40 Days for Life about to begin!

As we approach this holy season of Lent on March 5th, all round the world, there are 40 Days for Life efforts also beginning. Over the past few years, more than 8,000 babies have been saved from abortion that are known about.  This grass roots endeavor is changing minds and hearts all over the world!  Please think about being a part of your closest campaign.  To see the locations in the United States, please visit:
http://www.40daysforlife.com/location.html


Please consider being a part of this holy endeavor; lives and souls are at stake!

Back Again!

After a long hiatus, posts will resume. Most will be meditations that I hope will bring inspiration to the heart and soul. Ave Maria!

I place myself in the presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, contemplating Him as the Redeemer and Sanctifier of my soul.

And I place myself in the presence of Mary Immaculate, my loving Mother, and listen to her invitation:"Come over to me all you who desire me; and I will declare to you what great things God has done for my soul." The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is in perfect harmony with the spirit of Advent, while the soul is preparing for the coming of the Redeemer, it is fitting to think of her, the all-pure one, who was His Mother. The very promise of a Savior was joined to, or rather, was included in the promise of this peerless Virgin. After havng cursed the insidious serpent, God proclaimed: "I will put emnity between thee and the Woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head" (Gen 3:15). And behold the Virgin whose coming was foretold approaches, "white as snow, more beautiful than the sun, full of grace, and blessed above all women." + meditations from Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene (Divine Intimacy)

What Makes a Pro-Life Prayer Warrior?

Dear Prayer Warriors,

Today I would like to share a reflection with you, if you do not mind. It is on what makes a “prayer warrior”. What makes people pray and fast, totally unseen in the privacy of their homes for the sake of lives and souls? What makes others donate money or supplies so that pro-life campaigns can occur? What makes people stand in a very prominent public place at a Planned Parenthood in the sun and heat, rain and wet, snow, slush, and cold? What makes folks give of their time with no remuneration? What makes a college student stop by to pray in between classes? Or a tired business person come by after a long day at work? Or a young mother who bundles up her little ones to come out to pray when even the presence of the little children does not stop rude remarks? What makes folks give up a morning or afternoon weekly for weeks on end or drive a great distance? What makes a pretty lady, the mother of six, stand in all weathers and often alone in front of an abortion mill, calling out for the women to come and talk to her? Is it because she knows the pain of the ‘choice’ these women are making? Or the mother who was given up for adoption herself and knows that all children are really wanted children? Or what of the man who buys pro-life books and materials at his own expense to give to whomever will accept them? Or those ones who come all year round with no reward but perhaps to learn years later that the calling out of “Mom, you don’t have to do this!” saved the life of a little boy?

Two passages for ALL these good Christians come to mind:

Your Father who sees in secret will reward you…lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven…for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Mt 6:18, 20-21)

My commandment is this: love one another as I have loved you. (Jn 13:34)

I submit to you that they do this out of love. Love for God, love for Jesus who laid down His life to redeem us and so these sacrifices are made: in a way to also lay down our lives for the sake of others. This is not done for money. A TRUE prayer warrior who enters into the spiritual battle does not do it for human respect or praise or attention or self-seeking. For if done for those reasons, then they will have their reward on this earth. But rather when they are alone perhaps in the heat or cold with the ‘slings and arrows’ coming their direction, they return a blessing and a prayer for those from whom those things come. They come for the love of souls, for the love of the unborn children and their parents; they come for the staff and for the hired killers. They come knowing that the Father who sees in secret hears their prayers and somehow, someway lives and souls are benefitting as the sacrifices they make are joined to the sacrifice of the Son. They come to enter into conversation with those who have not fully considered what “pro-choice” means and its repercussions. They stand in the gap to intercede for those affected by abortion.

For all those who have helped in ways seen and unseen in this 40 Days for Life campaign, I can only pray that you will one day hear those long awaited words from our Heavenly Father:

Well done, good and faithful servant. (Mt 25:21)

For the full measure of love is heaven for the beloved.

May God reward you and give you His peace.

Life is Precious

“America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts -- a child -- as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign."

Blessed Mother Teresa

Slaughter of Innocents

Slaughter of Holy Innocents: then and now


We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents Of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Prayer to end abortion, the present day slaughter of Innocents:

O Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and earth and all things, You create today millions of human beings who are never permitted to see the light of day because of the sin of abortion. Grant to mankind the wisdom to respect human life at every stage of development.

You infuse souls into innocent babies even while still in their mothers’ wombs, their temporary homes. Grant that no one deprives your most innocent ones the privilege of your holy Baptism whereby they may be born again to Your supernatural life by grace. One soul in Your eyes, Almighty God, is of more value than the whole created universe.

Accept the precious blood of Your Son Jesus Christ, present on our altars and in our tabernacles, throughout the world in reparation for the sins of abortive murder. Even before Your Divine Son was born of Mary, dear God, when Your holy Mother greeted Elizabeth shortly after the conception of the Divine Child. Elizabeth asked, “How am I worthy that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” Long before the birth of the Divine Child the Holy Spirit inspired Elizabeth to call Mary “Mother” and the unborn Child, her “Lord.”

Almighty God, remove the scourge of abortion from the face of the earth. Amen.



PRAYER FOR THE HELPLESS UNBORN CHILD:

Heavenly Father, in Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless little ones to whom You have given the gift of life.

Touch with pity the hearts of those women pregnant in our world today who are not thinking of motherhood. Help them to see that the child they carry is made in Your image – as well as theirs – made for eternal life.Dispel their fear and selfishness and give them true womanly hearts to love their babies and give them birth and all the needed care that a mother alone can give.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever, Amen

As we enter into Advent

A Long Absence: Computer Challeged

Being somewhat computer illiterate, I could not get into my own blog for some time! But finally I cracked it!



We are about to begin the 40 Days for Life fall campaign which runs from September 22nd-October 31st. This is a strong and powerful prayer campaign that also combines sacrifice, penance, public witness, and community outreach for the sake of Defending Life.

In my town we have 7 Churches, 2 Protestant and 5 Catholic, as well as two university campus ministries banded together in prayer for this effort. We will also take turns praying at the local abortion provider, conveniently located across from a university campus. We pray for conversion of hearts.

Also there is prayer needed for the one state that has a Personhood Amendment on its ballot and that is Colorado. Being the first state to legalize the taking of the lives of the unborn, it would only be justice for it to be the first state to rescind that practice.

Let us pray!

Culture of Death: Attack on Both Ends of Life

A community that gets rid of someone—a community that is allowed to, and can, and wants to get rid of someone when he no longer is able to run around as the same attractive or useful member—has thoroughly misunderstood itself.


Fr. Alfred Delp S.J.'s Timeless Message Against Euthanasia
(November 2, 1941)

We celebrate All Souls' Day, and the meaning of that day is the spiritual companionship of human beings and all humanity to each other, all the way beyond the stars. It is not a camaraderie, however, that simply shields man, and acquiesces to everything and permits things to happen. Rather it is a camaraderie among those doing penance and reparation, and having the desire to help one other to attain salvation and perfection.

And we celebrated All Saints' Day, whose meaning expressed the goal, the interior purpose of man ... As I was reading the Gospel for All Saints' Day and reading the eight repetitions: "Beati estis, blessed are you when..." (Mt. 5:3ff – Sermon on the Mount, Gospel for the Feast of All Saints), I asked the question: What is meant by this word "blessed"? What is meant by this happiness that is promised to people here? ... Beati estis – eight times we proclaimed those words to mankind for All Saints' Day.

This past week I went to see a film here in Munich, a film that, day after day, for weeks now, has been giving people a sermon about human happiness, too. In this film, too, there is much talk of happiness and redemption and the meaning of existence...I am talking about the film, I Accuse. Many of you will have heard of it. It has do with a happy family life: two people made for each other; an intimate life together; growing together from one success to the next. A happy life and happy atmosphere and happy hearts. And then like a bolt from the blue in the midst of this, comes the wife's illness, the incurable, progressive paralysis. First of all, the couple's rebellious reaction and their attempt, by any means possible, to defeat this demon. However, they reach the limits of their strength, and then comes just the right solution: To "let her go". You cannot do this to a person, cannot let her suffer like that, so you—let her go. This human being dies before bearing out the term of her suffering.

That, too, is a message about happy people. Here, too, a "beatus" is expressed, a beatus, not as a promise, but as an end in itself: Man should be happy and make others happy. When he can no longer do this, then life begins to lose its meaning; and what is meaningless is basically untenable and unjustifiable, and it dies.

We have to inwardly confront these things from our viewpoint of the value of human life, and of the eight repetitions of "beati". This has to do with the ultimate foundations. This really concerns the ultimate attitudes and decisions and, with them, there is no such thing as an interim solution. "I Accuse!" This film accuses an order of life that "forces" people to go on living and—through every pore—it accuses a God who lets something like this happen.

What do we have to say to these proposals, from our holy mountain, from the viewpoint of our holy message? The details of the film are not so important to us; lots of films are shown that are trash. But here, there is an intention and an attitude behind it. And this whole attitude is, first of all, deception. Deception is the prerequisite, the space, in which the monstrous illness breaks in. This cultivated happiness, people wandering from one joyous moment to the next... Actors can play it, but look and see if life is really like that. The deception that you should spot in the background is the idea that without the monstrous illness, this life would always be on the way to this seductive total happiness here in this world.
That is the first deception, and with it, the prerequisite itself is wrong on which the whole discussion is based. And the second deception is the manner and method in which – pardon the expression – a soothing appeal is made to the tear ducts of the audience, so that sympathy removes the strength to seriously question these things. That is the second deception. The third deception is the endless discussion of love and letting go, the eternal termination of all difficulties and precepts and everything lasting, for the benefit of – indeed, for the benefit of whom? Basically, for the benefit of the more comfortable solution...

A community that gets rid of someone—a community that is allowed to, and can, and wants to get rid of someone when he no longer is able to run around as the same attractive or useful member—has thoroughly misunderstood itself. Even if all of a person's organs have given out, and he no longer can speak for himself, he nevertheless remains a human being. Moreover, to those who live around him, he remains an ongoing appeal to their inner nobility, to their inner capacity to love, and to their sacrificial strength. Take away people's capacity to care for their sick and to heal them, and you make the human being into a predator, an egotistical predator that really only thinks of his own nice existence.

The arguments in the film go like this: "This woman is no longer the same as the beautiful wife whom I loved." And from the wife's side: "My husband cannot love me anymore if I am ill and ugly; tired and wasting away." What kind of a marriage vow was it that applied only to sparkling eyes and beautiful cheeks, but did not apply to the loneliness, to the distress, to standing together all the way to the finish! Some like to call these arguments "the greater love": Rather, it would be the greater cowardice that pulled back here. Pulled back to escape from the responsibility, from the innermost attitude of commitment to another human being. It is escape. It takes away from man the last chance of his existence.

W. Corsari has written a book, The Man without a Uniform, which tackles the same problems: Doctor or human being? Is it permissible for a doctor to "let someone go" someone by killing them? The doctor does it and is ruined by it. One patient escapes him. After fifteen years, he meets her again, crippled, ruined, sclerotic. "Well," he asks her, "would you have wanted to die, at that time?"

"Yes, perhaps, at that time. But not today. Not anymore. What these fifteen years of conscious suffering have revealed to me about inner values, and what I have learned to understand and to comprehend, that makes up for everything else."

Because one is fleeing from what is hard, one takes away a human being's last chance of maturing, of persevering, of proving himself. That is why the whole thing is not only a lie and an escape. It is a rebellion. It is an outrage. It is an encroachment on rights that must stand inviolable if the entire cosmos is not to fall apart. It is an outrage against the Kyrios, the one and only Lord of life. Where God, the Lord, has not set aside the right to existence, that right stands inviolably under His love, under His fidelity, and under His punishment. A nation that lets a human being die, even a human being in the most extreme situation, will die itself. It is an outrage against the human being who, through his birth and his existence alone, already has rights that no one can take from him, and that no one can touch without disgracing humanity, and disgracing himself, and despising himself.

That is the view of life from our holy mountain. When we hear "beati estis, blessed are you", then it is always connected to a promise, to a trial: When you hunger and thirst...When you suffer persecution...When you persevere...When you remain in [God's] order...When you stay faithful...When you carry on with life as it stands, rather than wanting to remodel it out of personal right, and personal might, and personal authority ... As His own image and likeness, God released man into life and promised: "Your reward will be great and glorious in Heaven"
+++
Father Delp was known for challenging his parishioners with words that also could be a call to our own consciences today. Father Delp's listeners knew well the events to which he referred.Those who worried about his safety were right – he would be with them only three years before his arrest and eventual martyrdom. They would remember him as a "voice calling in the wilderness", a "prophet" whose message was timeless.
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2009/adelp_euthanasia_may09.asp

The Anniversary of a Prophetic Encyclical: July 25th

July 25th: The Anniversary of a Prophetic Encyclical

Ave Maria Meditations
In our present world where the embracing of intrinisic evils, which are the compromises with the devil, are becoming more and more mainstream and even mandated, a courageous voice spoke out in 1968. He was publicly denounced for this even by high ranking clergy. Society was warned but did not heed the warning and never has human life become so cheapened and the dignity of a human being so debased. The consequences of the embracing of moral evils has yet to be fully realized. God help us.

ENCYCLICAL LETTER
HUMANAE VITAE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
PAUL VI
TO HIS VENERABLE BROTHERS
THE PATRIARCHS, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS
AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES
IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE,
TO THE CLERGY AND FAITHFUL OF THE WHOLE CATHOLIC WORLD, AND TO ALL MEN OF GOOD WILL, ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
some excerpts from the Encyclical Letter which can be found at:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html
Honored Brothers and Dear Sons,
Health and Apostolic Benediction.
The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships.

The fulfillment of this duty has always posed problems to the conscience of married people, but the recent course of human society and the concomitant changes have provoked new questions. The Church cannot ignore these questions, for they concern matters intimately connected with the life and happiness of human beings.

Faithfulness to God’s Design

13. Men rightly observe that a conjugal act imposed on one’s partner without regard to his or her condition or personal and reasonable wishes in the matter, is no true act of love, and therefore offends the moral order in its particular application to the intimate relationship of husband and wife. If they further reflect, they must also recognize that an act of mutual love which impairs the capacity to transmit life which God the Creator, through specific laws, has built into it, frustrates His design which constitutes the norm of marriage, and contradicts the will of the Author of life. Hence to use this divine gift while depriving it, even if only partially, of its meaning and purpose, is equally repugnant to the nature of man and of woman, and is consequently in opposition to the plan of God and His holy will. But to experience the gift of married love while respecting the laws of conception is to acknowledge that one is not the master of the sources of life but rather the minister of the design established by the Creator. Just as man does not have unlimited dominion over his body in general, so also, and with more particular reason, he has no such dominion over his specifically sexual faculties, for these are concerned by their very nature with the generation of life, of which God is the source. “Human life is sacred?all men must recognize that fact,” Our predecessor Pope John XXIII recalled. “From its very inception it reveals the creating hand of God.”

Consequences of Artificial Methods

17. Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings?and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation?need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.

Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.

Dominus Est

There, where my dear Jesus dwells,

where He is enthroned in the tabernacle,

there I wish to be kneeling continually.

There, I wish to pray unceasingly:

Jesus, I love You deeply.

Hidden Love, I adore You.

Abandoned Love, I adore You.

Despised Love, I adore You.

Love trampled underfoot, I adore You.

Infinite Love, dying on the Cross for us, I adore You.

My dear Lord and Savior,

make it be that I am all love and expiation

toward the Most Blessed Sacrament

in the heart of Your most loving Mother Mary.

Amen.

by Maria Stang

(a woman who persevered in her faith under the cruel Communist atheistic rule for many years and who taught and brought the faith to many, keeping the love of the Lord in the most Blessed Sacrament alive)



God willing, the pastors of the Church will be able to renew the house of God which is the Church, placing the Eucharistic Jesus in the center, giving Him the first place.-the Most Reverend Athanasius Schneider: Dominus Est

Pro-Life Knights (how we need them!)

WOW! These Knights of Columbus in Corpus Christi , (means Body of Christ) have got their act together and they have it right!


Short video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRNN1mIBiho

A video depicting who the Knights of Columbus are, and what they stand for and believe in.

Fr. Farfaglia from Corpus Christi says this: The struggle to close down the only remaining abortion clinic in the city of Corpus Christi, Texas continues. On January 22, 2007 we began a renewed effort to end abortion in Corpus Christi. At that moment, the abortionist doctor was doing around 40 - 50 abortions a week. Now, abortions are down by more than half.

Here is an inspirational pro-life video of one of our recent marches at the abortion clinic produced by the local Knights of Columbus. The Knights have joined us in an immense effort to promote the Gospel of Life.

I Have Set Before You Life and Death...Choose Life

I Have Set Before You Life and Death…Choose Life



Deuteronomy 30:19:
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you,

that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:

therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”



I Came That They Might Have Life. (Jn. 10:10)
There has been more than 50 MILLION abortions in the United States in the past 36 years. Such a figure is hard to fathom. And so it follows that millions of women and others have been affected by abortion which was made ‘legal’ in this country in 1973. A big lie was put forth to make it seem an answer to a problem or an unwanted pregnancy. Many have fallen for that lie. Many live with a hidden guilt. But God forgives ALL sin if the sinner seeks forgiveness! No one needs to live with the scars that abortion puts on the soul.

Let us pray for all those who are or who have been involved with abortion. Those who promote it, vote for it, defend it and provide it and who are in need of prayers for conversion of heart. And I pray for healing and reconciliation for all those who have had abortions. God forgives! Jesus died to bring us this forgiveness! Even as a society that allows such a thing to go on, we must seek forgiveness. Lord, have mercy!



Excerpts from Evangelium Vitae by Pope John Paul II (March 25, 1995)

1. The Gospel of life is at the heart of Jesus’ message. Lovingly received day after day by the Church, it is to be preached with dauntless fidelity as “good news” to the people of every age and culture.

The incomparable worth of the human person

3. Therefore every threat to human dignity and life must necessarily be felt in the Church’s very heart; it cannot but affect her at the core of her faith in the Redemptive Incarnation of the Son of God, and engage her in her mission of proclaiming the Gospel of life in all the world and to every creature

Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others like them are infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do more harm to those who practice them than to those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator.

The fact that legislation in many countries, perhaps even departing from basic principles of their Constitutions, has determined not to punish these practices against life, and even to make them altogether legal, is both a disturbing symptom and a significant cause of grave moral decline. Choices once unanimously considered criminal and rejected by the common moral sense are gradually becoming socially acceptable.

8. At the root of every act of violence against one’s neighbor there is a concession to the “thinking” of the evil one, the one who “was a murderer from the beginning” (Jn 8:44). As the Apostle John reminds us: “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, and not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother” (1 Jn 3:11-12).

9. But God cannot leave the crime unpunished: from the ground on which it has been spilt, the blood of the one murdered demands that God should render justice (cf. Gen 37:26; Is 26:21; Ez 24:7-8). From this text the Church has taken the name of the “sins which cry to God for justice”, and, first among them, she has included willful murder.

13. In order to facilitate the spread of abortion, enormous sums of money have been invested and continue to be invested in the production of pharmaceutical products which make it possible to kill the fetus in the mother’s womb without recourse to medical assistance. On this point, scientific research itself seems to be almost exclusively preoccupied with developing products which are ever more simple and effective in suppressing life and which at the same time are capable of removing abortion from any kind of control or social responsibility.

It is frequently asserted that contraception, if made safe and available to all, is the most effective remedy against abortion. The Catholic Church is then accused of actually promoting abortion, because she obstinately continues to teach the moral unlawfulness of contraception… It may be that many people use contraception with a view to excluding the subsequent temptation of abortion. But the negative values inherent in the “contraceptive mentality”-which is very different from responsible parenthood, lived in respect for the full truth of the conjugal act-are such that they in fact strengthen this temptation when an unwanted life is conceived. Indeed, the pro- abortion culture is especially strong precisely where the Church’s teaching on contraception is rejected.

Certainly, from the moral point of view contraception and abortion are specifically different evils: the former contradicts the full truth of the sexual act as the proper expression of conjugal love, while the latter destroys the life of a human being; the former is opposed to the virtue of chastity in marriage, the latter is opposed to the virtue of justice and directly violates the divine commandment “You shall not kill”.

But despite their differences of nature and moral gravity, contraception and abortion are often closely connected, as fruits of the same tree…in very many other instances such practices are rooted in a hedonistic mentality unwilling to accept responsibility in matters of sexuality, and they imply a self-centered concept of freedom, which regards procreation as an obstacle to personal fulfillment. The life which could result from a sexual encounter thus becomes an enemy to be avoided at all costs, and abortion becomes the only possible decisive response to failed contraception.

The close connection which exists, in mentality, between the practice of contraception and that of abortion is becoming increasingly obvious. It is being demonstrated in an alarming way by the development of chemical products, intrauterine devices and vaccines which, distributed with the same ease as contraceptives, really act as abortifacients in the very early stages of the development of the life of the new human being.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen 4:9): a perverse idea of freedom

20. If the promotion of the self is understood in terms of absolute autonomy, people inevitably reach the point of rejecting one another…In this way, any reference to common values and to a truth absolutely binding on everyone is lost, and social life ventures on to the shifting sands of complete relativism. At that point, everything is negotiable, everything is open to bargaining: even the first of the fundamental rights, the right to life.

This is what is happening also at the level of politics and government: the original and inalienable right to life is questioned or denied on the basis of a parliamentary vote or the will of one part of the people-even if it is the majority…The State is no longer the “common home” where all can live together on the basis of principles of fundamental equality, but is transformed into a tyrant State, which arrogates to itself the right to dispose of the life of the weakest and most defenseless members, from the unborn child to the elderly, in the name of a public interest which is really nothing but the interest of one part. The appearance of the strictest respect for legality is maintained, at least when the laws permitting abortion and euthanasia are the result of a ballot in accordance with what are generally seen as the rules of democracy. Really, what we have here is only the tragic caricature of legality; the democratic ideal, which is only truly such when it acknowledges and safeguards the dignity of every human person, is betrayed in its very foundations: How is it still possible to speak of the dignity of every human person when the killing of the weakest and most innocent is permitted? When this happens, the process leading to the breakdown of a genuinely human co-existence and the disintegration of the State itself has already begun.

“From man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting” (Gen 9:5): reverence and love for every human life

39. Man’s life comes from God; it is his gift, his image and imprint, a sharing in his breath of life. God therefore is the sole Lord of this life: man cannot do with it as he wills.

44. Human life finds itself most vulnerable when it enters the world and when it leaves the realm of time to embark upon eternity…”Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jer 1:5): the life of every individual, from its very beginning, is part of God’s plan…How can anyone think that even a single moment of this marvellous process of the unfolding of life could be separated from the wise and loving work of the Creator, and left prey to human caprice?

YOU SHALL NOT KILL: GOD’S HOLY LAW

“If you would enter life, keep the commandments” (Mt 19:17)

53. God proclaims that he is absolute Lord of the life of man, who is formed in his image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26-28)…Precisely for this reason God will severely judge every violation of the commandment “You shall not kill”, the commandment which is at the basis of all life together in society. God shows that he does not delight in the death of the living (cf. Wis 1:13). Only Satan can delight therein: for through his envy death entered the world (cf. Wis 2:24). He who is “a murderer from the beginning”, is also “a liar and the father of lies” (Jn 8:44). By deceiving man he leads him to projects of sin and death, making them appear as goals and fruits of life.

57. Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, and in communion with the Bishops of the Catholic Church, I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral. This doctrine, based upon that unwritten law which man, in the light of reason, finds in his own heart (cf. Rom 2:14-15), is reaffirmed by Sacred Scripture, transmitted by the Tradition of the Church and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium.

The deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human being of his life is always morally evil and can never be licit either as an end in itself or as a means to a good end. It is in fact a grave act of disobedience to the moral law, and indeed to God himself, the author and guarantor of that law; it contradicts the fundamental virtues of justice and charity.

“We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29): civil law and the moral law

62. No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the Law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church.

71. The legal toleration of abortion or of euthanasia can in no way claim to be based on respect for the conscience of others, precisely because society has the right and the duty to protect itself against the abuses which can occur in the name of conscience and under the pretext of freedom.

72. Consequently, laws and decrees enacted in contravention of the moral order, and hence of the divine will, can have no binding force in conscience…Every law made by man can be called a law insofar as it derives from the natural law. But if it is somehow opposed to the natural law, then it is not really a law but rather a corruption of the law…laws which legitimize the direct killing of innocent human beings through abortion or euthanasia are in complete opposition to the inviolable right to life proper to every individual; they thus deny the equality of everyone before the law.

73. Abortion and euthanasia are thus crimes which no human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection.

74. To refuse to take part in committing an injustice is not only a moral duty; it is also a basic human right. Were this not so, the human person would be forced to perform an action intrinsically incompatible with human dignity…what is at stake therefore is an essential right which, precisely as such, should be acknowledged and protected by civil law. In this sense, the opportunity to refuse to take part in the phases of consultation, preparation and execution of these acts against life should be guaranteed to physicians, health-care personnel, and directors of hospitals, clinics and convalescent facilities.

YOU DID IT TO ME

82. In the proclamation of this Gospel, we must not fear hostility or unpopularity, and we must refuse any compromise or ambiguity which might conform us to the world’s way of thinking (cf. Rom 12:2). We must be in the world but not of the world (cf. Jn 15:19; 17:16), drawing our strength from Christ, who by his Death and Resurrection has overcome the world (cf. Jn 16:33).

90. I repeat once more that a law which violates an innocent person’s natural right to life is unjust and, as such, is not valid as a law. For this reason I urgently appeal once more to all political leaders not to pass laws which, by disregarding the dignity of the person, undermine the very fabric of society.

“A great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun” (Rev 12:1): the motherhood of Mary and of the Church

O Mary,
bright dawn of the new world,
Mother of the living,
to you do we entrust the cause of life
Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers
of babies not allowed to be born,
of the poor whose lives are made difficult,
of men and women
who are victims of brutal violence,
of the elderly and the sick killed
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.

Grant that all who believe in your Son
may proclaim the Gospel of life
with honesty and love
to the people of our time.

Obtain for them the grace
to accept that Gospel
as a gift ever new,
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude
throughout their lives
and the courage to bear witness to it
resolutely, in order to build,
together with all people of good will,
the civilization of truth and love,
to the praise and glory of God,
the Creator and lover of life.

For the whole encyclical see: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae_en.html

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Short excerpt from Humanae Vitae, the encyclical letter of Pope Paul VI (July 25,1968):

Consequences of Artificial Methods

17. Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings-and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation-need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.

Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.

Limits to Man’s Power

Consequently, unless we are willing that the responsibility of procreating life should be left to the arbitrary decision of men, we must accept that there are certain limits, beyond which it is wrong to go, to the power of man over his own body and its natural functions-limits, let it be said, which no one, whether as a private individual or as a public authority, can lawfully exceed.

Concern of the Church

18. It is to be anticipated that perhaps not everyone will easily accept this particular teaching. There is too much clamorous outcry against the voice of the Church, and this is intensified by modern means of communication. But it comes as no surprise to the Church that she, no less than her divine Founder, is destined to be a “sign of contradiction.” She does not, because of this, evade the duty imposed on her of proclaiming humbly but firmly the entire moral law, both natural and evangelical.

Since the Church did not make either of these laws, she cannot be their arbiter-only their guardian and interpreter. It could never be right for her to declare lawful what is in fact unlawful, since that, by its very nature, is always opposed to the true good of man.

Whole encyclical at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html

Modern Catholics-Signs of Contradiction

I recommend this reading from the Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation (which is celebrating 50 years of existance). The Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation is a worldwide educational organization which provides reliable information on the secular attacks on faith and family values; persecutions and abuses of human rights around the globe; and upholds the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church.
( http://www.mindszenty.org/ ) Its MISSION is "To Build and defend the Catholic Faith; To Strengthen and sustain family life; To work for freedom for all under God"

Here is the article from the current newsletter; it is not copyrighted (thanks be to God) and so can be distributed:

http://www.mindszenty.org/report/2008/DEC08.pdf

This article is by William Borst and is entitled "A Sign of Contradiction: the 2008 Election and the Catholic Church in America". It is WELL worth the effort to read; it is not long. It is very clear and concise.

Glory to God in the Highest and Peace to Men of Good Will

Sometimes it seems we forget that peace comes with good will; the peace of God comes to hearts open to Him. Not all can grasp that peace for not all are open to it...

Gloria in excelsis Deo!




“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” (Lk. 2:14)




MEDITATION

At Bethlehem the angels announced two things: Glory to God and peace to men; the one corresponds to the other. No one glorifies God as much as that little Babe lying on the straw. He alone, being the eternal Word, can give God the perfect, infinite praise that is worthy of Him. And no one more than Jesus, our Savior, brings peace to men; making reparation for sin, He reconciles man with his Creator and establishes a new covenant between them: the Creator will become Father, and man, will become a son.


Something similar is verified in our daily life. Those who obey God’s law enjoy peace; observing the divine law they also glorify God. The glory of God corresponds perfectly to the peace of men. But we are treating of that peace which comes only from Jesus, from His grace, peace which we will seek in vain elsewhere.

Peace is the tranquility of order. Order is established by the law and will of God. Those who respect this order fully possess the plenitude of interior peace; those who depart from it, even in a slight degree, lose their peace in proportion to their deviation from it. Peace is the refreshment and repose of the soul in the midst of the struggles and sorrows of life, but this is not the only reason for which we should try to obtain and possess it. We should desire it above all because it gives glory to God.

The angels promised peace “to men of good will”. Our will is “good” when it is upright, docile and resolute. It is upright when it is sincerely and entirely oriented toward good; docile when it is always ready to follow every indication of God’s will; resolute when it is prompt to adhere to the will of God, even though difficulties and obstacles arise, and sacrifices are required. The Lord is continually urging us to generosity and abnegation in all the circumstances of life, even the smallest ones. We must give ourselves to God without hesitation, certain that if God asks anything of us, He will also give us the strength to carry out His wishes. Such was the conduct of the shepherds; as soon as they heard the message of the angel, they left all, their flocks and their rest, and “came with haste [to Bethlehem] where they found … the Infant lying in the manger” (Lk. 2:16). They were the first to find Jesus and to taste His peace.

Time passes and does not return. God has assigned to each of us a definite time in which to fulfill His divine plan for our soul; we have only this time and shall have no more. Time ill spent is lost forever. Our life is made up of this uninterrupted, continual flow of time, which never returns. In eternity, on the contrary, time will be no more; we shall be established forever in that degree of love and glory (that we have attained at life’s end). If we possess only a slight degree of love, that is all we shall have throughout eternity. No further progress will be possible when time has ended.

Therefore, while we have time, let us work good to all men. We must give every moment its full amount of love, and make each passing moment eternal, by giving it value for eternity, This is the best way to use the time given us by God. Charity allows us to adhere to God’s will with submission and love and thus at the close of life we shall have realized God’s plan for our soul; we shall have reached the degree of love which God expects from each one of us and with which we shall love and glorify Him for all eternity.

(Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.)





Look at Christ Jesus. All His life is consecrated to the glory of His Father Whose will He always accomplishes: “I seek not My own will but the will of Him that sent me”(Jn.5:30, 6:38). He seeks only that. At the moment of achieving His life here below, He says to His Father that He has fulfilled His mission: “I have glorified Thee on the earth” (Jn 17:4). The desire of His Divine Heart is that we too should seek the glory of His Father.

(Blessed Columba Marmion)



Gloria in altissimis Deo, et super terram pax in hominibus bonae voluntatis.

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

The Grace of Christmas



Jesus speaks: I was born, born for you in a cave in December, in the cold, homeless, in the middle of a winter’s night, in the unheard-of poverty of the extremely poor, in solitude, in an abandonment unique in this world. What, my children, do I want you to learn from my birth? To believe in My love, to believe that I have loved you until now. To hope in Me, who have loved you so dearly. I want to teach you to despise the world, which was so unimportant to Me. I want to teach you poverty, lowliness, soli­tude, humility, penance. I want to teach you to love me, for I was not content with giving Myself to the world in the Incarnation, sanctifying it invisibly in the visitation; no, that did not satisfy My love. From the moment of My birth onward, I showed myself to you, giving myself wholly to you, putting myself in your hands. From then on, you could touch Me, hear Me, possess Me, serve Me, console Me.



Love Me now; I am so close to you. In My unimaginable goodness, I did not merely give Myself to you at My birth for a few hours or years: I am still in your hands, and shall be henceforth until the end of the world. Think of the unending good fortune I brought you in My birth: the ability to serve Me - to serve Me by serving the Church, to serve Me by serving your neighbor, to serve Me Myself, living there near you in the tabernacle. Not only can you serve Me, you can also console Me …