Many post-abortive women (and men) mistakenly believe that they have committed the ultimate “unforgivable” sin by participating in the act of abortion, often carrying the burden of guilt, shame, and despair for several years.
Even after acknowledging the wrong they have done, and in some cases going to Confession, some women find it difficult to forgive themselves, or to accept that God has actually forgiven them for such an unspeakable sin.
The truth is that there is no sin that God does not forgive, except, as is written in Matthew 12:32, the sin against the Holy Spirit: “And anyone who says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but no one who speaks against the Holy Spirit will be forgiven either in this world or in the next.”
Many, however, have not understood the depths of God’s mercy. St Maria Faustina Kowalska, through whom the Lord called for a special feast day to be celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter in honour of His Divine Mercy, revealed God’s desire in her Diary entry 699: “My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day, the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy… Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet…”
In her Diary entry 628, St Faustina shared God’s response to her intercession on behalf of a sister from her congregation who was having great difficulty accepting that God had forgiven her for a grave sin she had committed, even though she had confessed it. “Tell her,” He said, “that her disbelief wounds My Heart more than the sins she committed.”
Pope St John Paul II had a special message for women who have had an abortion in his encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (Paragraph 99). While making it clear that abortion is wrong, he acknowledged the difficult situation in which many women find themselves and urged them to take advantage of God’s mercy: “But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of Mercies is ready to give you His forgiveness and His peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”
Pope Francis reaffirmed the applicability of God’s mercy in the case of abortion when, at the close of the Holy Year of Mercy in November 2016, he made permanent a policy of allowing all priests–not just bishops and special confessors–to grant forgiveness for abortion.
He stressed that “there is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father.”
Let us therefore draw on the mercy extended to us in a particular way on this Feast of Divine Mercy. For some of us, this can be the day we begin to live the words inscribed at the bottom of the Divine Mercy image: “Jesus, I trust in You”.
From the Emmanuel Community:
46 Rosalino Street, Woodbrook.
Tel:628-1064;emmancommtt@gmail.com