Pro-choice and Moral Schizophrenia

Nine ways of participating in the sin of another:

1. by counsel

2. by command

3. by consent (“I’m personally opposed to it but” )

4. by provocation

5. by praise or flattery

6. by concealment

7. by being an accomplice

8. by partaking

9. by Silence!

Once you snuff out a child in its mother’s womb you have crossed the line and there is no sin off-limits to you. Society can’t hide behind our laws and our complicit politicians. Yes those in positions of authority bear the greater responsibility but their accountability does not set us free!  How deafening the silence.  Silence in our churches, our schools, our universities, our laboratories and the halls of government.

The fact that a law was passed to enable the atrocity of abortion, does not pour clean water over the scarlet decision.  It simply makes our culpablility national and places our country in the cross hairs of retribution. You can declare a human being a non-person, but the DNA, the blood and the flesh, the substance and the soul witness against our immoral “Law.”  Relativism may allow our society to lie to itself, but the law written on our hearts will condemn us. We do have freedom of choice. God’s law commands we choose life and not death.  So there is a reason the right choice matters.

 

“I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live” – Deuteronomy 30:19

This sin too was nailed in Christ to the Cross.  It is time to leave the darkness and live in the Light.

Reagan vs. Obama's Attacks on American Freedoms

American freedom’s are under attack and the enemy is within.  From efforts to transform our nation into a welfare state to President Obama’s continuing tactics to constrain freedom of speech, the attack is unrelenting.  American’s have never needed to be more vigilant and pro-active.  Michelle Malkin warns that even our language is used to wage war against us.   Words and phrases, high-sounding camouflaged rhetoric, manipulate us, while masking the word crafters’ dark intent.  Michelle Malkin in Obama’s FCC, liberal churches, and the “media justice” mob points to the phrase “transformative change” meaning:  “Transformative change” = a media landscape purged of the Right’s most powerful voices.”

Here is a voice we can’t ignore for America does have a “Rendezvous with Destiny”.

The Best Medicine

Need a lift.  Try this:

Scriptural Rosary Podcast – the Joyful Mysteries

A simple podcast presentation of the Joyful Mysteries with a Scripture reading before each Hail Mary:

The Rosary – The Joyful Mysteries with Holy Scripture

The Annunciation
The Visitation
The Nativity
The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
The Finding of Jesus in the Temple

This Makes Obama Pro-Abort

Our President Obama has a way with words, but his actions make him a pro-abort President, a pro-abort Senator and a pro-abort inhumane being.

This from Steven Ertelt Life News. com:

November 5, 2008 – Obama selects pro-abortion Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his White House Chief of Staff. Emanuel has a 0% pro-life voting record according to National Right to Life.

November 19, 2008 – Obama picks pro-abortion former Sen. Tom Daschle as his Health and Human Services Secretary. Daschle has a long pro-abortion voting record according to National Right to Life.

November 20, 2008 – Obama chooses former NARAL legal director Dawn Johnsen to serve as a member of his Department of Justice Review Team. Later, he finalizes her appointment as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Legal Counsel in the Obama administration.

November 24, 2008 – Obama appoints Ellen Moran, the former director of the pro-abortion group Emily’s List as his White House communications director. Emily’s List only supported candidates who favored taxpayer funded abortions and opposed a partial-birth abortion ban.

November 24, 2008 – Obama puts former Emily’s List board member Melody Barnes in place as his director of the Domestic Policy Council.

November 30, 2008 – Obama named pro-abortion Sen. Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State. Clinton has an unblemished pro-abortion voting record and has supported making unlimited abortions an international right.

December 10, 2008 – Obama selects pro-abortion former Clinton administration official Jeanne Lambrew to become the deputy director of the White House Office of Health Reform. Planned Parenthood is “excited” about the selection.

December 10, 2008 – Obama transition team publishes memo from dozens of pro-abortion groups listing their laundry list of pro-abortions actions they want him to take.

Pro-Abortion Presidential Record – 2009

January 5, 2009 – Obama picks pro-abortion Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as the chairman of the Democratic Party.

January 6, 2009 – Obama chooses Thomas Perrelli, the lawyer who represented Terri Schiavo’s husband Michael in his efforts to kill his disabled wife, as the third highest attorney in the Justice Department.

January 22, 2009 – Releases statement restating support for Roe v. Wade decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions and has resulted in at least 50 million abortions since 1973.

January 23, 2009 – Forces taxpayers to fund pro-abortion groups that either promote or perform abortions in other nations. Decison to overturn Mexico City Policy sends part of $457 million to pro-abortion organizations.

January 26, 2009 – Obama nominee for Deputy Secretary of State, James B. Steinberg, tells members of the Senate that taxpayers should be forced to fund abortions. Nominee erroneously says limits on abortion funding are unconstitutional.

January 29, 2009 – President Obama nominates pro-abortion David Ogden as Deputy Attorney General.

February 12, 2009 – Obama nominates pro-abortion Elena Kagan to serve as Solicitor General.

February 27, 2009 – Starts the process of overturning pro-life conscience protections President Bush put in place to make sure medical staff and centers are not forced to do abortions.

February 28, 2009 – Barack Obama nominates pro-abortion Kathleen Sebelius to become Secretary of Health and Human Services.

March 5, 2009 – The Obama administration shut out pro-life groups from attending a White House-sponsored health care summit. Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business, made the invitation list as did other pro-abortion groups.

March 9, 2009 – President Barack Obama signed an executive order forcing taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research.

March 10, 2009 – Obama announces the creation of a new foreign policy position to focus on women’s issues. He names Melanne Verveer, an abortion advocate, to occupy the post.

March 10, 2009 – Reverses an executive order to press for more research into ways of obtaining embryonic stem cells without harming human life. The order Obama scrapped would have promoted new forms of stem cell research.

March 11, 2009 – Obama signed an executive order establishing a new agency within his administration known as the White House Council on Women and Girls. Obama’s director of public liaison at the White House, Tina Tchen, an abortion advocate, became director of it.

March 11, 2009 – Obama administration promotes an unlimited right to abortion at a United Nations meeting.

March 11, 2009 – Obama administration officials deny negative effects of abortion at United Nation’s meeting.

March 17, 2009 – President Barack Obama makes his first judicial appointment and names pro-abortion federal Judge David Hamilton to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

March 26 – President Obama announced $50 million for the UNFPA, the UN population agency that has been criticized for promoting abortion and working closely with Chinese population control officials who use forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations.

April 7 – The Vatican has rejected three Obama ambassador nominees because of their positions in favor of abortions.

April 7 – Obama has named pro-abortion law professor Harold Hongju Koh as the top lawyer for the State Department.

April 7 – Put more abortion advocates on his White House advisory council for faith-based issues.

April 8 – Obama nominee for assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, Ron Weich, is pro-abortion.

April 14 – Obama administration releases document that claims pro-life people may engage in violence or extremism.

April 17 – Obama administration releases the proposed guidelines that implement his decision to allow taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research that involves the destruction of human life.

April 23 – Refused to appeal a ruling requiring the FDA to allow 17-year-old girls to purchase the morning after pill without either a doctor visit or parental involvement beforehand.

April 27 – Obama’s women’s ambassador Melanne Verveer touted Obama’s decision to send $50 million to the United Nation’s Population Fund.

May 5 – Details emerge about a terrorism dictionary the administration of President Barack Obama put together in March. The Domestic Extremism Lexicon calls pro-life advocates violent and claims they employ racist overtones in engaging in criminal actions.

May 8 – President Obama releases a new budget that allows the Legal Services Corporation to use tax dollars to pay for pro-abortion litigation.

May 8 – President Obama’s new budget calls for taxpayer funded abortions in the nation’s capital.

May 8 – President Obama’s budget eliminates all federal funding for abstinence-only education.

May 15 – Appointed pro-abortion New York City health commissioner Thomas Frieden as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

May 17 – During his commencement speech at Notre Dame, Obama deceived listeners into thinking he wants a conscience clause, promoted embryonic stem cell research and misstated his pro-abortion record.

May 26 – Appoints appeals court judge Sonia Sonotmayor as a Supreme Court nominee. Sotomayor agrees that the courts should make policy, such as the Roe v. Wade case. Sotomayor is later opposed by pro-life groups and supported by pro-abortion groups and those who know her say she will support abortion on the high court.

July 2- Calls for an unlimited right to abortion at a United Nation’s meeting.

July 7- The Obama administration admits it ignored the majority of Americans who opposed the proposed guidelines that would implement Obama’s decision to force taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research.

July 14 – Obama science czar nominee John Holdren is revealed to have written before that he favors forced abortions.

July 30 – Awards several pro-abortion activists with the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

July 31 – Tells the National Institutes of Health to adopt rules that allow embryonic stem cell research.

August 4 – Information becomes public that Ezekiel Emanuel, an Obama advisor at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research, supports rationing health care for disabled Americans that could lead to euthanasia.

August 6 – Obama criticized for asking for people to “snitch” on groups and people who oppose the pro-abortion health care bills in Congress.

August 13 – Obama wrongly said a senator backed the pro-euthanasia components of the health care bill.

August 23 – Said pro-life advocates were making “phony claims” about the health care bills. Also said the claims were false.

August 24 – Releases veterans guide promoting euthanasia.

September 13 – Misleads on the federal conscience clause in a health care speech and misleads on abortion funding.

September 13 – Obama waits two days to comment on shooting of pro-life advocate whereas he commented immediately on shooting of abortion practitioner.

September 15 – Senate confirms Obama’s new regulatory czar Cass Sunstein, who is pro-abortion.

October 5 – Selected pro-abortion lawyer and Georgetown University law professor Chai Feldblum for the EEOC.

October 5 – Announces he will give the keynote speech for pro-abortion group Human Rights Campaign

Go here for links: Steven Ertelt Life News. com:

What can we do?  PRAY for our President! Here is a powerful prayer from St. Gertrude the Great:

Jesus, Savior of the World, have mercy on me.  You to Whom nothing is impossible, bestow mercy to the wretched. O Christ, Who by Your Cross, hast redeemed the world, hear us.

The Lord is my strength and my glory; He is my salvation.

Hail Jesus, my loving Spouse.  I salute You in the ineffable joys of Your Divinity; I embrace You with the affection of all creatures, and I kiss the Sacred Wound of Your love.

St. John Capistrano – Feast Day Oct. 23

SAINT JOHN OF CAPISTRANO

(1386-1456)

St. John of Capistrano was born in 1385, at Capistrano. St. John was a reformer of the Franciscan Order and his life and work should inspire us to uphold and promote our spiritual values.

St. John of Capistrano is the patron saint of jurists.

Litany ofthe Holy Name of Jesus

(composed by St. John Capistrano & St. Bernadine of Siena)

Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, hear us
Jesus, hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Splendor of the Father, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Brightness of eternal Light, have mercy on us.
Jesus, King of Glory, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Sun of Justice, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Son of the Virgin Mary, have mercy on us.
Jesus, most amiable, have mercy on us.
Jesus, most admirable, have mercy on us.
Jesus, the mighty God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Father of the world to come, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Angel of Great Council, have mercy on us.
Jesus, most powerful, have mercy on us.
Jesus, most patient, have mercy on us.
Jesus, most obedient, have mercy on us.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Lover of Chastity, have mercy on us.
Jesus, our Lover, have mercy on us.
Jesus, God of Peace, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Author of Life, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Model of Virtue, have mercy on us.
Jesus, zealous for souls, have mercy on us.
Jesus, our God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, our Refuge, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Father of the Poor, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Treasure of the Faithful, have mercy on us.
Jesus, good Shepherd, have mercy on us.
Jesus, true Light, have mercy on us.
Jesus, eternal Wisdom, have mercy on us.
Jesus, infinite Goodness, have mercy on us.
Jesus, our Way and our Life, have mercy on us.
Jesus, joy of the Angels, have mercy on us.
Jesus, King of the Patriarchs, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Master of the Apostles, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Teacher of the Evangelists, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Strength of Martyrs, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Light of Confessors, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Purity of Virgins, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Crown of all Saints, have mercy on us.

Be merciful, spare us O Jesus.
Be merciful, graciously hear us, O Jesus.

From all evil, deliver us, O Jesus.
From all sin, deliver us, O Jesus.
From Thy wrath, deliver us, O Jesus.
From the snares of the devil, deliver us, O Jesus.
From the spirit of fornication, deliver us, O Jesus.
From everlasting death, deliver us, O Jesus.
From the neglect of Thy inspirations, deliver us, O Jesus.

Through the mystery of Thy holy Incarnation, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Nativity, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Infancy, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy most divine Life, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Labors, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Agony and Passion, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Cross and Dereliction, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Sufferings, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Death and Burial, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Resurrection, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Ascension, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Joys, deliver us, O Jesus.
Through Thy Glory, deliver us, O Jesus.

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, spare us, O Jesus.
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Jesus.
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, O Jesus.
Jesus hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.

Let us pray:

O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou hast said, “Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you”; mercifully attend to our supplications, and grant us the grace of Thy most divine love, that we may love
Thee with all our hearts, and in all our words and actions, and never cease to praise Thee.

Make us, O Lord, to have a perpetual fear and love of Thy holy name, for Thou never failest to govern those who Thou dost solidly establish in Thy love. Amen.

Prayer Source; Public Domain

"The Truth that Teaches Within"

From My Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis:

I WILL hear what the Lord God will speak in me. “Blessed is the soul who hears the Lord speaking within her, who receives the word of consolation from His lips. Blessed are the ears that catch the accents of divine whispering, and pay no heed to the murmurings of this world. Blessed indeed are the ears that listen, not to the voice which sounds without, but to the truth which teaches within. Blessed are the eyes which are closed to exterior things and are fixed upon those which are interior. Blessed are they who penetrate inwardly, who try daily to prepare themselves more and more to understand mysteries. Blessed are they who long to give their time to God, and who cut themselves off from the hindrances of the world. Consider these things, my soul, and close the door of your senses, so that you can hear what the Lord your God speaks within you. “I am your salvation,” says your Beloved. “I am your peace and your life. Remain with Me and you will find peace. Dismiss all passing things and seek the eternal. What are all temporal things but snares? And what help will all creatures be able to give you if you are deserted by the Creator?” Leave all these things, therefore, and make yourself pleasing and faithful to your Creator so that you may attain to true happiness.”

Goodness and Peace in Man

From My Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis:

Goodness and Peace in Man

First keep peace with yourself; then you will be able to bring peace to others. A peaceful man does more good than a learned man. Whereas a passionate man turns even good to evil and is quick to believe evil, the peaceful man, being good himself, turns all things to good. The man who is at perfect ease is never suspicious, but the disturbed and discontented spirit is upset by many a suspicion. He neither rests himself nor permits others to do so. He often says what ought not to be said and leaves undone what ought to be done. He is concerned with the duties of others but neglects his own. Direct your zeal, therefore, first upon yourself; then you may with justice exercise it upon those about you. You are well versed in coloring your own actions with excuses which you will not accept from others, though it would be more just to accuse yourself and excuse your brother. If you wish men to bear with you, you must bear with them. Behold, how far you are from true charity and humility which does not know how to be angry with anyone, or to be indignant save only against self! It is no great thing to associate with the good and gentle, for such association is naturally pleasing. Everyone enjoys a peaceful life and prefers persons of congenial habits. But to be able to live at peace with harsh and perverse men, or with the undisciplined and those who irritate us, is a great grace, a praiseworthy and manly thing. Some people live at peace with themselves and with their fellow men, but others are never at peace with themselves nor do they bring it to anyone else. These latter are a burden to everyone, but they are more of a burden to themselves. A few, finally, live at peace with themselves and try to restore it to others. Now, all our peace in this miserable life is found in humbly enduring suffering rather than in being free from it. He who knows best how to suffer will enjoy the greater peace, because he is the conqueror of himself, the master of the world, a friend of Christ, and an heir of heaven.

Update: Provision by Pope for Anglicans Who Want to Come Home

Zenit reports:

Roman Catholic Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster and Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams held a press conference today in London, parallel to the announcement in Rome of Benedict XVI’s apostolic constitution that will set up “personal ordinariates” for groups of Anglicans seeking communion with the Church.
“The announcement of this apostolic constitution brings to an end a period of uncertainty for such groups who have nurtured hopes of new ways of embracing unity with the Catholic Church,” the statement adds. “It will now be up to those who have made requests to the Holy See to respond to the apostolic constitution.”

Archbishops Nichols and Williams affirm that the constitution is “recognition of the substantial overlap in faith, doctrine and spirituality between the Catholic Church and the Anglican tradition.”

And, they said, this would not have been possible without the 40 years of ecumenical dialogue that the Anglican Communion and the Church have shared.

The archbishops promised “continuing cooperation” and said, “With God’s grace and prayer we are determined that our on-going mutual commitment and consultation on these and other matters should continue to be strengthened.”

Provision by Pope for Anglicans Who Want to Come Home

H/T to the Anchoress for siting this from Damian Thompson Blog Editor of the Telegraph Media Group:

The Vatican has announced that Pope Benedict is setting up special provision for Anglicans, including married clergy, who want to convert to Rome together, preserving aspects of Anglican liturgy. They will be given their own pastoral supervision, according to this press release from the Vatican:

“In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.”

Relics of St. Therese of the Child Jesus

In celebration of Theresian Feastday, the reliquary containing the bones of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face is carried in procession from the Carmelite convent to the Basilica. As the candlelight procession proceeds through the streets, “Mon Ciel, je le passerai a faire du bien sur la terre” , “I will spend my Heaven doing good on earth” is sung in the convent.

Litany of St. Therese of the Child Jesus recorded by Richard Garnaut.

As I Am

Prayer by Fr. Raymond:

Because I am obnoxious, forgive me Lord.

Because I am dishonest, forgive me Lord.

Because I am egotistical , forgive me Lord.

Because I am undisciplined, forgive me Lord.

Because I am weak, forgive me Lord.

Because I am impure, forgive me Lord.

Because I am arrogant, forgive me Lord.

Because I am self-centered, forgive me Lord.

Because I am pompous, forgive me Lord.

Because I am insincere, forgive me Lord.

Because I am judgmental , forgive me Lord.

Because I am grasping, forgive me Lord.

Because I am shallow, forgive me Lord.

Because I am inconsistent, forgive me Lord.

Because I am unfaithful, forgive me Lord.

Because I am immoral, forgive me Lord.

Because I am disobedient, forgive me Lord.

Because I am selfish, forgive me Lord.

Because I am lukewarm, forgive me Lord.

Because I am slothful, forgive me Lord.

Because I am unloving, forgive me Lord.

Because I am uncommitted, forgive me Lord.

Because I am sinful, forgive me Lord.

Because I am loved by You, thank you Lord.

Update – The Age of "Just Hope It"

“Amen” to what he said.  Charles Krauthammer commenting on the Nobel Prize Surprise supposedly heralding the shining future of Obama the Peacenik and Flower Child ushering in the Age of “Just Hope It!”

“What’s come from Obama holding his tongue while Iranian demonstrators were being shot and from his recognizing the legitimacy of a thug regime illegitimately returned to power in a fraudulent election? Iran cracks down even more mercilessly on the opposition and races ahead with its nuclear program.

What’s come from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton taking human rights off the table on a visit to China and from Obama’s shameful refusal to see the Dalai Lama (a postponement, we are told). China hasn’t moved an inch on North Korea, Iran or human rights. Indeed it’s pushing with Russia to dethrone the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

What’s come from the new-respect-for-Muslims Cairo speech and the unprecedented pressure on Israel for a total settlement freeze? “The settlement push backfired,” reports The Washington Post, and Arab-Israeli peace prospects have “arguably regressed.”

And what’s come from Obama’s single most dramatic foreign policy stroke — the sudden abrogation of missile defense arrangements with Poland and the Czech Republic that Russia had virulently opposed? For the East Europeans it was a crushing blow, a gratuitous restoration of Russian influence over a region that thought it had regained independence under American protection.”

Krauthammer hopes too, in the form of a question:

Surely we got something in return for selling out our friends?

Ahh, you guessed it, did you?!

NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, talk it up President Obama. “Peace,peace” and prizes for peace! So there is no peace to speak of, only talk and the shifting sands of duplicity beneath our feet.

Update: Personally, for me, a bumper sticker speaks more to truth and peace than Obama.  It says: “No Jesus. No Peace. Know Jesus. Know Peace.” I know Charles Krauthammer wouldn’t put it that way, being Jewish; however, the way Christ preached, of truth and sacrificial love, rings throughout Krauthammer’s body of work.  Krauthammer doesn’t hand you ‘pie in the sky’, he preaches the need to slug it out in the trenches with our ethics, morals and integrity in tact.

Feast Day of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

From the Letters of St. Margaret Mary:

A word about the blessings with which His goodness is favoring me
at present. I can only describe them by saying that my whole life,
body and soul, is nothing but a cross. Yet I cannot complain,
nor do I desire any consolation than that of not having any in
this world and of living hidden away in Jesus Christ crucified,
suffering and unknown, so that no one will have any compassion
on me nor remember me except to increase my suffering. I flatter
myself, dear Mother, that you are too interested in me not to
rejoice at this. Thank Our Lord who, after Himself, has nothing
more precious than His love and His cross. By His Mercy He
shares them with me. I know I am most unworthy, too, of the
one He has has given us in the person of our most honored Mother

The Twelve Promises of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary
for those devoted to His Sacred Heart:

1-I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2-I will establish peace in their families.
3-I will console them in all their troubles.
4-They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially
at the hour of their death.
5-I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
6-Sinners shall find in My Heart the source of an infinite ocean of mercy.
7-Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8-Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
9-I will bless the homes where an image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored.
10-I will give to priests the power of touching the most hardened hearts.
11-Those who propagate this devotion shall have their names written in
My Heart, never to be effaced.
12-The all-powerful love of My Heart will grant to all those who shall
receive Communion on the First Friday of nine consecutive months the grace
of final repentance; they shall not die under my displeasure, nor without
receiving their Sacraments; My heart shall be their assured refuge at that
last hour.

Nature Cries Out!

I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.’ Luke 19:40

Here is a photograph of a living tree which I pass almost everyday.  One day it stopped me in my tracks as an image emerged out of the noise of criss-crossing leaves and branches. This tree was struck by lightening and now bears a recogognizable image:

Scourging and Crucifixion of Christ.

I am an artist and that may make me sensitive to images camouflaged in the ordinary things around us.  Not only do I see the Scourging and Crucifixion of Christ in this living tree, but I can also see the Crown of Thorns. As a starting point for mediation, ask yourself, “Why a tree?”

The Brown Scapular

The Anchoress writes about the World’s Tiniest Hair Shirt, her scapular, which after hanging for years on her bedpost, now hangs about her neck as a “discipline.”  I can relate.

Wearing the cloth scapular has been an on and off battle which I believe my scapular is now winning.  From the stand point of pure convenience, I argued with Our Lady of Mt. Carmel,  that wearing the medal was better and would make this devotion easier for me to undertake.  So I wore the medal, but the cloth scapular glared at me from between socks, peeked through the clutter in my dresser drawer, or from wherever I last left it. Mary wasn’t buying my arguments. The Anchoress is right. It is a “discipline” – before it turns to love.

I finally found one I can wear with a minimum of hassle, though each morning, I still wake up with it intertwined with the chain of my Miraculous Medal. I used to grumble.  Now I just smile.  I think I owe the change in my motus primo primi (firstly first movement) to the efficacy of the scapular. It wraps me in the love of Mary and weaves the movements of her heart with mine.  Does that make any sense?

Loosing the World of Face to Face?

How much of your world is face to face?  Twitter, Facebook,virtual networking, email; all “thin community”.  “Thick community” is eye to eye, face to face and human.

Os Guinness says that four things are important to humans: meaning, belonging, identity (Who am I?) and  purpose (What am I here for?) Reminding me of Socrates’ “The unreflected life is not worth living.” Guinness writes:

“We are, quite literally, spread thin across space and time, potentially everywhere and nowhere at once. We thus tend to have, in the words of Gilbert Meilaender, ‘not an individual identity, but fragments of experience; not the narrative of a life that is in some sense a whole, but a decentered flow of experience.’ “

As I peek in on Facebook, I leave feeling as though I don’t know anyone anymore, just shouts and waves as comments and faces rush by. (Twitter’s even worse!)  Am I alone in feeling this?

Guinness has an engaging discussion:  “Survival of the fastest: Living sanely when life is fired point blank.” on the Veritas Forum .

Veterans Fight to Keep Mojave Cross Memorial

Congressman warning reported by Raymond Arroyo:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments in a case concerning whether a cross on federal park land in California which memorializes World War I veterans violates the U.S. Constitution. One congressman warned that the case could have an enormous “ripple effect” on memorials across the country including Arlington Cemetery.

Mother Angelica & Deacon Bill Steltemier Receive Papal Honor

The best validation EWTN could hope for this side of Heaven!

H/T  Whispers in the Loggia:

Arguably the most significant force in shaping today’s American Catholic landscape, the celebrated, controversial foundress of Catholic media’s most prominent outlet was honored by Rome over the weekend as Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham conferred the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross on Mother Angelica and her longtime top aide in overseeing the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Deacon Bill Steltemier . Awarded by Pope Benedict, the gong comes at the close of a decade, by turns tumultuous and triumphant, that began with 1999’s dedication of a majestic new monastery for Mother’s growing fold of cloistered Poor Clares and an apostolic visitation of the Alabama-based enterprise which led the feisty, fearless Franciscan to place her garage-born apostolate under lay oversight. Along the way, the network’s third decade saw its impact on the US church’s life and practice became ever more sizable, touching everything from priestly and religious vocations and parish liturgies to the influence of its roster of “stars” on the nation’s Catholic orbit — a clout which rivals, if not bests, all but a handful of the Stateside hierarchy — and, to top it all, the success of her authoritative 2005 biography, written by EWTN news director Raymond Arroyo, which cracked the New York Times best-seller list and was quickly followed-up by a sequel of Angelica’s words of wisdom. Now 86 and mostly confined to bed following a 2001 stroke, the unlikeliest of media moguls couldn’t attend the St Francis’ Day Vespers at which the award for her faithful and distinguished service “to the church and the pontiff” was presented. Instituted in 1889 by Pope Leo XIII, the Pro Ecclesia is the Vatican’s highest honor for religious men and women and permanent deacons. Though layfolk who’ve rendered exemplary devotion to church and community may also receive the bronze Cross suspended from a gold and white ribbon, the higher accolade of papal knighthood is reserved to the laity alone.

Defending the American Dream-Newt Gingrich