Meeting of Mary and Elisabeth, Marx Reichlich, Austrian painter (b. 1460, Salzburg, d. 1520, Salzburg) Wood, 100,5 x 81,2 cm Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Many of us are shuddering at the prospect of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) promised by the Democrats and president-elect Obama. For info on this act click here and here.
FOCA is a logical outgrowth of the Democratic Party Platform to promote and protect abortion as a uniquely construed “right” in and of itself. This platform plank, which has been central to the Democratic Party for many years, is a gross, ill-conceived principle at the foundation of the culture of death. It is a principle of death and a false “right”.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines now, millions are working for and praying for, a Culture of Life. In our gut there is a sense of desperation! But in our heart there must be a sense of expectation! Here are two key scripture verses at the pragmatic core of the Culture of Life philosophy/spirituality:
“…where sin increased, grace abounded all the more…” Rom 5:20
“…in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” Rom 8:28
We can find wholesome expectation and hope in the Redemptive Pregnancy of Mary. More specifically, in the Unborn Baby, within the womb of Mary. He is Christ the Lord! (Lk 2:11) Is there a light at the end of this dark tunnel of the culture of death? Yes, He is Christ the light of the world! (Jn 8:12)
“The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.” (Jn 1:9)
“And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace” (Jn 1:16). When you read this wonderful verse, think of John the Baptist within his mother’s womb leaping for joy! Joy? Yes, joy because he is in the immediate presence of Unborn Jesus (Lk 1:39-44).
Just because we must be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mt 10:16; another key scripture verse at the pragmatic core of the Culture of Life spirituality), doesn’t mean we can not also leap for joy in expectation with Elizabeth and unborn John the Baptist.
So leap don’t weep! Leap while you pray! Leap in Holy Expectation!
There is no doubt that many of us are discouraged right now. I wanted to talk about something that has helped me a great deal.
Many of you know that our blog’s subtitle is: Honoring the Unborn Christ Child, promoting the Gospel of Life, one day at a time…
During the election we encouraged those who read this blog to pray the Magnificat 9 times a day for the election in honor of the nine months that Jesus spent in Mary’s womb. This was a devotion that St. Juliana of Cornillon recommended to her friends. I assumed that most of you already were praying other Novenas etc. and that only a few would be able to add this to their already busy lives.
But I did start praying the Magnificat 9 times a day myself and we are continuing to pray this novena until the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. I want to tell you about how profound and powerful this experience has been for me.
Let me explain – a few years ago I read Unborn Jesus Our Hope which is a meditation on the nine months that Jesus spent in Mary’s womb. Some of you know that it was written by my husband. It took him 20 years to write this book because he had to support a growing family and could only dedicate himself to it in his spare time. I basically ignored what he was doing for the entire 20 years. I didn’t really understand what he was trying to accomplish. When he decided that the book was ready and he turned to looking for a publisher (Life Cycle Books published it), I decided that I really should read it.
What happened is that I fell in love with the Unborn Christ Child. I only tell you this so that I can explain why praying the Magnificat has been so powerful for me.
I dedicate each Magnificat to a different month that Christ spent in Mary’s womb.
Initially with the first Magnificat, I place myself before Christ at the moment of His Conception.
With the 2nd Magnificat, Mary is visiting Elizabeth and praying this prayer herself.
At the 3rd Magnificat, Mary is with Elizabeth and Zachariah – the Unborn Christ Child is present at John’s Birth.
I travel the road back to Nazareth with Mary and Unborn Jesus while praying the 4th Magnificat.
The 5th Magnificat is with Mary, the pregnant mother who is unsure of her future but fully trusting in God as she senses Joseph’s agony until the Angel speaks to him.
At the 6th Magnificat Joseph joins Mary in her worship of the God within her womb.
The 7th Magnificat is in the happy home at Nazereth where Mary and Joseph prepared for the great task ahead of them while going about their ordinary duties.
At the 8th Magnificat, I am with them and unborn Jesus as the wonderful news of the census in Bethlehem came to them. They knew that God wanted the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem and now they saw God’s hand in history accomplishing this.
And finally, during the ninth Magnificat I am with Unborn Jesus, Mary and Joseph as they journey to Bethlehem, are rejected by the Innkeeper and find the stable that was the birth place of Our Blessed Lord.
John Paul II in his Encyclical Letter on the Holy Spirit (Dominum et Vivificantem) while speaking of the Incarnation reminded us:
“What was accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit “in the fullness of time” can only through the Spirit’s power now emerge from the memory of the Church. By his power it can be made present in the new phase of man’s history on earth.” Dominum et Vivificantem. 51
We can in a new way be present at that time in history when heaven was wedded to earth, when Jesus was powerfully present to our world in the womb of Mary. These are the moments in history where God first fully embraced humanity. And we can be reminded that he has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly and that His Mercy is on those who fear him in every generation. The Almighty has done great things for all of us and holy is His Name.
Taste and see the great goodness of Our Lord. Like St. Juliana, I too urge my friends to try this devotion. You will find strength and refreshment for your souls in this time of trial and disappointment. We need, like Pope John Paul reminds us, ‘to make present in this phase of man’s history what was accomplished by the Holy Spirit in the”fullness of time”. This is what will give us strength to begin again and renew the face of the earth and continue to fight for our beloved unborn children.
Filed under: Pro-life
Yesterday, Father Peter Irving, a great priest in LA, alerted me to this. Bishop Finn was interviewed on a number of radio shows. Here is a link to his blog, Holy Innocents, Long Beach. Actually, right after getting Father Irving’s email, I was able to hear Bishop Finn on Hugh Hewitt. Here is what Bishop Finn said:
“I would say, give consideration to your eternal salvation. Because to vote for a person who has expressed a fanatical determination to not only support abortion as it exists now, but to remove all limitations on it through the Freedom of Choice Act and to extend it without any recourse, throwing out all the efforts of citizens over the last 35 years to place reasonable limits on abortion; that you, by voting for a person who has expressed his determination to do this, to Planned Parenthood, to NARAL, that you make yourself a participant in the act of abortion. That’s gravely wrong and you mustn’t do it because your eternal salvation is tied up with that important choice.”
Here is a link to the audio from one of Bishop Finn’s radio interviews. Apparently, he went on a number of radio stations, yesterday.
I feel sorry for those who are unaware of the power of prayer! Every citizen has but one vote. Does he or she cast it prayerfully? Your vote should be like a spark en kindled by prayer striking conscience. Don’t waste your one solitary vote – vote your faith. Vote for the Culture of Life!
Your vote is like an angel’s arrow aimed at the heart of the body politic, not to kill it but to enliven it, to thrill it with a passion for justice, to ignite a firestorm of compassion for those in need and enkindle the social conscience, especially for the unborn.
But to vote well you must pray. Prayer is like a strong wind perfectly calibrated to deliver your vote to its proper place in the plan of God.
Your vote can be like a Word to enlighten others who are listening.
Your vote can be like an outstretched hand extended to those who need to be lifted up.
Your vote can be like a bandage which can be applied to those most bloodied.
Your prayerful vote is important. Send forth your prayers – ten thousand strong if you will – to deliver your one vote to society’s heart.
Today your Vote is Unborn – nurture it with prayer, deliver it on Election Day with conviction! Vote for the highest common good. Vote for a Culture of Life!
“The picture on this page is an untouched photograph of a being that has been within its mother for 20 weeks. Please do me the favor of looking at it carefully.” Cardinal Egan
Click on the the Bishop’s last name to go to their statement.
35. Bishop Ronald Gilmore of Dodge City, KS
36. Bishop Paul Coakley of Salina, KS
37. Bishop Michael Jackels of Wichita
38. Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito of Palm Beach
39. Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth
75. Joint Statement by the bishops of Florida (9 bishops)
One of Matteo Perez d’Aleccio’s fresco’s depicting the Great Siege. The frescos started being painted eleven years after the siege and although Matteo Perez d’Aleccio himself was not a witness to the event he relied heavily on Francisco Balbi di Corregio’s account of the Great Siege and on surviving Knights, including the Grand Master who surely furnished the artist with more information. They are on display in the Palace of the Grand Master in Malta
Father Corapi has been asking Catholics to pray a rosary novena to Our Lady of Victory for the election, click here to see our post on this novena.
Today I received an email from Dan Engler with a letter from Luis Mendoza encouraging others to pray this Novena for the election. He gave a personal testimony about how powerful this novena is and what happened after he and his wife and a small group prayed it:
Dear Pro-Life Friends,
I have attached Father Corapi’s letter explaining the importance of our uniting in prayer for a “Moral” outcome to this election.
This is an effective novena. My wife and I plus a small group prayed this Novena for Justice to be done in regards to Bertha Bugarin the owner of the CLINICA MEDICA abortion mill chain. On the final day of the the novena Bertha was arrested in a Los Angeles courtroom , brought to San Diego in shakles and paraded before the local television stations. And the most notorious abortion mill chain in California was eliminated…
Yours in Christ through Mary
Here are links and pictures that detail this story:
Unlicensed Abortionist Bertha Bugarin Arrested And Jailed After Botched Abortion Victims Come Forward
Fernando Bertelli: Battle of Lepanto (1571), Venedig 1572
The Holy League was outfitted with around 208 galleys; while the Turks had nearly 300. Click here to find out more about the Battle of Lepanto which the Christians won despite the odds against them.
I believe that millions are praying fervently for this elections. My hope for this election is in God and with this in mind I would like to make everyone aware of a Novena to Our Lady of Victory that Father Corapi is promoting. Click here to read his entire text. (It is a flyer from Father Corapi’s website that can be handed out to promote this Novena.) Below is Father Corapi’s explanation of this feast day and it’s significance for our times.
“Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.
Today we have a similar spiritual battle in progress—a battle between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, truth and lies, life and death. If we do not soon stop the genocide of abortion in the United States, we shall run the course of all those that prove by their actions that they are enemies of God—total collapse, economic, social, and national. The moral demise of a nation results in the ultimate demise of a nation. God is not a disinterested spectator to the affairs of man. Life begins at conception. This is an unalterable formal teaching of the Catholic Church. If you do not accept this you are a heretic in plain English. A single abortion is homicide. The more than 48,000,000 abortions since Roe v. Wade in the United States constitute genocide by definition. The group singled out for death—unwanted, unborn children
No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.”
With this in mind, Father Corapi is calling on Catholics to pray a Rosary Novena for the nine days preceding the election (October 27 to November 4th) to Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary.
Solemn Novena to Our Lady of Victory, Click here.
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El Greco Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple. The episode is described in all four Gospels: St. Matthew (21:12-13), St. Mark (11:15-18), St. Luke (19:45-46), St. John (2:14-17).
There is a scene in the Gospel, one of the most vivid scenes, one that probably scandalized many of the religious and secular leaders but was secretly loved by all of the little ones of the flock. I’m speaking about when Christ went into the Temple and overturned the money changers driving them from the Temple.
Bishop Martino of Scranton did just that last Sunday. He went into one of those Church forums that many of us detest so much where questions of faith and morals are debated. Often at parish events like this Catholics leave not altogether sure what the Church is teaching. At this particular forum some panel members were trying to make the case for it being OK as a Catholic to vote for the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in the history of our country.
And then Bishop Martino overturned their applecart.
“No social issue has caused the death of 50 million people,” he said, noting that he no longer supports the Democratic Party.* “This is madness people.” Bishop Martino also said that he had wanted to persuade Father Martin Boylan, of St. John’s, to cancel the forum.
After his comments, most of the audience stood and clapped loudly.
The forum had handed out literature from the USCCB that was ambiguous.
Here is what Bishop Martino had to say about that:
“No USCCB document is relevant in this diocese,” said Bishop Martino. “The USCCB doesn’t speak for me.” “The only relevant document … is my letter,” he said. “There is one teacher in this diocese, and these points are not debatable.” Click here to read his letter.
Some people might take issue with that statement but he is correct. In 1998 Pope John Paul II issued an : APOSTOLIC LETTER “MOTU PROPRIO” APOSTOLOS SUOS, ON THE THEOLOGICAL AND JURIDICAL NATURE OF EPISCOPAL CONFERENCES (1) 21 May, 1998 Here follows an excerpt:
20. In the Episcopal Conference the Bishops jointly exercise the episcopal ministry for the good of the faithful of the territory of the Conference; but, for that exercise to be legitimate and binding on the individual Bishops, there is needed the intervention of the supreme authority of the Church which, through universal law or particular mandates, entrusts determined questions to the deliberation of the Episcopal Conference. Bishops, whether individually or united in Conference, cannot autonomously limit their own sacred power in favour of the Episcopal Conference, and even less can they do so in favour of one of its parts, whether the permanent council or a commission or the president. This logic is quite explicit in the canonical norm concerning the exercise of the legislative power of the Bishops assembled in the Episcopal Conference: “The Conference of Bishops can issue general decrees only in those cases in which the common law prescribes it, or a special mandate of the Apostolic See, given either motu proprio or at the request of the Conference, determines it”. (77) In other cases “the competence of individual diocesan Bishops remains intact; and neither the Conference nor its president may act in the name of all the Bishops unless each and every Bishop has given his consent”. (78)
See also Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 27 and The Code of Canon Law, canon 381.
*I imagine this is the reason that Bishop Martino no longer supports the Democratic Party. From the 2008 Democratic Party Platform: “The Democratic Party stronly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”
This year the Catholic Bishops have really stepped up to the plate. First, around 50 Bishops across the U.S. came out and soundly corrected Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden when these two ‘Catholic’ politicians deliberately distorted the Catholic position on abortion earlier this year.
During Respect LIfe month this year many Bishops around the country are clearly speaking to Catholics about their voting choices this November. What they are pointing out is that abortion should be the most important issue as Catholics step into the voting booth.
Here are quotes from some of these Bishops – If you click on the Bishop’s name it will bring you to the entire statement.
From: Little Murders by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, October 18, 2008.
“I believe that Senator Obama, whatever his other talents, is the most committed ”abortion-rights” presidential candidate of either major party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973. Despite what Prof. Kmiec suggests, the party platform Senator Obama runs on this year is not only aggressively ”pro-choice;” it has also removed any suggestion that killing an unborn child might be a regrettable thing. On the question of homicide against the unborn child – and let’s remember that the great Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer explicitly called abortion ”murder” – the Democratic platform that emerged from Denver in August 2008 is clearly anti-life.”
“I Thought You Should Know” By Bishop Robert J. Hermann Archdiocesan Administrator St. Louis Diocese (he took over for Archbishop Burke who was given an appointment in Rome this year.)
“The decision I make in the voting booth will reflect my value system. If I value the good of the economy and my current lifestyle more than I do the right to life itself, then I am in trouble. Pope John Paul II, in his Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici tells us: ‘Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights – for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture – is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination….’ ”
Joint Statement from Bishop Kevin Farrell and Bishop Kevin Vann to the Faithful of the Dioceses of Dallas and Fort Worth
“Therefore, we cannot make more clear the seriousness of the overriding issue of abortion – while not the “only issue” – it is the defining moral issue, not only today, but of the last 35 years. Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, more than 48 million innocent lives have been lost. Each year in our nation more than one million lives are lost through legalized abortion. Countless other lives are also lost through embryonic stem cell research. In the coming months our nation will once again elect our political leaders. This electoral cycle affords us an opportunity to promote the culture of life in our nation. As Catholics we are morally obligated to pray, to act, and to vote to abolish the evil of abortion in America, limiting it as much as we can until it is finally abolished.”
Bishop Holley Calls on Black Community to Overcome Abortion
“As an African American, I am saddened by evidence that Black women continue to be targeted by the abortion industry. The loss of any child from abortion is a tragedy, but we must ask: Why are minority children being aborted at such disproportionate rates?
Many African Americans are not aware that since the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion throughout all 9 months of pregnancy, the number one cause of death in the African American community has been abortion. We have lost over 13 million lives. To put that in perspective, it is one third of our present Black population. Since 1973, twice as many Black Americans have died from abortion than from AIDS, accidents, violent crimes, cancer, and heart disease combined.
As I noted in my recent Respect Life Program article, ‘A Reflection on the African American Family and the Culture of Life‘ (www.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/holley.pdf), our legitimate commitment to other social concerns must not push the primary moral issue of abortion onto the back burner. It clearly must be at the heart and center of our discussion of the survival of African American people.”
A PASTORAL LETTER FROM BISHOP MARTINO, Diocese of Scranton, Respect Life Sunday
“Abortion is the issue this year and every year in every campaign. Catholics may not turn away from the moral challenge that abortion poses for those who seek to obey God’s commands. They are wrong when they assert that abortion does not concern them, or that it is only one of a multitude of issues of equal importance. No, the taking of innocent human life is so heinous, so horribly evil, and so absolutely opposite to the law of Almighty God that abortion must take precedence over every other issue. I repeat. It is the single most important issue confronting not only Catholics, but the entire electorate.”
From: Bishop Robert W. Finn, Diocese of Kansas City, St. Joseph Can a Catholic Vote in Support of Abortion? Oct. 17, 2008.
“When a candidate regards the unborn child as unworthy of the defense of law, then he or she asks us to join them in ignoring the lessons of history by which African Americans in this country were once regarded as non-persons; or the Jews of Europe were once marked for genocide or racial purification. Had we known, would we have supported the “choice” to enslave or destroy these brothers and sisters of ours? Can a candidate expect us as Catholics to ignore the classification of the unborn as non-persons? Will he or she expect us to look aside while these babies are quietly exterminated at a rate of 4000 per day? This is precisely what they are asking us to do.“
Filed under: Pro-life
Click here to see a great MSNBC video entitled
Palin Strikes a Chord with Special Needs Families
On a more personal level here is a very moving account I found on Creative Minority Report. Evidently, one of their long time readers sent the video, letter and photographs about her own experience with Sarah Palin at a rally. It is really worth viewing and reading.
Hi Matthew and Patrick,
I read your blog every day, and have loved your posts on the election and everything else. I comment every once in a while, and thought I’d email in my story of meeting Sarah Palin yesterday.
I’m an amputee, and have had a lot of health and mobility problems over the past couple of years. I just got a new leg, and am finally getting back on my feet. (Pun intended!) Even standing for fairly short periods of time was impossible without a lot of pain a few weeks ago. At the McCain/Palin rally in Virginia Beach yesterday, we stood for around eight hours straight, and I wasn’t any more sore than anyone else. But that wasn’t what made the day one of the happiest of my life.
Since we were the first people in line, we were able to rush like mad when they opened up the area around the stage, so we were only about six or eight feet from it. There was something I really, really wanted to request if I was lucky enough to meet Governor Sarah Palin. After the speeches, when Sarah walked down the stairs, my mom’s was the first hand she shook. People were already crowding in and shoving things at her to sign, and she started moving away. I was so disappointed, but Mom grabbed her hand and asked her if she would grant my request–to sign my leg.
She kept moving, and Mom said, “Sarah!” one last time, and this time asked her to sign my artificial leg. Heh. Sarah’s face lit up and she said, “Oh, yeah, okay!” My sister Libby got a picture of her right when she realized what Mom was asking and looked at me. I just about melted into a puddle. (That’s my mom in the left of this photo, not me.) (By the way, you know how they say people on TV and in magazines are airbrushed within an inch of their lives and don’t really look that nice? Well, neither does Sarah Palin: she looks better. I joked with Mom that if she were any more radiant, our eyeballs would melt right out of our skulls. Photos and videos don’t do the woman justice.) Here’s a link the video Mom took. It’s shaky and super close-up in some shots, because we were all smashed so close together. The camera’s focused on Palin’s waist some of the time, but you can hear what was said and watch most of it. It ends with a shot of Sarah’s back when she hugs Mom, then one of Mom’s hand, and then I think Todd Palin’s feet…ha. The only thing missing from the video was when she first came over. There were several Secret Service men (and one incredibly dour woman) on every side, scowling the way they do, so I jokingly asked her if her guys would pounce on me if I took my leg off and tried to hand it to her, and she threw her head back and laughed.
I thought she’d hurriedly sign one ankle, but she signed “Sarah” on one side, then flipped it around and signed “Palin” on the other. It was all I could do to keep from turning into a weepy, snotty mess–and I would have if I’d looked to either side and realized Mom and one of my sisters were crying. She gave me a hug. I stepped back into my leg, and she kind of leaned over the barricade thing to check it out, and said I looked beautiful and was inspiring. I just barely managed, “So are you!” before I started crying, and she said, “Thank you!” and then hugged Mom, too.
When I shared the story with some lefty friends, I said I couldn’t explain why I see a totally different person than a lot of them see when they look at Gov. Palin, and I didn’t particularly care to try as I didn’t want to argue. What I see is someone who radiates love and compassion, someone who reminds me of my mother and other wonderful women in my life, someone who makes me want to do great things. What I wish I’d been able to say to her is that the major reason I consider her a hero is the way she stands in stark contrast to the false compassion of our day, in which otherwise good people believe love means trying to eliminate suffering by doling out death like it’s the ultimate gift. Modern humanitarians think, “I wouldn’t want to live like that,” and they never have a chance to see that (as Gov. Palin said in her RNC speech) with a special challenge comes a special joy. Even when we can’t see those special joys right away, our faith lets us trust we will see suffering turned right-side-out someday. I would still be here if my parents had known about my leg before I was born, because my mother is a lot like Sarah Palin, and they both have a heart like Our Lady: wise and brave; one that “ponders all these things,” when “all these things” includes the promise “a sword shall pierce your own heart, too.” But thousands of babies with my condition and others–cleft palate, club foot, Down syndrome, etc.–never had the chance to live.
In response to people who said it would have been better if a certain disabled little girl had never been born, the great Flannery O’Conner wrote, “In the absence of faith, we govern by tenderness. And tenderness leads to the gas chamber.” If Flannery had lived to see Roe vs. Wade and its effects, I think she would have added “abortion clinic.” Flannery knew about pain, suffering, and disability–she died of lupus when she was only forty years old. She lived her adult life dying, and knowing it, and you know how she wrote about it? “I have never been anywhere but sick. In a sense sickness is a place…and it’s always a place where nobody can follow. Sickness before death is a very appropriate thing and I think those who don’t have it miss one of God’s mercies.” Sickness and disability aren’t one and the same, but they share that quality of being a place apart–and a mercy, if only we let them. I admire Flannery greatly–oddly, all of my heroines either died or were born in 1964–Flannery, my mom, and Sarah Palin. Or maybe it’s not so odd–I can’t help but think Flannery passed a torch. Feel (more than) free to share this if you want! 🙂
The Madonna of Port Lligat
(detail) by Salvador Dali
Do you remember the story Jesus told His followers one day about the rich man and the beggar at his gate, “full of sores”, named Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31). Both of them die, the beggar goes to Abraham’s bosom while the rich man goes to Hades. The rich man calls out to Abraham asking that Lazarus be sent to the rich man’s brothers to warn them to change their lives. The rich man cries out to Abraham: “…if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent”. Abraham does not share the once-rich man’s unfounded optimism.
Well imagine if an unborn baby were to speak words that our modern world could understand, wouldn’t that be enough? Wouldn’t today’s pro-abortion doubters – especially those who claim to be “Christian” – finally repent?
An unborn baby has spoken!
“Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
‘Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired,
but a body hast thou prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,
as it is written of me in the roll of the book.'” Heb 10:5-7
In this case, the Unborn Christ prays to His Father. When did this occur? It occurs after the Incarnation, traditionally it has been understood to have occurred immediately, that is, at the one cell stage of Our Lord’s development. In a General Audience December 10, 1997, Pope John Paul II says that Christ spoke these words “at the very moment he enters the world“. At “the very moment” would be at the one cell stage.
Centuries before John Paul II, the great doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, said that Christ spoke these words “from the very first moment of his entrance into the world”. The Unborn Christ refers to His body with respect, acknowledging it as a gift from the Father…but for what purpose? He states it simply “…to do thy will, O God.” In fact, He acknowledges that He has been sent: “I have come to do thy will…”
This Unborn Christ is the exemplar for every unborn child. No other unborn child will be a redeemer. But all are blessed with the gift of life and certainly called to do the holy will of God.
The Unborn Christ has spoken. He has revealed a key mystery about life to all who have ears to listen.
The Sermon on the Mount was lengthy – and for good reason – because the people needed a long sermon on the proper way to live. Actually, the sermon was intended just as much for us today as it was for those folks back in the day. It covered lots of topics – financial investment wasn’t one of them. But, do you remember this pithy piece of advice?
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Mt 6:24
The word “mammon” is slightly ambiguous in meaning. My Bible Dictionary notes its use in Rabbinical writings, the Talmud and in the New Testament. It seems to mean property and possessions (including of course money). Maybe a spirit of “Materialism”. But here, by comparing it in a sense to “God”, Jesus seems to be elevating its meaning to dizzying heights, such as those who might even be inclined to “worship” it as a false god.
So there we have it. If we look around at modern life we see Materialism falsely elevated, for many, higher than God Himself! But with Materialism comes a phony morality which we can safely term “Immorality”.
We might say that Mother Teresa of Calcutta predicted this stock market crash when she quietly stated the obvious. Paraphrasing: “Abortion has turned the world up side down.” Of course abortion is just one example of morality’s skeleton picked clean by the vultures of materialism and consumerism. Every area of modern life has been dragged down into a base immorality. All ten, of the once revered TEN COMMANDMENTS, have been abandoned by a vast number of modern people and many will even claim that the breaking of commandments are in fact virtuous acts. This is the moral world up side down, for sure.
BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS! Your investments in worshiping and obeying the One True God! Your investments in People. Your investments in true “old fashioned” morality! Your investments in living the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Love! These are the investments that will truly endure!
These are the investments that will bring you peace and turn your world right side up!
Filed under: Pro-life
Besides the 12 reasons the Pro-life movement is winning that Father Frank Pavone speaks about, I would like to point out 3 more reasons for hope.
October 5 – 13th is the annual week of Prayer and Fasting. At the end of this week many will attend the16th Annual week of Prayer and Fasting Conference held in Washington. Click on the above sign to find out more about this week and conference.
40 Days for Life
From now through November 2, people in 179 cities in 47 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa and two Canadian provinces are taking part in 40 days of prayer and fasting, constant vigil and community outreach! 40 Days for Life encourages peaceful prayer in front of abortion clinics across the nation. I know this movement has grown because they have come to my town this year. Click on the map below to find out where they are praying.
And finally last week we posted about the upcoming October 5th event, Life Chain. Life Chain is a peaceful and prayerful public witness of pro-life Americans standing for one hour praying for our nation and for an end to abortion. On Sunday, October 5, for the 21st year in a row tens of thousands of people formed Life Chains with 1650 individual Life Chains in 1400 cities across the nation. Josephine County Right to Life has already posted a video from a Life Chain in Medford, Oregon this Sunday.
PRAYER: Here is Sarah Palin’s final preparation right before going out to debate Senator Joe Biden.
LOVE FOR CHILDREN: On the way to the debate – what a beautiful picture of Sarah with Trig.
WOMEN: Yesterday at a rally in Carson California Sarah Palin was endorsed by Shelley Mandel who is the President of the Los Angeles chapter of NOW. Shelley Mandel did not speak on behalf of NOW but spoke for herself. Click here to see the endorsement in which Ms. Mandel said:
“America This is What a Feminist Looks Like”
In mid September Lynn Forester De Rothschild, former Hillary Clinton supporter and fundraiser, who was also on the Democratic Platform committee, endorsed John McCain and Sarah Palin. Click here to see her interviewed by Wolf Blitzer.
UNBORNWORDoftheday and our sponsoring organization UNBORN WORD ALLIANCE invite you to join us in 70 DAYS OF PRO-LIFE PRAYER for the U.S. Elections on Tuesday November 4, 2008. We offer our prayer to God for the election of pro-life politicians in all races, at all levels and in all states (and territories).
We take our inspiration from a most humble nun of the middle ages, St. Juliana of Cornillon (1193-1258) who was the original promoter of the Corpus Christi feast day and had a fascinating devotion to honor the Son of God within the womb of His mother Mary. St. Juliana said the “Magnificat” (Lk 1:46-55) nine times a day to honor “the nine months for which the singular Virgin bore the author of our salvation, the only-begotten Son of God, in her womb” (Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i).
We begin our 70 DAYS OF PRO-LIFE PRAYER today, October 4, 2008, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, whose devotion to the infant Christ child led him to re-create the first Nativity Scene (also in the middle ages). We encourage those who join us to pray Mary’s Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55) every day. Mary was pregnant with the Unborn Christ Child when she prayed & proclaimed the Magnificat! We will end our 70 DAYS OF PRO-LIFE PRAYER on December 12, 2008, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (Those days following the Election will be days of “thanksgiving”.) The Virgin of Guadalupe was pregnant with the Unborn Christ Child when she appeared to the peasant St. Juan Diego in 1531.
If you are able to match the contemplative St. Juliana in saying the Magnificat 9 times each day; bravo! But perhaps a more modest 3 times a day, in honor of the three trimesters during which Mary carried Unborn Jesus in her womb, would be more realistic for many. And yet, without a doubt, God would be greatly pleased even if you are only able to say just one Magnificat each day in honor of each day that Unborn Jesus spent in the womb of His mother.
The opening words of Mary’s Magnificat are Psalm-like: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” Indeed, she had the Unborn Christ Child within her and no doubt she did “reflect” the goodness of God in her thoughts, words and deeds, much as the moon beautifully reflects the bright shining rays of the magnificent Sun.
In his book The Feast of Faith, then Cardinal Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) made this simple observation about prayer: “How can I learn to pray? By praying in fellowship…I learn to pray by praying with others, with my mother for instance, by following her words which are gradually filled out with meaning for me as I speak, live and suffer in fellowship with her.” During this 70 DAYS OF PRO-LIFE PRAYER, we can learn from the mother of the Unborn Christ Child, and our Mother in the faith, by repeating her words of praise and proclamation in the Magnificat. Words she uttered as the Unborn Word of God rested within her womb.
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Filed under: Pro-life
This Sunday is Respect Life Sunday in the Catholic Church. I know that in most Dioceses individual parishes will be highlighting Respect Life but in some parts of the country there will be Diocesan wide events to attend.
Click on the above map and it will bring you to the page at the USCCB website that lists and links to Diocesan Pro-Life Offices across the country so you can find out what events will be taking place in your area.
A few examples of Diocesan events around the country:
The Archdiocese of Boston presents: “Walk as Children of Light” Ephesians 5: 8b
10:00 am YOUTH RALLY with Fr. Stan Fortuna
11:30 am MASS with Cardinal Sean O’Malley
Then join us in supporting MCFL in their Annual Respect Life Walk
The Archdiocese of New York:
Saturday, October 4, 2008 – A Conference with Dr. Janet Smith at St. Vincent Ferrer Church (60th and Lex) from 1-6:30, click here for more information. There will also be a Helpers of God’s Precious infants rosary prayer vigil on Oct 4th beginning with Mass at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral at 8:00 a. m. and then rosary procession to Planned Parenthood on Mott and Bleeker St.
Sunday, October 5, 2008 – There will be Respect Life Sunday Mass at the Cathedral at 10:15 and then there will be life chains all over the archdiocese (the list of locations are up on their website at www.flrl.org). There is also going to be an exciting new post-abortion outreach launched in NYC in October – click here for more information.
Santa Maria CA. – Regional Mass for the Unborn – The Regional Respect Life Office, and the staff of St. Louis de Montfort, 5075 Harp Road, Santa Maria, CA. hold this special liturgy at 9:30 a.m., which is conducted annually during October Respect Life Month. Contact the church at 805-937-4555 for more information. Each parish is also urged to observe Respect Life Month during October with special attention to the teachings of the Church regarding the sanctity of life and the responsibility of all Catholics to protect the most vulnerable, with special attention given to the Unborn. www.sldm.org
You will notice that on the New York Archdiocesan website they mention Life Chains around the state. This Sunday, October 5 there will be Life Chains all over the country. This is their 21st year:
To find a Life Chain in your area click on this map to go to their website:
Filed under: Pro-life
‘Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief.
Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.
Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection?
Am I not the fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle?
In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?’
(Words spoken to Juan Diego on December 12, 1531)
In the year 2000, many of us lived through those anxious 35 days when the election had been thrown into the courts. I know that many in the country were praying fervently that George Bush would win, that someone who was pro-life would once again hold the Presidency.
During those anxious days, I approached my pastor (now retired) and mentioned to him how upset I was about all of this. Out of the blue he said to me, “I’m not worried because I know Our Lady of Guadalupe will give George Bush the election.” At the time, I fluffed it off as a pious statement. Of course, I didn’t even ponder why my pastor, not a particularly political man and definitely not one given to pious pronouncements would be saying something so completely out of character (for him).
Fast forward to the day the Supreme Court handed down the decision that decided the election (essentially stopping the endless recounts). I had promised Our Lady of Guadalupe that I would celebrate her feast day and pray for the election by attending the special Mass at my Church on December 12. As I was about to leave for this evening Mass, the news came out that the Supreme Court had rendered a decision. The initial reaction of the Fox News commentator that Al Gore had won was all I heard as I left for Mass. I was weeping throughout the Mass (a little embarrassing) and trying to offer this up to Our Lord for our country.
To my incredible surprise when I arrived home, my husband met me at the door telling me that George Bush had won. My tears of sorrow were turned to joy. And for those in the pro-life movement George Bush has been a good President.
A few years later, I heard something that again surprised me: that Jeb Bush who met his wife, Columba, while teaching English in Leon, Guanajato, Mexico in 1971 (Columba was born in Leon) made a pilgrimage with her to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe during the election crisis. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of North and South America and patroness of the unborn. Amazing when you realize that the election was decided for the unborn on Our Lady’s feast day, December 12. Here are three online sources that reference this pilgrimage by Jeb Bush and his wife.
George W Bush meets Pope amid claims he might convert to Catholicism
Bush more Catholic than Kennedy
Of course, I haven’t been able to find absolute proof that Jeb Bush and his wife made this pilgrimage but two other incidents have made me think it might be true.
The first was on the night of the election of 2004 as I watched the returns I noticed something that surprised me. In the living room where George Bush and his family were watching the election returns was a small framed picture of our Lady. I went up close to the screen and pointed it out to my family. Since then I have found a photograph of this scene that I saw on television – see below.
The picture of Our Lady is next to George Bush’s daughter Barabara
The other more recent event was on July 3 when John McCain and his wife visited and toured the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Here is what happened.
“They walked into the church together and a few minutes later, Monsignor Monroy and McCain walked up to the altar. McCain laid a wreath of white roses – a tradition of the Virgin of Guadalupe – near the base of the painting. He then received a description of the painting for several minutes. Finally, he was blessed by Monsignor Monroy. For several minutes, according to reporters who were closer to the action, the Monsignor had one hand on McCain’s forehead and another on his shoulder as he offered the blessing. Cindy McCain stood next to the Senator with her head bowed and her eyes closed.”
Press Coverage of McCain at the Guadalupe Shrine
Guess who was with John McCain during this visit? Jeb Bush.
While there Jeb Bush expressed confidence that the White House would stay in GOP hands.
Jeb Bush Joins McCain on Tour of Basilica in Mexico City
UNBORN WORD of the day 
