Well, how should we, as parents who have had an abortion, pray?
The first thing is that the parents must repent. Listen carefully to this. The first thing parents who have had an abortion need to do is repent.
Second, they should go to confession, and their spiritual father should give them a rule of prayer or repentance, whether small or great. This responsibility does not belong only to the woman. She did not do it alone.
If this happens—if the couple becomes aware of the gravity of this sin, repents sincerely, and confesses it—then the soul of the child, which is in heaven, begins to receive light.
Our repentance brings light to those who have departed, and even more so to our own children.
Then the mother, because she has a special blessing from the Virgin Mary, should light a candle at every Divine Liturgy for the child or children lost through abortion, especially if the abortion took place when she was spiritually immature.
As I have said before, it is possible to give the child a name. I once had a case involving a very good young woman who confessed to having had an abortion. I told her to give a name to her daughter.
She had an abortion while she was a university student in France. Later, she returned to Cyprus, found a job, met another man, and became pregnant before they were married. The man told her that he would not marry her. He said he had never promised marriage. Sadly, this kind of attitude has become fashionable today.
She became pregnant, and she came to me asking what she should do. I told her to ask him to marry her. He replied that he would acknowledge the baby after birth, give the child his surname, provide financial support, and pay for the child's education, but he would not marry her.
She then said that if this was his decision, she would have an abortion.
The man came to me in tears, saying she was going to kill his baby. I asked him, "Can she kill the baby by herself? Is it not your child as well?"
When we reach such dead ends, we kneel in prayer.
They both knelt, and we prayed that God would enlighten her and help her keep the child.
Less than two weeks later, she came back to my office. At first, when I saw her, I thought she had come to confront me. Then I remembered the baby and looked at her stomach.
She asked, "What are you looking at? To see if my stomach is smaller? The baby is still here."
She said she had come to tell me something that had happened during those days.
She explained that while she was sitting at home crying, she suddenly saw a girl about twelve or thirteen years old, dressed in beautiful pink clothes, standing before her.
The girl said, "Mother, don't you remember me?"
She replied, "Are you my daughter?"
The girl answered, "Yes, I am your daughter. Have you forgotten when you were studying in France? You killed me."
The mother said, "But if you were killed, how are you alive?"
The girl replied, "I am alive in heaven."
Then she pointed to her mother's womb and said, "Please don't do the same thing to my little brother."
The mother asked, "What should I do?"
The girl answered, "Do whatever the bishop tells you."
The woman then came to see me and said she would do whatever I advised because she had not known that souls are alive.
I told her, "Since your little girl appeared to you wearing pink, let us call her 'Rosa.'" Whenever you go to church, light this candle for Rosa."
As for the little boy, I told her to keep the child and that we would baptize him after he was born.
I also told her to leave the rest to me.
The young woman wept, but she agreed.
In time, we baptized the baby in one of our villages. The child's father also came and stood quietly at the back, deeply moved.
Later, God allowed the child to develop a serious eye condition that could only be treated in England.
The parents traveled there together with the child I had baptized.
Through their shared suffering and concern for their son, they grew closer to one another.
I advised them to attend the Divine Liturgy regularly, pray, and go to confession before receiving Holy Communion.
I told them that, because of their sins, the child was suffering.
They confessed to a good priest at a monastery, returned home, and eventually set a wedding date.
I had the joy of celebrating their marriage.
These are the beautiful things of our faith.
This is the story that the good woman who heard this message was referring to when she spoke about it.
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