Thoughts upon the Salvation of Aborted Infants

These are some initial thoughts which I hope to work through as I read the Vatican document on the subject, at which time I will write it more fully in accordance with that document and summarize its content.

It should not be supposed that no possible opportunity exists for infants who die without the sacrament of baptism. For God’s grace is not confined to his sacraments any more than God’s nature can be contained by the universe itself. Salvation is God’s work in us, to act and to will according to his good purpose, and we should not assume for a moment that God’s will that all men be saved has no practical application when an infant, by no fault of their own, is deprived of his very life within the womb of his mother. Rather, we have hope in the mercy and love of God, that through Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross, which is sufficient for the sins of the whole world, He shall work within us that which is pleasing to Him.

While we are all conceived in sin, and that at the very moment of conception, in view of Adam, we share in the loss of sanctifying grace, and so are properly said to be conceived suffering from the effects of original sin, this privation of sanctifying grace. The Church’s teaching of original sin concerning this privation ought not to be imagined to be changed or altered or modified on account of this proposal. To the contrary, it isn’t a claim that such an infant was born without the stain of original sin, though we know that God is more than capable of doing this if He was pleased to do so, but rather we look to that same remedy by which anyone is freed from such a condition, the recovery of sanctifying grace.

The Church’s teaching upon the role of baptism, as the sacramental means by which sanctifying grace is restored to the soul, will likewise be firmly upheld. Baptism is the divinely appointed means by which He has purposed to communicate this grace to us, yet this does not exclude the possibility that He shall give sanctifying grace to whom He will outside of the sacrament, just as we know He did in the case of our Blessed Mother. Even though she, like any other, was destined to lose sanctifying grace on account of Adam, was by a singular act of grace preserved within it. God is as capable within the womb to infuse the body with a soul as he is to infuse the soul with sanctifying grace.

At the moment of our conception let us consider that while we were deprived of sanctifying grace we were not deprived of all grace. To the contrary, we were conceived in grace as well, created at the moment of conception by a most powerful and incredibly loving God. We were enveloped in the grace of God just as we were surrounded by the flesh of another. We must not envision that nothing of God’s grace ever came to effect within the womb, as if no movement of God occurred, no grace stirred, no presence within the soul, but that some how we were totally void of all grace from the moment of our conception to the day of our baptism.

Prevenient grace is all that work of God which precedes the moment when sanctifying grace is restored to the soul.  It is that grace which goes before and paves the way for us unto salvation. It is that grace which is antecedent to all other graces and leads us towards Christ and all that entails. It is the promise of God that He who began a good work within us will bring it unto completion. And such hope we have for ourselves who are capable of reading this proposal given that we offer no hindrance to the work of God, that we do not grieve the Holy Spirit, that we do not turn our wills against Him. 

In the case of infants, they too have such a working upon their heart, as Christ certainly expresses his tenderness towards the children, and especially grieves greatly for them when their life is ended in the womb. In them is no hindrance to that love which God can shed abroad in their heart, no opportunity to grieve the Holy Spirit, nor any chance at all to will against the love of God. Just as there is no opportunity to desire the grace of God, nor to shed their blood for the faith, nor to will according to the will of God, likewise there is nothing within them to act willingly nor knowingly counter to all that grace which God wishes to work within the heart, not because the infant deserves it, nor that it is proper to nature alone, or that he is somehow exempt from being conceived deprived of sanctifying grace, but rather in virtue of the blood of Christ and his universal salvific will that all men be saved. And it is within this theological context that I would propose that God is more than capable to lead an infant within the womb via prevenient grace to a moment of the restoration of sanctifying grace prior to his moment of death, or even at the moment of their death when like martyrs are shedding their blood.

While we do not have certainty in this regard, I write this that you will have hope in your hearts that our God is merciful and mighty to save. That we should pray for all the victims of abortion that God shall grant them not only natural happiness but also the glorious beatific vision. That we can hope to one day meet each and every one of these little ones only to find that they have been with God praying for each of us that they too may see each and everyone of us. Do not let your hearts be troubled when you study original sin, baptism, sanctifying grace, or outside of the Church there is no salvation, rather be encouraged and remain hopeful in the grace of God who can do abundantly more than we could ever hope or imagine.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..." Ephesians 3:20