Become like little children

We recently took part, as a family, in the 40 days for life prayer vigil going on in our diocese. The idea is to have a prayerful presence in front of an abortion clinic to offer our petitions on behalf of the unborn, as well as to increase awareness of the horrors of abortion.   Now Tim and I have always tried to protect the innocence of our children and have sheltered them, as best we can, from many of our world's worst evils. For this reason, we had never talked with them about abortion. But, the day before our hour of prayer in front of the "clinic", we had a little talk with them. We felt it was important that they were a part of the prayers, and therefore had to understand, on their level, what they were praying about. We briefly explained that some people think it is okay to hurt babies before they are born, even to kill them. I don't remember having to tell them this was a bad thing, they immediately knew. Our children, who are not nearly as far from the womb as we are, knew without a doubt this was horrible, appalling, and the gravest sin. And I was thinking, would any other child react differently? I'm sure ALL children would be disgusted if they knew the truth of abortion.   Our children have seen ultrasound pictures of themselves. They understand that the pictures show them in mommy’s tummy before they were born. Our 5 year old particularly loves the ultrasound picture showing her sucking her fingers in utero. She still sucks her fingers today, and when asked if that really is HER in the picture, HER- the little girl we know and love today, she answers that, of course it is!   Talking to my children about abortion was not an easy thing. I hated the idea of admitting to them that there is such dreadfulness in our world. Yet, as usual, they have amazed me. Their sweet, heart-felt prayers offered, not only during our vigil at the abortion clinic, but each day since then, have humbled and impressed me beyond words. It reminds me of Jesus’ words as he pulled a young child close to him one day, “...the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Our children know evil when they see it or hear of it. May we be inspired by our children and, someday, have understanding and faith as strong as theirs.