This past Sunday; the brunch was sponsored by Good Counsel Homes with about 75 attendees.Beautiful talks from several people. A few pictures and the text of Theresa's talk is below.
Here is Theresa with Father Mariusz Koch, CFR. Father has been a priest for 55 years, half of those years with the CFR's. He works with Theresa in her ministry.
Here is Theresa's talk.
Thank you all for being here.
Chances are, some of you have probably already heard this story.
Many years ago, the USCCB asked me to write my healing testimony from an abortion I had as a teenager. It was to be put in the packet that they send out every year to all the parishes for Respect Life month.
Then, one day, a few months later, a box was delivered to me. When I opened it up there were about five hundred copies of my witness which they had titled “Divine Mercy in my Soul,” the same name as the diary of St Faustina.
I was mortified. I immediately thought “no one will know I did not give it this name, what will they think??? How could they name the story of my horrific saline abortion the same name as the biography of this saint of mercy?”
This was going out to all the diocese in the USA!
I panicked.
I called my spiritual director at that time hoping he would help me find a way to stop this- to pull them all back in, but I got a response much different than what I had expected “Theresa, he said, to me, it is divine mercy in your soul- accept it in humility “
When I was asked to be honored here today, I felt pretty much the same way as I did that day when I opened that box of my witness. It made me super uncomfortable. How can I, someone participated in the horrific death of my unborn son be “honored”? It just seems so ridiculous!
Then I realized that is exactly the point- I remembered the words of St Paul in 1 Timothy 1:15 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worse.”
That here is a woman so broken by the sin of abortion, someone who still struggles at times with its impact, and yet He has and continues to use me.
Amid my own brokenness, my own journey to healing, He has given me His love and the courage to proclaim His great mercy- to share what He has done and continues to do in my life with countless other souls suffering in one way or another the devastation of abortion, in the quest of giving them hope in His mercy. A mercy I know to be true.
By His grace, to pass on the tools I have learned, physically, psychologically, and spiritually and, accompany them on their own journeys to Canaan, where they meet many others along the way who can also share their journeys and experiences.
To defeat the evil and demonic lie that abortion is the unforgivable sin which has entrapped millions, by bringing them to know on a personal level, the mercy and love of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for each of our sins- even the sin of abortion. That we can go to Him in our brokenness in our wounds, where he waits for us.
That is honor has nothing at all to do with me and what I have done, but everything to do with Him and what He has done for me.
I have been doing this work for over 30 years. I often think if we all could see the devastation of even one abortion and how it has impacted our country and our world, we would not be able to handle it, but it is not one abortion it is over 64 million and it’s not only the unborn, but it has impacted every single one of us.
- It is the Woman who carries the secret suffering of a past abortion for decades without ever telling a soul,
- A husband hurt by a lack of intimacy in his marriage, not knowing it is because of an abortion his wife has in her past,
- It is the man hiding his devastation and pain unable to bond with current children because of an abortion he pressured someone into in college
- It is the parents who coerced their daughter into an abortion
- And the siblings who feel lost and confused, questioning their value and identity as children of God wondering why they are the ones alive while their brother or sister is dead
I could go on and on with endless scenarios I have heard over the years.
- Families impacted for decades by the trauma of abortion oftentimes without them knowing that is why.
The prolife movement does a wonderful job of trying to save the unborn and in turn, saving countless others from a lifetime of regret, but we often blindly step over those lying on ground bleeding from the wounds of abortion with no hope of forgiveness. We must always remember that Christ came to call sinners.
We just experienced an election where the right to abortion was a major issue that countless people, especially women, voted on. It’s hard to fathom how we got to the place where some people are so desperate to be able to kill their unborn children that abortion was their most critical issue.
But I get it –
For over 50 years society has proclaimed abortion a source of freedom and denied its negative consequences, consequences that millions of women live with leaving them feeling crazy and alone. Society as a whole has been duped and more and more people are seeing the reality of abortion and its damage because we see it impacting people we love.
Just think. Now, we are oops! Maybe we were wrong. How do those who had abortions face now what they have done, killed their very own children, if they do not know the love and mercy of God? – The truth is, they can’t, and so they will rationalize, they will justify, they will march, and they will vote- they will do whatever they have to keep it abortion ok and acceptable so they do not have to look at the reality of what it is, not health care, not a woman’s body or choice, but the death of an innocent life, their very child.
It is said that the pro-abortion movement just focuses on the women and pro-life most often on the babies- but the truth is they cannot be separated before or after abortion.
They belong together in God’s plan -it is not normal to kill your own child.
Sadly, many people still feel so judged by pro-lifers, and very often they are. I have been called a murderer countless times, even by some active in the pro-life movement, so, those who are post abortive hide their past because as one recently said to me “if they find out they will reject me.”
What does that say about us? What are we doing to reflect the face of Christ, to bring the message of God’s love and divine mercy to these souls who He wants reunited to him.
Dave Reardon of the Elliot Institute, which does post abortion research, says it best, “I honestly believe that, short of Christ’s return, God will not bring an end to the abortion holocaust until we Christian’s learn all that we are meant to learn, namely; a greater compassion for sinners.”(The Jericho Plan)
Last week we lost a living saint in the pro-life movement, Monsignor Reilly. I always loved Monsignore because I knew he got the whole picture.
""The reason we go out, he said, is not primarily to save the life of the child, though we want to do that, absolutely, but if that becomes our primary purpose we will become limited in what we will achieve and we are going to misunderstand why God wants us to be there. Our purpose will determine the instrument that you use, so if your purpose is to save the physical life of the child then you are going to measure your success on whether the physical life was spared. But the real purpose should be the salvation of souls..."
Msgr. Philip J. Reilly
We will never change the culture if we do not reach out to the millions of people touched by abortion, to bring them to the love and forgiveness of God, not to further an agenda we may have, but because they themselves have value and worth and we want their healing. They are children of God and He loves and waits for them despite the seriousness of the sin.
I have been blessed in more ways than I can express in doing this work. It is a work of standing at the cross, a place where the ultimate evil, and lack of love occurred, the death of purity and innocence – it is an appropriate place for the healing of abortion, another death of purity and innocence, but it is there we find the ultimate love and forgiveness that overcomes all evil. The place where Jesus amid this ultimate evil and lack of love continued to love and conquered sin and death-even the sin of abortion. This is the reason we await His coming in advent-because He comes into the world to pay the price for our sins, every single one of them.
It has been a gift to me to stand at the foot of the cross with Mary, under the title of OLC, the patroness of all I do in PA work.
There are so many to thank in addition to God, who He has put in my path to make this journey possible.
- Cardinal O Connor who used to call me his haunt in post abortion work, promised me when he began the SV that we would do a PA ministry which birthed the beginnings of the Entering Canaan ministry now in eighteen locations across the country and growing.
- And Of course, Good counsel – which has given me the opportunity to reach out FT to those hurting, bringing thousands in over the 22 years I have been here conducting EC retreats for women, men and siblings, numerous talks and trainings on various healing issues, especially priest trainings which Fr Mariusz and I have done in many dioceses throughout the country, which then bring countless more souls to Christ through them.
- I especially want to thank the CFR’s, who have always been there supporting me both in the work and personally. Fr Mariusz, Fr Conrad, Fr Fidelis, Fr Lawrence, Fr FR Mary-I can never express how grateful I am to God for you and your selfless service and friendship.
- To Mike Corsini, who has collaborated with me for well over 20 years blessing the ministry with his amazing talents of music art and talks, and me with his friendship, and to Maureen and MB who are always helping me.
- My Friends- you know who you are /and family, especially my sons who support and put up with me in all my brokenness.
But most of all I want to thank all the people I have been blessed to meet over the years who have trusted me in their brokenness and sorrow. Who have shared their hearts with me and taught me to grow in love.
In the paradox of our faith, God brings good out of even the worst things. He used my aborted son Joshua whose innocent blood was shed to bring me - to Mary who then brought me to her son who shed his blood for my salvation. There at the cross they entrusted me with their work of spreading the news of the amazing mercy of God that is waiting for every single one of us no matter what the sin.
1 Tim 1:15,16 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
As we continue into this season of Advent and on the eve of the beautiful Feast of the Immaculate Conception may we each open our hearts to the mystery of the incarnation and the limitless love of God the Father in sending His Son into the world to die for each of our sins and bring us to eternal life..
Jesus, we trust in You!