And Lead All Souls to Heaven...

"O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy."

The Fatima Prayer.  It's often prayed at the end of each mystery of the Rosary.  I've prayed it hundreds of times. 

But do I mean it?

Oh, the part about myself I mean:  forgive me of my sins, Lord. Yes!  Save me from the fires of hell!  Yes, yes, I mean that part.  

But what about the second part?  Do I mean that as well?  Lead all souls to heaven? Do I mean that?   

Definitely.  

Well, most likely.  

At least I think so.

Probably.  

Maybe.

Doubts begin to creep in regarding my sincerity because the more I think about that phrase, that line, that prayer--lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of They mercy--the more I think about that phrase, the more I realize that it's not just about my family.  My friends.  My coworkers.  My neighbors.  

It's not even just about the nice people I meet while shopping.  Or at a restaurant.  Or at my sons' little league games.

The prayer's bigger than that.  See, it's not just for the people I talk to, the people I relate to.  It's also for Kermit Gosnell, the abortionist who was just today convicted of murdering 3 babies born alive in his abortion clinic.  He snipped the backs of their necks with a pair of scissors to extinguish their lives.  Especially those in most need of Thy Mercy:  that's a man like Kermit Gosnell. 

It's also a man like LeRoy Carhart, another late term abortionist who, in this recent video, compared a terminated baby in the womb to "meat in a crock-pot" and then joked about his toolkit for abortions that includes a "pick-axe" and a "drill bit."

    

When I sincerely pray that prayer, I'm also praying for the Joe Biden's and the Nancy Pelosi's and the Barack Obama's and all the other politicians--Republican, Democrat, Independent--who all seem to have no conscience and no problem supporting an industry with so much blood on its collective hands.

But the prayer is even bigger than that, because the prayer covers the Boston Bombers.  When I say that prayer and mean it, I'm praying for the souls and the conversion of those cowards who took the lives of the innocents at the marathon. 

I'm praying for the man who kept those three girls locked up in his Cleveland home for 10 years.  The man who raped them and then beat them to induce abortions.  And the brothers who may or may not have known what was going on and didn't say anything.

I'm praying for the next Osama Bin Ladin.  For the tyrant in North Korea.  

And the list could go on indefinitely.  When I pray that prayer and mean it, I'm praying for the most hardened, most vile sinners on the planet just as I pray for those we'd all call "good."  

Am I up for that?  Do I honestly long for the salvation of these souls?  Do I sincerely long to learn of their conversion to Christ?  Do I truly want to pray for the mercy that will bring about repentance and open the gates of heaven to the likes of these?

I don't know.  But I hope so.

I hope that when I say that prayer and conjure an image of the faces of those who support or perpetrate such horrific evil in our times, I hope that I truly ask for God's mercy with more than just my mouth.  

Because that is the heart of the Gospel:  Mercy for the undeserving.  Mercy for the sinner.  Mercy for the repentant heart.  Mercy for my family.  Mercy for me. Mercy for Kermit Gosnell.

So, Lord, for my sake and for the sake of my family and friends, and for the sake of the eternal souls of Kermit Gosnell and all those who commit or support evil:  O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy.  In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.  Amen.