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<\/a><\/p>\nF. Scott Fitzgerald famously said there are no second acts in American life.<\/strong>\u00a0 But he never met Abby Johnson.<\/p>\n Some of you may have heard of her.<\/p>\n Abby Johnson worked for eight years for Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas.\u00a0 She started out as an escort, helping women into the clinic, walking them past protestors\u2014sometimes encountering death threats. She eventually became a director of the clinic and in 2008 was named \u201cEmployee of the Year.\u201d\u00a0 But on a September morning in 2009, she was asked to do something she had never done before: assist with an abortion, by watching the ultrasound.\u00a0 What she saw wasn\u2019t the routine procedure she expected.\u00a0 What she saw was a child struggling for its life. \u00a0A few weeks later, she quit her job and became a pro-life activist. She went on to write a book about her decision and two years ago she and her husband joined the Catholic Church.\u00a0 She now runs a group called \u201cAnd Then There Were None,\u201d which helps abortion workers transition out of that industry.<\/p>\n Two weeks ago, to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Abby Johnson gave an interview to a Catholic paper<\/a><\/strong>. She said something that has haunted me ever since. It\u2019s something we don\u2019t talk about much in the church.\u00a0 But we should.\u00a0 And it\u2019s something that has particular resonance, I think, given this week\u2019s scripture readings.<\/p>\n In the interview, she said that the church needs to take a bigger role in talking about abortion.\u00a0 A priest asked her, skeptically: \u201cHow often do you really expect priests to talk about this?\u201d<\/p>\n She replied: \u201cI don\u2019t know, Father, but when I worked at Planned Parenthood, it was pretty common for women to be lying on the abortion table while holding a rosary. You tell me how often we need to be talking about this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0 Yes, we need to be talking about this.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, we need to be talking about working and praying to end something that has become shockingly commonplace in our city and our culture.\u00a0 Yes, we need to be talking about creating and encouraging a culture of life.\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n But we also need to be talking about something that is too often lost in these discussions: the woman on that table.<\/p>\n The same week the Abby Johnson interview appeared, a woman by the name of Maura Byrne, a pro-life speaker and activist, wrote about her own experience of abortion on her blog<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0She went to the heart of the issue: \u201cI had an abortion,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0 \u201cHow does God see me?\u201d<\/p>\n I imagine it\u2019s a question on the minds of many women, maybe some who are in this church this morning. Maura\u2019s answer to that question was so simple\u2014but to many of us, so elusive and hard to accept. \u201cGod just loves,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0 \u201cHe could never and would never take away that love.\u201d<\/p>\n It sounds impossible.\u00a0 But it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n In today\u2019s second reading, we hear again St. Paul\u2019s eloquent and familiar words about love\u2014words we often hear proclaimed at weddings or see printed on greeting cards. We have sentimentalized them, I think, and decorated them with hearts and flowers.\u00a0 But the truth about love is much greater, much wider, than we realize.<\/p>\n Paul was writing to the people of Corinth, telling them how to live with one another.<\/p>\n But he was also offering them in a few short paragraphs something eternal\u2014and eternally hopeful.<\/p>\n We all know that God is love.\u00a0 And, so, we need to remember:\u00a0 love is God.<\/p>\n To anyone struggling with a hurt that won\u2019t heal, a guilt that won\u2019t end, a fear that can\u2019t be dispelled: take heart and know hope.\u00a0 Paul\u2019s words remind us that God\u2019s tender mercies are boundless.<\/p>\n Because God is love.<\/p>\n God is patient.\u00a0 God is kind.\u00a0 God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.\u00a0 God never fails.<\/p>\n That is what makes all the difference.<\/strong> The love that redeemed us on the cross redeems us from the crosses of daily living\u2014our struggles, our weaknesses, our continuing stumbles and setbacks. \u00a0It forgives the sins that we may think, wrongly, are unforgivable.<\/p>\n As Blessed John Paul once put it: \u201cWe are not the sum of our failures, but the sum of our Father\u2019s love.\u201d<\/p>\n It is a message we all need to hear.\u00a0 But it speaks directly and powerfully to those living with abortion.<\/p>\n If you have had an abortion, that doesn\u2019t need to be the end of the story.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t need to be what defines you. It wasn\u2019t for Maura Byrne and countless others like her. The sacrament of reconciliation is here for you.<\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t already, please: avail yourself of that sacrament. Begin the conversation with God. He is waiting, eager to listen. Continue the conversation with ministries like Project Rachel<\/strong>,<\/a> which offers support to both women and men who are living with the aftermath of abortion.<\/p>\n As I mentioned: this is something we don\u2019t like to talk about.\u00a0 But we need to. Statistically, Catholics have abortions at the same rate as anyone else.\u00a0 We need to look at that reality\u2014 with clarity, with compassion, with love.\u00a0 The fact is: abortion isn\u2019t something that happens to other people.\u00a0 It happens to us. While we work to make it happen less, and make abortion a thing of the past, we also need to work to help those who still bear the scars. \u00a0We need to pray for them.\u00a0 Walk with them. \u00a0Help them to know hope.<\/span><\/p>\n After she left Planned Parenthood, Abby Johnson revealed that she was not only an employee, but she was also a client. She had undergone two abortions herself. But her life gives testimony to a powerful truth that lies at the heart of our faith. It is as old as the gospel.<\/p>\n It is: \u00a0conversion.\u00a0 Redemption.\u00a0 The faith in being able to live another way, to take another path.\u00a0 It is why the blind see and the lame walk.\u00a0 It is why Abby Johnson is able to share her story with the world.<\/p>\n