“God does not come in the thunder, but in the April breeze. Because he does not shout but only whispers, the soul must be careful not to neglect the visitation.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Lift Up Your Hearts.
When God first came to us it was in the most hidden, silent and ordinary way; first in his mother’s womb and then, as a baby in a manger. In the Old Testament God prepared His people for this hidden way.
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” Isaiah: 11: 1
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7 13-14
“The LORD has created a new thing upon the earth: the woman must encompass the man with devotion.” Jeremiah 31:22
“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days…” Micah 5: 2
Recall also how the prophet Elijah sought God in a cave on Mount Horeb (I Kings 19:9‑13). God made Himself known to Elijah not in power and might, but rather in “a still small voice” which Elijah heard from within the cave. So, too, here in this Bethlehem cave, amidst the hushed prayers and whisperings of humans and angels alike, soon would come a little cry of newborn Divinity, muffled so as not to frighten any away – “a still small voice”.
Let us listen to the ‘whisper’ of Christ in the womb. Let us quiet ourselves so we can hear the still, small voice in the manger. It is in such quiet events that God normally speaks to us.
JUST 19 MORE PRAYING DAYS ‘TIL CHRIST’S BIRTH!
Sistine Chapel Ceiling: The Prophet Isaiah
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Many Bible scholars explain that chapters 7‑12 of Isaiah form a distinct section ‑ the Book of Immanuel ‑ in which we find repeated references to the Messiah. But within this “Book of Immanuel”, there are a number of references to the Messiah as a baby and small child. This unique prophetic perspective on the Child Messiah is fascinating, and should be of great interest to our modern world. Let’s consider some of these verses:
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’…. “Isaiah 9:6
“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.” Isaiah 11:6
Isaiah, under the influence of the Spirit of God, focuses on a ‘child’ (a son) who is the Messiah and more, he is Immanuel (God with us), Mighty God and Prince of Peace. And in some real way, this ‘little child shall lead’ us. Not by mere coincidence has the Church come to love these prophetic passages with a tender passion. The Church sees the incarnational mystery revealed here in beauty, hope and peace.
Now if Isaiah was attracted by this ‘child’, can you imagine how Mary (after she had conceived the Son of God) felt as she recalled the words: “…the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and name him Immanuel”. For Mary was the virgin chosen by God to fulfill this prophecy and her unborn baby was the promised One. But all Christians should share in that same prophetic joy and anticipation at hearing “to us a child is born” and “to us a son is given”. To us Unborn Jesus was sent as a sign of hope ‑ and for every vulnerable unborn child: He is their only Hope.
JUST 20 MORE PRAYING DAYS ‘TIL CHRIST’S BIRTH!
It was one of the lesser known prophets that actually named names in his prophecy:
“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.” Micah 5:2
Bethlehem! The name means “house of bread”. God pulled out all the stops when He inspired this prophecy. There is a long prophetic line – a “bread line” – straight through the history of the Jewish people which culminates in the birth of Jesus “the Bread of Life”, in Bethlehem “the house of Bread”. Let’s take a look.
First there was Melchizedek, the priest king of Salem, way back in the time of Abraham (Gen 14:13-24). He brought out bread and wine as an offering, and in the name of “God Most High, maker of heaven and earth” blessed Abraham.
Then there was the unleavened bread of the Passover (Exodus 12) which the people were instructed to prepare and eat (with the lamb). And this has been celebrated every year, just as Jesus celebrated it with His apostles on the night before He died.
Remember the Manna! The people asked, “What is it?” Moses answered: “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat” (Ex 16:11-16). (The Lord told Moses he would “rain bread from heaven” for the people to collect daily.) A portion of this wafer-like bread was apparently to be kept in the ark of the covenant (Ex 16:31-34). In subsequent centuries during Temple worship flour offerings were routinely made in the form of unleavened cake/bread kneaded with oil.
When Micah made his prophecy about Bethlehem, no one could have imagined how its fulfillment would also embody the fullness of Israelite worship and sacrifice. The fulfillment came with the birth of the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. But Christ continued its fulfillment in various ways throughout His life: the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the teaching of the Lord’s Prayer (“give us this day our daily bread”), His sermon in John 6 (note His sermon rejected in Jn 6:66), the Last Supper, and after His resurrection in Emmaus when He revealed Himself through the blessing of the bread and again when He prepares a meal on the beach for His apostles of cooked fish and bread (Jn 21:9-14) and was revealed to them through this.
So Micah’s prophecy is truly Eucharistic. The Church continues in its worship today the fulfillment of the Bethlehem miracle (and keeps a portion of the wafer-like Eucharist in the tabernacle). Join this “bread line” and participate in the daily fulfillment of prophecy.
JUST 21 MORE PRAYING DAYS ‘TIL CHRIST’S BIRTH!
How appropriate that the first prophecy about the Messiah was spoken by God Himself while Adam and Eve stood dumbfounded in the Garden of Eden. But was it a spiritual slight to humanity that it wasn’t spoken to humans but rather to the serpent?
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” Gen 3:15
Four lines and four participants: “I” of course is God, “you” is the serpent (see Gen 3:14),”he” (also “his” and “her seed”) is the Messiah and “the woman” is the mother of the Messiah.
The point is that here we have God, right in the Garden of Eden, making a specific, definitive and hopeful promise to all of humanity using biological language “her seed”. Shall we understand this term as her ovum fertilized or as her male child delivered? Either way, it is a powerful promise. Notice that it is “her seed” and not “his seed”.
Yet throughout the Bible we read about male descendants, as in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. Remember the King James Version? “Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob” and on and on. But here God directs us to the woman’s descendant. This is a tender prophecy spoken at a sad time when God has just discovered the rebellion of the first two parents. Already He knows it is Mary who will be the faithful and loving mother to His only begotten Son and His reference to “her seed” is pointed. In fact, He will preserve her specially for this unique office as ‘Mother of (the) Lord’ (see Lk 1:43).
We learn here of God’s merciful ‘impatience’. As soon as our first parents rebel against His Beautiful and Holy Will, God immediately reveals this wonderful plan for humanity centered around one Person, a Savior, Who will be born of that special woman deep in human history, beneath the Christmas star, with witnesses ‘round about: beasts and peasants, angels and kings.
And the ‘sign’, as the angels put it (Lk 2:12): it’s how His mother wraps Him up in swaddling cloths to keep Him warm after nursing Him and then lays her baby down in a manger to sleep.
JUST 22 MORE PRAYING DAYS ‘TIL CHRIST’S BIRTH!
Disclaimer: While Xtreme prayer is very beneficial, participating in Xtreme Sports can be hazardous to your health.
JUST 23 MORE PRAYING DAYS ‘TIL CHRIST’S BIRTH!
Next time your kid starts ooohhing and aaahhing about the guy leaping off a bridge with a parachute or jumping over ten sixteen wheelers on a dirt bike, you can chime in with your own examples of Xtreme Prayer!!! Read on.
Back in the day – the Gospel day – Jesus gave us some examples of Xtreme Prayer:
Remember the parable of the widow and the unrighteous judge? The widow bothered the judge constantly seeking justice and finally he found in her favor just to get rid of her (LK 18:1-8). Remember the father who brought his son to the apostles to have an unclean spirit cast out, but they were unable to do so? Jesus explained: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting” (Mk 9:16-29). We are also told that Jesus often spent “all night” praying (for example Lk 6:12). That was Xtreme Prayer then.
Here are some examples of Xtreme Prayer now:
Maintain your daily prayer regime during the most distracted season of them all!!!
Praying at the Mall – no seriously, PRAYING AT THE MALL!!!!!!!
Sit alone in a room and sincerely sing five or more (religious) Christmas carols.
Spend MORE than one hour in prayer.
Go to Church twice on the same day!!
Pray two or more Novenas at the same time.
Pray two or more litanies on the same day.
Pray MORE than five decades of the rosary on the same day.
You get the idea. You don’t need an expensive helmet for any of these (except maybe the Mall suggestion). Isn’t it amazing how free and accessible God is, anytime, anywhere, you choose the words…
Filed under: Inspirational Pro-life leaders
I’m not sure how many people in my neighborhood know anything about Republican Congressman Henry Hyde, but this morning I looked out my front window after hearing the news of his death yesterday and I wished I could make a dignified statement to my community about the life of this great man – flying the nation’s flag at half-mast.
To millions of us he carried the pro-life ball for decades, looking downfield – and struggling – towards the ever elusive touchdown line. Perhaps those who are new to the pro-life movement don’t realize what he accomplished in those earlier decades but those who were involved in it all back in the seventies and eighties remember it too well. It was bleak. There were almost no victories, the leaders who should have led did not, and many who we expected to care didn’t.
Enter the freshman congressman from Illinois. He introduced an amendment to ban the use of Medicaid funding for abortion – now called the Hyde Amendment – which passed, and still stands today as one of the few great victories of the movement that suffers onward, much maligned as was he, towards a more child-friendly day in the not too distant future.
I was living in Canada from 1973 to 1982. Once the Hyde Amendment passed in 1976, Hyde was a household name in Canada too – that is, in Pro-Life households. After 1976, he championed on – as so many other lesser-knowns – so his struggle on the political stage was embraced by the rest of us on our own mundane – but still important – stages.
I met Henry Hyde in the late eighties when I was the Director of Education for the Right to Life League of Southern California and he was a keynote speaker at our annual conference. Two of us met him at the airport and we quickly realized that he was a dignified down-to-earth guy. Even his political rivals saw this in him.
Today, the online National Review called the Hyde Amendment “the most important piece of pro – life legislation ever to pass congress”. One reason – but not the main reason – is that after the 1973 Roe v. Wade Decision, the national conscience was sort of shell shocked and the national moral will was sapped. Those who cared sensed a long hard bitter battle ahead to restore what had been lost. The passage of the Hyde Amendment was that “rockets’ red glare” showing pro-lifers “that our flag was still there”! And still worth fighting for. At some point, I’m not sure when, the tide began to turn.
Filed under: Inspirational Pro-life leaders
Last year at a dinner I attended for the Life Centers of Ventura County, Sister Paula Vandegaer* told this story:
“California was one of the first states to legalize abortion and Ronald Reagan was involved in the situation in 1967. Anthony Bielensen authored a bill in California that allowed abortion in cases of rape, incest and health of the mother. The original bill also included deformity of the child as a reason to justify abortion. The governor of California at that time was Ronald Reagan who refused to sign it if it included handicapped babies. This particular clause was deleted and the bill went to the Governor’s desk.
The day that Governor Reagan signed the bill he was visited by two pro-life people. Doctor Bill Walsh from Camarillo and Libby Goodwin, a social worker from Los Angeles.
According to Libby, Dr. Walsh had succeeded in getting a 15 minute interview with the governor who was due to sign the abortion bill that day. The 15-minute interview turned into an hour and a half talk, with his staff continually reminding him that he had to leave immediately for a meeting in San Francisco.
They explained fetal development and that this was a human being. They discussed how this mentality would eventually lead to euthanasia. Dr. Walsh, who graduated from Standford University told the Governor about the fetal experimentation that was already going on there.
Reagan told them he had never thought of this. He promised the then powerful Democrat Jesse Unruh that he would sign this bill in exchange for the passage of the budget. He felt he had to sign it but he said, “I will never sign another such thing in my life. I will never support another abortion bill.” And he never did! Although he signed the abortion bill that day, still that historic meeting changed the course of history. He later became a President who resisted all further legalization of abortion worldwide. It is interesting to note the power of ordinary people to change the course of history.”
* Sister Paula Vandegaer, president and executive director of International Life Services, “has been involved in the pro-life movement since 1967, when abortion was legalized in California.” Then-Gov. Ronald Reagan (R.), who had not yet really studied the abortion issue, signed a bill that was part of a national trend toward liberalizing abortion laws that led up to the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalizing abortion on demand in Roe v. Wade (1973).
Filed under: Christmas
It seems that the Grinch is truly stealing Christmas – one school at a time – Here are a few examples:
District prohibits Christmas colors
‘Scrooge’ school bans children giving Christmas cards
Another school censoring Christmas?
And this week when my mother-in-law, Mrs. Mary Peate, read this in her own paper in Vermont: Naughty or nice? She decided enough was enough!
Here is the mock letter she sent to her local paper purporting to be from a school board chairman and addressed to Mary and Joseph:
Dear Mary and Joseph,
We regret to have to inform you that your son has been expelled from school. Someone has decided that He should not show His face or darken our doors again. Great concern has been expressed that songs sung about Him might promote the novel and somewhat quaint notion of peace on earth, good will towards men and a warm generous feeling sometimes referred to as the Christmas spirit. Oh dear, we can’t have any of that.
It is permissible, however, for latent Valley girls to utter, when quite surprised an “O my g_d!” in schools; and in the streets while walking to school and in shops when buying Christmas (oops!) presents for their teachers.
It’s just policy!
It all started when some ‘correct’ person came up with the politically correct observation that it wasn’t quite nice or polite to keep referring to Christmas in this season since we don’t celebrate Hanukkah, Ramadan, and Kwanzaa that much. Therefore don’t mention it at all. To heck with tradition who needs it?
Secularly yours
The Chairman of the School Board
P.S. As chairman I haven’t had much time to deal with your son’s school problems having been busy with all the lawsuits and investigations resulting from the guns that children have been shooting in school since your son was dismissed (by some weird coincidence).
I also want to thank all the parents for their dumb support for each new philosophy we introduce to the school system. We’re grateful for their monetary donations and sheep-like acquiescence to any crazy scheme we think up. “Just lay it out on the table” I tell the board, the parents will buy anything. If there is any fuss I’ll call my attorney. I’m assuming that this year the schools will stay open and there will be no Christmas holiday. Won’t bother your son though, will it? Ha Ha Ha!
The Virgin as the Woman of the Apocalypse
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
I found this really interesting and unusual – it was taken from section #104 of the Gospel of Life:
‘And the dragon stood before the woman … that he might devour her child when she brought it forth’ (Rev 12:4): life menaced by the forces of evil
In the Book of Revelation, the “great portent” of the “woman” (12:1) is accompanied by ‘another portent which appeared in heaven’: ‘a great red dragon’ (Rev 12:3), which represents Satan, the personal power of evil, as well as all the powers of evil at work in history and opposing the Church’s mission.
Here too Mary sheds light on the Community of Believers. The hostility of the powers of evil is, in fact, an insidious opposition which, before affecting the disciples of Jesus, is directed against his mother. To save the life of her Son from those who fear him as a dangerous threat, Mary has to flee with Joseph and the Child into Egypt (cf. Mt 2:13-15).
Mary thus helps the Church to realize that life is always at the center of a great struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness. The dragon wishes to devour ‘the child brought forth’ (cf. Rev 12:4), a figure of Christ, whom Mary brought forth ‘in the fullness of time’ (Gal 4:4) and whom the Church must unceasingly offer to people in every age.
But in a way that child is also a figure of every person, every child, especially every helpless baby whose life is threatened, because-as the Council reminds us-‘by his Incarnation the Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every person‘.140
It is precisely in the “flesh” of every person that Christ continues to reveal himself and to enter into fellowship with us, so that rejection of human life, in whatever form that rejection takes, is really a rejection of Christ.
This is the fascinating but also demanding truth which Christ reveals to us and which his Church continues untiringly to proclaim: ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me’ (Mt 18:5); ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me’ (Mt 25:40).”
Today, Sunday, November 25th, is the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year, the feast day of Christ the King!
“You cannot serve God and mammon.” Jesus told His disciples. (“No one can have 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.”) Mt 6:24 This is not spiritual rocket science. We make a simple choice.
When Jesus first started preaching His Gospel it was that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk 1:14). Later He explained that people should “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Mt 6:33). And with what spiritual disposition do we do this? “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Mt 10:15) So early on Jesus set before us the “childlike attitude” as being exemplary.
St. Augustine wrote his famous book the City of God (426 A.D.) to place before Christians the choice: the City of God or the city of the world.
In our own time, John Paul II has written his prophetic encyclical The Gospel of Life and placed, once again, the choice before us: a Culture of Life or a culture of death.
The right choice is clear: God, the Kingdom of God, the City of God, the Culture of Life!
Filed under: Evangelium Vitae
There are many proofs for the existence of God. One way to discover God is in the mystery and beauty of the human person. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church it states in section II. Ways of Coming to Know God:
“The human person: with his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God’s existence. In all this he discerns signs of his spiritual soul. The soul, the ‘seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material’ can have its origin only in God.” 33
By proclaiming the Gospel of Life – standing up for the dignity of every human life – we also bring others closer to God. Here are some beautiful quotes from section #84 in Evangelium vitae .
“Indeed, ‘despite its hardships, its hidden mysteries, its suffering and its inevitable frailty, this mortal life is a most beautiful thing, a marvel ever new and moving, an event worthy of being exalted in joy and glory‘.”
“Moreover, man and his life appear to us not only as one of the greatest marvels of creation: for God has granted to man a dignity which is near to divine (Ps 8:5-6).”
“In every child which is born and in every person who lives or dies we see the image of God’s glory. We celebrate this glory in every human being, a sign of the living God, an icon of Jesus Christ.”
Today, November 21, is the feast day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The first reading at Mass today is from Zechariah 2:14-17.
“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be My people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. And the Lord will inherit Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.
Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.”
This makes me think of something John Paul II wrote in his Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae:
“The first part of the Hail Mary, drawn from the words spoken to Mary by the Angel Gabriel and by Saint Elizabeth, is a contemplation in adoration of the mystery accomplished in the Virgin of Nazareth.
These words express, so to speak, the wonder of heaven and earth; they could be said to give us a glimpse of God’s own wonderment as he contemplates his “masterpiece” – the Incarnation of the Son in the womb of the Virgin Mary. If we recall how, in the Book of Genesis, God “saw all that he had made” (Gen 1:31), we can find here an echo of that “pathos with which God, at the dawn of creation, looked upon the work of his hands”.
The repetition of the Hail Mary in the Rosary gives us a share in God’s own wonder and pleasure: in jubilant amazement we acknowledge the greatest miracle of history. Mary’s prophecy here finds its fulfillment: ‘Henceforth all generations will call me blessed’ (Lk 1:48).” #33.
“Redeemer in the Womb”
St. Francis Xavier Cabrini church in Crestline*
Yesterday, we had a post – The End of Advent. We are trying to encourage others as well as ourselves – not to let the superficial ‘Christmas gobble up Advent’ this year. We also are offering free pro-life prayer cards. As these cards have an Advent theme they are a way to connect this Advent with prayer for the Unborn. Just click the icon below to request a free set of these cards (in English or Spanish).
*MARY WALKS IN CRESTLINE. This statue (above)of the Virgin Mary was dedicated on Gaudete Sunday, December 15, 2003 at St. Francis Xavier Cabrini church in Crestline. The statue, called “Redeemer in the Womb,” was commissioned by the parish’s pastor, the Rev. Amaro Saumell; it portrays Mary, at full term of pregnancy, as if she were walking through the church garden. The statue was meant to convey a pro-life message. “The Redeemer in the Womb,” Father Saumell told the December 19-25 Alpenhorn News, “is a statement of pro-life, the value of life in all of life’s stages, even in the womb.”
Our Lady of the New Advent
by Fr. William McNichols
On December 2, the season of Advent begins. I think as Christians we have to begin to think of a way to circumvent the madness of the ‘Christmas season’ and return to the quiet, prayerful and waiting season of Advent.
In the recent issue of First Things Magazine, Joseph Bottoms has an article entitled The End of Advent. It begins:
“Christmas had devoured Advent, gobbled it up with the turkey giblets and the goblets of the season. Every secularized holiday tends to loose the context it had in the liturgical year…Easter has hopped across Lent, Halloween has frightened away All Saints, and New Years has drunk up Epiphany. Still the disappearance of Advent seems seems especially disturbing…”
I think if we are to live Advent well, it requires careful planning. To have a strategy – even now it’s not too late to try and get some of the busy work of Christmas out of the way before Advent begins. As we do this, we can thoughtfully plan to live a prayerful Advent season so that Christmas will be a reliving of the joyful birth of our Savior.
In his blog, Abbey-Roads2, Terry Nelson offers a great suggestion – a novena to the Infant Jesus that he prays each month starting on the 17 and ending on the 25th. He prepares for Christmas all year. WOW!
At ‘UNBORN WORD of the day’, we will be offering prayerful short Advent meditations starting on December 2 till Christmas. Beginning with the waiting of the chosen people for the Messiah, we will then follow the Unborn Christ Child’s time of waiting from conception to birth. This will be our small contribution to help put Advent back in Christmas.
Filed under: Pro-life
‘Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, 1 will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?’ Isaiah 43:18-19
November 14, 2007 will go down as a great day for the unborn – in the document Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship the Bishops of the U.S. have placed the Right to Life as the preeminent issue for Catholic voters to consider.
Some might complain that it wasn’t done sooner. Yes, we all know that past statements by the Bishops while pro-life were more ambiguous but many of us also had parents and fellow-parishioners who while sincerely against abortion – just didn’t get it. What didn’t they get – that with the legalization of abortion our world had fundamentally changed.
But God says: ‘Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.’
And He also says: ‘Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?’
In the last two weeks I have encountered two people (sincere Catholics) who have recently decided to place the unborn at the top of their list when it came to voting. I could see the Holy Spirit working in the lives of these people and now with the Bishop’s statement I honestly believe’ a new thing’ is happening.
Here are a few quotes from the Bishops statement:
1. ‘There are some things that we must never do, as individuals or as a society, because they are always incompatible with love of God and neighbor. These intrinsically evil acts must always be rejected and never supported. A preeminent example is the intentional taking of human life through abortion.’
2. ‘A legal system that allows the right to life to be violated on grounds of choice is fundamentally flawed.’
3. ‘Similarly, direct threats to the dignity of human life such as euthanasia, human cloning, and destructive research on human embryos are always intrinsically evil and must be opposed.’
4. ‘As Catholics we are not single-issue voters. A candidate’s position on a single issue is not sufficient to guarantee a voter’s support. Yet a candidate’s position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support.’
The bishops have issued similar documents prior to each presidential election since 1976, but this year decided to place a special emphasis on the importance of opposition to abortion and by the way the document was supported by 221 of the 226 bishops who voted.
Of course I have picked things out of the document. Other issues like immigration, poverty, and war are highlighted (as they should be) in the document. But ‘something new’ has definitely happened – the right to life has been given first place.
Filed under: Inspirational Pro-life leaders
We are highlighting two men who are real heroes for the unborn: Yesterday, we drew attention to Elias Biscet, today we will feature Chen Guangcheng.
On August 24, 2006 Chen Guangcheng was sentenced to four years and three months’ imprisonment. The official charge was for disrupting traffic and damaging property, charges his wife, Yuan Weijing, and critics say were concocted by officials angry at his exposure of forced late-term abortions in his hometown in Shandong province.
Hannah Beech in her two articles Chen Guangcheng and Blind Justice describes the real reason pro-life hero Chen Guangcheng was arrested:
“He may have lost his sight as a child, but Chen Guangcheng’s legal vision has helped illuminate the plight of thousands of Chinese villagers. Last year officials initiated a forced abortion and sterilization campaign against women in Shandong province who were deemed ineligible to bear another child under China’s strict family-planning policy. Even though national regulations prohibit such brutal measures, no one except Chen was willing to confront local officials, who may have felt that lowering the number of extra births would help their political careers. By filing a lawsuit on the women’s behalf, he became a hero in Shandong and an important player in China’s nascent civil society. “Someone has to fight for people with no voice,” he said last fall. ‘I guess that person is me.'”
“Distraught citizens (had) asked him if he could do anything about the coerced abortions and sterilizations. At least two women had been forced to abort their babies just days before their due dates. Chen traveled to Beijing to see what he could do. His drumbeat advocacy prompted the usually reticent State Family Planning Commission to call for the arrest of any officials who break the law.”
Since his arrest, his wife Yuan Weijung, has been harassed, detained and under 24 hour surveillance. Here she was attempting to fly to the Philippines to pick up a Magsaysay award – sometimes referred to as Asia’s Nobel prize – on behalf of her husband. She was not allowed to leave the country.
Let us keep Chen Guangcheng and his family in our prayers.
Filed under: Inspirational Pro-life leaders
We would like to highlight two men who are real heroes for the unborn: Today we will highlight Elias Biscet, tomorrow we will feature Chen Guangcheng.
On November 5, 2007 the Presidential Medal of Freedom was awarded by President George Bush to pro-life activist, Dr. Elias Biscet. Elias Biscet is a doctor in Cuba who is presently serving 22 years in prison for his ‘anti-government views’.
The well known journalist, Jeff Jacoby, in a Boston Globe editorial, A Hero in Castro’s Gulag (11/4/07), describes one of the real reasons Biscet was thrown in prison:
“A prolife Christian physician, Biscet first ran afoul of the Castro regime in the 1990s, when he investigated Cuban abortion techniques – Cuba has by far the highest abortion rates in the Western Hemisphere – and revealed that numerous infants had been killed after being delivered alive.”
LifeNews.com elaborates:
“Biscet was arrested and served three years in a prison camp after publishing an article condemning abortion. After he was released, Biscet was again arrested and is serving 22 years in prison for ‘anti-government views’.”
He has been beaten and is living in a prison cell in Combinado del Este, a prison Jacoby describes as a “hellhole”.
A replica of the solitary cell similar to the one Oscar Elias Biscet is kept in. (AFP/Getty Images via Newscom)
To learn more about Dr. Elias Biscet visit these websites:
Freedom for Dr. Biscet in Cuba!
Let us keep Dr. Biscet and his wife Elsa Morejon, who has also been persecuted by the Cuban government, in our prayers.
UNBORN WORD of the day 
