The Black Madonna

The patron saint of post-abortion recovery services is Our Lady of Czestochowa.

Aka "The Black Madonna."

Her face appears black, and her face and throat are severely scarred, in the icon painting of her, believed to have been damaged by arrows and swords in time of war, and though many restoration attempts were successful and the scars removed or covered over, they always appeared again, exactly as they were before.

Always.

The actual Icon painting is here, from Poland, in Maryland, and our friend from Lumina, Theresa Bonopartis, was there for its arrival there on the Feast Day of Our Lady, two days ago, August 26:

"The Icon has covered over 40,000 miles in the From Ocean to Ocean International Campaign in Defense of Life and will be traveling throughout North America until November 2014."

As Theresa writes:

"It was obvious Our Lady was making a statement, and it was then that I realized the significance of the icon in my life – how our society tries to cover the scars of abortion in our times. There is a refusal to acknowledge the very real suffering, and even in the best of circumstances the feelings of those who mourn are often not legitimized. Even in the church these feelings are often pushed aside by well meaning clergy who tell those in pain to “ forget about it,” “you are forgiven,” “it is in the past.” But, the wounds keep on appearing and crying to be heard."

Why Maryland?

"St. Clements Island (Md) is the original landing place of European Settlers in search of Religious Freedom. Father Andrew White, SJ, whose journal was found concerning the trip, was among those on the two ships, the Ark and the Dove. 'For the Catholics aboard the Ark and the Dove, it was to escape persecution and being marginalized socially and economically.  For Protestants, it was to seek a better life and like their Catholic shipmates, be open to opportunities the New World offered – opportunities that made the risks worthwhile.'"  

How sadly ironic. Practicing, faithful Catholics and Protestants now have long been marginalized socially and yes, even persecuted for believing what we believe, for standing up for those beliefs in every aspect of life.

More on that in the next post, later today, over on Abortion Pundit...

ALSO COMING SOON:   on September 14th, The National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children. Not a political day, not a "causes" day. It's just a day of silent memorial, even if you don't go visit one of the 33 graves sites designated for our unborn children across the U.S., know that prayer vigils will be held at all of them that day, to remember and pray for you and your lost child.