I suppose I experienced some of what your friend felt when he did nothing to try to prevent abortion. Mine was the inaction of a moral relativist who chose not to look beyond his own personal expediency. The choice to abort made life simpler for me at the time (Oh, how small my view of time was just then!) Some of what plagued me was my willingness to not think things through beyond my own selfishness. Time has given me the chance to reflect, realize, repent, and grow (somewhat) from all this.
I haven’t gone before any groups (wouldn’t even know how to contact these groups.) I do share with anyone who cares to listen when the topic comes up/the occasion calls for it. I have found that, like myself back then, the willingness to listen (to one’s own inner voice or the voice of another) determines whether a message will be received. Many (especially young people) are conditioned today to be self-sufficient, equipped with the same moral-relativism that I was possessed of back then.
As to experiencing God’s grace to move beyond remorse, He affords me that opportunity each and every moment (”Jesus loves me, this I know...”) When I live my life in the knowledge of His presence, I know I am forgiven. In fact, I become less, He becomes greater, so I see less of myself and more of Him. The enemy, of course, seeks to undo all that and, so, provokes my mind (my flesh) to dwell on the horrible nature of my sin and, in so doing, seeks to undo and confound the grace of Christ through things like guilt and remorse. When I let him (the enemy) do this, he has his tiny victory (he can have no ultimate victory though—”Lifted up was He to die, It is finished was His cry, Now in Heaven exalted high, Hallelujah! What a Savior!”
We dwell here (awaiting His return) freed from the penalty of sin, given grace to withstand the power of sin, but still in the presence of sin. One day, this will change also and we shall be united with Him totally freed from all that sin can plague us with. This woman’s sad story is a testimony not just to the horrible nature of abortion, but to the terribleness of sin (how it brings forth death!) Lives are ruined and destroyed. Sorrow, emptiness, guilt, remorse are its effects on the inner being of Man. The grave is its end.
“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
You write very eloquently of your journey to God. There are so many things you could do, but perhaps writing of your choices and regret is the way in which God will use you. You might even manage to pull some others, especially men, from the path to despair.
I pray for my relative, and urge him to trust in God’s mercy, but he refuses to believe God will forgive him. Until he embraces God’s mercy himself, there is little I can say or do, other than pray, to change his path.
I strongly recommend you contact Father Frank Pavone, of Priests for Life.
http://www.priestsforlife.org/
There are many people, and many groups, working in coordiantion with Priests for Life, to end abortion, and aid in assisting others who have walked your walk.
Pax et Bonum.