November 17th   Anne Marie used to sit by herself in her room with a little picture of Mary holding a tiny unborn baby in her hand. “I did this to my child,” she would say, over and over again and cry bitter tears.   Her mom had tried to discourage her from having the abortion but she hadn’t listened and now her mom was angry with her.  A school counsellor who had heard the story came to visit and spoke to AnneMarie about her own experience. “I suffered for a long time too, but was able to go to speak to the priest, go to confession and receive absolution during a special programme of healing.  Come let me take you.  That is the only way I know that can bring you back to life.” Rachel’s vineyard is a programme designed to facilitate post-abortion healing.

Scripture:  At that time when Jesus drew near and saw the city he wept over it say, “Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace.” Luke 19:41-44  Pope Francis:  From the first moments of their lives, many children are rejected, abandoned and robbed of their childhood and future.  This is shameful!  AL166. In 2016, at the end of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis signed a decree that allowed all priests the ability to absolve the sin of abortion. He stated, Given this need, lest any obstacle arise between the request for reconciliation and God’s forgiveness, I henceforth grant to all priests, in virtue of their ministry, the faculty to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion.