Aborted Babies and Prayers

[lakotak]

Since we do not know how God’s Mercy is applied to these slain souls, is it good to pray for them or not? The reason I ask is I always said at the point of the Mass where we mention our intentions, “for all the unborn that will never see the light of this day because of abortion, let us pray to the Lord”. I was kinda admonished by the priest that it would be better to pray that they are born. He said that they were in God’s Mercy. Granted this would be good too. But my thought was that the babies that are born, they have a chance for life, the aborted babies do not. My thought is that since we do not know how God’s Mercy is applied that our prayers may be beneficial to these souls, similar to our prayers for those in Purgatory, in some way. Am I in error on this? Any opinion?

 

[heathernoel]

Where in the scriptures does it say aborted babies may or may not receive God’s mercy? I’ve never thought babies lost to abortion would be anywhere other than in His loving arms.

 

[Secret_Square]

It certainly cannot do any harm to pray for the souls of aborted babies. We do not KNOW for certain where they go after they die, but since God is merciful, we TRUST that he takes care of them somehow.

If you pray for the soul of someone whom you think is or may be in purgatory and it turns out they are already in heaven, that does NOT mean your prayer was “wasted”. No prayer is ever wasted. God knows what is in our hearts and can answer that prayer in another way. I would think the same principle applies to praying for aborted babies.

 

[DavidFilmer]

Since we do not know how God’s Mercy is applied to these slain souls, is it good to pray for them or not?

Well, surely it is not *bad *to pray for them.

An aborted baby (or any child who dies without benefit of Baptism) is in a theological state that God has not revealed to us. But one thing is sure - this child still suffers the consequence of original sin, and is in need of Sanctifying Grace.

How (or even if) that Grace is provided, we do not know for sure. Of course, God could just wave his hand and apply Grace to them. Or, he could apply this Grace as a result of the prayers of the Church which his Son died to redeem, and which has been entrusted with the ministry of Grace (and the ministry of prayer) since the days of the Apostles.

Which option sounds more plausible?

 

[NPC]

We have a duty to offer prayers for both the living and the dead. All the dead are entrusted to the mercy of God, which is why we should even pray for our enemies. I don’t see why an aborted child - any more than any other murdered person - should not be worthy or deserving of our prayers. We cannot judge here on earth how the scales will fall for anyone when judgement comes, but in the hope that as many as possible will live forever with the Lord, the best we can do is pray for the souls of all the dead.

 

[heathernoel]

Agreed

 

[beafedor]

Since we do not know how God’s Mercy is applied to these slain souls, is it good to pray for them or not? The reason I ask is I always said at the point of the Mass where we mention our intentions, “for all the unborn that will never see the light of this day because of abortion, let us pray to the Lord”. I was kinda admonished by the priest that it would be better to pray that they are born. He said that they were in God’s Mercy. Granted this would be good too. But my thought was that the babies that are born, they have a chance for life, the aborted babies do not. My thought is that since we do not know how God’s Mercy is applied that our prayers may be beneficial to these souls, similar to our prayers for those in Purgatory, in some way. Am I in error on this? Any opinion?

You can spiritually adopt an unborn baby in danger of abortion and pray for him/her every day for 9 months (devotion starts in March).

Aborted children are in Heaven. That’s a consolation that keep us who have aborted our children from going insane. I’m praying to mine. I pray to all children killed by abortion and ask them to pray for the repentance of their mother and father. Ask a Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat facilitator, they will explain.

 

[lakotak]

Thank you all for your responses. I was taken back somewhat at the priest’s words, which basically said don’t bother praying for the slain children, just pray that the unborn will be born. I just wanted to get (name removed by moderator)ut from others as to how they see this. I agree with your responses and I will continue to pray for their souls. Since we don’t know how God takes care of these children I know that prayers for them will not be in vain. As a matter of fact the very thought to pray for them at the intentions of the Mass came to me from out of the blue. I took this as something God wanted me to do. Just a little confused by the priest.

All your responses have just confirmed to me that this is something I should continue to do.

 

[DavidFilmer]

I was taken back somewhat at the priest’s words, which basically said don’t bother praying for the slain children, just pray that the unborn will be born.

I see no reason why you could not do both. But, if forced to choose one or the other, I would pray for your priest’s intention. The fate of the slain is, in one way or another, already decided (and is in the hands of God), but the living unborn face a very real and very grave threat (and their fate is in the hands of humans, with no secular laws to protect them).