Only prayer will stop abortion

Blog post by Fr. David Muscat

Catholics need to understand and believe that abortion can only be stopped by prayer. Homilies or Pastoral letters from bishops do not suffice. A small clutch of old ladies kneeling on arthritic knees saying the Rosary is far more potent than a Pastoral letter or a sermon in a Cathedral packed with dignitaries who have found themselves there out of compulsion or duty.

For this reason, I fear that abortion will slip too easily into Malta. We are too reluctant to organize vigils of prayer in our churches in front of the exposed Blessed Sacrament and we are too reluctant to indulge in national solemn acts of prayer and penance in public lest we be branded as fundamentalists.

When the history of our country is written, future generations will surely take note of the fact that the time when Malta had lost its soul was also the time when the rural and urban environment was irreparably ruined.  They will surely note that the period when every single head of mortal sin galloped into the country in an institutionalized way – viz. Malta as a fiscal paradise, gay marriage, fast-track divorce, IVF devoid of compassion, abortion, euthanasia, legalized prostitution – this period coincides with a period of unparalleled granting of ecclesiastical titles – basilicas, collegiates etc.  A bourgeois religion indeed!

I have a feeling that we are going to get abortion very fast because the institutionalized church is too afraid.  We are under the illusion that homilies in church which make humanitarian arguments suffice.  That’s what happened during the divorce referendum fiasco. Again, good willing but liberal priests (secretly voting for divorce) and secularist bloggers will force the bishops into choosing  that tactic.

I am also certain that this appeal will not only fall on deaf ears but, more than that, there will be those who will do their utmost to persuade the bishops that appeals such as mine for crusades of recitations of the Rosary etc. will do more harm than good. This is exactly what had happened when Paul Cremona had to face the divorce referendum.  He was misled by his own advisors who wanted divorce to be embraced for political reasons but couldn’t admit it in public. 

Let us wait and see. 

All I can say is that Jesus Himself had warned “Will I find faith in this world when I come again?” (Luke 18,8). I cannot answer this disturbing question, except for the fact that He will surely find me on my knees praying into the night because I have heard the voice of the Lord.