Be Not Afraid

From listening to folks talk (and even some clergy) I sense that people are very fearful, due to the tragedy in Las Vegas (among other violent events).  But are we forgetting something?

First, our world has always been very violent because humans are violent by nature, not necessarily because we are "evil" but due to ignorance that violence of any kind whether murdering adults, children, or unborn babies, will accomplish some type of "good" - things are not any more violent now than they ever were, throughout history - it's just that now, the news services quickly, tell us about all the violence in gory details... that's the only thing that's changed.

Second, those of us who are believers should not be afraid and there is a beautiful hymn to this message (actually that was something St John Paul told us repeatedly as well).

The hymn starts like this:

"You shall cross the barren desert, but you shall not die of thirst...
You shall wander far in safety though you do not know the way...
You shall speak your words in foreign lands and all will understand...
You shall see the Face of God and live!

Be not afraid, I go before you always
Come, follow Me and I will give you rest! (taken from the Words of Jesus).

So, be not afraid... God is there by our side and He has it covered.

Why does He allow us to live in an imperfect world? To make us stronger in our Faith!  So, be not afraid and remember that Jesus is right by our side and loves us, unconditionally and infinitely.

Answers to anti Catholic questions

"There are likely less than one hundred people who hate the Catholic church but thousands who hate what they wrongly THINK is the Catholic church" (Fulton Sheen)

Since there has been a rash of anti Catholicism on social media lately, here are some answers to the usual allegations:

To answer the question, first: about a man wearing women's clothing, (the anti Catholic referred to the Pope's robes). The "Dalmatic" (robe) worn by the Pope is similar to the garment that Jesus wore.  In looking at the profile photo of the anti-Catholic, I noticed he wears a unisex hairdo... I think it's rather hypocritical that his hair is worn in a hairdo which I have mostly seen in women, when he criticized others for "women's clothing", referring to ecclesiastical robes, beating us with a Bible verse quoted out of context. (Deut 22:5) Answers to other questions:
1. Pedophile priests? Fact, less than one percent of Catholic priests have been accused of sexual misbehavior and less than that, convicted. Compare to the 10% of Protestant/Evangelical leaders accused and the 20% of public school teachers accused.  These are govt statistics... which can easily be looked up on the internet. But keep in mind, the church is NOT a haven for the perfect but a hospital for sinners. A perfect church with perfect people, would have no place for any of us in it.
2. Catholics do not pray to Mary...they ask Mary to pray to Jesus for us, like we ask our fellow Christians to pray for us.  If you believe in Christianity, you should believe that Christians who departed from this life before us, are in Heaven (as Jesus promised) and certainly CAN pray for us here on earth but there are several places in the Bible which affirm the practice of intercessory prayer.
3. The Rosary is a meditative prayer which uses Mary the mother of Jesus, like a prayer partner in order for us to LISTEN to GOD rather than the Evangelical way people pray of talking to God and not listening.  There are many Protestants who pray the Rosary also. This, you would need to study to understand it and how to do it.
4. Actually, you can get extremist about symbols...the early church incorporated many pagan symbols, Christianizing them.  For example, if anyone who has a Christmas tree at Christmastime, is using a pagan symbol. Trees like that were decorated for a pagan feast called Saturnalia.  That issue is handled in several places in the New Testament, for example "It's not what GOES IN TO THE MOUTH which is evil but what comes out." (for one, Matt 15:11)
5. The present Pope saying he felt he was not one to judge homosexuals or same sex attraction was being true to what Jesus told us (rather emphatically) to not judge, like in Luke for example: "Luke 6:42 "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye." Catholics do not believe in sex outside of marriage and less than 25% of Catholics can indulge in sex without committing sin.  Must be in a Sacramental marriage, must not be using birth control and must be male and female.  The rest are expected to observe chastity.  I personally know a Catholic who left the church so she could co-habit with her boyfriend.
6. The pope is never worshiped - he's just the leader of the Catholic church and respected as such because the lineage, religiously, can be traced back to St Peter to whom Jesus gave the "Keys of the Kingdom". Also see John 20:22 ff: "And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit.Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." or also in Matthew 5...
6. The Catholic worship service which we call "the Mass" from the Latin "Missa", can be found almost the same as it is celebrated today, in the writings of Justin the Martyr, who lived around 150 AD.  It includes over 30 minutes of Bible reading.

Well, you are perfectly welcome to quote this in case an anti Catholic comes at you, beating his/her Bible but keep in mind that ignorant people may not read through all of this because typically, ignorant people have poor reading skills.

What does the Holy Spirit do, anyway?

So today is Pentecost and I, like your average, less than knowledgeable- Catholic, found myself wondering "What does the Holy Spirit really do, anyway?"  I prayed and found the answer on - where else - EWTN TV.  Here is a prayer to the Holy Spirit that St John Paul prayed daily... enjoy!

Oh Holy Spirit,

I ask You for the Gift of Wisdom, that I may know You and Your Divine Perfection better

...for the Gift of Understanding that I may understand better the mysteries of the Holy Faith

...for the gift of knowledge that I might be guided in life by the principles,of our Faith,

...for the gift of Counsel that I may seek and find your counsel in all things

...for the Gift of Fortitude to keep me inseparably with you undaunted by fear or worldly attachment

...for the gift of piety that I may always serve Your Majesty with a son's love

...for the gift of Fear of the Lord that I may dread sin which offends You, O my God

All these through Christ our Lord...Amen

(St Pope John Paul)

Pope inspires more Mass attendance

Today, the church was filled and I figured it must be Pope Francis, who has charmed everyone. (above pictured celebrating Mass)

Then, just before the Mass had ended, one of the guys from St Vincent dePaul's got up and asked for donations - everyone knows St Vincent's helps a lot of people (even Time magazine admitted that the Catholic church feeds 3/4 of the hungry).  And yet, people started getting up and leaving.

After the Mass exodus (pun intended), what was left in church, was the usual group we see at Sunday Mass.

Like Pope Benedict said, there will be a smaller but more ardent group who continue to be Catholic.

Touchy-feel-y is nice but that's not what Christianity is all about - it's sacrificing for others (which the Pope has emphasized in a few of his homilies) and eventually or not so eventually, embracing the Cross in our own lives.  Like Jesus says "Unless you pick up your cross and follow Me, you are not worthy of Me".

Too bad, God couldn't design an easier way but then, He came to be one of us - which must have been horrendous - think what it would be like to be a cockroach and still retain our human brains - well we are much closer to cockroaches than God is to us, but and I guess this all, will make sense when we get to Heaven.  And whatever He would plan for me, I'd love Him anyway because what's not to love about God?

What's wrong with Assisted Suicide?

There are assisted suicide "bills" pending in several states. Oregon has had this law in effect for several years now and a while ago, a young lady who found out she had brain cancer, made headlines by going to Oregon so she could have a doctor prescribe her a lethal dose of medication.  And we all watched as a judge allowed the estranged husband (who was living with his girlfriend) carry out his wishes of putting his wife, Terry Schiavo, who was sentient but severely brain damaged, out of her "misery" by starving her to death.  It took her several days to die and the judge ignored that her family wanted to take her home and care for her.  (A Jewish neurologist who had studied the case, wrote me that her death was shameful - she could swallow liquids and could have been fed jello etc even if they removed the feeding tube.  What I didn't know at the time was that Fr Pavone who had witnessed this death, said, they stationed several police officers around Terry's bed to prevent anyone from relieving her pain of starving to death by wetting her lips or even feeding her some jello!).  Shame on Americans for letting this happen.

For being a society who wants to avoid death at all costs, we seem to be rather anxious to cause the death of others considered a "burden" or too expensive or ?  For example Planned Parenthood has terminated the lives of 7 million unborn babies and since abortion was legalized in the USA (also a decision from "the bench" rather than the legislature), 53 million unborn babies have lost their lives to abortion.

Part of the problem with "assisted suicide" is wrong thinking - the prevalent idea is that in a suicide, the person takes a large dose of pills, goes to sleep and never wakes up.

WRONG!  When the person starts to go into respiratory failure, he/she DOES wake up but is unable to cry for help and suffers for a while.  The so called death penalty where they give a lethal injection is also not instantaneous - the victim takes a couple of hours to die, and is in pain throughout the process.

I watched a lady die - I actually gave her Viaticum ("food for the journey" or last Communion). She writhed in agony.  I think most of us die painfully just as it was painful to enter this earth (why a new born baby screams after birth).

Also not only was I the victim of a loved one committing suicide (our Mother took her own life) but also have witnessed the effects of a suicide on loved ones.  It took me two years of counseling to get over my mother's suicide.  And young people suffer even worse - a young friend of ours whose mother took her own life - she was perhaps 5 or 6 when that happened, still suffers depression and more, even today as a teenager.

That is, if you don't care about yourself, at least realize that if you choose that way to death, it will really hurt those around you (not withstanding what God might have to say about it all when you stand before the Throne of the Lamb).

St John Paul II showed the world many things (and wrote one of the best encyclicals on the evils of abortion) but most important, he showed us how to die with dignity - he, ill and totally disabled with Parkinson's disease, waited on God to take him.  Let's pray that all will follow his inspiring example and choose life!

A Prayer to Receive the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

A prayer to Receive the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom - that I may not be attached to the perishable things of this world, but aspire only after the things that are eternal.

The Spirit of Understanding - to enlighten my mind with the light of Your Divine Truth.

The Spirit of Counsel - that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining Heaven.

The Spirit of Fortitude - that I may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation.

The Spirit of Knowledge - that I may know God and know myself, and grow perfect in the science of the saints.

The Spirit of Piety - that I may find the service of God, sweet and amiable.

The Spirit of Fear of the Lord - that I may be filled with a loving reverence toward God and may avoid anything that may displease Him.

(from Mary's Call, Salisbury, MO)

Great movie on TV!

This Saturday, they are showing one of my favorite movies... on EWTN... if you do not get the station, you can watch it live at http://www.ewtn.com

The Way To Life

07/25 at 4:00 PM ET

God calls men to follow Him in mysterious ways. The story of a young man who travels the road of Saint James and his zeal to learn about religious life.

the young man meets a priest who changes his life!

I have watched this movie many times and always catch it again when it comes around - it's just a beautiful story of a young man and how God calls him.   I would really recommend it!

 

Blessed Bartolo Longo

Blessed Bartolo Longo, (1841-1926) is very inspiring!  

He was a tertiary Dominican. Born on Feb 11, 1841 of wealthy parents, he was raised in a devout Catholic home and practiced his Faith until he attended the University of Naples. There, studying for a law degree, he fell in with others practicing the occult and attended many seances and the like. He became so confused, he left the Faith and was "ordained" as a "priest of Satan".  This after a long period of preparation, fasting and mortification.  When he was "ordained", he heard thunder strike.... but despite his bad experiences, he continued to talk others into leaving the Faith.  Finally, he heard a voice which told him "Return to the Church" and he went to confession and returned to the Lord.  His good friend, Vicente Pepes who helped him to return to the church, placed Bartoto in the care of a holy Dominican Friar, Alberto Radente, who helped Bartolo with the final stages of withdrawing from the occult sect.  This Friar also introduced him to a group of pious people who cared for the poor, the sick and the needy.  A member of this group was a widow, Countess Mariana de Fusco who owned a large tract of land near the ancient city of Pompeii which had been destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in the year, 79 AD and remained buried in ash for almost 2000 years.  Blessed Bartolo began helping the poor farmers who worked the fields around there.  Realizing his former error and how he had led people away from God's Truth in the church, Longo despaired and became extremely depressed and he almost committed suicide but then he was consoled by the reminder of the Friar Alberto saying that anyone who perpetuated the Devotion of the Holy Rosary will be saved so he began perpetuating devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary and this devotion, distributing Rosaries and teaching people how to pray the Rosary. He also founded a home for orphans.  He and the countess eventually got married but lived in celibacy because both had taken vows of celibacy previously.  

From his fasting and illness, Bartolo suffered with poor health and digestive problems for the rest of his life. He died in 1926 at the age of 85... and was Beatified by St John Paul II.  Blessed Bartolo was not only an attorney and talented writer but also a talented musician who played the flute!

Here are some videos about Blessed Bartolo Longo:

http://youtu.be/kLi9V9oO6ew

http://youtu.be/vAemzQDLVxo

Mass Children grave near a convent

 

 

A recent story in a blog announced a "Nun Scandal" specifically, a mass grave of 800 children found close to a home for unwed mothers run by Catholic sisters.  The blogger blab-ographer, of course, ASS-U-MEd the worst - they hinted that the nuns were likely either killing the kids or encouraging the mothers to do same.

 

A mass grave sounds like death from plague or influenza rather than the onesies and twosies of abortion! The legend that nuns meet priests in the basements of convents and do improper things, then have abortions and/or encouraged unwed mothers to indulge in abortion or other, has been around forever - it is the type of dirt that the enemies of Catholicism love to dish but I have researched it and there is absolutely NO EVIDENCE of this at all in history. 

 

Additionally - also we should keep in mind that it was the Catholic church that got rid of abortion in the first place back in Apostolic days and the Catholic church which continues to take a very strong stand of respect for the sanctity of life "from the womb to the tomb"!  I was in the convent for 9 months and believe me, there was totally NO IMPROPER behavior. 

 

In the early part of the 20th century, something like 70% of children born (or more) did not make adulthood - they died of things like diphtheria, polio, typhoid fever, influenza etc. That's why birth control was never an issue in "days of yore" - a woman had to have several kids to have couple of them, survive into adulthood.

 

Bottom line, it's good to remember "garbage in - garbage out" and with the press twisting and misquoting and dishing dirt about all things Catholic, it ends up being less than a waste of time for Catholic readers - who'd be better spending their time reading the Bible and get their news from Catholic News Service or similar.

 

When I was in the convent, I didn't read news at all and found it was rather pleasant without the daily dirt dishing of the news services - the important stuff filtered down and the rest I never missed.  So upon coming out, I continued not bothering with the news and I've never regretted that decision! :)

 

 I really get weary of the media attacks but then Jesus foretold it - "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." We follow a crucified Christ to the cross and into Heaven!!!  (Photo is of me as a postulant in the convent in 1964)

Suffering and the value of it for us!

There is a saying "I complained because I had no shoes and then I saw a man with no feet."  I have found in my almost 70 years that even when I feel I am in tune with God, an object lesson teaches me a lot - like recently I suffered (and still am suffering to an extent) an extremely painful injury - a strained or torn ligament in the knee - I was complaining because I could "only walk a block" and around the house and then, suddenly, I couldn't walk at all.  I immediately thought of a Stephen ministry care receiver whom I was visiting (and still visit over the phone when she has need)... she had a stroke and has a left leg which totally is paralyzed - I was patient with her but felt the electric wheelchair she refused to use, would solve all her problems... until the age of 73, she'd been super able... well when I suddenly couldn't stand up totally and was reliant on a scooter and dragging along on a walker and the few steps to the washroom was a long walk, I got a feel for what she might have been feeling and the scooter did NOT solve all my problems.  As if to punctuate that I was on the right path here, God inspired her to call me the day after I was injured and when I told her about my injury, she said, understandingly, "Oh I so know the feeling!" 

Brings to mind why God allows us to suffer - it softens up our hearts so we can be more empathetic of others and no matter how much we HAVE suffered, each trial brings us closer to having a merciful kind heart.

And why suffering in the long run although it hurts and unfortunately many of us (like me!) are not like the saints who asked for the cross, we can look back in retrospect and actually say that a horrible painful episode was really a blessing because it woke up our hearts in a way they would have never awakened without the episode.  As it says in the Bible...

Ezekiel 36:26: "And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart."


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SUE JOAN
Gswidemark@gmail.com
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Resignation of the Pope - Open season on the church?

On the occasion of the resignation of the Pope, the blog-o-sphere and the news media have been vibrating with verbiage and much of it seems to be taking the opportunity to suggest that the 85 year old, sickly Pope's resignation is somehow a criticism of the Catholic church.

I get that the media does not like us but I've seen one of Benedict's old old treatises being quoted by several Catholics and this is a bit strange IMO.  That is, instead of quoting his very eloquent Encyclicals or his homilies while in the Papacy, or his scholarly 3 volume work about the life of Jesus, they appear to prefer dredging up something he wrote in the 1960's to a church in total turmoil.  And naturally, it was a bit critical of the church because back then, many Catholics, even priests and religious folks seemed to have been extremely confused and somewhat lost with the changes in the liturgy of Vatican II.  What I don't understand is why Benedict's recent and very important works are being bypassed in favor of this 40 plus year old treatise written to a church in transition (in 1969).

What Josef Ratzinger said about the church in 1969, in the middle of the turmoil of the aftermath of Vatican II (which was extremely poorly launched) is not true now.  The so called "modernizing" of the church was being done then, and because it was so poorly explained and got a lot of complaint from the pew, he likely was trying to educate the public and clergy about the changes.

In retrospect, they should have never promulgated the changes until they had a new "code of Canon law" in place.  The changes themselves were not bad but Catholics seem to lose their minds for several years as far as liturgy and we had the "Kumbaya" every Sunday mentality. Because many Catholics had not even listened to the Mass for years (they showed up and fingered their Rosaries), they knew little about what was going on, on the altar at Mass.

I remember as a Protestant, when I inquired about the Catholic Church from my Catholic friends, I found they all seemed to only know 3 things about their doctrine:  1. If you eat meat on Fridays and don't get to confession soon, and you die, you will go to h*ll, 2. Babies have to be baptized soon after birth or they go to a place called "Limbo" (no one could tell me what exactly limbo was) and 3. If you don't go to Mass on Sunday, you are in mortal sin and could go to h*ll if you don't get to confession.

So naturally, when Vatican II came along, the combination of the poorly planned promulgation of the changes and the ignorance of the average Catholic in the pew, caused the huge liturgical abuse and general turmoil we saw for several years after Vatican II.  We ignored centuries of wonderful liturgical music and sang trashy pop songs in church, priests ripped up Rosaries in the pulpit and told the people "we don't do this anymore", church members danced in skanky garb and called it "liturgical dance" and most folks seemed totally confused.

We all know horror stories from those days like the priest who told the people that the Precious Blood was just wine and poured the excess into a plant during his homily at Mass!

Many of us wondered if the church would ever stop the insanity and many left the church - not due to the changes but due to the chaos abounding after the changes.  I even tried to leave the church back then (I missed the Blessed Sacrament too much so I returned soon after I left) - as year after year, things seemed to be totally messed up with no signs of improvement.

And this was the state of the church that Josef Ratzinger was talking about in the quotes from 1969, in the article now being dredged up.  He was not talking about the church today which has greatly matured from the "sick sixties".

The hierarchal structure of the church, which is often criticized by outsiders and Catholics also, is part of what ensures that the church is "one".  Before being Catholic, I was a member of a congregationalist concept church (which Protestant denominations tend to be even if they have a central president) and thus, there was no uniformity in the churches, even within the same denomination.

Cardinal Ratzinger's resignation as Pope has everything to do with his health state and nothing to do with a criticism of the Catholic Church, despite what we are hearing from  the mass media and/or reading in blogs even from Catholics.... He's blind in one eye and going deaf and described as cadaverously thin - he's 85 years old and just unable to keep up with the vigorous life as the Holy Father.  When his last trip just about did him in (those trips are very tiring, and would be even for a younger person), his doctors told him he was not well enough to travel by plane anymore and so he knew he would not be able to go to the upcoming Youth Conference.  He makes his choices - remaining the Pope and dying in a couple of months at which time, we will still have to select another Pope or resigning now and maybe living on a few more years, focusing on prayer and contemplation. I think most of us would make the same choice he did.

As a former outsider, it has always seemed to me that Catholics trust their church less than Protestants trust us.  There are times the blog-o-sphere (and the media) should either get their facts straight or consider embracing the virtue of silence.  (the photo is of Pope Benedict XVI several years ago when he visited the USA)

The Priest on the Titanic - Fr Thomas Byles

On the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic (billed as "the ship even God cannot sink") and all the programs we are seeing on TV about this, no one has seen fit to mention the Catholic priest aboard that ship.

He was Fr Thomas Byles, a convert to Catholicism from the Anglican church.  

When the ship hit the iceberg, Fr Byles was on Deck, praying his breviary, a daily group of prayers priests say - which include the psalms and readings.  

When the ship started going down, Fr Byles was offered a place on the lifeboats but he twice refused to board the lifeboats, preferring to help other passengers get off the ship.

One of the problems with the Titanic and why so many passengers were lost is because they did not provide nearly enough lifeboats for all the passengers they carried so after loading about 705 people (of the 2228 passengers), they ran out of lifeboats, condemning the rest to sink with the ship. Those unable to fit into lifeboats were unable to swim to safety because the water was freezing.

Fr Byles chose to stay with those left on the ship, hearing confessions, and giving absolution and also led the Rosary with people of all faiths kneeling around him.  Just before the ship sank, Fr Thomas led all in an Act of Contrition.

He died when the ship went down and his body was never recovered.

Click here to go to his website.

Is Yoga satanic?

Recently, an elderly priest in the Vatican who has done 70,000 exorcisms (so saith the news), came out with a comment where he supposedly condemned yoga as of Satan.  Yoga, said 85 year old Fr Gabriel Amorth, "works with magic and leads to evil."  And of course, some Catholics who have similar beliefs have quoted this priest - so have some news media, happy at the chance to make the church look bad.


Truth being, none of us have all the knowledge and all of us can be in error about something without making us bad people or even stupid people. 

That is, Fr Amorth is likely a good priest but like the rest of us, has his biases.  Chances are he's never done yoga and/or he may have observed some folks who were possessed or obsessed who happened to do yoga and he made a connection (for example had he asked, the possessed or obsessed person might have ridden a  bicycle as a kid also, so he could have said "riding a bicycle leads to satanic influence").  

Truly those type of errors are common and even made by our scientists as shown in the epidemiological studies which "proved" that giving birth control meds to menopausal women protected them from heart attack -- until 2 clinical studies found the opposite i.e. that birth control meds greatly raise the risk of not only heart attack, stroke and thrombosis but also significantly raise the risk of breast cancer. (One magazine pointed out two studies, one in the 1930's which gave synthetic estrogen to rats and all of them, male and female came down with breast cancer and yet, large organizations, today, ignore the connection completely). 

As an aside, our wonderful news services, which are so quick to condemn the Catholic church have failed to report the dangers of even low dose birth control to the public with the result that last I checked, there were millions of women still taking birth control medication, both for family planning and for hormone replacement therapy!

Sticking with the Bible and the words of Jesus, is a good idea in the case of Yoga  !  I am a devout Catholic who DOES yoga several times a week. I am also 67 years old and fit and yoga is part of my program.  Yoga is a wonderful inheritance from the East and can be a healthy practice. We do not have to embrace other religious beliefs to learn their good health practices. And bottom line - the words of Jesus "other sheep have I who are not members of this flock" and "Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile." Mark 7:15


Postscript: Fr Amorth also said that the Harry Potter books can lead to evil.  I tend to feel that, at best, those books are a horrible waste of time for kids who should be reading real literature like Tom Sawyer and Booth Tarkington.  I read a couple of Harry Potter books and while having a total absence of God, they encourage magic, some of it, black magic which could only have originated in Satan and which really can likely not lead to anything positive.  Luckily, most kids find these books boring - at least that was true of my grandkids.  Perhaps the answer to Harry Potter is for parents and teachers to gently crowd them out by suggesting worthwhile literature for children.  My emotional reaction to reading Harry Potter books was that they gave me a kind of creepy feeling.

God hits the mainstream media during the Royal Wedding!

I am watching the wedding of William and Kate which has a church service looking very Catholic, splashed across the secular media (and to be encored several times today - i.e. on TLC)! And in Times Square, there are thousands of folks watching the live broadcast ---- a CHURCH service preaching about --- GOD on a media which is trying so hard to delete God!!!! God is not only kind and merciful - He is downright CUTE!!!

Imagine as ONE THIRD OF THE WORLD WATCHED, on secular TV and in usually God-less NY Times Square, the following religious speech delivered by the ArchBishop of London!

"As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding increase in expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden. We all are incomplete, we all need the Love which is secure rather than oppressive. We need mutual forgiveness in order to thrive. But as we move towards our partner in love, following the example of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us. And can increasingly fill our lives with light. This leads on to a family life which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can receive and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate the coming world of the Spirit whose fruits are love and joy and peace. I pray that all of us present and the many millions watching and sharing in this ceremony and in your joy today, will do everything in our power to support and uphold you in your new life. And I pray that God will bless you in the way of life that you have chosen. That way which is expressed in the prayer that you have composed together in preparation for this day. "God our Father, we thank You for our families, for the love that we share, and for the joy of our marriage. In the busy-ness of each day, keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love, and energy. Strengthened by our union, help us to love and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ!" And we all say 'AMEN'!"

The bride is wearing a modest wedding dress by the way, not one of those strapless things brides seem to favor today! The music is beautiful and very sacred!

And the atheists really think they can keep God off the networks? NOT! I love it!!!! Yay God!!!

Can lying for a good purpose be justified? Hard choices

Lately the question has been raised among theologians whether it was moral for Lila Rose to go into Planned Parenthood clinics, posing as a under-aged "lady of the night" working for her p/imp in order to video employees of Planned Parenthood, supporting this type of lifestyle with birth control and abortion.

Sadly whereas the murder of millions of babies hardly raises an eyebrow anymore, the exploitation of children for se/xual purposes is considered intrinsically wrong in all circles, pro choice as well as pro life. And so Lila Rose's videos have raised public awareness of the possibility of Planned Parenthood not being a 'good for society' group. (Abby Johnson's book, UNPLANNED also has raised a lot of awareness).

However, that some good might come from LiveAction's campaign, only confirms that God can work good out of anything but does not in itself, argue for the morality of the idea of -what some are calling - "lying for Jesus".

Mark Shea brings out in his excellent blogs, "Dawn Eden is right..." and "Last Comment about Lying for Jesus" that the Catholic Catechism states that lying is always "intrinsically evil", among many other excellent points.

The American Catholic had an article by Joe Hargrave entitled "My Problem with Lila Rose" which is worth reading. He questions whether the entrapment of a couple of Planned Parenthood employees agreeing with potential customers is really proof of Planned Parenthood supporting exploitation of children.

The questions raised by these articles have been mine from the beginning. St Ignatius Loyola in his "Spiritual Exercises" states that no ends, regardless of how meritorious, justify immoral means.

Would God really require us to be immoral, even for a "good purpose"? I would say, "NO". And the fact that those videos are of questionable morality for Christians, puts the pro life movement in a shaky position. It is true, for example, that the demise of George Tiller meant a lot less full term or almost full term babies murdered but does anyone sanction that? Murder is prohibited in the Ten Commandments but so is lying. Sticking to our Christian morality sometimes presents us with very hard choices but as believers, we have to believe that Christian morality will always work out the best, regardless of less moral methodology seeming to be appropriate at times.

For example, is the classic "white lie" really appropriate...that is, is it right for husband to answer his somewhat chubby wife's question about her looking fat in a certain outfit with a lie? Or is there another way? For example, would it not be better, rather than lying about something she can see about herself, to say as my husband said when I was clinically obese - "You always look good to me regardless of what size you are!" Which ended up making me feel a lot better than a lie would have done. (Now that I am no longer clinically obese, he STILL says in answer to my comment about looking fat in a photo, with "You look good to me, now as you did, THEN!".

No one is judging any individuals here. The Mercy of God always is at work and none of us are totally right, no matter how hard we try to be. But I think Christians and pro lifers would hold a stronger position simply in combating evil with truth.

For example, I found it very effective to stand outside of a High school and hand out "informed consent" booklets about abortion. Students seeing medical information would ask "are you for or against abortion?" And evading the question (this is called "reservation" and not a sin), I would say "I am just providing the medical information to help folks make the decision which would work the best for them." Most of them took my informed consent information which in itself, will talk many out of choosing abortion. I have literally stopped ladies from going into Planned Parenthood by asking them "Did you know that abortion greatly raises the risk for breast cancer?" (this is supported in 38 worldwide studies including the clinical studies of pro choice scientist, Janet Daling).

I think ... no, rather, I feel confident, we can stop the murder of millions of babies by simply providing the public with the medical truth about the abortion procedure without wandering into morally questionable areas.

The Bishop and the Hospital

In a controversial decision (at least according to the news services), Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted revoked his consent for St. Joseph’s Hospital to use the name Catholic because he cannot verify that the hospital will provide authentically Catholic health care in accord with the teachings of the Church.

Bishop launched a website to explain why.

His reasons are as follows:

• St. Joseph’s Hospital’s sanctioning and performing a direct abortion in late 2009,
and

• St. Joseph’s admitting to being in formal cooperation in abortions, sterilizations and contraceptive services administered through their Mercy Care Plan — a $2 billion endeavor covering about 368,000 of Arizona’s poor.

Let's talk about the first one because the second reason is a no brainer. NOTE: The Bishop never said that St Joseph's was not a good hospital or that you will not get good health care there. He merely wants to warn Catholics that it's no longer a Catholic hospital i.e. St Joseph's is not delivering care according to Catholic church teachings on life issues!

The concern of the doctors was not an immediate emergency with the lady with pulmonary hypertension (for whom the Sister approved an abortion) but rather that in a number of cases with this disorder, during childbirth, women have been observed going into respiratory shock leading to death a few days after delivery.

In other words, there was no medical emergency with the pregnancy but in the case of a high risk pregnancy, doctors will always suggest aborting the baby.

This is effectually saying that the mother's life is worth more than the baby's life. But the Catholic church disagrees. We do not rate one life as worth more than another, and we cannot sanction willful murder of one life to make life "less risky" for another human.

The bottom line may come from the Jesuit Spiritual Exercises which remind us that no immoral means justify any ends, even the best of ends.

As my Jesuit Spiritual advisor, Fr John Becker, would say in answer to ANY arguments in favor of abortion, "But it’s murder!"

It is interesting to note that when St Gianna Molla, a pediatrician was pregnant and developed a tumor, she was given the same advice by her doctors that the lady with pulmonary hypertension was given, to abort the child.

St Gianna told them whatever the case, save the baby. St Gianna developed septicemia after her delivery of a little girl (who is now, like her mother, a physician) and died about two weeks after delivery.

And now the church honors her AS St Gianna, a model for all of us. Her daughter whose life was saved by her mother's decision, was present when her mother was canonized by John Paul II.

Truly, as a mother, I would not want to buy my life with the life of my baby. If God wants me or the baby (or both) to live, He will allow it. If not, we, as Catholics do believe that His Divine Providence is a perfect plan.

That is why the Bishop decided what he did and I applaud his decision. He is courageous and standing up for Our Lord and what our church teaches.

Book Review: The Year of Living like Jesus by Ed Dobson

NOTE: this book was provided for review by Zondervan.

The cover of Pastor Ed Dobson's "the Year of living like Jesus" states "It may appear from the cover as a nice book about growing a beard because Jesus did but be warned..."

Dr. Ed Dobson was diagnosed with ALS, 9 years ago and told he had 2-5 years of life left. As he says in one of his videos on the Ed's Story website , a website about his journey with ALS, he thought if he were diagnosed with a terminal disease, that's when he would get serious about praying and reading the Bible but he is finding that rather, he is concentrating on living his life to the fullest for as long as God has him here.

He likely has the type of ALS that Stephen Hawking has (very slowly progressive) so he might be here for a while yet and he seems to be making the best of it for now, as far as enjoying a bit of fame. He's appeared on "Good Morning America" and is apparently doing some book tours with this book I am reviewing. He's also on Twitter (according to his "tweets" he's on the road now) and has a blog website called, "livingJesusly.com"

It seems Reverend Ed Dobson who has accomplished a lot in his life (pastored a church for several years, worked with Jerry Falwell and even done some TV work) is a charming sort of man as well as clever and well educated. He is very highly respected as an evangelical Pastor and was voted "Pastor of the year" in 1993 by the Moody Bible Institute.

In "THE YEAR OF LIVING LIKE JESUS", Dr Dobson spins a good tale and does acquaint the reader with several stories from the Gospels, re-told in an understandable manner. He also includes interesting experiences with observing Jewish law, dress and Kosher cuisine.

But he (like many clever people, I would suppose) is anything but conventional. His living like Jesus did not extend to things becoming inconvenient for him. His fasting for 40 days ended up being 1 day. He also enjoyed comfortably traveling in a vintage Corvette and had a difficult time parting with his tailor made suits, although he wrote that this might be the right thing to do if he really wanted to "live like Jesus".

In sharing his accumulated wealth with the poor, he wrote

"Of course I wasn't willing to give everything away, my house, my cars, my savings and my retirement. But I thought Lorna and I could give away one or two week's salary. Then we'd have to trust God to meet our needs."

Dobson did in fact, he said, go into bars to reach those who would never darken a church door and have a beer with them and perhaps show a view of a Christian which they could better tolerate than the traditional view. He wrote:

"I would often go down to the bar, sit up at the counter, drink a beer and talk about God, which Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard,"

This seems to be taking the Bible out of context to me - something which is easier to do if one is not guided by the Roman Catholic Magesterium and left to one's own devices in interpreting the Bible. As Fr Corapi on EWTN says, "You can use the bible to prove ANYTHING!". Very true.

Dr Dobson also stated that he was finding atheists and agnostics easier to deal with than some Christians because they were "less judgmental". Although it is easy to get that idea, one finds that they are only "less judgmental" when you don't get TOO much into what Jesus taught. I find that in my later years when I have become closer to the church, I am not popular at all. But of course, neither was Jesus.

In the Wikipedia, in his biography, it states that although he worked with Jerry Falwell, he, by 1980, had decided the "Moral Majority" had been wrongheaded about politics changing the country.

By the time, he wrote "The Year of Living Like Jesus", he seems to have drifted from Conservatism enough to justify abortion as not being an important issue "because Jesus never mentioned it" and voted for Obama because he felt Obama more exemplified what Jesus taught, a stance which endeared him to the media. He still loves Jerry Falwell, he stated on "Twitter" and wishes Jerry would call him. He lamented that he upset Conservatives with his voting decision, though not too much - apparently he felt that his stance about disregarding the 5000 unborn killed daily as a non issue and voting for Obama was right and Conservatives are incorrect and perhaps not "Jesusly" about this issue.

I personally felt that he should not have spent time on politics at all in a book about a spiritual journey but that's my opinion. I do NOT think abortion is a non issue and I feel that Jesus who is the Word of God through Whom "all was created" (see John 1:1 ff) would NOT advocate voting for a candidate financed by the abortion industry who openly promises abortion providers that he will advocate unrestricted abortion (whether the American people want that or not). And of course, it's questionable that a politician who does not have concern for the youngest and weakest of humans would really have concern for the poor, and disabled humans already born.

Perhaps this is what I found less than inspiring about this book. It often seems to express more the worldly view rather than the strictly Christian view.

That is, we don't have to grow a beard, nor eat Kosher food, nor attend services in a synagogue to live like Jesus - we just have to love one another, reach out to those in need, share more than what is comfortable, pray a lot and stand up courageously for "truth, justice and the American way" which is often less than endearing in our world as well as, a most difficult thing to do. My impression of Rev. Dobson's walk was that it was, perhaps a bit lacking in the hard line things about living like Jesus - you know, the things which eventually got Jesus crucified.

What might be interesting to Catholics is that Rev Dobson did pray the Rosary at least some of the time and found it a good way of praying. Perhaps one day, he might be appearing on EWTN's "Journey Home" program as one who has decided to return to the Mother church. Stranger things have happened. We never know where a journey will end.

If I found some of Rev Dobson's stands to be less than inspiring, I also found his candor and honesty, very refreshing. He seems to be up front with how he is feeling which is a very good quality and definitely (as he would say) "Jesusly".

Would I recommend the book? Ed Dobson states in his blog that:

"I wrote this book for those on the fringes of the faith. People who are interested in Jesus but not "the church." I did not write for those who are in the church. My passion has always been for those who are "unchurched."

I do agree that this book would be interesting and intriguing for the very group Rev. Dobson mentioned above - the unchurched, the agnostics and so forth, an entertaining way to acquaint yourself with what Christianity teaches and providing you with much food for thought. Also for those with a terminal illness or who are dealing with disability, perhaps this book (and also the Ed's Story website) might be very inspiring and helpful for you. As for the serious mainline Christian or Catholic, you might consider giving it a try - whether you agree with Rev Dobson or not, you certainly will find "The Year of Living Like Jesus", intriguing and a good read.

This book is available on Amazon or for more information please visit Dr Ed's website, http://livingjesusly.com/

80 year old Catholic priest arrested for quietly protesting

Besides the questions we might ask like why would a CATHOLIC University call the police on an 80 year old Catholic priest and some of his friends who were quietly walking around campus, carrying a cross and pro life signs, the bigger question we might ask (well there are several) is what is happening to freedom of speech? We would have never seen THIS type of thing even a decade ago!

Our generation cries in outrage at the death of a dog but ignores the deaths of millions of unborn babies? Is upset about a rough interrogation of some terrorist enemy of the country to get information to save lives but not upset about the ripping apart of a baby in the womb for the convenience of the adults?

And a Catholic school which charges thousands of bucks a semester to offer a safe environment in which parents can be assured their young folks will be protected from things Catholics feel are immoral, violating this trust which is not only against Catholic principles but is CHEATING those parents who have entrusted their progeny to this school?

These ARE hard times. Christians need to take back our country soon before it's too late.

Watch and weep:

time is marching on - are we??

Hi anyone who is reading this. Do you ever feel frustrated? I feel like that right now. Because basically most parts of the pro life movement (OK I will admit there are a few mavericks in the crowd and I'll give their websites later) are proceeding using the same strategies which have NOT worked for us in the past - not really as shown by our total and unutterable loss on this last election.

As we speak, the Democrats and Obama are busy unraveling everything we've done in 35 years.

According to Randall Terry (and I SO AGREE with him!!!) we only have one option left to us. To educate the people and make SURE we fire a bunch of Congress persons in 2010. We can get a pro life majority again in Congress if we START working now.

As far as "alerting" the pundits, it doesn't do any good. The only thing the march in Washington did is the warn the media to intensify their efforts to smear pro lifers in the press - thus the lastest bunch of insults calling us "terrorists" etc. We got by some estimates over 400,000 in Washington and who knows how many more in San Francisco (TOTAL media silence on that march).

In other words, we alerted THE WRONG people.

Remember Teddy Roosevelt's advice? "Walk softly but carry a BIG STICK!" We should be making FAR LESS NOISE and FAR MORE PLANS.

Randall Terry is leading a great effort - please go to his website - let's join with him. A humble plea He says too, "LET'S FIRE THESE PEOPLE IN 2010". With a targeted vote, we CAN get back, at least, a majority in Congress which would go a long way to neutralize the untold damage being done to our cause as we speak.

Randall has joined the Catholic Church by the way and one thing we REALLY need to do is educate the Catholics because 52 percent of us voted for Obama and the Democrats in this last election. We need to get those folks back in OUR camp. If you go to Randall's website, Randall has ideas of how to do that.

The other real activist pro life group is "Priests for Life". Fr Frank Pavone, the head of PFL is dynamic and brilliant. Again he is about educating the public and working toward firing more than a few politicians in 2010 (that's only ONE YEAR FROM NOW). They have some excellent literature on their website. See them at Priests for life.org

If we focus in our support in aligning with these two groups, I think we can achieve what we need to do which is work toward stopping the killing.

As individuals, we each need to realize that we should be doing something activist each day. Like praying the Rosary for life. Our lady told the children at Fatima that if only a percentage of Catholics prayed a daily Rosary, WW II could have been stopped.

But we also have to make sure WE are educated. Read Randall's literature. Look at Fr Pavone's photos and listen to his videos and audios. We need to STOP BEING SILENT but to TALK to folks around us. Fr Pavone said on EWTN the other day "there are some lives only YOU can save."

A good example of individual activism is the 73 year old fiddler in San Luis Obispo who plays well enough to gather a large audience at a local restaurant. He ALWAYS, courageously, displays his pro life signs. You can read about him and hear his great playing at http://prolifefiddlin.org/

With a focused effort and God on our side, there is no way we canNOT reverse the evils which are happening now and to save those infants being wantonly killed, 9 per minute in the USA.

Pro life activism

I have entered a new phase in pro life activism. No marches, no internet petitions (those are just harvesting names, addresses and phone numbers anyway). I cannot depend on "organizations" so no more paying salaries of the numerous employees of these organizations.
What if, I think, each and every one of us, started OUR OWN activism with a focus of educating the public - we start with those around us.

For example, how many priests and clergy persons do we hear instructing people about abortion? Almost none.

This morning at church, one of the Jesuits preached on the Holy Family and how society was discouraging the family unit. Perfect time to bring up abortion because this is one of the most DESTRUCTIVE forces in our society today - not only of millions of unborn infants but also of the family unit.

I kept waiting for him to bring it up. He never did. So after church, I confronted him. He came up with a lot of excuses, everyone of which I countered (they were LAME excuses - the underlying reason was he didn't have the courage to talk about it). "How can people learn about abortion when the priests never preach about it?" and he answered with "well, here we are preaching to the choir" and I said "No we are not preaching to the choir because many people here do not know how important an issue abortion IS!" I reminded him that every minute, 9 babies die from abortion and he winced.

He ended up getting annoyed with me and saying that he "couldn't deal with that now because he was drained after doing Mass".

So was my activism a failure? No, not at all. The hopeful sign was that he WAS ANNOYED which means it will come back to mind later which hopefully is an opening for the Holy Spirit to speak to him. He DID admit that he THOUGHT of mentioning abortion (i.e. the Holy Spirit has already nudged him) but decided against it.

"I planted the seed," I told God after our encounter, "and now it's up to You to water that seed."

Every one of us CAN be activist and SHOULD be activist. We can no longer depend on the "orgs" to "take care of it" while we go on living our lives, attending our parties, buying our commodities and ignoring the need. Now it is we who need to go out to the public, starting with those in OUR lives, talking the pro life story. So that the "choice" to be offered by our administration will mean nothing because no one will choose it.

Now, it's our only chance to make the killing stop.