What Have We Lost? What Have We Lost?

If you or a loved one has been hurt by abortion, please feel free to check out this earlier post on God's infinite mercy and power to heal, written with the help of my dear friend Fr. Matthew, and on Rachel's Vineyard, a beautiful apostolate dedicated to helping women heal after their abortions. “Our sins are nothing but a grain of sand alongside the great mountain of the mercy of God.” — St. John Vianney    

I had intended to write this post hours ago but was prevented from doing so by a hiccupy, grunty, ever-hungry nine pound boy.  It’s twenty to twelve at night and he had just seemed to be settling in for maybe—maybe, good Lord!—a five-hour sleep, and just now I brazenly opened and began eating a bag of potato chips and he’s now awake.  But the post must go on.

It’s Monday, the 21st, the eve of the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and I’m looking at my tiny son wondering what he will lose from abortion.  I read somewhere that we’ve lost 55 million children since the legalization of abortion.  55 million unrepeatable souls.  Was one of them meant to be a best friend of his?  A mentor?  A spouse?  I watch as he picks up his legs and grunts, and I am reminded again that there is no private sin, no personal decision that doesn’t affect others.  Those were children as real as my son with very carefully arranged plans for them and now what?  I struggle to grapple with the enormity of loss.

My mind drifts to the funeral of my mother-in-law.  A truly faith-filled lady who spent her life serving others, her funeral was a testament to the wonders God can work in us if we only let Him.  Hundreds of people came to the visitation and Mass, and I know that it was only a fraction of the people that she had touched over the years.  I think of all the good that she had accomplished in her life.  And I think that that potential for good has been lost--55 million times.  Surely we’ve lost mothers, fathers, priests, sisters, saints, and scientists and who knows the myriad ways they would’ve helped the world.

My son grunts again, and I admire his light brown hair.  I don’t know the good that all those children would’ve done, but it’s enough to know that we’ve lost all those fuzzy heads, all those squishy shoulders, all those little feet, all those little voices.

This Friday is the March for Life, and they’re expecting their biggest crowd yet.  If you’ve never seen coverage of it, please check out this video.  We’ve lost so much already—let’s beg God for His mercy for us all before we lose any more.

Copyright 2013 Meg Matenaer