There will be an RVR on the weekend of March 6-8 in the Diocese of Allentown. Contact mcole@allentowndiocese.org or projectrachel@allentowndiocese.org. Please email to receive the details including the location.

A beautiful poem by Mary Oliver, “Six Recognitions of the Lord,” shares a glimpse of God’s mercy. The reader prays through the poem:

“Lord God, mercy is in your hands, pour me a little. And tenderness too. My need is great. Beauty walks so freely and with such gentleness. Impatience puts a halter on my face, and I run away over the green fields wanting your voice, your tenderness, but having to do with only the sweet grasses of the fields against my body.

“When I first found you, I was filled with light, now the darkness grows and it is filled with crooked things, bitter and weak, each one bearing my name” (Oliver, Mary (2006) “Thirst: Poems by Mary Oliver.” Beacon Press, Boston).

The words in this section of the poem speak to the heart of a woman (or man) who, despite having made a decision that is beyond troubling, still speaks to God and desires an intimacy with God’s understanding.

Invoking God, shyly requesting, “mercy, pour me a little…” and “maybe some tenderness too,” how could God deny such a genuine plea.

A woman or man who has had an abortion experience is worthy of making a plea to God for mercy, as abortion is covered under the umbrella of God’s mercy and unconditional love.

It is in great humility that an individual who has had an abortion appeals to God. They often acknowledge they have no merit to plead their cause, but their deep emotional pain and seeping wound is one that can only really be healed by the Divine Healer.

So to you who have had an abortion experience, you are invited to come and stand forgiven before God. Come to a Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat (RVR) weekend and have a holy conversation with God about that fateful day your abortion changed your life.

Coming to an RVR will allow you to put words with your pain. The weekend of God’s mercy, grace and tenderness is the only voice that will dominate this time of grace and spiritual enrichment.

If a weekend retreat seems to be too great a leap, there is also the possibility of individual counseling sessions called Project Rachel. The sessions will also allow you to express the grief you carry within yourself over your own sense of shame that accompanied the experience of having an abortion.

God gives mercy. God wants an individual who has had an abortion experience to know that God’s forgiveness is available and self-forgiveness is also within reach.

There will be an RVR in the Diocese of Allentown the weekend of March 6-8. Contact mcole@allentowndiocese.org or projectrachel@allentowndiocese.org.