H/T Mary...

Read here to find the representatives who have bravely voiced their opinion and have reprimanded Madam Speaker Pelosi, as well they should!

To my friend, Fr. O...

This friend of mine cannot vote here in America as he is not an American citizen. However, he did recently, in a "loose" way, try to persuade me that Obama is "THE ONLY ONE" who can "heal our image [America's] in the world." It is with much sadness that I had to send this, but with prayer to Mary our Mother, I hope he will read it and change his world view that is NOT that of Our Lady or Our Lord. Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the FRUIT OF THY WOMB, JESUS...." Jesus came to us as a baby, formed in Mary's womb. That says it all, doesn't it? Go to all the world, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them... Baptizing who? If we kill millions and millions of babies, who's left to baptize?? Just askin'.... ~ susie

Dear Father,

Here is a link that I hope you will read and give much consideration. Ponder it before the Blessed Sacrament and ask Jesus and Our Lady what they think and desire on this serious matter, as opposed to what you think and desire. They might not be the same thing. What you desire and what I desire have to be the same as what our Lord and Our Mother Mary desire, or what do we have? Chaos. I am praying my guts out that Obama will not win this election. IF however, he does, then America deserves the "hellish change" we'll get and so does the Catholic Church in America, for judgment begins in the House of God. When the foundation of a building is weak, or not there, there's no safety. Aborting babies takes away our very foundation, and continuing this holocaust will indeed bring the wrath of God, for how long can Our Mother hold back his Right Arm of Justice? Not forever, that's for sure. She's warning us, but we heed her not....to our peril.

Another "eye opener"

In Christ, your friend and former embryo,
susie
--
"When theology no longer hears the silence of Jesus, it can even less discern the depth of his words." Benedict XVI

"THE SILENCE OF JESUS IS FIRST "HEARD" IN THE WOMB." ~ me

THE CATHOLIC PRIEST WHO KILLED THE SOUL OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY...

Read this astounding and frightening story of the beginnings of this "culture of death" that we are battling today in America. LORD HAVE MERCY.

The Blog...Phil Lawler

The issue that won't go away Posted Aug. 23, 2008 9:36 AM || by Phil Lawler || category Commentary

With another pro-abortion Catholic on the Democratic national ticket, we can be quite sure that the issue will not go away this year.

It's remarkable: 25 years after Roe v. Wade, there's no realistic prospect for overturning that appalling decision, at least in the short term. There's no federal legislation currently under consideration that would ban abortion or even significantly curtail the slaughter of the unborn. Nevertheless it continues to be an important issue in every national campaign.

In an odd way, the Obama-Biden ticket might be helpful to the pro-life movement, insofar as both Democratic candidates have been willing to discuss the question of whether or not human life begins at conception. (Biden has acknowledged that it does.) Any public discussion of that issue can only help the pro-life cause, because the scientific facts are hard to deny.

Biden's presence on the ticket also ensures a fresh debate on whether or not pro-abortion Catholic politicians should receive Communion. On that issue, too, the discussion can only be helpful. Even if most American prelates shy away from the obligations of canon law, the bold few who recognize their duty will bear powerful witness.

The status quo in American today allows unrestricted abortion on demand. The Democratic standard-bearers will protect that status quo, and it's not at all clear that the GOP contenders will attack it. Still the issue will be discussed. And as long as the discussion continues, the pro-life movement can take hope. Over time, truth inevitably erodes the power of lies.

Pro Choice Catholic politicians, you've been warned . . .

August, 26 2008
American prelates rebuke 'pro-choice' Catholics

With Church-state disputes swirling around the Democratic Party convention in Denver, Archbishop Chaput and his auxiliary, Bishop James Conley, set the record straight with a public statement: "On the Separation of Sense and State." Their opening lines indicate the strength of their excellent statement:

Catholic public leaders inconvenienced by the abortion debate tend to take a hard line in talking about the "separation of Church and state." But their idea of separation often seems to work one way.

In Washington, Archbishop Donald Wuerl issued his own public statement, pointing out that the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has distorted the clear and constant teaching of the Church on the immorality of abortion. Pelosi, he observed, based his argument on "uninformed and inadequate theories about embryology" held by medieval theologians. That's right; Pelosi bases her case on the scientific-- not theological, scientific-- views of medieval teachers.

Next the US bishops' conference weighed in on the same issue, as did with a group of 10 Catholic congressmen. Their statements, too, presented Church teaching with admirable clarity.

John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter had predicted that American hierarchy would be loath to revisit the debate on Catholicism and abortion-- a debate from which most American bishops shrank during the 2004 campaign. "Perhaps the most disappointed group in America over the choice of a Roman Catholic as the party’s nominee for Vice-President may well be the country’s Catholic bishops," Allen wrote.

Perhaps they would have been happier if the question had not been forced upon them. But willingly or not, in these last few days the American bishops have responded clearly and convincingly.

Source(s):

» Archbishop Chaput, Bishop Conley: On the separation of sense and state (Archdiocese of Denver)

» Archbishop Wuerl on the Church’s constant teaching (Archdiocese of Washington)

» Bishops' conferences responds to House Pelosi’s misrepresentations (USCCB)

» Catholic Congressmen say Pelosi remarks (h/t to American Papist)

» With Biden pick, America's bishops face a familiar headache (John Allen/National Catholic Reporter)

» Are Obama and Pelosi dodging the life-and-death question? (George Weigel/Newsweek)

Home - News - Commentary - Culture - About - Help - Donate - Contact - Feeds

Copyright © 2008 Trinity Communications. All rights reserved. Terms and conditions for use. Contact Us.

A Trinity Communications web site. Programming, design and hosting by Trinity Consulting.

H/T Marie...

Please visit View from the Pews and read a powerful post by Marie, regarding abortion. A paragraph:

"The Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion is actually a Nazi-type law. It is completely in the spirit of the Nazis; that is, it contains the elements of moral relativity and contempt for human life that characterized the Hitler regime."

Let me just add here, that ANYONE, especially a CATHOLIC who thinks they can possibly vote for Obama, or anyone other than McCain is in dire error. McCain is far from perfect, and I disagree with him on many other issues, but we must go by what we hear him say regarding abortion, that he is and his administration will be, PRO LIFE. THAT is our only major concern, or it SHOULD be. For without the basic Right to Life for ALL HUMANS, we delude ourselves thinking anything else is more important. The war in Iraq, the economy, climate change, health care, and anything else has never and will NEVER trump abortion. PERIOD!

Nineveh Journey...

The Nineveh Journey is a project sponsored by the Pro Sanctity Movement intended to help us all return to the God we have forgotten. Please join us as we pray and fast for the good of our country!

WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN?': APPARENTLY ABOVE NANCY PELOSI'S PAY GRADE TOO!

During the Meet the Press interview on August 24, Nancy Pelosi responded to a question about when human life begins by saying that "as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition . . . St. Augustine said at three months. We don't know. The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose."

For the entire transcript click here.

Denver's Archbishop Chaput and the Auxilary Bishop James D. Conley issued a statement this morning refuting Nancy Pelosi's terrible lie. Below is their statement -

ON THE SEPARATION OF SENSE AND STATE: A CLARIFICATION FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE CHURCH IN NORTHERN COLORADO

To Catholics of the Archdiocese of Denver:

Catholic public leaders inconvenienced by the abortion debate tend to take a hard line in talking about the "separation of Church and state." But their idea of separation often seems to work one way. In fact, some officials also seem comfortable in the role of theologian. And that warrants some interest, not as a "political" issue, but as a matter of accuracy and justice.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a gifted public servant of strong convictions and many professional skills. Regrettably, knowledge of Catholic history and teaching does not seem to be one of them. Interviewed on Meet the Press August 24, Speaker Pelosi was asked when human life begins. She said the following:

"I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time.And what I know is over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. . . St. Augustine said at three months. We don't know. The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose."

Since Speaker Pelosi has, in her words, studied the issue "for a long time," she must know very well one of the premier works on the subject, Jesuit John Connery's Abortion: The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective (Loyola, 1977). Here's how Connery concludes his study:

"The Christian tradition from the earliest days reveals a firm antiabortion attitude . . . The condemnation of abortion did not depend on and was not limited in any way by theories regarding the time of fetal animation. Even during the many centuries when Church penal and penitential practice was based on the theory of delayed animation, the condemnation of abortion was never affected by it. Whatever one would want to hold about the time of animation, or when the fetus became a human being in the strict sense of the term abortion from the time of conception was considered wrong, and the time of animation was never looked on as a moral dividing line between permissible and impermissible abortion."

Or to put it in the blunter words of the great Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

"Destruction of the embryo in the mother's womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed on this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended tocreate a human being and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder."

Ardent, practicing Catholics will quickly learn from the historical record that from apostolic times, the Christian tradition overwhelmingly held that abortion was grievously evil. In the absence of modern medical knowledge, some of the Early Fathers held that abortion was homicide; others that it was tantamount to homicide; and various scholars theorized about when and how the unborn child might be animated or "ensouled." But none diminished the unique evil of abortion as an attack on life itself, and the early Church closely associated abortion with infanticide.

In short, from the beginning, the believing Christian community held that abortion was always, gravely wrong. Of course, we now know with biological certainty exactly when human life begins. Thus, today's religious alibis for abortion and a so-called "right to choose" are nothing more than that - alibis that break radically with historic Christian and Catholic belief. Abortion kills an unborn, developing human life. It is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it. Catholics who make excuses for it - whether they're famous or not - fool only themselves and abuse the fidelity of those Catholics who do sincerely seek to follow the Gospel and live their Catholic faith.

The duty of the Church and other religious communities is moral witness. The duty of the state and its officials is to serve the common good, which is always rooted in moral truth. A proper understanding of the "separation of Church and state" does not imply a separation of faith from political life. But of course, it's always important to know what our faith actually teaches.

+Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. Archbishop of Denver

+James D. Conley Auxiliary Bishop of Denver

Visit the website: Unborn Word Alliance
Visit the blog version of: Unborn Word of the day

"Above My Pay Grade"

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

We were recently treated to the remark by Barack Obama that the question of when a baby receives human rights was beyond his pay grade. At the public forum at Saddleback Church, he said: “… whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity … is above my pay grade.”

That, of course, is exactly what the Supreme Court said in Roe vs. Wade, the decision that legalized abortion in American throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Faced with a question it found too uncomfortable, the majority said the following:

“We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer” [410 U.S. 113, 159].

So what are we to think of those who speak this way? Is it vice or virtue? Do they display a careful effort not to play God, or a cowardly unwillingness to assert the rights of their fellow human beings?

Some say that the government should not be involved in the personal, private decision of abortion. They don’t know how right they are. The government got “too involved” in the abortion decision when it legalized it. Despite its profession of ignorance about whether what is aborted is in fact a human life that has already begun, the Court nevertheless declared, “the word ‘person,’ as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn” [410 U.S. 113, 158]. What part of the pay grade of government is the right to define the boundaries of human rights or the limits of protection for the human family? Since when does the government get involved in deciding who qualifies for human rights?

Claiming ignorance about who has human rights is a frightening abandonment of responsibility. Some may think it’s an effort not to “play God,” but it is actually just the opposite: the claim to be God. We may claim not to decide, but in practice, we cannot escape deciding: either every human being will be protected, or we will start deciding whom to exclude.

This gives rise to two thoughts, one from common sense and one from Scripture. Common sense tells us that if someone is hunting and doesn’t know whether what’s moving behind the bush is a bear or a man, he should refrain from shooting until he is sure. Doubt, in other words, leads to an abundance of caution, not an abandonment of it.

Scripture, moreover, tells us that the man who committed the first murder claimed ignorance about the one he had killed. “Where is your brother?” God asked Cain. “I don’t know” was his answer. It was a lie, and it doesn’t allow either Cain or the Supreme Court or anyone else to escape their responsibility to protect their vulnerable brothers and sisters.

This column can be found online at www.priestsforlife.org/columns/columns2008/08-08-25-above-pay-grade.htm

Fr. Frank's columns can be heard via podcast. See www.priestsforlife.org/podcast for more details.

Fr.. Frank's columns can be listened to in MP3 format at www.priestsforlife.org/columns/columns2008/index.htm

Where have all the BOLD Priests gone?... Long time passing....

Well, one of them, can be found RIGHT HERE. I know there are more courageous priests out there, and I sure hope and pray we hear from them ALL on TV and radio **SOON** about the recent HERESY spewed forth to millions from the mouth of Nanci Pelosi our "CINO" Speaker of the House. God bless you Fr. Malloy for your boldness in proclaiming the TRUTH about abortion. Ms. Pelosi, how dare you lie to the American people about the Catholic Church and it's teachings on abortion. How do you sleep at night? When did all your precious grandchildren actually become your grandchildren? At what point after they were conceived did they in fact "BEGIN to live?" Shame on you. You need to be TAUGHT the Truth. I pray you're humble enough to admit you are WRONG! Lord have mercy!

she looks just too giddy with that gavel

Read 'em and weep....

"...is it surprising that today we have become so morally blind (for wickedness blinds) that we save the baby whales at great cost, and murder millions of unborn children?"
~ Alice von Hildebrand, The Privilege of Being a Woman, p.24 ~

PRO LIFE QUOTES

Jesus Speaks To The Women

With the soldiers, a great crowd of people went out of the city. Some of them were enemies of Jesus, glad to see Him suffer; others were friends. He turned to a group of women who were weeping as they saw Him going out to die, and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children."

"WEEP FOR THOSE WHO ARE TOO BLIND TO SEE
WEEP FOR AMERICA THE HOME OF THE FREE
WEEP FOR THOSE LITTLE ONES
NOT ALLOWED TO BE FREE
or even to
BE
RATHER WEEP
FOR YOURSELVES
DON'T WEEP FOR ME"

Feast of St Bernard of Clairvaux...

I was watching Fr. Connor on his program, "Doctors of the Church" talking about this Saint, and his "fierce" and "tough" personality and way he had in writing and preaching. I like that in a man! Especially a priest. We have far too many that are not nearly as forceful as they should be, in this day where we all try to be so politically correct....ad nauseam. Read about St Bernard. I dig him!

I too get a bit "fierce" but ya know what? I'm in good company. I think we need to be telling the Truth and speaking the Truth in love, of course, but what does that mean? It means that no matter how you say it, you're not going to win everyone. Some will no doubt be offended by the Truth, and to water the Truth down and become "namby pamby" in proclaiming it, surely isn't the way Christ was! He spoke the Truth in love and yet ....was HATED. He was perfect in every way, kind, loving, totally giving, no guile from his lips, no sin, perfect LOVE....yet they tried to kill him for speaking the Truth. Jesus sugarcoated nothing. If we're hated, or some people are offended by what we say, when we are trying to be patient, kind, loving...then we need to "shake the dust off" our sandals and realize that we must be doing something right, because if we follow Him, Jesus says "they will hate you because they hated Me."

So, HAPPY FEAST DAY! Dear Saint Bernard, pray for us! Pray for us to be bold and fierce and passionate about the Truth, and to not back down to anyone who tries to "sugarcoat" Truth so it's palatable to everyone. You didn't do that. Pray for your priest brothers in the world today to be "tough" as you were, when it's needed. Thank you for your intercession. Yours, susie

Suggested Reading:

Bernard of Clairvaux by Henri Daniel-Rops

Bernard of Clairvaux Teaching... ed. by M. Basil Pennington

YES! "No Nuances"...KANSAS BISHOPS ROCK!

No Compromises: Kansas State Bishops Declare Voting for Abortion Candidate is "Evil"

By Peter J. Smith

KANSAS CITY, August 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A vote cast for a politician who supports abortion and same-sex "marriage" is nothing less than casting a vote for "evil" says a state conference of Catholic bishops.

In a voter's guide released for the second time since 2006, the Kansas Catholic Bishops make it clear that Catholics would "commit moral evil" by voting for a candidate who embraces abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning, and same-sex "marriage," when a morally acceptable candidate is available.

The voter's guide signed by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, bishops Ronald Gilmore of Dodge City, Paul Coakley of Salina, and Michael Jackels of Wichita sends a strong message to Catholics that advancing pro-abortion candidates and their aims is incompatible with the Catholic Faith. The statement means trouble not only for Catholic politicians like pro-abortion US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but also for the conservative Catholic Doug Kmiec, a well known constitutional law professor who endorsed Obama as a "natural" for the Catholic vote.

The bishops observe that "voting is a moral act" and that in some matters of morality, such as immigration, universal health care, and affordable housing, "the use of reason allows for a legitimate diversity in our prudential judgments."

Other acts, regardless of the motive or circumstances, always "involve doing evil" and must be opposed: "These choices include elective abortion, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, the destruction of embryonic human beings in stem cell research, human cloning, and same-sex 'marriage.'"

"Such acts are judged to be intrinsically evil, that is, evil in and of themselves regardless of our motives or the circumstances. They constitute an attack against innocent human life, as well as marriage and family," state the bishops.

"In light of the above we would commit moral evil if we were to vote for a candidate who takes a permissive stand on those actions that are intrinsically evil when there is a morally-acceptable alternative."

Catholic voters have to bring a "correct conscience" on matters regarding innocent human life and the family even when faced with the choice of two unacceptable candidates.

"So when there is no choice of a candidate that avoids supporting intrinsically evil actions, especially elective abortion, we should vote in such a way as to allow the least harm to innocent human life and dignity," the bishops conclude.

"We would not be acting immorally therefore if we were to vote for a candidate who is not totally acceptable in order to defeat one who poses an even greater threat to human life and dignity."

We need GOOD CHANGE...and your voice! I'm going to participate...will you?

		Assisting God's People to Proclaim, Celebrate and Serve the Gospel of Life

Dear Susie ,

Be sure to PRINT THIS PAGE as a reminder to participate on
Tuesday night, August 19!

You have successfully signed up for our “Elections 2008” teleconference. By participating in this call, you will be more equipped to make a difference in this year’s national elections, and to awaken the conscience of Americans about abortion!

Here are your details:

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

• EVENT: “Elections 2008” Teleconference and Streaming Web Audio Simulcast

• DAY: Tuesday, August 19

• TIME: 9 PM Eastern (8 PM Central, 6 PM Pacific)

• FORMAT: Simulcast (Attend via Phone or Webcast, it's your choice)

• TO LISTEN TO THE EVENT ON THE WEB AND/OR TO VIEW THE WEB PAGES THAT WILL BE REFERRED TO DURING THE CALL, CLICK THE LINK BELOW:
  http://www.instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=3606843
  (if the link does not open, copy and paste the URL into the URL address bar)

• TO LISTEN TO THE EVENT VIA TELEPHONE:
  CALL: 712-432-1001
  

If you decide to call in by telephone, this will most likely be a long distance call for you, so use your least expensive calling plan or a calling plan that has free evenings or long distance.

If you listen to the web simulcast with the streaming audio player, there is no cost to you.
Due to the number of participants expected, we STRONGLY suggest you call several minutes before the hour so you don't get bumped by another caller.

NOTE: We'll start promptly according to the countdown timer on the webcast page at:
http://www.instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=3606843

Throughout the teleconference and webcast we will be in "presentation" mode where all callers except for the presenters will have their lines muted.

Due to the size of the call, we will not be able to open the phone lines for questions and answers, however you can submit questions on the webcast page, starting right now! We will try to answer as many questions as time permits.

Here's that link again where you can get your dial-in details or listen online by webcast:
http://www.instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=3606843

Susie , we can't wait to talk with you on the 19th!

Yours For Life,

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director
Priests for Life

P.S.- Please spread the word and let other pro-life people across America know about this teleconference and webcast so they can join in on this important discussion! Simply send them an email encouraging them to register at: http://www.priestsforlife.org/conferencecall/index.aspx

Carl for President!...How we need a man like this!

From CNA

Knights of Columbus must help change society with ‘new politics,’ says Carl Anderson

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson

Quebec City, Aug 5, 2008 / 04:58 pm (CNA).- Riding the enthusiasm of Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to the United States, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson delivered a rousing speech today in which he challenged his fellow Knights to transform the world through their actions and political decisions.

“Pope Benedict’s visit was an enormous gift to us: millions of Catholics are now more willing to live the Catholic life more actively. But it is up to us to follow through on this opportunity,” said Anderson.

“Let us be co-workers in the renewal of the Church that our great Pope is leading,” he encouraged. Turning to the Pope Benedict XVI, Anderson quoted, ‘The Horizon of love, is truly boundless: it is the whole world!’

“It may seem too ambitious to talk about transforming the world, much less doing so by trying to create a civilization that is very different from the one we now live in. But the earliest Christians did precisely that: they did so by their example, by holding out the possibility of a life that is higher, more beautiful, and above all more authentic than the vulgarity, violence and greed of the ancient pagan world.”

“Gentlemen, we have the power—given to us by the Holy Spirit—to transform the world in the same way,” the head of the Knights of Columbus exhorted in his annual report.

The Knights have been very active in trying to positively impact the culture in 2007, according to Carl Anderson. In the past year, the men’s fraternal organization has raised more than $144.9 million for charity and volunteered 68 million hours to churches, neighborhoods and communities.

In addition, the group has been very active in supporting the Church at the financial level and in providing solidarity to fellow members.

As one example, Anderson related that he and Bishop William Lori were able to present Pope Benedict with a gift of $1.6 million for his personal charitable organizations.

On the solidarity front, Carl Anderson highlighted the fact that since 1961, Knights from Cuba had been unable to attend the annual convention because of the political situation on the island nation. This year, however, marks the first time in 58 years that delegates from Cuba were able to attend the meeting, he announced, as the Knights from Camaguey, Cuba were received with a standing ovation.

However, the work of the Knights must go beyond the present efforts, Anderson said as he assessed the current political and social climate.

Saying that the opposition to abortion on demand is not going away but getting stronger every year, the Knight’s leader pledged that the group will “never waver in the cause to ensure legal protection for every human being, from the moment of conception to natural death.”

Anderson touched on the U.S. presidential election as well, saying that the question, ‘How should Catholics exercise their responsibilities as citizens?’ must be answered by people working to build a culture of life through a “new politics.”

“Today we constantly hear about change. We must remember that real change means building a culture of life, and real change means building a civilization of love, and that means truly transforming our politics. In this process of change, dealing with the abortion issue is fundamental,” said Anderson.

Noting that the Knights are a non-partisan organization, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson emphasized that there are “certain moral issues that affect our most fundamental values as Catholics and as citizens.”

“This is especially important since Catholics confront a moral dilemma when deciding how to vote: Can we support a candidate who may be attractive for many reasons but who supports abortion? Some partisan advocates have sought to excuse support for pro-abortion candidates through a complex balancing act. They claim that other issues are important enough to set off a candidate’s support for abortion.”

This type of reasoning is unacceptable for Catholics, Anderson stressed, as he warned that, “We will never succeed in building a culture of life if we continue to vote for politicians who support a culture of death. … It’s time we stop accommodating pro-abortion politicians, and it’s time we start demanding that they accommodate us.”

The head of the Knights also said that the fraternal organization “must be in the forefront of efforts to defend the sanctuary of human life—the institution of marriage.” The work to support marriage and the family “does not end with legislation and referenda,” the Supreme Knight underlined.

Thus far, the Knights of Columbus have sponsored a conference for men on being good husbands and fathers with the Archdiocese of Boston, and will host others in Chicago and Houston this coming Fall. The organization’s new “Fathers for Good” initiative, which was launched today, is another way that the Knights are supporting marriage and the family.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson closed his speech by saying that building the civilization of love will not be easy, but “it is our mission, our vocation, our solemn duty.”

How to be miserable...

A ten point scheme for self-hindrance!

1. Sulk - this is highly successful and guaranteed to achieve lasting results.
2. Grab - make sure that, always and in every place, you come first.
3. Scowl - there is nothing to smile about, and you should let everyone know it.
4. Assert yourself - it is the very least you owe to yourself.
5. Do not complain, all you have to do is say, "I don't want to be difficult, but...". This will always get the point over.
6. Argue - other people always need enlightenment.
7. Be sentimental - it will prove that you are a beautiful person who thinks with the heart.
8. Pick your food - slimmers must eat, no matter how many people may starve.
9. Worry - this is one of the most genteel and widely accepted methods of avoiding responsibility.
10. Never forget! Keep an ineradicable charge sheet of your neighbours failings printed on the inside of your eyeballs. And whatever good they may do, do not hold it against them

h/t the Poor Clares TMD

ah,some GOOD NEWS!...

More than six thousand young people celebrated WYD in northern Iraq

Rome, Jul 24, 2008 / 02:04 pm (CNA).- Although only a dozen Iraqi young people were able to attend World Youth Day in Sydney, more than six thousand young people took part in their own WYD celebrations in northern Iraq, attending catechetical sessions and sharing their faith experiences in an atmosphere of joy and enthusiasm.

Together with young people from Lebanon, Australia and France, Iraqi young people celebrated WYD in the dioceses of Amadiyah and Arbil, where a procession and closing Mass were celebrated on July 18.

Bishop Rabban Al-Qas of Amadiya of the Chaldeans told L’Osservatore Romano that more than one thousand young people carried a cross in procession to the town of Araden, the location of the “monastery of the Sultan Mahdokh, the Iraqi martyr who lived there in the fourth century. From there you could see the entire Sapna Valley as the young people sang the WYD songs. Their spirits were not dampened by fatigue and you could see the emotion in their faces throughout the long day.”

At the end of the procession, the young people expressed their hope that “the next WYD would be celebrated ‘in the entire country’ and not just in the north, as in this case, ‘without any fear of violence’.”

Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk said five thousand young people came to his archdiocese. “We followed the same schedule as Sydney, but translated into Arabic. This was an historic event for us, perhaps even more significant than the WYD of Sydney, where it was easy for people to come together. Here we saw the determination of young people to bear witness to their faith amidst difficulties and sufferings,” he said.

Through their example, the Christian young people made Christ present to the other 97% of young people who are Muslim, the archbishop noted. He revealed that he was so happy with the event that he hopes to organize “an encounter between Christians and Muslims at the beginning of Ramadan in September, to pray together for peace and reconciliation.”

Love so pure...

love so pure
so holy
so true
embraced by the Lord
were these two souls
sharing the love
of God so deeply
intimately joined
by the Holy Spirit
brought to
the silence of a convent
Clare lived
in holy silence
where she
listened and obeyed
in poverty
doing penance
praying for her brother
Francis
her brother
the sun of Christ
always shining
in her eyes
His sister the moon
so pristine
and resplendent
reflecting Christ's
own radiance
to him and to
all they served
in their separate lives
until each died
to rise and meet God
never to bid
farewell again
forever together
both now
alive
resurrected
born anew
in the perfume of
the Lover of their souls
embraced
and embracing
in eternal Joy
never more
to part

Catholic News Agency...

One of the best comments I just read regarding this article from CNA. Happily most commenters on the page are NOT supporting Obama:

Published by: Fr. Kevin
Atlanta 17/03/2008 05:55 PM EST

Adam,
The reason pro-life, particularly abortion, trumps other issues is that the people affected by those other issues are alive--the most fundamental of the inalienable rights, sine qua no

**************************************
FROM

www.catholicnewsagency.com

Nurse says Obama supports infanticide

Barack Obama, presidential candidate

Washington DC, Feb 16, 2008 / 05:35 am (CNA).- A pro-life nurse is seconding a statement made by Alan Keyes that Jesus Christ would not vote for Barack Obama, pointing to his support for infanticide.

Jill Stanek is a nurse who discovered babies were being aborted alive and shelved to die in soiled utility rooms while working at a hospital in Illinois and since has been a strong advocate against partial-birth and live-birth abortions.

According to her commentary on WorldNetDaily.com, Stanek explains why Keyes made his statement.

At the federal level, legislation was presented called the Born Alive Infants Protection Act (BAIPA) which stated all live-born babies were guaranteed the same constitutional right to equal protection, whether or not they were wanted.

BAIPA sailed through the U.S. Senate by unanimous vote and by an overwhelming majority in the House. President Bush signed the bill into law in 2002.

Stanek wrote that, “in Illinois, the state version of BAIPA repeatedly failed, thanks in large part to then-state Sen. Barack Obama. It only passed in 2005, after Obama left.”

“Obama articulately worried that legislation protecting live aborted babies might infringe on women's rights or abortionists' rights. Obama's clinical discourse, his lack of mercy, shocked me. I was naive back then. Obama voted against the measure, twice. It ultimately failed.”

“So, the reason Keyes said Jesus Christ wouldn't vote for Barack Obama was because of Obama's fanatical support of abortion to the point of condoning infanticide.”

In a recent USA Today opinion piece, Obama admitted being "nagged" by the Jesus-wouldn't-vote-for-him statement, but only because he wished he'd given a different comeback.

Obama’s initial response, as stated in USA Today was “that we live in a pluralistic society, and that I can't impose my religious views on another.” He added that he was running to be the U.S. senator of Illinois, and not a minister.

Stanek summarized Obama’s second response saying that “Obama insinuated opposition to abortion is based only on religion, lecturing pro-lifers like me to ‘explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.’”

“I don't recall mentioning religion when I testified against live-birth abortion. I only recall describing a live aborted baby I held in a hospital soiled utility room until he died, and a live aborted baby who was accidentally thrown into the trash,” she told WorldNetDaily.

Yet, Stanek pointed out that religion was never part of the abortion ban debate. “I recall comparisons made to U.S. laws ensuring animals being killed are treated humanely. I recall testimony that late-term babies feel excruciating pain while being aborted.”

Stanek concluded by asking Obama, why do “you think Jesus should vote for you?”

Brother Sun Sister Moon...

Powerful images...

Aug. 11, Feast of St Clare...the first Saint (of old) ...

that I ever prayed to, some 3.5 years ago. Hers is the first statue of a Saint I ever bought, and she stands proudly in my prayer room bookcase. I took Clare for my confirmation name. I love her love for the Eucharist, for St Francis and for her Poor Clares. God bless them all, for they "hold up the world" by their many sacrifices and countless ascending prayers through the ages. All religious are a gift, but there is to me, something very special about the Poor Clares. Without one of them, we'd have no EWTN! :)

Another precious Carmelite sister...God rest her soul

MARIA CROCIFISSA CURCIO (1877-1957)

Maria Crocifissa Curcio, foundress of the Carmelite Missionary Sisters of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, was born in Ispica (Rg), southeast Sicily, in the diocese of Noto, on January 30, 1877. Her parents were Salvatore Curcio and Concetta Franzò. Being the seventh of ten siblings, she spent her childhood in a highly cultural and social home environment, in which she quickly exhibited lively intelligence and a pleasant personality. She was very strong-willed and determined, and in her early teens she developed a strong tendency towards piety, with specific attention and solidarity towards the weak and marginalized.

At home she was raised under the strict moral guidelines, by virtue of which her father not only impeded her yearning for an intense life of faith, but according to the customs of the era, he did not permit her to study beyond grade six at the elementary level.

These deprivations cost her greatly. However, eager to learn, she drew comfort from the many books in the family library, where she found a copy of the Life of Saint Teresa of Jesus. The impact of this saint enabled her to come to know and love the Carmel, and so she began her "study of celestial things".

In 1890, at the age of thirteen, she succeeded, and not without difficulty, in enrolling in the Carmelite Third Order, which had only recently been re-established in Ispica. Because of her regular attendance at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and her deep devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who "had captured her heart since childhood" by assigning her the mission of “making the Carmel reflourish”, her knowledge of Carmelite Spirituality made her understand the divine plans in store for her.

Her desire to share the ideal of a Missionary Carmel, which unites the contemplative dimension with that of a specifically apostolic dimension, she began an initial experience of community life with a few fellow members of the Third Order in a small apartment in her ancestral home, which her siblings had bequeathed to her. She then transferred to Modica (Rg) where she was entrusted with the management of the "Carmela Polara” conservatory for the acceptance and assistance of young females who were orphans or in any way needy, with the firm resolution to turning them into "worthy women who would be useful to themselves and to society".

After several years of trials and hardships in the vain attempt to see this undertaking of hers in some way supported and officially recognized by the local ecclesiastic authorities, she finally managed to obtain the support and agreement of her missionary ideal in Father Lorenzo Van Den Eerenbeemt, a Carmelite Father of the Ancient Order. On May 17, 1925, she came to Rome for the canonization of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, and the next day, accompanied by father Lorenzo, she visited Santa Marinella, a small town on the Latium coast north of Rome. She was struck by the natural beauty of this region, but also by the extreme poverty of a great number of this town’s inhabitants and it was here that she finally realized that she had reached her landing place. Having obtained an oral permission “of experiment” from the bishop of the Diocese of Porto Santa Rufina, Cardinal Antonio Vico, on July 3,1925, she definitively settled in Santa Marinella, and on July 16 of the following year, she received the decree of affiliation of her small community with the Carmelite Order, hence sealing her belonging to Mary in the Carmel forever more.

In 1930, after many sufferings and crosses, her small nucleus obtained the recognition of the Church and Cardinal Tommaso Pio Boggiani, Ordinary of the diocese Porto Santa Rufina, erected the Congregation of the Carmelite Missionary Sisters of St. Therese of the Child Jesus as an institute of diocesan rights.

“To bring souls to God” is the objective that brought to life the numerous openings of educational and charitable institutions in Italy and abroad. For this reason she urged her daughters to bring a Christian point of view to families. She was able to achieve her missionary yearning in 1947 when, on the ashes of the second world war, she sent the first sisters to Brazil with the mandate to “never forget the poor”, continuing to dream of increasingly vast horizons towards which to drive the sails of her missionary Carmel.

With her entire life marked by poor health and diabetes, which she forced herself to always accept with strength and a serene adhesion to the will of God, she passed the last years of her life in illness, continuing to pray and to give of herself to her sisters, to whom she offers a precious example of virtues, which became all the more transparent and bright.

Her prayer was an imitate and constant dialogue with Jesus, the Father, and all the Blessed, inspired by a filial confidence, spousal love, sentiments of gratitude, praise, adoration and amends, that she sought to transmit, first of all, to her spiritual daughters and to all those who had the opportunity to know her through the example of her life, always nourishing the “desire to have holy daughters, eucharistic daughters, and daughters that know how to pray”.

She intensely cultivated the union of love with Christ in the Eucharist by giving all of herself to satisfy the desire to make amends “for the immense number of souls who do not know and do not love God” and by offering to be the victim of atonement along “with the Great Martyr of Love”. An amends which made her capable of sharing the pains and anxieties of humanity; of becoming aware of their various needs, with charity and justice; of providing a voice to those who do not have one; and of perceiving the image of the Crucified Christ in those whose image had been distorted by pain and suffering. For this reason she urged the sisters to “love with holiness the treasures with which the Divine Goodness entrusts you; the souls of the youth, the hope of the future.” And to not spare oneself in the service of the youth most humiliated and abandoned by “freeing in them the gold from the mud”, in order to restore in every creature the dignity and the image of being a child of God.

From the Mother of Jesus she learned to be a mother to those in need. With St. Therese of the Child Jesus she found spiritual bliss in the “regular and faithful fulfilment of one’s duties”, doing “with love and dedication even the smallest deeds”; experiencing with humility and simplicity, joy and tenderness, every human relationship and everyday achieving that unity of life and faith “by peacefully combining” the untiring activity of Martha and the profound mysticism of Mary.

On July 4, 1957, in Santa Marinella, she serenely returned forever to Christ, her spouse, leaving behind in everyone’s heart a live memory of her love and of her holiness.

Yesterday we honored Edith Stein, St Teresa Benedicta

Dear St Teresa Benedicta, pray for us!

Saint of the Day

Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

(1891-1942)

A brilliant philosopher who stopped believing in God when she was 14, Edith Stein was so captivated by reading the autobiography of Teresa of Avila that she began a spiritual journey that led to her Baptism in 1922. Twelve years later she imitated Teresa by becoming a Carmelite, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.

Born into a prominent Jewish family in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland), Edith abandoned Judaism in her teens. As a student at the University of Göttingen, she became fascinated by phenomenology, an approach to philosophy. Excelling as a protégé of Edmund Husserl, one of the leading phenomenologists, Edith earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1916. She continued as a university teacher until 1922 when she moved to a Dominican school in Speyer; her appointment as lecturer at the Educational Institute of Munich ended under pressure from the Nazis.

After living in the Cologne Carmel (1934-38), she moved to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands. The Nazis occupied that country in 1940. In retaliation for being denounced by the Dutch bishops, the Nazis arrested all Dutch Jews who had become Christians. Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz on August 9, 1942.

Pope John Paul II beatified Teresa Benedicta in 1987 and canonized her in 1998.

Here they come,...

walkin' down the street, bright smiles on their faces, for everyone they meet...hey hey it's the Seminarians (not the Monkees) and boy we're glad to have them around, they're going to be our spiritual Fathers and bless everyone in town....

To all Seminarians everywhere (but especially those in Nebraska!)... you ROCK!


I know NONE of you guys know what I'm "singing" about, (cuz I'm old, but TJ knows what I'm singing about! Why he's darn near as old as me!) How 'bout it TJ....work one up for these fine, holy, courageous young men? They're the "cleansing tide" we've been praying for! AMEN!

Spread The News, The Tide Is Turning. Many In The Media Are Full Of Doom & Gloom. Don't Believe Their Hype. The Facts Are In The Book & Outlined Below. This Book Is Simply Not Wishful Thinking.

Below Are The Reasons Why The Tide Is Turning

Did you know:

• Vocations Are Increasing!
• The Laity Is Defending The Church In Many Ways
• The Youth's Faithfullness To The Church, Her Traditions & The Holy Father Has Undergone A Profound Resurgence
• Catholic Communications Such As Catholic Radio & Catholic Web Sites & Blogs Have Increased Profoundly
• A Deep Interest In Mary Is Being Witnessed Across The World
• Interest In The Eucharist & Eucharistic Adoration Is On The Rise
• Catholics Are Defending Their History & Teachings That Some In Secular Society Mock Or Don't Understand

Need To Understand Your Catholic Faith, Her History & Her Teachings? This Book Is For You!

The Book Is Available From Catholic Word

For Orders Call 1 800 932 3826 Or Online

cathsales@tds.net

The Word Incarnate...

little preemie...

Precious, precious little soul
one so tiny, yet so whole
you are weak but He is strong
tiny baby just hold on...as
prayers ascend to heaven above
blessed miracle of God's great love

I found this amazing picture at this blog and had to leave a wee poem for the wee one. I hope and pray she's done alright. Does anyone know about Kimberly?

The world's tiniest baby - meet the 10oz bundle of defiance

Last updated at 23:35 27 September 2007

When she was born, 15 weeks premature and weighing ten and a half ounces, her father's confidence was about the only thing on Kimberly Mueller's side.

In the few snatched moments he was allowed before his daughter was whisked away by doctors, Andreas Mueller spoke from his heart.

"I whispered to her: 'Kimberly, you'll make it,'" he recalled.

Scroll down for more...

The size of a mobile phone: Kimberley Mueller weighed just over 10 ounces when she was born in Hanover, Germany - making her the world's smallest surviving baby

With a survival chance of less than 1,000 to one, every day she has got through since then is a triumph.

Six months later, Kimberly has finally been allowed to go home to her parents in Hanover.

"Babies as small as this usually have no chance," said Dr Oliver Moeller, a heart specialist who treated her.

"We are incredibly lucky that she lived. Such a case I have never experienced. We had a lot of luck ... a lot."

Kimberly is the smallest baby ever born in Germany and the youngest to survive.

She was just 10.2 inches long and weighed little more than a packet of butter when she arrived in the 25th week of her mother's pregnancy.

Scroll down for more...

Now six months, Kimberley has been allowed home for the first time (Above with mother Petra and father Andreas)

Petra Mueller, 38, who remained at her daughter's bedside in intensive care at the University Clinic in Goettingen, was allowed only to stroke her with her finger.

"It was the nicest thing when she would grip my finger in her tiny hands," she recalled.

"She was like a little bear gripping a tree trunk, just hanging on for life as if she was saying 'Don't leave me, mummy'."

Kimberly was placed in an incubator for warmth, given a respirator to help her breathe and fed through a drip. She was also given a cocktail of drugs to boost an immune system that was barely formed.

At three months, she faced a major setback, when doctors feared she could be blind. But laser treatment corrected the problem.

Scroll down for more...

Kimberley's chances of living were rated at worse than 1,000-1 when she was born 15 weeks prematurely

Kimberly's progress was underlined when she arrived home this week weighing five and a half pounds and measuring 17 inches.

During the coming weeks she will continue to be fed artificially and will need to have oxygen as her lungs keep developing.

The world's smallest known surviving baby was Rumaisa Rahman who weighed just 8.6 ounces when she was born in Chicago in 2004.

Rosary for the unborn...Ave Maria....

"If your nation overturns legalized abortion, I will richly bless it by my favor.But if this sin continues with national approval,
much will be stripped away."

--Message from Jesus, 10/14/2001

Order a rosary, full length, or one decade, here

The proceeds go to shelters for unwed mothers.

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us.

Published on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 in the Times of London

Playground of War Blessed by an Angel
by Janine di Giovanni in Bethlehem

THE laughter of children playing at the Orphanage of the Holy Family is shattered by the rattle of machinegun fire.

The children begin to wail, but Sister Sophie, 70, a Lebanese nun who runs the orphanage, is used to the barrage of war and barely flinches.

“I’m not tired of the hunger, thirst or work,” said the tiny nun, who is regarded as a saint. “I’m tired of this situation. I’m a nurse. I know people are wounded out there. If I can’t get to them, that hurts me.”

A member of the Sisters of St Vincent de Paul, Sister Sophie has spent years inside the occupied territories. She came to run this 115-year-old orphanage in the late 1980s, during the first intifada.

For the past 18 months, since the second intifada, she has watched the streets of Bethlehem turn into a bloody playground of war. One week into the siege, Sister Sophie is desperately trying to protect the 50 children who live inside the walls of this church compound — and anyone else that comes to her door seeking help or refuge. She tells of her Palestinian gardener aged 18, who died on Monday after being beaten by Israeli soldiers. His parents, fearing snipers, had not buried him, so Sister Sophie put the body in her car and helped them to find a hole in the ground. “The dogs have more value than a human being,” she said. Asked if she would harbor a Palestinian gunmen, she looks surprised: “Certainly.”

While terrified inhabitants of Bethlehem are locked inside their houses for fear of being shot by Israeli soldiers combing the streets, Sister Sophie ventures outside daily, stepping around the tanks without a flak jacket or helmet, to see who is in need of help.

Yesterday she found a woman about to give birth and too frightened to leave her flat. The nun drove the wailing mother-to-be to the hospital. It was highly dangerous. Anyone on the streets during the curfew runs the risk of being shot. No one brings a car inside the city, but the nun shrugged casually.

“An Israeli commander told me he would ask his men not to shoot me,” she said, “but he warned me that if they start to shoot, I should slow down.”

Inside the orphanage children aged under six live with staff who have not left since the siege began. Usually 70 other children, “social cases” from broken homes, also are cared for by the nuns. “But they can’t make their way here since the tanks came,” Sister Sophie said. “I am so worried.”

For now the children have enough tinned food, water from a well and bread that the staff bake. They also have generators for the hours when the electricity is cut. But the nuns are more concerned about the psychological impact of their ordeal.

Since the siege began the children are not sleeping, are wetting their beds and some of the older ones have refused to speak. “At first we told them the noise outside was a wedding party,” Sister Sophie said. “Now they know it is war. They ask: ‘Am I going to die?’ ” Despite the flag of the Vatican flying outside the compound, the area was targeted. During one barrage, a tank shell punched a bowling ball-sized dent in the stone façade of the church inside the compound. A statue of the Virgin Mary on the roof was also hit.

The statue was a sign of comfort for the many Palestinian Christians who live near by in Beit Jala and have been fighting with their Israeli neighbors in Gilo. Now the Virgin’s left hand is gone; her back is peppered with bullets.

“We try to be brave,” Sister Munira, the deputy director, said, leading the way through the rooms. There is Sara, four days old, who was abandoned in a rubbish bin near Hebron; Salaam, 1, who recently had open-heart surgery; and Caroline, 18 months, who, from her crib, holds her arms out to anyone who enters the room.

“All of them have terrible stories,” Sister Munira said. “They have been abandoned or their fathers are drug addicts or their mothers simply do not want them.” For the past week, when the shooting has been especially bad, she has pushed all the cots and beds into the center of the room away from the windows and everyone sleeps together.

Outside the orphanage the streets of Bethlehem are deadly quiet. Houses are locked and shuttered and, aside from four Israeli tanks barreling down the road shooting aimlessly, there is no sign of life.

Sister Sophie is getting ready to deliver bread, venturing outside wearing nothing more protective than a cardigan. “(She) has no flak jacket,” Samir, a neighbor, said, “but she has her rosary beads.”

Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd

Who will speak up for the little ones?...

"Any country that accepts abortion, is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what it wants." Mother Teresa

God's Might or Mite?...

I got this today from the website below. I now have a new "Pro Life Hero, " too! Now if I could just find some information on her! Anyone out there that can help, please do. ~ susie

15^th Century Visitation sculpture from Passau. As is customary in later representations of the Visitation, Mary and Elizabeth embrace, appearing as mirror images of one another, their unborn children, Christ and John the Baptist, can be seen in the mandoria-shaped hollows of their mother's wombs. (see detail of Christ in the womb below)

I have a Catholic hero who 99.99% of Catholics have never heard of. I have lots of heroes, but this person is particularly distinguished for several reasons, one of which is that she has faded into utter obscurity - as most of us will do. But more importantly, she developed her own great devotion to the Unborn Christ Child back in the early 1920's and 1930's and wrote two outstanding books about Christ: Nativitas Christi and Ortus Christi. (No doubt her devotion to the unborn Christ was derived from the spirituality and writings of the French School of Spirituality founded centuries earlier.)

At the conclusion of this reflection I will quote one sentence from Ortus Christi, in which she turns to the Unborn Christ Child within Mary's womb and prays.

"It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth..." Jer 27:5

"O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as thou art, O Lord...Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is thy hand, high thy right hand." Psalm 89:8,13

"And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen..." Isaiah 30:30

"The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm..." Isaiah 62:8

But the arm of the Lord is also associated with deliverance, as when He delivered the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt: "I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm..." Ex 6:6

Finally, the prophet Isaiah associates the arm of the Lord with the youthful Messiah Savior: "Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant..." Isaiah 53:1-2

The arm of the Lord was revealed to us as a saving arm, bringing salvation through Jesus. So, even in the womb, the tiny unborn Savior's arm represented the arm and hand of God reaching out to humanity to heal and save!

So, Mother St. Paul - a pro-life hero from the 1920's and 1930's - reflects on the mission of Moses and then on Isaiah's words: "A little Child shall lead them" (Isa 11:6), then she prays to the Unborn Lord: "Oh! Come, little Saviour, come and redeem us by Thy outstretched Arm!" How humanly weak that unborn arm, yet how powerful its redemptive blessings. We too can turn to the Unborn Christ Child and beg Him to outstretch His tiny arm and work pro-life miracles in our own day.

Unborn Christ with His arm outreached

Visit the website: Unborn Word Alliance
Visit the blog version of: Unborn Word of the day

What can BROWN do for you?...

I have just started wearing my brown scapular again for the past week, and have come under some spiritual attack due to various situations. I bought it 3.5 years ago, shortly after we returned to the Catholic Church. I was drawn to Carmelite spirituality right off the bat. I did take a year to discern becoming a Benedictine oblate, but am impressed more and more toward the Carmelites. There is a new Carmelite group at our parish that will be initiating members into the scapular the last Monday of August. Rich and I are planning on going. Please pray for me to find a Spiritual Director. Much is happening in my life, my heart, my "circle" that could benefit greatly by solid direction and guidance. The past 3 years, I've done alright "on my own" and I do believe I have been "guided" by the Holy Spirit, but I want to find a person to talk to about my life/goals/dreams/"visions" so I would appreciate your prayers.

I am currently reading (and getting to know more Carmelite Saints in...) Bread of Heaven, a Treasury of Carmelite Prayers and Devotions on the Eucharist.

ask Our Lady of Mt Carmel what she'd like you to do, and "listen to your Mama!"
great blog if you're interested in becoming a secular Carmelite

a day late...Pray for us St Albert...

Carmelite Saints		Albert degli Abbati was born in Trapani in Sicily in the thirteenth century. Having joined the Carmelites and been ordained a priest, he soon became famous for his preaching and miracles. He was provincial in Sicily in 1296, and died at Messina, probably in 1307, with a reputation for purity and prayer.

Canon 915...

Let's hear it for Archbishop Raymond Burke! I just saw some of the interview with Raymond Arroyo done at the newly dedicated Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, WI. I visited that Shrine in April with a priest friend. I pray Our Lady of Guadalupe will change the hearts of some priests I know, who are actually FOR Obama. It's torn my heart out and I grieve with our Lady. This is an excellent read! God bless all of our priests, and may they rise up, be bold, not fear offending some by the Truth, but as Jesus their Shepherd spoke the truth (and was killed for it) they'll be just as courageous as so many others who are dying for Truth and the Faith.

H/T Edward Peters, JD, JCD for this fine post on his fine blog!

What good am i?

The lyrics are on my post "pro life anthem."

Street children asleep on the sidewalk in São Paulo, unaffected by passers-by and the passers-by likewise.
Ironically, the passers-by are waiting for the lights to turn green whilst the kids are waiting to be rescued from the streets.



Aborted babies left in the trash.

We legalize killing the most innocent and defenseless, the unborn, and it's a mere matter of time before we kill what some say are the "non- productive:" the elderly, the comatose, the terminally ill, those with downs syndrome, the physically disabled. 1973 - Roe v Wade. 2005 - Terri Schiavo...only 32 years.

When one is "too" old and feeble and or not adding to the tax revenue anymore, or if one is homeless, and useless in the eyes of the world, that's pretty much a reason to "do away" with the "undesirables." Will YOU be considered undesirable someday? You're not getting any younger you know. And all the cosmetic surgery in the world won't keep you from deteriorating on the inside. If things keep going like they are going, you might simply not be worth "keeping alive."
One day, someone will arbitrarily decide just when it is you've become a burden. My guess is, it won't be you.

This November PLEASE vote for the RIGHT to LIFE for all, and if you're Catholic, pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of the Americas and patroness of the unborn to guide you as you go to the voting booth. If you don't vote because you don't like either candidate, or it's too "much of a hassle" and should we then end up with Mr. Obama as this country's president, then we'll deserve whatever comes down the pike. Take it from me, a former fetus, what comes down the pike won't be pretty and it sure as hell won't be Utopia.

See! I will not forget you... I have carved you on the palm of My Hand.... I have called you by your name... You are mine.... You are precious to Me.... I love you. (- Isaiah -)

Novena for LIFE...

From August 7 to August 15, Priests for Life invites believers to pray the Novena in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Lord Jesus Christ,
You have conquered the power of death
And opened for humanity
The hope of eternal life in body and soul.

You granted your Mother
A share in heavenly glory,
And did not allow decay to touch her body.

As we prepare for the Feast of the Assumption,
Grant us new confidence in the victory of life over death,
And renewed reverence for the human body.

As we honor Mary, Assumed into Heaven,
May we proclaim the hope of Your Gospel:
That you want every human life seated on your throne.

May that hope strengthen us to protect every life here on earth.

You live and reign forever and ever. Amen