It's a Tragedy

It’s a tragedy for a parent to outlive their child. My mom often mourns the loss of my brother and sister, her children. The deep sadness she feels has nothing to do with her dementia; all parents mourn the loss of a child who dies before them – for the rest of their lives.

As I began my rosary tonight, and prayed again for an end to abortion, I stopped and asked myself: Why? Why pray for this, versus all the other sins and tragedies in the world; why am I praying for this each night? I’m not sure I ever asked myself the question before, and so I thought it a trivial distraction and quickly raced through thoughts of sin, the sacredness of life, no excuses, etc, … and then I stopped. I looked up at the Blessed Sacrament on the altar in front of me and I suddenly knew the answer: I pray for an end to this, abortion, because it is a tragedy for a parent to outlive their child.

I was beginning the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary and I thought: Jesus knew this as he prayed in the garden – His father would know such tragedy, such deep hurt, because so many of his children, his dear loved creations, would die in their youth, killed before they really got a chance to know Him. How sad he must feel to outlive all of these, his children. The whole reason he had them, his plans for them, his expectations of their future, and his sacrifices for them – gone. I think Jesus probably prayed in the garden: Father, let me take some of your pain, let me bear some of your sadness, let me calm some of your anger at those who would take your children from you.

I’ve always been a little un-sympathetic to the angry parent who screamed at the policeman: You killed my child! I wondered about them, couldn’t they see that the policeman was justified, he had no other choice? How could a parent say such a thing to a policeman? Couldn’t they see the truth? No, no it was me who didn’t see the truth. Justice does not mitigate the tragedy of losing a child; there is no reason a parent can accept. Their child who was to live on beyond them, to carry their memory, their whole reason for existence – was dead. It was a deep tragedy. There is no excuse for killing a child that can be made to its parent, none. Yet, sadly, so often today it is the parent who kills her own child. How must she feel? Murderer, and yet victim who has lost her child.

So I prayed the rosary tonight with a new understanding. I was praying to console my adopted Father in heaven too over the loss of so many of his children. I was praying for the mothers too, over the deep loss they too felt. I prayed for Jesus to help end this great sin --- and admitting I don’t know how he could do this, even while trusting he could. But I know that even if he only prevented one abortion, he was preventing a deep stab in the heart of his Father. Each child saved is avoiding a tragedy.

Imagine how much love the Father must feel toward someone who would rescue his child from what seemed like imminent death. We sometimes worry about our sinful ways and wonder if we will get to heaven. I think if we could save even one child of His from abortion, He would forget any other evil we may have done, for he could never forget what a great thing we had done for him, the great tragedy avoided, the saving of his child.

I think this was a fitting reflection tonight, in the early hours of Ash Wednesday, thinking about our heavenly Father and his children killed through abortion. But Lent is a lead-in to Good Friday. Abortion kills the Father’s adopted children; but his only begotten Son was killed on Good Friday – and no one stopped it, and so many contributed to it happening, even us. Tragedy doesn’t even begin to describe this event. There is so much to think on in the coming days.