Intercessions for Life
October 1999
For all whose hearts ache from the sin of abortion, that God will soothe and heal us with the balm of his mercy;
We pray to the Lord:
For fathers of children lost to abortion,
that through the intercession of good Saint Joseph,
they may repent of all sin, receive God's mercy,
and live lives of exemplary goodness;
We pray to the Lord:
For mothers broken by the memory of a child lost to abortion,
that through the intercession of the Mother of God,
the gentle and merciful love of God may heal their innermost being;
We pray to the Lord:
For all doctors who have performed abortions,
that through the intercession of Saint Luke,
they may turn from death and embrace the Gospel of life;
We pray to the Lord:
For our nation, founded on trust in God,
that we might repent of sin and death
and cherish the lives of all our citizens from birth to natural death;
We pray to the Lord:
"As we contemplate this Mother, whose heart 'a sword has pierced' (cf. Lk 2:35), our thoughts go to all the suffering women in the world, suffering either physically or morally. In this suffering a woman's sensitivity plays a role, even though she often succeeds in resisting suffering better than a man. It is difficult to enumerate these sufferings; it is difficult to call them all by name. We may recall her maternal care for her children, especially when they fall sick or fall into bad ways; the death of those most dear to her; the loneliness of mothers forgotten by their grown-up children; the loneliness of widows; the sufferings of women who struggle alone to make a living; and women who have been wronged or exploited. Then there are the sufferings of consciences as a result of sin, which has wounded the woman's human or maternal dignity: the wounds of consciences which do not heal easily. With these sufferings too we must place ourselves at the foot of the Cross." Pope John Paul II (Mulieris Dignitatem, 21)