For many people, the joyous season of Christmas is NOT a time of joy. For them, it is a time of depression and sorrow. Why would such a joyful time as the annual celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ be a time of depression and sorrow? For some, it…
A Woman’s Testimony to Healing After Abortion
On October 28th, Fr. Ben Cameron was on “The Inner Life” radio show on Relevant Radio; the subject was “Healing and Holiness After Abortion.” We would encourage everyone to listen to this short segment with an anonymous woman from Texas giving her testimony to healing:
Why Rachel’s Vineyard Works: Love
When we ask the question, “why does Rachel’s Vineyard work for the healing of the wounds of abortion?” the answer comes down to one word: Love. Unlike our broken world, which all too often equivocates the word love (“I love Mom” “I love ice cream” “I love God”, etc.), we…
Why Rachel’s Vineyard: Healing of Broken Relationships
When a woman goes to an abortion clinic, it is usually the end result of a whole string of circumstances in her life — in other words, it is not NORMALLY a “cold hearted decision to kill her baby” as some pro-lifers might be inclined to think. Some of these…
Why Rachel’s Vineyard (Part VII): Healing of our Emotions
The philosopher Aristotle and his greatest disciple, St. Thomas Aquinas, discerned that our human emotional life can be broken down into eleven basic emotions: Love, Desire and Joy are three emotions that we experience toward things that we perceive as good for us. Hatred, Aversion and Sadness are three emotions…
Why Rachel’s Vineyard (Part VI): Spiritual Flow of the Retreat
A spiritual retreat should have a certain “flow,” an orientation, in which the retreat moves toward a certain spiritual climax. Fr. Jean-Baptiste Rauzan (the founder of the Fathers of Mercy) said that in the parish missions of our community, the priests preach so as to bring people to the Mercy…
Why Rachel’s Vineyard (Part V): We are Social Beings
When a woman finds herself in an unplanned pregnancy, she often feels that she is alone, and must “deal with it” alone. Sometimes, the father of her baby tells her to “deal with it” or “get rid of it” – he leaves her to shoulder the burden of pregnancy alone.…