, and this is proven with rigorous, peer-reviewed, and scientific research. And I’m so grateful to be in a time in our life and in this world that I’m able to participate in that, and to know this, and to use this in furthering the work of the Lord, and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Let’s analyze her statements. First we can probably say she’s sincere. Her “prayer” is not an attempt at parody. She sincerely believes she is doing God’s work which, to us, may be the murdering of children, but to her is Christ reaching out to women who have abortions, assuring them that they are loved!
She strikes me as being sincere, even sincerely glad of having been given by God the humility which keeps her from passing judgment on women who have abortions, not like the proud anti-abortion protestors who routinely do.
It’s good to have abortionists who pray, even if they have it all wrong. One who prays is always just a corner away from salvation. But let’s see if what she believes in is true.
Here’s what Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has to say about it. “Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived. Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity... Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way.“
What does this statement mean for the abortionist lady? It means that she has it wrong. Yes, no sin can be greater than God’s love – God will always be ready to forgive any sin. But God’s mercy necessarily requires respect for the truth. And the truth here is that killing babies – abortion – is evil, and no amount of mercy can change that fact. Before approaching God’s throne of mercy, the aborting mother must first be contrite, feel deep sorrow for her sin, have a firm resolution at amendment, and cheerfully accept whatever God gives her in the way of penance. Then and only then can she seek from God forgiveness.