Monday, March 05, 2007
Henri Nouwen...Healing words for a Lenten Saturday
Based on Luke 15: 18 - 20 Parable of the Prodigal son.
Taken from his book, Show Me The Way Readings for each day of Lent.
I remember reading his book, The Return of the Prodigal Son (that I'd found and bought in the bookstore of our Evangelical church) upon returning as a "prodigal daughter" in 1997 having been on a wayward road and finding myself in the mire of pig feces. That book opened my heart to God's mercy like no other book I'd read up to that point. Thank you Henri Nouwen, for all of your wise words and tender compassion for sinners like me.
susie
[This] is a story about returning. I realize the importance of returning over and over again. My life drifts away from God. I have to return...Returning is a lifelong struggle.
It strikes me that the wayward son had rather selfish motivations. He said to himself, "How many of my father's paid servants have more food that they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father." He didn't return because of a renewed love for his father. No, he returned simply to survive. He had discovered that the way he had chosen was leading him to death. Returning to his father was a necessity for staying alive. He realized that he had sinned, abut this realization came about because sin had brought him close to death.
I am moved by the fact that the father didn't require any higher motivation. His love was so total and unconditional that he simply welcomed his son home.
This is a very encouraging thought. God does not require a pure heart before embracing us. Even if we return only because following our desires has failed to bring happiness, God will take us back. Even if we return because being a Christian brings us more peace than being a pagan, God will receive us. Even if we return because our sins did not offer as much satisfaction as we had hoped. God will take us back. Even if we return because we could not make it on our own, God will receive us. God's love does not require any explanations about why we are returning. God is glad to see us home and wants to give us what we desire, just for being home.
In my mind's eye, I see Rembrandt's painting, The Return of the Prodigal Son. The dim-eyed old father holds his returned son close to his chest with an unconditional love....He seems to think only one thing: "He is back home, and I am so glad to have him with me again."
The voice of despair says, "I sin over and over again. After endless promises to myself and others to do better next time, I find myself back again in the old dark places. Forget about trying to change. I have tried for years. It didn't work and it will never work. It is better that I get out of people's way, be forgotten, no longer around, dead."
This strangely attractive voice takes all uncertainties away and puts an end to the struggle. It speaks unambiguously for the darkness and offers a clear-cut negative identity.
But Jesus came to open my ears to another voice that says, "I am you God, I have molded you with my own hands, and I love what I have made. I love you with a love that has no limits, because I love you as I am loved. Do not run away from me. Come back to me - not once, not twice, but always again. You are my child. How can you ever doubt that I will embrace you again, hold you against my breast, kiss you and let my hand run through your hair? I am you God - the God of mercy and compassion, the God of pardon and love, the God of tenderness and care. Please do not say that I have given up on you, that I cannot stand you any more, that there is no way back. It is not true. I so much want you to be with me. I so much want you to be close to me. I know all your thoughts. I hear all your words. I see all of your actions. And I love you because you are beautiful, made in my own image, an expression of my most intimate love. Do not judge yourself. Do not condemn yourself. Do not reject yourself. Let my love touch the deepest, most hidden corners of your heart and reveal to you your own beauty, a beauty that you have lost sight of, but which will become visible to you again in the light of my mercy. Come, come, let me wipe your tears and let my mouth come close to your ear and say to you, 'I love you, I love you, I love you.'"
This is the voice that Jesus wants us to hear. It is the voice that calls us always to return to the one who has created us in love and wants to re-create us in mercy.
Prayer
O Lord, my Lord
help me to listen to your voice
and to decide for your mercy
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Meet the artist who developed RECON's logo...
Maureen Beat was able to wrest my idea that formed in my head about RECON being short for reconnaissance. She was able to impeccably express my desire to combine St. Peter's Basilica with a compass, as "reverts and converts" come into the Church to 'find their way' and place in the local parish and the Church universal. She was able to take my "rough, embryonic design" and make it come alive with her professional eye and design finesse. We are grateful to have such a gifted artist in our midst here in Omaha. We have received so many compliments when handing out our cards and brochures. Thank you, Maureen, for the great work and the simply striking logo you created for RECON.
Rich & Susie
Oh beautiful, sorrowful Mother, comfort those today...
Comfort those who've lost loved ones to disease, death in war, famine, car accidents, plane accidents and by murder. Please pray for us! Pray for this country, this world so off kilter by original sin, that blind eyes and hard hearts will "see" and "soften" to the lavish grace of Jesus. That the Peace of Christ will prevail in the hearts and souls of your children, to bring light and love to a world so full of hate, rage, vengeance, fear, self-loathing, and violence. Peace to those who are blinded by these things in this culture of death who go on hurting, killing, maiming, harming, abusing because as your Son said with his last breath... "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do." And pray for your Church, that we will stop hurting the brothers and sisters in Christ by yielding to jealousies, anger, bitterness, which keep love from healing hearts as they should be healed.
I came across this artwork found here and thought it so simply elegantly beautiful, I had to post it. God bless you all this week during Lent as you "offer up your sufferings, no matter how little or how severe to Our Lady of Sorrows and find courage to face these trials and offer them in union with Christ's own suffering and find amidst your sorrow, also the joy that is even deeper, that will see you through it all, wrapped in Mary's embrace, as she holds you near her Immaculate Heart that beats for you as it did for her Son.
susie
Olde Tyme Religion & Rome Our Sweet Home...
Visit here and get these two parodies for free, in MP3 download, etc. Tiber Jumper, his wife, and I had fun writing Rome Our Sweet Home. TJ wrote Olde Tyme Religion while unable to get to work during a big snow day in the Philly area. We are glad that he stayed home and worked this up! These are so great, TJ! Thanks for the smiles they bring and the fun they are to listen to driving around town...and "out on the range."
susie
No RECON Meeting today...
Due to 10 ft drifts of snow along Pflug Road and a big pile of plowed snow in front of the gate of the Holy Family Shrine, our RECON meeting is cancelled.
We'll see y'all, God willing, on APRIL 1, 2007 - 5:30 p.m.
susie & rich
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Sacramental Eyes...
sacramental eyes are needed
to see Christ in the priest
who sits across from me and
hears my confession and who
then absolves me of my sins
sacramental eyes are needed
to see that the wine and bread
are no longer wine and bread
but the very body, blood, soul
and divinity of Christ
sacramental eyes see that when
all hope is gone, all hope is
only a breath away - escaping in
an urgent gasp of a prayer that
only God the Father understands.
sacramental eyes are the eyes of
faith that see hope and find love
in the most obscure places and in
the worst of trials or sufferings
because the Eyes of Christ saw first
susie melkus
02.23.07
to see Christ in the priest
who sits across from me and
hears my confession and who
then absolves me of my sins
sacramental eyes are needed
to see that the wine and bread
are no longer wine and bread
but the very body, blood, soul
and divinity of Christ
sacramental eyes see that when
all hope is gone, all hope is
only a breath away - escaping in
an urgent gasp of a prayer that
only God the Father understands.
sacramental eyes are the eyes of
faith that see hope and find love
in the most obscure places and in
the worst of trials or sufferings
because the Eyes of Christ saw first
susie melkus
02.23.07
Friday, February 23, 2007
Gianna Jessen...
Abortion survivor tells story
By AMY WHITE
Gianna Jessen came into the world as a surprise. Her 17-year-old mother knew she was pregnant. She also knew she didn't want to be. She underwent an abortion procedure, having toxic saline solution injected into the womb during the third trimester.
Jessen, then in the womb for 7½ months, spent 18 hours in the solution. "It burns the baby inside and out," she said. "(The mother) is to deliver a dead baby within 24 hours." But when a 2-pound Jessen emerged, she was alive.
"I did not die that day," Jessen said. "I was delivered alive in a Los Angeles County abortion clinic in a room full of teenage girls who had already had the saline injections and were feeling their children die inside of them."
Jessen will tell her story Friday at a Sanctity of Life Rally in Modesto sponsored by the "11th Hour" TV program.
Raised in California, Jessen lives in Nashville, Tenn. She has traveled the world since she was 14, telling of her experience.
Jessen spent her first three months in a hospital incubator. Doctors at the hospital did not expect her to live, she said. But she did. She was then put in emergency foster care, before being placed at 17 months with a foster mother who would become her adoptive grandmother. Afflicted with cerebral palsy resulting from lack of oxygen in the womb, Jessen was "32 pounds of dead weight," she said. She wasn't expected to hold up her head, sit up, crawl or walk.
Her foster mother worked with Jessen, who at age 3½ began to walk with a walker and leg braces. Today, she walks with a slight limp in her left leg.
Jessen has done indoor rock climbing and is training for the Music City marathon in Nashville in a few months. She plans to take swing or tango dance lessons after that. Jessen also writes and performs songs, ranging from love ballads to social commentary.
"Never say never," she said in a recent phone interview. "A person and God always have the opportunity to progress. No matter what point you are at, you can always do something, even if it is just the tiniest thing."
On Christmas when she was 12, Jessen learned she had survived an abortion attempt. Before, when she had asked why she had cerebral palsy, her adoptive mother — the daughter of her foster mother — told her hers was a traumatic, premature birth. But that day when she asked, her mother decided Jessen was ready to hear the truth. She told her that her biological mother was young and without hope.
"I was aborted, right?" Jessen asked. Her adoptive mother confirmed it. Jessen was calm.
"It must have been the Lord, because I didn't freak out," Jessen remembered. "I totally believe that the Lord Jesus spared my life and I would not be walking today if it were not for the grace of God and the power of Christ. I know that when you need God to walk every day, you know that God is real."
Jessen said she never dwelled on feelings of rejection, and someday wants to have or adopt children herself.
Louise Shatswell, producer of "The 11th Hour," said she hopes those who hear Jessen will be touched by her story and "that their eyes will be opened to the reality of life at that stage of life."
The rally will include a question-and-answer session with Jessen, as well as counselors and literature from the Modesto Pregnancy Center.
It's impossible to know exactly how many babies survive abortion procedures, but it is rare, said Jessen, who met 11 others — ranging in age from young children to 65 years old — at a conference about 10 years ago.
Shatswell thinks Jessen's appearance brings another view to a society that endorses the idea that "if you don't want it, get rid of it," she said. "I don't believe the majority of people who get abortions are really informed about what they are doing.
"She is a living example of an unborn child being a child and not being a thing, a glob, an unidentified piece of nothing," Shatswell said. "It's a real-life living baby … and the sanctity of life that the Bible gives doesn't sanction killing a child, whether in the womb or outside the womb."
If a woman told her she was considering an abortion, Jessen said she would listen to her, then lead her to a pregnancy crisis center for tests and counseling.
"I would say that choosing to have an abortion is something she would never forget," said Jessen, who advocates adoption.
"Can't we just give a little and say, 'I may not be the best mother for this child, but I love this child enough to sacrifice for it'?" she asked. "Isn't that the ultimate love?"
Jessen is conscious that examples speak louder than words. She often talks to young people about the value of chastity, modesty and honor. She wants to remind people that all of their choices have consequences.
"My biological parents made some really poor choices," she said. "I forgive them for what they did (but) I live every day with the result of the 'choice' that my biological mother made 27 years ago. So it's ridiculous to think our choices on a moment-by-moment basis only affect us. They always affect someone else, for good or ill."
Jessen is sometimes unprepared for the grief that pours out from others when they hear her story. "Women who have had abortions have come up to me crying, saying, 'I wish I had never done this. I had no idea the pain I would live with for the rest of my life,'" she said.
Men, too, have talked to her of feeling powerless or regretful about supporting an abortion. "At the end of the day, I do a lot of listening," Jessen said.
It's not all listening. She met President Bush in 2002 and has appeared before Congress, including speaking against partial-birth abortion in 1999 and in support of the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in 2000.
She said she doesn't often think about her mother's abortion. "I just spend my life trying to smile and overcome," she said. "Sometimes, it does hit me, 'Oh, my gosh, I was aborted; that's huge.' There are days I think about it and I think, 'This is amazing.' But my whole life has been, so far, kind of an adventure. I really look at life that way."
Rich and I record Life on the Rock and watched this morning last night's episode and we were profoundly touched, completely amazed and in total awe to witness this lovely miracle speaking with Fr. Francis. Gianna was a guest on Life on the Rock this past Thursday night. And some suggest that we 'kill the unborn' if they might have a defect???
I know where the defect is, and it's not with the baby diagnosed...but with the murderous "culture of death" of the so-called elite and professionals who "know best" what to do with babies, or the elderly. Their answer? Kill them, as they might not 'live a complete, full life' and they might not "amount to anything" ....in other words, they think they won't have a productive life to add to their wallets or retirement funds. Amazing Grace...look at Gianna and tell me she's not 'living life' or hasn't anything to offer us "normal" folk.
By AMY WHITE
Gianna Jessen came into the world as a surprise. Her 17-year-old mother knew she was pregnant. She also knew she didn't want to be. She underwent an abortion procedure, having toxic saline solution injected into the womb during the third trimester.
Jessen, then in the womb for 7½ months, spent 18 hours in the solution. "It burns the baby inside and out," she said. "(The mother) is to deliver a dead baby within 24 hours." But when a 2-pound Jessen emerged, she was alive.
"I did not die that day," Jessen said. "I was delivered alive in a Los Angeles County abortion clinic in a room full of teenage girls who had already had the saline injections and were feeling their children die inside of them."
Jessen will tell her story Friday at a Sanctity of Life Rally in Modesto sponsored by the "11th Hour" TV program.
Raised in California, Jessen lives in Nashville, Tenn. She has traveled the world since she was 14, telling of her experience.
Jessen spent her first three months in a hospital incubator. Doctors at the hospital did not expect her to live, she said. But she did. She was then put in emergency foster care, before being placed at 17 months with a foster mother who would become her adoptive grandmother. Afflicted with cerebral palsy resulting from lack of oxygen in the womb, Jessen was "32 pounds of dead weight," she said. She wasn't expected to hold up her head, sit up, crawl or walk.
Her foster mother worked with Jessen, who at age 3½ began to walk with a walker and leg braces. Today, she walks with a slight limp in her left leg.
Jessen has done indoor rock climbing and is training for the Music City marathon in Nashville in a few months. She plans to take swing or tango dance lessons after that. Jessen also writes and performs songs, ranging from love ballads to social commentary.
"Never say never," she said in a recent phone interview. "A person and God always have the opportunity to progress. No matter what point you are at, you can always do something, even if it is just the tiniest thing."
On Christmas when she was 12, Jessen learned she had survived an abortion attempt. Before, when she had asked why she had cerebral palsy, her adoptive mother — the daughter of her foster mother — told her hers was a traumatic, premature birth. But that day when she asked, her mother decided Jessen was ready to hear the truth. She told her that her biological mother was young and without hope.
"I was aborted, right?" Jessen asked. Her adoptive mother confirmed it. Jessen was calm.
"It must have been the Lord, because I didn't freak out," Jessen remembered. "I totally believe that the Lord Jesus spared my life and I would not be walking today if it were not for the grace of God and the power of Christ. I know that when you need God to walk every day, you know that God is real."
Jessen said she never dwelled on feelings of rejection, and someday wants to have or adopt children herself.
Louise Shatswell, producer of "The 11th Hour," said she hopes those who hear Jessen will be touched by her story and "that their eyes will be opened to the reality of life at that stage of life."
The rally will include a question-and-answer session with Jessen, as well as counselors and literature from the Modesto Pregnancy Center.
It's impossible to know exactly how many babies survive abortion procedures, but it is rare, said Jessen, who met 11 others — ranging in age from young children to 65 years old — at a conference about 10 years ago.
Shatswell thinks Jessen's appearance brings another view to a society that endorses the idea that "if you don't want it, get rid of it," she said. "I don't believe the majority of people who get abortions are really informed about what they are doing.
"She is a living example of an unborn child being a child and not being a thing, a glob, an unidentified piece of nothing," Shatswell said. "It's a real-life living baby … and the sanctity of life that the Bible gives doesn't sanction killing a child, whether in the womb or outside the womb."
If a woman told her she was considering an abortion, Jessen said she would listen to her, then lead her to a pregnancy crisis center for tests and counseling.
"I would say that choosing to have an abortion is something she would never forget," said Jessen, who advocates adoption.
"Can't we just give a little and say, 'I may not be the best mother for this child, but I love this child enough to sacrifice for it'?" she asked. "Isn't that the ultimate love?"
Jessen is conscious that examples speak louder than words. She often talks to young people about the value of chastity, modesty and honor. She wants to remind people that all of their choices have consequences.
"My biological parents made some really poor choices," she said. "I forgive them for what they did (but) I live every day with the result of the 'choice' that my biological mother made 27 years ago. So it's ridiculous to think our choices on a moment-by-moment basis only affect us. They always affect someone else, for good or ill."
Jessen is sometimes unprepared for the grief that pours out from others when they hear her story. "Women who have had abortions have come up to me crying, saying, 'I wish I had never done this. I had no idea the pain I would live with for the rest of my life,'" she said.
Men, too, have talked to her of feeling powerless or regretful about supporting an abortion. "At the end of the day, I do a lot of listening," Jessen said.
It's not all listening. She met President Bush in 2002 and has appeared before Congress, including speaking against partial-birth abortion in 1999 and in support of the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in 2000.
She said she doesn't often think about her mother's abortion. "I just spend my life trying to smile and overcome," she said. "Sometimes, it does hit me, 'Oh, my gosh, I was aborted; that's huge.' There are days I think about it and I think, 'This is amazing.' But my whole life has been, so far, kind of an adventure. I really look at life that way."
Rich and I record Life on the Rock and watched this morning last night's episode and we were profoundly touched, completely amazed and in total awe to witness this lovely miracle speaking with Fr. Francis. Gianna was a guest on Life on the Rock this past Thursday night. And some suggest that we 'kill the unborn' if they might have a defect???
I know where the defect is, and it's not with the baby diagnosed...but with the murderous "culture of death" of the so-called elite and professionals who "know best" what to do with babies, or the elderly. Their answer? Kill them, as they might not 'live a complete, full life' and they might not "amount to anything" ....in other words, they think they won't have a productive life to add to their wallets or retirement funds. Amazing Grace...look at Gianna and tell me she's not 'living life' or hasn't anything to offer us "normal" folk.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Frozen World...
Rain spattering on the sidewalk
An empty soda can rolls and clanks
Against the wet pavement,
Moved by a cold, curling finger of wind
To the other side of the street,
Where it becomes inert at the curb,
Its sporadic dance is over.
Will it now be washed away
Into the sewer if these rains don't cease?
The last of lifeless leaves, dangle precariously
From a tree made bare in preparation
To be "fitted and dressed"
By winter snows.
Its branches stark, sparse, prickly
Reaching vainly upward,
So black against a pale, gray sky
Like ebony, skeletal hands, scratching
Frantically in the air, as if
Giving up "the ghost" of life
They knew only weeks before.
When arrayed in summer's green,
They held homes built by various birds
That have since flown away,
Departing for their "vacation nests"
In balmy, tropical destinations.
Those same branches,
Bedecked in brilliant oranges and reds,
That were so gloriously resplendent
Against a crisp, brilliant blue Autumn sky
Now hold only a few brown,
Withered leaves, clinging feebly
In futile desperation
To those dark, long, black, damp fingers
As if waving a sad and lonely goodbye
To a cruel, gray world.
As a brutal, biting bone-aching chill
Begins to seep through my
Too few layers of clothes,
My heart pierced and shattered
By news I never thought I'd hear.
I shiver,
Feeling more alone and afraid than ever.
No one knows the pain that has
Stabbed my heart,
The near suffocation of shock,
Making it so laborious,
So painful to breathe.
Gasping out a forlorn prayer,
From lips long ago
Turned blue from the cold.
On this face where frozen tears
Fall silently and mingle with the rain
That my friend,
Would be the world everyday -
A perpetual "shadowlands"
Of desolation gray -
Though not nearly as lonely,
As desolate, as lifeless, as cold,
As monotone, as painful, or as chilling
As the world without...
The Eucharist.
susie melkus
02.18.07
An empty soda can rolls and clanks
Against the wet pavement,
Moved by a cold, curling finger of wind
To the other side of the street,
Where it becomes inert at the curb,
Its sporadic dance is over.
Will it now be washed away
Into the sewer if these rains don't cease?
The last of lifeless leaves, dangle precariously
From a tree made bare in preparation
To be "fitted and dressed"
By winter snows.
Its branches stark, sparse, prickly
Reaching vainly upward,
So black against a pale, gray sky
Like ebony, skeletal hands, scratching
Frantically in the air, as if
Giving up "the ghost" of life
They knew only weeks before.
When arrayed in summer's green,
They held homes built by various birds
That have since flown away,
Departing for their "vacation nests"
In balmy, tropical destinations.
Those same branches,
Bedecked in brilliant oranges and reds,
That were so gloriously resplendent
Against a crisp, brilliant blue Autumn sky
Now hold only a few brown,
Withered leaves, clinging feebly
In futile desperation
To those dark, long, black, damp fingers
As if waving a sad and lonely goodbye
To a cruel, gray world.
As a brutal, biting bone-aching chill
Begins to seep through my
Too few layers of clothes,
My heart pierced and shattered
By news I never thought I'd hear.
I shiver,
Feeling more alone and afraid than ever.
No one knows the pain that has
Stabbed my heart,
The near suffocation of shock,
Making it so laborious,
So painful to breathe.
Gasping out a forlorn prayer,
From lips long ago
Turned blue from the cold.
On this face where frozen tears
Fall silently and mingle with the rain
That my friend,
Would be the world everyday -
A perpetual "shadowlands"
Of desolation gray -
Though not nearly as lonely,
As desolate, as lifeless, as cold,
As monotone, as painful, or as chilling
As the world without...
The Eucharist.
susie melkus
02.18.07
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Turn the Other Cheek
By Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio
“Love your enemies and turn the other cheek.” “Judge not, lest you be judged” (Lk 6: 27-38). It sounds admirable to some, but preposterous to others. The 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche thought such doctrine breeds a society of weaklings. Karl Marx thought these words helps keep the oppressed under the thumbs of the capitalists.
Does Jesus want us to be doormats, suckers who allow ourselves to be taken advantage of by every bully, dictator and gangster that comes down the pike?
Let’s look at a few examples. David did not kill Saul, the Lord’s anointed (1 Sam 26). But neither did he give himself up. He resisted the injustice of his insecure king even while he respected his sacred office. When the citizens of Nazareth tried to throw Jesus over the brow of the hill, he slipped through the crowds and escaped (Lk 4:29-30). His time had not yet come. When Henry VIII divorced his wife, married another, and declared himself head of the Church, his Chancellor, Thomas More, quietly did everything he could ethically do to avoid execution (see the movie A Man for All Seasons).
But when false testimony finally led to the death sentence for Jesus and his 16th century disciple, Thomas, it was time to give witness to the truth with their blood. It was time to turn the other cheek. Notice the attitude of our Lord towards his persecutors – “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do (Lk 23:34).” And Thomas Moore’s words to the executioner, after giving him a tip: “Do not hesitate to do your duty, for you send me to God.”
Tough love sometimes demands we say tough words. Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites and publicly exposed their sophistry (Mark 7). After sentence was pronounced, Thomas More loudly proclaimed to the packed courtroom that the King had no right to make himself head of the Church of England.
But wait a minute. Isn’t that judging? Didn’t Jesus say not to judge?
What no human being can or should do is judge the ultimate standing of a person before God based on the hidden motivations of the heart. People can do some abominable things based on fear, hurt, or misinformation. Recall the words of Jesus: “they know not what they do.” But what they do is abominable, nonetheless. Though God alone is competent to judge the heart, we can and must judge whether objective behavior is bad or good, right or wrong. Sometimes it is even our duty to tell people that it is wrong and condemn it.
Abortion is wrong. But that does not mean that a particular woman and her abortionist are totally alienated from God, bound certainly for hell. And it does not mean that I am better than the particular woman or physician who is a party to an abortion. Jesus said “from those to whom much has been given, much will be expected.” Maybe the woman and the physician coming home from the abortion clinic have done more with what they’ve been given than I. That’s not for me to figure out. That’s God’s call. My call is to love them and care enough about them to speak the truth to them, and help them get the support they need to live according to that truth.
Dr. Bernard Nathanson, notorious abortionist, and Norma McCorvey, the “Roe” of Roe vs. Wade, are prolife activists today. Why? Because they met prolifers who, while hating the sin, truly loved the sinner.
Such love is supernatural. It is possible only for God and for those who let His love work through them. Will such love change everyone? The example of Judas and the Pharisees would argue not. Yet Norma McCorvey and Dr. Nathanson show that for those whose hearts are open, such love is often irresistible.
Susie adds: "Beauty will save the world. The very ugly is atheist." Dostoevsky
“Love your enemies and turn the other cheek.” “Judge not, lest you be judged” (Lk 6: 27-38). It sounds admirable to some, but preposterous to others. The 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche thought such doctrine breeds a society of weaklings. Karl Marx thought these words helps keep the oppressed under the thumbs of the capitalists.
Does Jesus want us to be doormats, suckers who allow ourselves to be taken advantage of by every bully, dictator and gangster that comes down the pike?
Let’s look at a few examples. David did not kill Saul, the Lord’s anointed (1 Sam 26). But neither did he give himself up. He resisted the injustice of his insecure king even while he respected his sacred office. When the citizens of Nazareth tried to throw Jesus over the brow of the hill, he slipped through the crowds and escaped (Lk 4:29-30). His time had not yet come. When Henry VIII divorced his wife, married another, and declared himself head of the Church, his Chancellor, Thomas More, quietly did everything he could ethically do to avoid execution (see the movie A Man for All Seasons).
But when false testimony finally led to the death sentence for Jesus and his 16th century disciple, Thomas, it was time to give witness to the truth with their blood. It was time to turn the other cheek. Notice the attitude of our Lord towards his persecutors – “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do (Lk 23:34).” And Thomas Moore’s words to the executioner, after giving him a tip: “Do not hesitate to do your duty, for you send me to God.”
Tough love sometimes demands we say tough words. Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites and publicly exposed their sophistry (Mark 7). After sentence was pronounced, Thomas More loudly proclaimed to the packed courtroom that the King had no right to make himself head of the Church of England.
But wait a minute. Isn’t that judging? Didn’t Jesus say not to judge?
What no human being can or should do is judge the ultimate standing of a person before God based on the hidden motivations of the heart. People can do some abominable things based on fear, hurt, or misinformation. Recall the words of Jesus: “they know not what they do.” But what they do is abominable, nonetheless. Though God alone is competent to judge the heart, we can and must judge whether objective behavior is bad or good, right or wrong. Sometimes it is even our duty to tell people that it is wrong and condemn it.
Abortion is wrong. But that does not mean that a particular woman and her abortionist are totally alienated from God, bound certainly for hell. And it does not mean that I am better than the particular woman or physician who is a party to an abortion. Jesus said “from those to whom much has been given, much will be expected.” Maybe the woman and the physician coming home from the abortion clinic have done more with what they’ve been given than I. That’s not for me to figure out. That’s God’s call. My call is to love them and care enough about them to speak the truth to them, and help them get the support they need to live according to that truth.
Dr. Bernard Nathanson, notorious abortionist, and Norma McCorvey, the “Roe” of Roe vs. Wade, are prolife activists today. Why? Because they met prolifers who, while hating the sin, truly loved the sinner.
Such love is supernatural. It is possible only for God and for those who let His love work through them. Will such love change everyone? The example of Judas and the Pharisees would argue not. Yet Norma McCorvey and Dr. Nathanson show that for those whose hearts are open, such love is often irresistible.
Susie adds: "Beauty will save the world. The very ugly is atheist." Dostoevsky
Trust Me...
"TRUST ME"
Trust Me when dark doubts assail you,
Trust Me when your strength is small.
Trust Me when to simply trust Me
Seems the hardest thing of all.
Trust Me, I am ever faithful;
Trust Me for My Will is best,
Trust Me for My Heart, dear child,
Is the only place of rest.
Trust Me, then,
Through rain and sunshine;
All your cares upon Me cast,
Till the storm of life is over,
And your trusting days are past.
How I would love to say that I wrote this, but alas, I don't know who did. I came across it on line and can't find the author. How remarkable and timely to find this now. My heart has been burdened and doubts have rolled in on what seemed like an Ocean of Tears at "high tide." Thank you, whoever wrote this. Thank you so much!
Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore...
The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore — also known as the Basilica di Santa Maria della Neve and Basilica Liberiana in the Italian language and Saint Mary Major Basilica or the Liberian Basilica in the English language — is an ancient Catholic basilica of Rome. It is one of the four major basilicas, and one of the five Patriarchal basilicas associated with the Pentarchy: St. John Lateran, St. Lawrence outside the Walls, St. Peter and St. Paul outside the Walls, and Santa Maria Maggiore. The Liberian Basilica is one of the tituli, presided over by a patron—in this case Pope Liberius—that housed the major congregations of early Christians in Rome. Built over the pagan temple of Cybele, Santa Maria Maggiore is the only Roman basilica that retained the core of its original structure, left intact despite several additional construction projects and damage from the earthquake of 1348.
The name of the church reflects two ideas of greatness, both that of a major basilica as opposed to a minor basilica and also that of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the true Mother of God. In the Greek language this doctrine is called Theotokos, officially adopted at the Council of Ephesus in 431. The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore is the largest and most important place of prayer dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
After the Avignon papacy formally ended and the Papacy returned to Rome, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore became a temporary Palace of the Popes due to the deteriorated state of the Lateran Palace. The papal residence was later moved to the Palace of the Vatican in present-day Vatican City.
BUONJIORNO!
Listen to a brief interview with Mike Aquilina on our pilgrimage to Rome, titled:
"Behold your Mother, and the Church of Rome."
If ANY of you are interested in going, it's not too late to sign up. Do it SOON and join Scott & Kimberly Hahn, Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor of KVSS,
Spirit Morning Show...and me, "susiefromOmaha" as I've been dubbed affectionately by Kris.
You can go to KVSS and find out more.
Ciao!
Church is Alive and Young....
As I read the following prayer, of our beloved Papa, Benedict XVI it reminds me that Our Lady of Trust (feast day tomorrow) is ever with us, drawing us to her side, so that she can "clean us up" to meet our Lord, Her Son, Jesus. You know how it is with Mothers, they are busy cleaning us if we've tarried too long at play, wiping the smudges off our faces, sometimes with nothing more than a tissue and their own saliva. Mary no doubt had to do that to her own Son from time to time on their way somewhere. Now we, her spiritual sons and daughters, are always in need of a cleansing touch from our Mother aren't we? I love to go to Her now, especially before Mass, asking her to pray for me that "I may be made worthy of the precious promises of Christ." She is so "present" and is ever ready to "dab my face and my heart" not with saliva but with the graces only a Mother such as she, the Mother of God, could give. I also trust in Our Lady of Trust, as she says to me, "Trust my Child, Trust my Son."
This is a lovely prayer by our Papa. I can hardly wait to get to Roma and see him in person! I would covet all of your prayers for our safe travels and this upcoming pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi. Since it's a Marian pilgrimage, that my relationship with my Blessed Mother, Mary, will grow more intimate so that I may grow more intimate with my Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you all. I will pray for all of you there at the Vatican during Mass and Audience.
~susie
Pope Says Church Is "Alive and Young"
Composes Marian Prayer for Italy's Youth
VATICAN CITY, FEB. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Church is alive and full of youth, Benedict XVI said when presenting a prayer he composed for the young people of Italy.
The Holy Father recited his composition Wednesday when meeting in St. Peter's Basilica with bishops of the Marche region in Italy, on the occasion of their five-yearly visit.
The prelates were accompanied by pilgrims of the dioceses in the region, many of them young people. When the youths applauded the Pope, he responded: "We see that the Church is alive and young!"
The Holy Father then invited young people to a meeting Sept. 1-2, in Loreto, where Italy's national Marian shrine is located.
"We will see you in Las Marcas, in Loreto," Benedict XVI said as he bid them farewell.
Here is a translation of the prayer the Holy Father composed.
* * *
Mary, Mother of the "Yes," you have listened to Jesus,
And know the tone of his voice and the beating of his heart.
Morning Star, speak to us of him,
And tell us about your way following him on the path of faith.
Mary, who lived with Jesus in Nazareth,
Etch your sentiments in our lives,
Your docility, your listening silence,
And make the Word flourish in genuinely free choices.
Mary, speak to us of Jesus, so that the freshness of our faith,
Shines in our eyes and warms the heart of those who are with us,
As you did on visiting Elizabeth,
Who in old age rejoiced with you for the gift of life.
Mary, Virgin of the "Magnificat,"
Help us to take joy to the world and, as at Cana,
Lead every youth, committed to the service of brothers,
To do only what Jesus says.
Mary, look upon the agora [gathering] of youth,
So that it will be fertile terrain of the Italian Church.
Pray that Jesus, dead and risen, is reborn in us,
And transforms us into a night full of light, full of him.
Mary, Virgin of Loreto, Gate of Heaven,
Help us to raise our eyes.
We want to see Jesus, to speak with him,
And to proclaim his love to all.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
JPII the GREAT...
I took this of a picture at the home of a priest friend. I thought it came out pretty good, almost looks real. I want to thank Papa John Paul II for praying us Home to Holy Mother Church, and for all the new converts he's praying in still... THANK YOU, POPE John Paul! We love you, and know you're still praying for the priests and religious, and all the new Catholics craving to grow in holiness, and hungry for nothing but the TRUTH.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
St. Benedict...
Saint Benedict, pray for us! Keep us from the evil one and his schemes.
This is the statue of St. Benedict at the Saint Benedict Retreat Center in Schuyler, NE. This is
Benedict in the morning light of a January day, dusted with snow, praying for all of us across the Heartland and the world.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Listen to Peter Kreeft...
Here, you can listen to Peter Kreeft, PhD speaking on Pro Life philosophy and Pro Life logic.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
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