Rachel's Vineyard
Submitted by FatherSean on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 08:13.
Massacre of the Innocents, Guido Reni, 1611
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more" (Mt 2:16-18).
These words end yesterday's gospel for the Feast of the Innocents. St Matthew's text also gives the name to an international ministry that began in the USA some years ago, Rachel's Vineyard. The website carried this message by the founder, Dr Theresa Burke:
|
|
As far as I know, Rachel's Vineyard doesn't exist in the Philippines - yet. Though abortion is illegal in the Philippines the evidence is that it is widely practised.
Rachel's Vineyard is active in
Ireland, where I got to know a little more about it during my recent home leave. I met the director there just after she had visited the Faroe Islands at the invitation of a mutual friend, Sr Maria Forrestal FMM. Bernadette Goulding from Cork, Ireland
The Irish website carries this statement:
|
Rachel's Vineyard is a safe place to renew, rebuild and redeem hearts broken by abortion.
|
Rachel's Vineyard can help you find your inner voice. It can help you experience God's love and compassion on a profound level. It creates a place where men and women can share, often for the first time, their deepest feelings about abortion. You are allowed to dismantle troubling secrets in an environment of emotional and spiritual safety.
Rachel's Vineyard is therapy for the soul. Participants, who have been trapped in anger toward themselves or others, experience forgiveness. Peace is found. Lives are restored. A sense of hope and meaning for the future is finally re-discovered.
|
Making the decision to attend a Rachel's Vineyard Healing Weekend can be intimidating.
Fear of the unknown might be making it harder for you to reach out for help with the emotional and spiritual conflict you may be feeling after your abortion, whether your abortion was recent or decades ago.
|
Most of us at Rachels Vineyard are persons who have walked down the same path as you and have experienced the Healing power through a Rachel's Vineyard Healing Weekend.
+++
The weekends organized by Rachel's Vineyard also welcome men who have been directly affected by abortion. These may be fathers of aborted children who were not consulted or who put pressure on the mother to have an abortion. They may be husbands married to women who have had abortions in a previous relationship and whose marriage is affected by this.
