Battlefield Life

The pro-life issue is one that is paramount in all of Christian moral teaching.  The sanctity of human life is something that is give from God and cannot be violated.  However, our country on a regular basis violates this inviolable law of God.  To those that are heavily active in the pro-life cause they are aware that this is battlefield.  A battlefield, a war, that has seen more innocent casualties than every other war combined.  This post is not meant for you, I personally commend you.  This is meant towards those people who do not feel that they need to be involved in this cause.  Since the majority of those people reading this are probably involved in the pro-life cause, I would say pass this along to someone who needs to hear it and take it to heart. 

                To start with, we need to understand that this is a war, and the battlefield has been everywhere and the injuries have been just as widespread.  Lives are being taken and a large portion of the population takes these attacks without doing a thing.  We hear about terrorism and attacks of terror all the time.  What we have here is violent attacks against the sanctity of human life.  While some might be offended that I compare abortion to terrorism, violence is violence and the victims are just as innocent.  The injuries here are not just physical injuries but also the psychological injuries to those who have had abortions or been forced into decisions of euthanasia that have left them guilt ridden on what they have done.  First off, to those people, the Church is here for you, supports you, and will welcome you home with open arms.  Our God is merciful and forgiving and He waits for you to come to him and ask.  Do we not hear in the Bible for the mouth of Jesus himself in Luke 11:9-10,” And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

                What is courage?  Courage as defined by dictionary.com is, “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.”  I heard it defined more simply than that.  Courage is running towards the bullets and not away.  Courage drove the firefighters, police officers, port authority officials, rescue personnel, and priests to the World Trade Center site when everyone else was running in the opposite direction.  It is with courage given to us by God that we must run towards the fight for life and not away.  Realizing that running towards the front lines of the fight are not for everyone, in a well run battle there are always support staff.  The same goes for this battlefield.  You can battle this war from right where you are, on your couch, in your kitchen or outside in the garden.  Prayer warriors are something that is always needed and the more the better.  Pray, Pray, Pray for life for those who are on the front lines in the battle for life.  As you pray consider that God might be calling you, play a more active role in the battle for life.  Those who are on the front lines need the reinforcements of all generations. 

                As I reflect on the battle for the innocent, the silent, and those who cannot defend themselves, I feel as though sometimes we are ambushed by a court ruling or law that seems to set back our defense of life.  We get pushed across streets, penned in behind orange fences when we stand up for life.  Yet throughout whatever offensives are launched against us, we must stand for life.  The battle call has gone out and the battle lines have been drawn, never more so than in today’s climate.  Politically, economically, and morally the lines have been drawn and that battle is ensuing.

                Ultimately it comes down to will you stand for those that cannot stand for themselves.  When you get to heaven and God asks did you battle for those innocent lives that needed you, needed protection.  Do you want to have to answer no?  Will you answer the battle call of God?  We know in the end the outcome of this war and that God has the victory, which does not excuse us in the here and now.  We must fight. 

Life is not a choice it is a right.  A right that all should have. 

Never Give Up.  Never Surrender

May God Bless you this day, and remember to thank your mother, because if you are reading this she chose life.

Culture of Death spreading in Europe??

Will Ireland No Longer Be Pro-Life?

The culture of death seems to be spreading its tendrils and hooking in everywhere.  In the above link discussing the legalization of abortion in Ireland the murder of innocent children might be spreading.  Pray fo the people of Ireland that when they go to the polls they support pro-life candidates and that the culture of death and the breakdown of our culture overall does not continue to spread across Europe.

In His name you are also called to pray for an end to abortion in the United States and throughout the world. Roe versus Wade is incompatible with human dignity. It must not stand. It cannot stand. It will not stand."

Cardinal Justin Rigali, homily at the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.
January 21, 2008

Prayer for Protection of Human Life at its Beginning

God our Father, you lovingly knit us in our mothers’ womb.  Grant that each human embryo will be respected as a human being, and not dismissed as a product to be manipulated or destroyed. Grant us the courage and conviction to be your voice for our sisters and brothers at the very earliest stages of their development, and for all defenseless unborn children.
Jesus, Divine Healer, foster in those conducting medical research a commitment to finding cures in ways that respect  these little ones and all your vulnerable children.
Holy Spirit, grant us the wisdom to develop morally sound treatments for conditions now thought to be incurable. Help us persevere in defending human life while alleviating suffering.
Show mercy to all who have cooperated in killing our tiniest brothers and sisters. Bring them and all who support destructive embryo research to true conversion. Grant them the ability to see the immeasurable dignity of all human beings even in the first days of life.
Father, we ask this in Jesus’ name, through the Holy Spirit. Amen.

(from http://www.usccb.org/prolife/liturgy/protection_beginning_life.shtml)

Canadian court rules baby’s life support removed against parents’ wishes

As I was browsing the internet this afternoon I discovered the article posted at the bottom of this post.  It is an article discussing the court overruling parents on how and when their child should die.  The court decided, I repeat, the court decided that baby Joseph's life will be ended on monday.  This complete lack of respect for the dignity of the human life, the casting aside of the will of the parents at the whim of the court, because of a Doctor's say so.  As I try to wrap my head around this idea that this father's baby will be murdered at the whim of the state.  The following is a quote from the article'

“Monday at 10 am they will kill my baby,” Moe Maraachli, Joseph’s father, told LifeSiteNews shortly after the ruling.  “There’s no more humanity.  There’s no more chance.  I’ve tried everything for him.  No more appeals, nothing.”  “

I asked them: why not send him to Windsor and let him die at home?” he continued.  “They said they will give him injection, but I don’t want to.”

“I ask God, and maybe he breathe,” he added.

Can anyone imagine the pain that this father must be in, to know that he has lost control of the life that God entrusted to his care.  It is not the domain of the state to decide how this child is to do die, that domain is God's and God's alone.  Job 12:10, "In [God's] hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says

"Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect...whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists of putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick or dying persons.  It is morally unacceptable"  CCC 2276-77

For more information on overall issues related to life see the Catechism articles 2258-2330

I would ask everyone to read the article, and join the facebook page supporting baby Joseph.
Please join the father as he prays to God,

“I ask God, and maybe he breathe,” he added.

"Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end.  God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end:  no one can under any circumstance claim for himself  the right directly to destroy an innocent human being"  Donum Vitae (5)

‘Death panels’: Canadian court rules baby’s life support removed against parents’ wishes

Facebook page supporting Baby Joseph

                                         Photo from Lifesitenews.com

Prayer for our Courts and Judges

(Prayers from http://www.priestsforlife.org/prayers/ )

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of our nation.
You alone rule the world with justice,
Yet you place in our hands the solemn duty
of participating in the shaping of our government.
I pray today for our President and Senators
Who have the responsibility of placing judges on our courts.
Please protect this process from all obstruction.
Please send us men and women of wisdom,
Who respect Your law of Life.
Please send us judges with humility,
Who seek Your truth and not their own opinions.
Lord, give all of us the courage we need to do what is right
And to serve you, the Judge of all, with fidelity.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen!

The Revealing of the Culture of Death

In recent weeks we have seen many videos come to light showing the lawbreaking and complete lack of respect that Planned Parenthood employees have for women.  This complete lack of respect has been seemingly systemic throughout Planned Parenthood.  They blatantly disregard the law as it is convienent for them.  This article from lifenews is another example of this, those of us fighting for life need to make these atrocities as known as possible. 

Planned Parenthood Tried to Force Raped Teen to Have Abortion

Prayer to St. Joseph

O' Gentle and caring St. Joseph, Guardian of our Lord,
Protector of the Holy Family and humble carpenter.
Be with us and guide us as we seek to do the work of your Son.
Give us the humble spirit of a carpenter,
that we might rebuild your Church.
That through your intercession,
we might rebuild the hearts of men and women everywhere.
That we become what it means to be true men and women,
through your son Jesus Christ.
That through humbleness, simple witness, and hard work;
we become strong men and woman of faith.
Know our brokeness and our weakness.
Give us the strength to know that your wife , foster son Jesus,
are always at our side to aid us.
Help us to know that we are able to turn to you when we need strength,
and draw upon your protection.

Lend us your strength O' humble carpenter,
foster father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We beseech thee to intercede on our behalf of your Son,
and give us the strength to focuse on the task ahead.
That we as men and women of God,
come to emulate your humbleness, purity and obedience,
as we seek to follow your son Jesus Christ.

St. Joseph, Guardian of the Holy Family...Pray for us
St. Joseph, Guardian of Life.....................Pray for us
St. Joseph, Terror of demons...................Pray for us
St. Joseph, Protector of the Church..........Pray for us

Amen

Conversion, Reversion and Transformation

We here so many things about those who have converted to the faith, those who have reverted back to their Catholic roots.  These events are great and wonderful things.  We are called to evangelize and call to conversion all those who are searching for the truth, those that are lost in the fog we call modern culture.  However, conversion is just the first of many steps as so many I am sure are aware.  I am personally a quote “revert” meaning a cradle Catholic who has come back to the faith through a profound and transforming experience.  As Catholics, as Christians, we are called to continuing transformation both internally in mind and heart and externally in our actions.  Romans 12:2 says “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Simple question is how do we do this?  By what power or effect does this transformation come about?  While some of it is the act of will of the person to want to be transformed through Christ, it truly begins with Baptism and the gift of Sanctifying Grace. 

“It is important to grasp that Sanctifying Grace is a real transformation of the soul.  The Church teaches that the very substance of the soul is renewed, the soul is affected in its very being so that it can well be called a new creation: it has a new life in it, a life with its own vital "organs" and operations, so that it can now perform actions at the level of its new being, actions which because they are supernatural can merit a supernatural reward. Thus it is that St. Paul speaks of us as "in Christ a new creature" ( 2 Cor. 5.17), "the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth."  Frank Sheed

The next question is how do we receive and keep this wonderful gift of grace.  The Sacraments are the way that we receive grace.  We must keep close to the Sacraments, for it is through the Sacraments that God works in our souls for the transformation that we all long for. 

CCC §1275 Christian initiation is accomplished by three sacraments together: Baptism, which is the beginning of new life; Confirmation, which is its strengthening; and the Eucharist which nourishes the disciple with Christ's Body and Blood for his transformation in Christ.

The world tries to distract and tells us that it is material things that matter.  Ultimately, that fallacy is shown by those who have everything and realize that suddenly they have nothing.  St. Augustine says, “Our hearts are restless until they dwell in you O’ Lord.”  So then, the question that brings us to is that after going to the Sacraments and receiving all this grace am I different.  Do I resolve to work harder to conform myself to Christ?  After going to confession and receiving the gift of our sins forgiven, do we resolve to do better?  Do we take the words of the Act of Contrition to heart? 

Act of Contrition: 

“O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins, because of Your just punishments, but most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love.  I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.”  Amen.

CCC 1695 Healing the wounds of sin, the Holy Spirit renews us interiorly through a spiritual transformation.  (Cf. Eph 4:23)  He enlightens and strengthens us to live as "children of light" through "all that is good and right and true.”  (Eph 5:8, 9)

The Disciples all experience this radical transformation.  We are all called to this internal transformation.  Our life then must be one of witness of this great gift of spiritual transformation that God in his gracious mercy bestows upon us.  This transformation is the essence of the Christian life.  The question is then asked, “What is the Christian life?”  Pope Paul VI has an excellent answer for us:

“Now the Christian life may be defined as a continual search for perfection.  This definition is not complete, because it is purely subjective, and omits many other aspects of the Christian life.  It is exact, however, in the sense that the kingdom of God, the economy of salvation, the relationship established by Christianity between our littleness and the greatness of God, His ineffable transcendence, His infinite goodness demands a transformation, a purification, a moral and spiritual elevation of man called to so great a destiny.  It requires the search for, and the effort toward a personal state of feeling, thought and mentality, a way of conduct, and a wealth of grace and gifts that we call perfection.”

Will you be transformed?  Will you let God work in your life to transform you? 
Be transformed in Christ for it is through this that we come closer to the divine, which in itself is the summation of Unity, Truth, Beauty and Goodness.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand.  Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you.”  Philippians 4:4-9

Prayer: Get on Your Knees and Do It

     This is a link to a blog post about the 7 reasons you sometimes stink at praying.  When examining the list I was suddenly all too aware that most if not all of these applied to me.  Pausing to think about when do I pray and is it a set time or is God squeezed into my day.  How many excuses do I have and hmm why bother I am sure God has heard them all (The dog ate my prayerbook probably won't work)  So take a moment and read these 7 reasons and see how many apply to you.  Then reflect on that and examine your day, is there time to pray, how many excuses are you making.  I know that I myself have many different ones.  My tendency is to pray late at night and I fall asleep before I get too far into my prayers.  Anyways here is the link take a moment and reflect and then a short description of what prayer is will follow

7 Reasons I Stink at Praying

     So prayer - we all do it, most of the time when we are in need of something or want something from God.  Maybe when we are thanking him for something received.  How often do you pray just to pray.  Sit down, kneel down, lay down or whatever position strikes your fancy and talk to God, let Him know that you are there and that you are interested in his input. 

"For me prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy."  St. Therese of Lisieux

     When we go to the Catechism of the Catholic Church we hear that prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.  (CCC 2559)   How easy it can be to request things from God but never lift our mind and hear to him.  I am as guilty of this as are most people, it is natural throughout the day to request things from God.  Please let this light turn, this traffic to end, this meeting to go well, help me stay awake in class, help me get through______God.  A lot of times there isn't time for anything else in the hustle and bustle of today's working world.  However, when you get home and your day has winded down, the kids are in bed and whatnot (by no means do I easily dismiss the awesome responsibility and work it is to be a parent).  But when the day is done do you lift your mind and heart to God and thank you for those things that went well and for those things that did not.  There is a great quote from the movie Facing the Giants: 

"I want God to bless this team so much people will talk about what He did. But it means we gotta give Him our best in every area. And if we win, we praise Him. And if we lose, we praise Him. Either way we honor Him with our actions and our attitudes. So I'm askin' you... What are you living for? I resolve to give God everything I've got, then I'll leave the results up to Him. I want to know if you'll join me."

While this applies to many different things, prayer is one of them.  Do you take the time to thank God for the day for what went right and what went wrong.  Then the wisdom to maybe see that God had you exactly where you needed to be that day whether it seemed like things were going right or wrong at the time.  When we pray the Catechism tells us it must be from a humble and contrite heart.  "He who humbles himself will be exalted, humility is the foundation of prayer.  Only when we humbly acknowledge that we do not know how to pray as we ought are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer.  Man is a beggar before God."  (CCC 2559)  Throughout all of this it needs to be remembered that God has called us first, He desires this relationship.  God gradually reveals himself to us and prayer is our reciprocal to that revealing from God.

     For those who seem to have trouble organizing their prayer life or prayer time there are many aids including the Liturgy of the Hours and other daily prayer books.  There is also the idea of doing it early, and getting it done.  I don't mean this to say that you should rush through prayer or that the morning is the only time that you should pray.  However, this is time that you set aside for God and dedicate it solely to Him.

     During this time of prayer I would propose that there are four moments that occur within the one movement that is prayer.  Thanksgiving, Adoration, Petition, and Sorrow.  First you thank God for the day for whatever is going well and possibly for things that didn't go your way that you know see the reasons why.  Then you praise and adore Him, he is God and deserves our praise and adoration.  Then ask him for what you need, be honest, be open, be sincere, he already knows what you are going to ask Him, so don't hold back.  Finally tell him your sorry and that you will resolve to do better.  Prayer, like the Mass is one of the lifebloods that helps us maintain our relationship with God and to grow that relationship.

     The Catechism lays out for us five different kinds of prayer.  Blessing and Adoration, Petition, Intercession, Thanksgiving and Praise.  (CCC 2626-2649)  Take some time and read about each type of prayer and understand what is distinct about each.  The only one that I would like to mention in specific is that of Prayer of Intercession.  Mary and her prayers of intercession bookend the public ministry of Jesus Christ.  At Cana and at the Cross.  At the Marriage at Cana she intercedes for the needs of the wedding feast.  Then again Mary is present at the Crucifixion when the lamb sacrifices His body and blood at the request of the bride, here Mary becomes the "Mother of all living" and when she is is in heaven, our intercessor who always has the ear of her Son.

     Thus I have two challanges to give.  The first is related to intercession.  Many times we go around and tell people we will pray for them.  How many times do you actually pray for them beyond that moment.  Make the point to pray for those whom you promise to pray for.  This challange of intercession is to everyone including myself, make the time to intercede on behalf of those who have asked it of you.  Second reflect on the seven points brought up in the link and try to pick one and focus on making that aspect of your prayer life better for a week/month.  We are constantly working to improve our prayer lives and we need to encourage and help each other.  For as Proverbs 27:17 says "Iron sharpens iron, and one man[woman] sharpens another."