Praised be Our Lord, Jesus Christ!

I am Ors Szatmari, a student at the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary. I have visited your wonderful Web site and was happy to learn that the Holy Spirit has smiled on your community. I wanted to let you know about a program I am very supportive of.

Have you ever heard of "Spiritual Adoption"? I expect so. If you have and you are practicing this, my letter would be nothing more than an encouragement that this movement is spreading worldwide by the living grace of the Holy Spirit. If you have not, I hope, you will have enough energy beside your other activities to take up this practice.

I have translated some details of a 1986 Hungarian leaflet on spiritual adop- tion, as follows.

SPIRITUAL ADOPTION

Mary, bright dawn of the new world, Mother of the living, to you do we entrust the cause of life (Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae)

Spiritual adoption is a vow, by which a person undertakes to pray for nine months (i.e. the average period spent in the womb by the fetus) for the life of a concieved child who is only known by God and who is threatened with death through abortion.

The prayers which are the object of the vow:

  1. Pray this prayer every day: Lord Jesus, through the intercession of Your Mother Mary, who with love gave birth to You, and of Saint Joseph, the man of trust, Your guardian and pro-tector after birth, I offer my prayer to You for the unborn child, whom I have adopted spiritually, and who is in danger of being destroyed by abortion. I beg you, give its parents love and courage to let their child live the life that you have given to it. Amen.
  2. Pray a decade of the Rosary every day.
  3. Make a voluntary pledge (not obligatory; the vow is also valid without the pledge, but anything we take on obliges us, therefore, everyone should under- take such prayer or sacrifice that he/she can keep).

Here are some examples of voluntary pledges:

Neglecting the obligations of the vow, or not keeping one's promise are sins. Therefore, everyone should take the vow after due preparation and reflection, and after discussion with his/her parish priest or father-confessor.

Taking the vow can take place personally or solemnly. Solemnity is a witness at the same time. The point of time of the solemn vow ought to be a feast of Mary, if possible. It can take place in the course of a Mass or a prayer- meeting.

The vow obliges, but it also strengthens. The text of the vow is as follows:

Most Holy Virgin Mother of God, Mary, all the Angels and Saints, inspired by the desire to defend unborn children, I firmly resolve to adopt spiritually a child whose name is known to God alone, and I promise from [MENTION DATE] for nine months to pray each day so that child's life may be spared while in the womb, and that she or he may live a just and righteous life after birth. I will fulfill this promise by the following acts: praying one decade of the Holy Rosary; performing an act of penance or praying an additional prayer; by reciting the prayer for an unborn child which I shall say for the first time today.

The Goal of Spiritual Adoption The primary goal of spiritual adoption is to save the life of a particular child by prayer and making sacrifices for it. However, it makes itself felt more widely:

The History of Spiritual Adoption
It is presumed that the idea of spiritual adoption originates from Fatima. Spiritual adoption arrived in Poland by way of England. There was a center for it in England, but it may have died away, for lack of good organization (we have concluded, hearing no more about it). The model we adopted here in Hungary, was developed in Poland in 1987. At present, spiritual adoption is a country-wide movement in Poland with its center at the Paulinian monastery of Jasna Gora (Czestochowa). The movement was approved by the Archbishop of Eger, in Hungary.

I think it is very important that spiritual adoption be well organized, be- cause otherwise it may die away. We cannot afford the luxury of ignoring this simple and effective means given freely by God. One does not have to be an activist to do something effective to stop abortions now.

I have sent this document to a number of churches, parishes and pro-life orga- nizations. If you want you can have my feedback about your decision or attitude towards spiritual adoption. For more information contact me, or you can orga- nize your local movement in your own way.

A short homepage for spiritual adoption can be found HERE, but its author cannot speak English. Another site in Polish is HERE I do not know yet whether they can speak English or not.

Ors Szatmari
Technical University of Budapest
Budapest, Hungary

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