What: Raphael’s Way is a One Day Retreat for Post-Abortion Healing
When: February 28th (Tuesday) from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Where: Franciscan Center (Sabbath House), 3010 N. Perry Ave., Tampa, FL 33603
How: Event cost is $50 and includes materials and meals (light breakfast and lunch)
1. Call: (813) 924-4173 to PRE-REGISTER (required)
2. Mail: Emma Boe, 18304 Hancock Bluff Rd., Dade City, FL 33523
Mercy and Hope through Project Rachel
“Raphael’s Way”
Raphael’s Way is a Catholic spiritual renewal group program focused on the spiritual wound of abortion. This renewal program is based on the theology of conversion and on Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.
The name “Raphael” means God Heals. The Book of Tobit is a parable of the Gospel. The Archangel Raphael appears in the book as the messenger sent to accompany young Tobias on a journey. Raphael shows Tobias how to obtain God’s healing-healing from blindness, sin, spiritual oppression, despair, from loss and material need, from sin, and even healing of loneliness in exile. The healing that God sends through his angel is mediated through companionship, material creation, work, suffering, obedience, and the prayer of faith.
In short, it is communal and sacramental, like our Catholic faith. Raphael’s mission in Scripture was to heal the heart, the body, and the family. The story of Tobit and his family is like the process of recovery from abortion. Both require choosing hope, companionship, love, and light over despair, solitude, rejection, and blindness. Both involve prayer and learning, claiming of rights and forgiveness of wrongs, overcoming of family divisions, and encounter with loved ones destined by God to be yours. Finally, it is the action of God that makes it all possible.