On January 14, Italian newspaper Avvenire published the testimony of Fr. Maurizio Patriciello, telling the story of a new mother, Giovanna. Today the she is very happy. But during her pregnancy, she had been on the verge of having an abortion.
Like so many women, Giovanna faced an unplanned pregnancy surrounded by indifference from many of those around her. She was advised to choose the supposedly “easier” path.
Thankfully, her little son Daniel escaped the terrible fate that very nearly befell him. The Lord worked through Mariella, a “sweet and strong woman” who is a volunteer with Fr. Patriciello’s group that works to protect unborn children.
Mariella had a heart-to-heart meeting with Giovanna. Fr. Patriciello explains in his article that the conversation contained all the ingredients of authentic solidarity for those facing a dramatic choice, including “understanding, dialogue, empathy, and promises of concrete help.”
Often, those who do their best to help women in difficulty choose to carry their pregnancies to term are insulted, denounced, and accused of dissembling, Fr. Patriciello says.
Fortunately, in other cases, these volunteers are welcomed as angels sent by the Lord. That’s the case with Giovanna, who never stops thanking God for preventing her from aborting her child.
The message these volunteers address to women who are experiencing such distressing moments is simply to “believe that the joy that every mother experiences when she holds her child to her breast will repay her for all the suffering she has endured,” Fr. Patriciello writes in the Avvenire article.
“It has always been so,” he reflects. “I’ve never seen a woman who was on the point of abortion, and was helped to change her mind, regret the choice she made.”
Abortion opens wounds that cannot be healed
By contrast, when an abortion is performed, it opens wounds that often do not close, even after decades.
Fr. Patriciello writes, “I know women who count the years of age of that unborn child as if he or she were still alive and had to blow out the candles. With an immense sadness, of course.”
Underlining the contrast between Daniel’s life bursting with joy and the festive cries in Argentina for the legalization of abortion up to the 14th week, Father Maurizio writes,
Today abortion is not talked about among educated people, except to reiterate that it’s an acquired right that should in no way be questioned. The hypocrisy that accompanies this act, which everyone agrees to define as a drama, is incredible. But precisely because it is a tragedy which, in addition to the child, befalls the would-have-been mother and the entire society, everything should be done to prevent it.
When in a a conversation someone “mentions, in addition to the rights of the pregnant woman, the right of the child to be born as well,” the very advocates of tolerance become intolerant. They shield their arguments behind the example of minors who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest.
These cases are certainly painful but relatively rare. This argument overlooks the fact that we see every year more than 70 million abortions, behind which are enormous economic interests.
But Fr. Patriciello says, “No more sadness; today we must celebrate. Daniel is alive because our volunteers have dared to meet, encourage and help his mother and have stayed close to her.”
He ends his article with the most moving words:
I watched and rewatched the video (of the newborn baby), and each time I found myself whispering, “I am convinced that one day it will be you, Daniel, who will open the doors of Paradise for me.”
That reflection recalled to my mind this Gospel passage: “Truly I say to you, as often as you have done these things to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you have done it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Read more:
Mother refuses “therapeutic” abortion; baby born at 23 weeks survives
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Baby saved from abortion goes on to become a football star
And today we celebrate...