OK, I know I’m behind the curve on posting this picture-gone-viral this past week.  But the message is so powerful and I was looking for a small way to celebrate the 40 days for life at this blog that I couldn’t help myself.

The story of the Dad Behind “I am the 10% Down Syndrome is at Life Site News.  If you haven’t read it, you’ll surely want to.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Welcome to Sunday Snippets, a Sunday meme hosted by RAnn at This That and the Other Thing. Visit her to find other Catholic bloggers’ posts for the week.

My blogging was really lightweight this week, partly because I had the Una Voce newsletter to do.

On the pro-life front, I wrote Missouri Passes Pro-life Bill. It’s a good step forward to stop the killing of viable children.

At Sabbath Moments I wrote, among other things, about the state being ultimately answerable to God.

Here’s the link to the Una Voce Arkansas Ozarks Regional Newsletter where I cover how to obtain the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and what to do in the case of liturgical abuse.  It also contains an article I referred to in my Sabbath Moments post about Joseph de Maistre’s view of the French Revolution.  As he was both Catholic and a contemporary of that sorrowful event, his words are worth pondering.

My booklet on Tips for Participating in the Traditional Latin Mass has now had over 1600 downloads since I uploaded it to Mediafire in March.  It must be helping the newcomers as I had hoped.

Prayer for the Eighth Sunday After Pentecost:

Graciously grant to us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the spirit to think and do always such things as are rightful: that we, who cannot exist without Thee, may be enabled to live according to Thy will.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

The Missouri Family Policy Council announced good news to Missourians this past month.  Preborn children who have reached the stage of viability will have legal protection effective August 28^th .  Governor Jay Nixon (D), a pro-abortion politician, decided not to veto two identical bills passed in the Missouri House and Senate because they have overwhelming bi-partisan support in both houses of the Missouri General Assembly.  The House bill passed by 119-38 and the Senate bill passed 28-5.

What the Bill Does

The bill restricts many instances of late term abortions that are currently legal.  Under current Missouri law, late term abortions can be performed for reasons of medical necessity to preserve the life or health of the mother.  Federal courts have ruled that the definition of medical necessity can include such items as mental distress, emotional anxiety and the unwillingness or inability to raise a child.

The Missouri law will now limit late-term abortions to situations where the mother’s life is endangered or when continuation of the pregnancy would create serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman. A second independent physician with knowledge of obstetrical and neonatal standards would have to certify that these conditions exist.

The days of abortion at any stage of a pregnancy for any reason have ended in Missouri and doctors who violate this law will face dire consequences including incarceration, loss of license and fines from ten to fifty thousand dollars. Not enough in my book.  But what is a life worth?

Although this bill is not perfect, it is a huge step forward and will put a serious crimp in Planned Parenthood’s schemes in Missouri.  It will also help diminish the black genocide in the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City.  Now we must start looking at laws to prevent euthanasia which is going on in hospitals everywhere – a crime few are willing to speak up about.  Killing is killing, no matter the age of the person from whom life is being taken.  What is it about the fifth commandment that people do not get?

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Blessed Aloysius Stepinac - Wikipedia

This week Pope Benedict XVI visited Croatia to celebrate the “National Day of Croatian Families” and to pray at one of the 20th century’s great Catholic prelates, Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac.

I continue to be amazed at the knowledge given us of Catholic world affairs in grade school.  It was the time when the cold war was at its hottest, when Russia was spreading communism throughout Eastern Europe, the Balkans and China.  The archenemy of communism was the Catholic Church and so it was our blessing to hear of two greats: Cardinal Mindzenty of Hungary and Cardinal Stepinac of Croatia, both of whom kept the Catholics of their countries united against the communist dictators ruling them.

Today I find myself wondering, as I behold the encroachment of Marxism into the American way of life, who among the American bishops could stand as tall as these two?

Stepinac was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

What many people don’t know is that after World War I, Europe was so devastated that funding seminarians’ studies was in severe jeopardy.  The young Stepinac came from a family too poor to pay.  Enter the generous Catholics of the United States who responded to Father Lucas Etlin, O.S.B.’s petitions for money to raise up another generation of priests in Europe.  Cardinal Stepinac was one of the many beneficiaries of this generosity.  He was the right man for his country, his Church, and his times, and the Catholics of America played a part, albeit a background part, in raising up this future man of God.

Pope Benedict praised Cardinal Stepinac’s firm exposition of the Catholic identity in the heat of World War II, quoting from an address he gave in 1943: “One of the greatest evils of our time is mediocrity in the questions of faith. Let us not deceive ourselves… Either we are Catholic or we are not. If we are, this must be seen in every area of our life.”

Can this statement not also apply to us today? Either we are Catholic or we or not.  There is no in-between.

Blessed Cardinal Stepinac, brother who has gone on before us, pray for American Catholics that we may be a convincing witness to the truth of Jesus Christ.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

On May 1, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI will officially assign the title “Blessed” to his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.  Our late pope was entirely devoted to Our Lady who always points us to Christ, so it is fitting that this ceremony is performed in May, Mary’s month.  Also fitting is that it takes place on the same day as the communist International Worker’s Day because Pope John Paul II was the ultimate threat to communism.

What does it take to be declared “blessed?” Verifiable practice of heroic virtue and one miracle obtained through the intercession of the person after death. This criteria has been met.  And although the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has four thick volumes of testimony on Pope John Paul II and one verified miracle, in subsequent years both the Church and the world will learn much more of the saintliness of this pontiff as his cause for sainthood advances.

Objections to the beatification

In recent weeks I’ve seen many people up in arms over the beatification.  The fury against it comes from many places.  Some cite the fact that he declared in Ordinatio Sacerdotales that the Church has no authority to ordain women to the priesthood.  They have a political feminist agenda.

Others cite his praise of Legionnaries of Christ founder, Maciel, probably the greatest fraud in the Church in recent years, and Pope John Paul II’s handling of the priest sex abuse scandals.  Yet others shoot flaming arrows in his direction for kissing the Koran and the two Assisi events.  And finally, many objections arise from the blatant liturgical abuse demonstrated at his public Masses.

I’ve also seen snarky comments about it taking money to be beatified and that the cause is supported by people with plenty of money. Some declare that the beatification puts a blessing on everything Pope John Paul II said and did.

Whatever Pope John Paul II’s intentions were in the many things he did, some caused scandal.  But who are we to judge what is in another’s heart?  God has spoken on the beatification by granting a miracle through his intercession.  That should be enough.  How dare we stand in the face of God and decry His judgment?

Pope John Paul II was human.  He was not perfect. No doubt he would be the first to say that sometimes he made bad judgments.  But who has never made a bad judgment?  I venture to say God’s mercy has saved all of us many times from our rampant stupidity.  And what do some bad calls have to do with living a life of heroic virtue?

The pope is not the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland.  He cannot rise up and declare, “Off with their heads!” if things happen that harm the Church from within or without.  Rather, the pope, and we know from testimony that John Paul II spent hours, often prostrate, in front of the Blessed Sacrament, must pray a lot to lead the Church prudently.

What strikes me about the aggressive nay-sayers concerning the beatification is that their problems come from abject ignorance of how the Church works in general – which is exactly as Christ founded it, their own political/secular agendas, and the appalling pride of “The pope didn’t handle his job the way I think he should have handled it so therefore, he should not be beatified.”

Prophetic Witness

Crown of Thorns, 1520-25, Lucas, Cranach the Elder (b. 1472, Kronach, d. 1553, Weimar), Oil and tempera on limewood, Private collection

I am convinced that the life of Pope John Paul II was a prophetic witness for our day and the future in the most fundamental aspect of existence – life and the dignity of the person. From that flows the sanctity of marriage and the domestic church – the family. Everything else hinges on life and dignity of the human person.

John Paul II set in motion something no other pope was able to do because of his time in history.  He presented himself de facto as the father of all people by traveling to so many countries and reaching out to so many people. The Vicar of Christ is the Face of Christ to the world.  He lived a life of the suffering Christ fearlessly and called everyone to Jesus in his travels.

Regardless of disagreements on decisions he made or how he chose to lead, established fact is that he has met the Church’s criteria for beatification. He was a loving, holy man and holy pope.  The Church is better for his pontificate and he cannot be blamed for the eruption of festering Modernism and outrageous disobedience to Church teaching that showed its ugly face after Vatican II.

In fact, the blame falls on all of us who failed to pray for our priests and bishops, who failed to pray for the conversion of sinners, who made Sunday attendance something to be gotten over with and not genuine adoration of God, and who thought we knew everything about our faith because we memorized the Baltimore Catechism.

Christ said in Luke 12:1-3: “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed: nor hidden, that shall not be known. For whatsoever things you have spoken in darkness, shall be published in the light: and that which you have spoken in the ear in the chambers, shall be preached on the housetops.”

We have seen this Modernism, anthropocentrism, narcissism, and spirit of disobedience come fully into the light and broadcast everywhere.  It is a massive threat to the salvation of souls and can only be overcome by the power of God. Why do some people refuse to understand that Pope John Paul II did the best he could in the circumstances God placed him in?

I think it is because they have no spirit of submission to the will of God.

The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, cannot be destroyed no matter what a pope does or doesn’t do. What we most need to do today is to follow John Paul II’s example of praying the rosary and participating in Eucharistic Adoration for the salvation of souls and reparation for the tremendous offenses against God.  We also must know our Faith inside and out and teach it to our children.

Let us rejoice in the beatification, imitate Pope John Paul II’s virtues, and devote time to living our duties and responsibilities in such as way as to become as holy as God wants us to be.  Let us leave the rest to God.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Father Lovasik’s book, The Hidden Power of Kindness: A Practical Handbook for Souls Who Dare to Transform the World, One Deed at a Time, contains so many gems of spiritual advice that I can read it repeatedly and learn something new every time.  In the chapter, “Found your thoughts on virtue” he talks about the duty of forgiving. From pp. 117-119:

If you desire to obtain from God the pardon of the sins you have committed against Him, you must forgive from your heart those who have offended you. What is more, you must pray for them even as Jesus did.  This is the greatest act of charity.

For me, this is a tall order.  The more I have sunk my time, energy, and commitment to something or someone, the harder it is to forgive people who have done their best to obstruct my work or attacked me personally.  Also, as I look at people like certain of our political leaders who so arrogantly advance the culture of death, I really struggle with the act of praying for them. I know that to them I am disposable, and so are others like me.  I resent how they strip me of my human dignity, just as they do to every aborted child and every euthanized adult or child.  How difficult it is to pray for someone we are angry with!

Father Lovasik reduces overcoming this problem to simple steps we can actually accomplish.  It doesn’t mean that conquering our resentment will be an easy fight; we can work something over for years.  The important thing is that regardless of our feelings, we do the right thing.  That’s what heroic virtue is made of.

Here are his suggestions for developing virtue when we most want to retaliate.

Bear injustice patiently. [This is one of the seven spiritual works of mercy.] When it pleases God to permit you to labor under the cloud of false suspicion, false judgment, calumny, or detraction, try to remember the following suggestions:

Try to see God’s permission of the happening. St.  Francis de Sales gives this advice: “We must have patience not only to be ill, but to be ill with the illness which God wills, in the place where He wills, and among such persons as He wills; and so of our tribulations.”  Try to avoid thinking of the grievance. “Love is patient.” (1 Cor. 13:14)  Concentrating on wrongs done to you generally impresses the undesirable facts more deeply on your memory and does not obviate the evil.  Complete abandonment to God and trust in His Providence form the most worthy procedure for your soul.

St. Francis de Sales in His Study, 1760, Peter Anton Lorenzoni, Saint Sigismund parish church in Strobl, Salzburg, Austria, Wikimedia

Do not talk the matter over with others [This is extraordinarily difficult for some of us.  I want to blab the injustice to everybody I know.] except for the purpose of getting direction to make virtue out of necessity.  Other persons seldom understand adequately…. Learn to bear snubs, setbacks, and sharp tongues nobly with Christ at Herod’s court. Justice will prevail.  God will right all wrongs, if not in this life, then surely at the Last Judgment.

Pray for the grace of conversion for failing ones.  Unless the erring ones are incorrigibly obstinate or hopelessly blind [Planned Parenthood?] they will, by the grace of God [Abby Johnson] be brought to a salutary realization of their wrongdoing through patience on your part.

Let this cross be a source of self-sanctification rather than torture for your soul.  Offer the pain you must suffer in expiation for sin — your own as well as those of others — and also for blessings upon those who have been unfair to you.

Find strength and consolation in prayer. You need God’s grace to make any difficulty a means of greater personal holiness.  Prayer secures that grace.  You can conquer anything with God’s grace, but nothing without it. Your prayer need not be long, but brief and definite…. Pray for the checking of the moral evils so prevalent even among Catholics.

Cultivate the devotion of reparation to the Sacred Heart. Ask Jesus, the forbearing and long-suffering Savior, for a tolerant frame of mind regarding the actions of others.  Ask Him for the power to influence others, especially through your example, to put aside their undesirable habits.  Ask for the grace to remember that others exercise much patience with you. [My husband comes to mind here.  He is very patient with me!] Especially, ask Jesus crucified for a practical and more perfect understanding of His great example in forgiving, so that you may learn to bear with others.

Father Lovasik’s words make me think that maybe this Lent would best be spent by me concentrating on this one spiritual work of mercy.  We have been given the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost at Confirmation.  Two of the twelve fruits of this indwelling are “long-suffering” and “mildness.” It isn’t easy to harvest these fruits, but striving to do so creates great adventures on the road to perfection.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Welcome and please join us at RAnn’s This That and the Other Thing for some Catholic blogger enjoyment where we share our posts for the week.

This was a big pro-life week for our nation.  To join in I wrote A Hidden Cost of Abortion and The Quiet Duel – A Pro-life Film.

For simple enjoyment I posted a video a friend sent me: The Beauty of Mathematics.

For my reflections on Psalm 55, visit Praying the Psalms – Psalm 55.

Sabbath Moments is an enjoyable meme hosted by one of our fellow bloggers, Colleen.

And here’s another striking image from our Hubble telescope.  How can there not be a God?

The Rippled Red Ribbons of SNR 0509

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

I seem to be on a pro-life kick this week.  It must be the effects of grace from the March for Life.  Since I can’t march, my contribution to keeping the sanctity of life in the forefront is to blog about related subjects.

The Quiet Duel was written and directed by the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.  It is not a film that comes to mind first when his name is mentioned.  Most are more familiar with Seven Samurai and Roshomon, but, as are most of Kurosawa’s films, it is very special.

The action begins in 1944 at a Japanese army facility in the jungle where Dr. Fujisaki is operating on a soldier he later discovers is infected with syphilis. Syphilis was nearly incurable in 1940s Japan, rather like AIDS and hepatitis C today. The night Dr. Fujisaki discovers he has contracted the disease from a cut sustained during the operation, the happiness he hoped for in life is shattered.   Worse yet, poor medical supply conditions meant that for the rest of the war, he had no access to salvarsan, the only drug known to cure syphilis at that time. He knew well that syphilis untreated was much harder to cure.

After setting up this grim scenario, Kurosawa takes us to 1946 and the clinic Dr. Fujisaki and his obstetrician father run. Fujisaki begins the long and arduous treatments to cure himself, but his hopes and dreams for a life with the woman he loved and had waited six years for perished because of the disease. He could not tell her what was wrong because he knew she would want to wait for him and, in typical Japanese thinking, he could not take those years away from her.  His sense of duty to others as a doctor and a man drives his character.

That’s the nutshell.  But the nutmeat is a multi-layered tale of life amid death – of sacrifice and self-denial, of nobility, of courage, of forgiveness, of rescue and redemption. The film is named for the intense internal struggle Dr. Fujisaki underwent to do the right thing always.  Misunderstood and misjudged, he did not defend himself and only once allowed the grief of his situation to overcome him.

We also see the man who gave him syphilis continue to indulge in selfish behavior and ruin other lives.  Nakata is everyman, drawn to self-gratification without care of consequences and in denial of his disease and the wickedness of his conduct.  When he rushes into the surgery to look at his syphilitic still-born child (off camera), we hear an unearthly scream of horror and witness his collapse as at last he sees what he has done.

Dr. Fujisaki is the Christ figure – suffering, self-denying, healing and saving.  He encounters mankind at it’s worst and offers the chance for life. A young lady who attempted suicide is brought to him, pregnant, and he refuses her demands for an abortion.  Instead, he gives her a job at the clinic.  One of the wonderful parts of the film is seeing her transformation from an angry, cynical, and resentful youth to a devoted nurse and mother through her interactions with Fujisaki.

If you watch The Quiet Duel – I own it and have seen it many times – you will see what medical conditions were like at the Japanese front in WW II, and you will also see something that no longer exists: a typical medical clinic of postwar Japan with all its poverty. You will also see Japanese culture and interaction, which is much different from our western ways of relating.

The acting by Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura and the rest of the cast is compelling, as is the script.  The film is amazing in its beauty at all levels. Akira Ifukube, the great 20^th century Japanese composer scored it, and again, we have something quintessentially Japanese.

Dr. Fujisaki (Toshiro Mifune) Says Good-bye to His Fiance (Miki Sanjo)

The Quiet Duel is one of the most profoundly pro-life films I’ve ever seen. In a culture where suicide is rampant even today, the doctors prevent it.  Where abortion is looked upon as a way out, the doctors forbid it and provide an alternative.  Where revenge would be understandable, forgiveness rules.  Always, life is held up and deliberate killing blocked.

In light of the tremendous cruelties visited by the Japanese conquerors over civilians and prisoners, Kurosawa presents another side of what his countrymen could be: live-giving, not life-taking, compassionate, not rigid, unfeeling and cruel. I am reminded of the life of a real Japanese physician which I wrote about in Dr. Takashi Nagai – A Song for Nagasaki.

One of my favorite scenes comes toward the end.  A policeman arrives at the clinic to visit Fujisaki’s father and tells him people are calling his son a saint.  Fujisaki elder is walking up and down rocking the nurse’s child as she works elsewhere in the clinic.  He answers, “I don’t know about that.  He’s just trying to give hope back to the people who are unhappier than he is.  If he had been happy, he might have become a snob.” That alone deserves a discussion on the role of redemptive suffering in our lives.

I highly recommend this film for its masterful treatment of very sensitive subjects. While the suffering of the characters is palpable, it does not leave the viewer without hope. Loss because of sin and the social effects of sin are as relevant today as they were in 1949. It is a great film for showing a good example of how to live uprightly and in a Christian manner even when you have been grievously wronged.  Because of the subject matter, not because of the visuals, I would recommend it for adults down to 16 year olds.

I bought my copy from Amazon, but if you have a Netflix subscription you may be able to access it there or you may be able to view it somewhere on the internet.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Last week I posted my second article at Suite 101.  As I wrote a first person account of how many years ago I, as a peon with no authority, changed my work relationships, the principle behind my actions raised a question about how aborting over 53 million babies since Roe v.Wade has impoverished the world.

Games People Play

How to Influence People and Build Relationships – A Simple Secret is a story of personal empowerment through giving positive, honest, and sincere recognition to others.

In the process of writing it I reconnected with my Transactional Analysis training from the 1970s.  Psychiatrist Eric Berne’s book Games People Play took over the popular lexicon but, to me, the core value of Berne’s theory was and remains the concept of the “stroke economy.”

Yes, that’s TA jargon.  A stroke = one unit of recognition.  Claude Steiner, Ph.D. followed in Berne’s footsteps coining the term “emotional literacy” as he developed the theory of strokes after Berne died.  Here is the heart of the matter as Steiner writes it:

Strokes are transactional units of recognition. Research has shown that strokes are required for actual survival in young children and psychological survival and health in grown ups. Strokes can be generally divided into positive and negative based on the subjective experience of the recipient; positive strokes are pleasurable, negative strokes are painful.(Click here for more on this subject).

True love knows no limits.  A society capable of true love cannot kill its babies in the womb, but a society burdened with either a stroke deficit or habitual negative interactions certainly can. The babies not here have left terrible holes in our lives – the personal costs to the mother and father and deprivation to society of their presence and gifts.

They are the persons we will never get to know – persons who may have been just the ones to reach out and heal suffering hearts; persons who were God’s gift to a family and the world;  persons we dismembered and threw back in God’s face.

Berne’s stroke theory is a secular explanation of interpersonal dynamics. True Christian living resolves the stroke deficit in people’s lives. Catholics call it living the Beatitudes through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

A hidden cost of abortion is the further impoverishment of the world – fewer people to truly see, love, and connect face-to-face with others rather than their iPods, Blackberries, cell phones, televisions and computer screens.  Fewer people to live the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Sarah Palin and Trig: A Child Brings Joy

We gadget hungry, frenetic citizens of the twenty-first century are withering away spiritually and sucking the potential out of society because too many of us are alone in a crowd frantically going nowhere and turned inward. We have killed many who might well have given us what we need the most – human affirmation of our value as persons – the hidden love of the Divine. We have killed many who could have called us to be the best that we can be, multiplying the effect of true love for the good of all.

Because of their national recognition, Todd and  Sarah Palin, by joyfully and unconditionally accepting all their children, but especially a Downs Syndrome child, are showing the world what strength loving interaction can bring to the smallest unit of society, the family.

Yes, we are all sinners.  That is why society will never be perfect and families will suffer from the sins of its members as the Palins have.  But in a public way, they are an example of the good that can be.  They are a sign of hope and of what we are all called to be and do: loving Christians on the journey to eternal life. They said “yes” to God.  When will our society say “yes” to Him by ending our impoverishment caused by abortion?

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Today is the Ember Friday after Pentecost.  As I sometimes do when I can’t get to Mass, I read the propers and then turn to Father Paschal Botz, O.S.B.’s book, Runways to God: The Psalms As Prayer(©1980) to understand the Introit psalm better.

Father Paschal was a monk of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota who was heavily involved in the development of the Short Breviary (1962), and whose writings on the liturgy, scripture, and spiritual life are well known from the early liturgical movement in the United States (pre-Vatican II) before it went off the rails.  A dear Benedictine priest gave me this book and I treasure it as the best contemporary commentary on the Psalms I have seen.

Today’s Introit is from Psalm 70 (71), verses 8, 23, 1, 2.  In the Traditional Mass verses and texts were often rearranged for emphasis on the theme of the feast or liturgical season, often with alleluias inserted.  It reads:

Let my mouth be filled with Thy praise, alleluia, that I may sing, alleluia; my lips shall rejoice when I shall sing to Thee, alleluia, alleluia.  In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be put to confusion: deliver me in Thy justice, and rescue me.  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  Let my mouth…

You might remember the “let me never be put to confusion” from the last line of the great early Christian poem, the Te Deum Laudamus which the Church sings today at major celebrations and on Sundays in the Divine Office. Father Paschal’s commentary on the entire Psalm could not be more relevant for the pro-life issues the sick and elderly face today. Here are some excerpts:

Rock of the Aged

Many a phrase in this Psalm is known to us from other Psalms.  That is as we expect from an elderly author who lived all his life in fidelity to the Lord.  Sheer, unbounded praise alternates with acts of trust, even as the Psalmist repeatedly begs for divine help more insistently with the advancing years. God is his Rock of refuge and strong fortress from the womb to the tomb.  His venerable gray hair, however is also the occasion for new trials, recriminations of accusers, and there is no lack of enemies, those who watch to take advantage of him.  Old age is not serene and quiet, respected for wisdom of experience, but its spent strength changes over to new anxieties.

There are those who pounce on the aged and take advantage of their weakness.  The shadows lengthen with the years, as “many sore troubles” crop up, not least of all from oppressors of the elderly, even the criminally violent.  We think here of the “mercy killers” for whom life is cheap, “cruel men” without humane feelings. While the life span of men and women is growing, so are the enemies who consider advanced age useless.  This is the meaning of verse 7: “I have been as a portent to many,” a sign of evil and an easy target.  Failing health is a sign of age, but the author’s faith grows the stronger.

Hope and trust are the music of the years.  Total dependence on God is the childlikeness of the Gospel.  Trust and confidence is the greatest heritage that old people can pass on to the young. To proclaim God’s deeds, His might and victories to the young is the glory and dignity and sanctity of declining years. The simple fact that God takes good care of those who live by faith is enough.  This is music to the young generation.  The Psalmist speaks of the harp and the lyre, with which the elderly count their blessings “without number” (v. 15).  God is always near and brings new comfort.

We are grateful for this inspired hymn of praise in Israel’s repertoire of prayer, as it rejuvenates old age. Just as the coming of the infant Jesus fulfilled all the hopes of Simeon and Anna (Lk. 2: 22ff., 36ff.), so He does in the Holy Anointing not only of the sick but also of the aged.  He takes over their suffering, their whole lives.  Older people could spend much more time singing the praises of the Lord, cultivating the memory of God in devout recollection. They could be renewed in their comeback from the depths (v.20) and rise above their enemies, they could experience a blessedness that exceeds their wildest dreams of health and strength and security.  Such is the foretaste of the resurrection, for “all generations to come.”

Considering Father Paschal’s comments, good questions to ask are, do I do enough to proclaim God’s might and victories to the young?  Am I setting a good example of faith and trust in God? Do I speak of the blessings God has given me rather than complaining about my woes? Do I include God in all my daily activities – walk with Him in the garden? We can be witnesses to God’s love and mercy until we draw our last breath.

During a recent trip to the Dallas area I had occasion to purchase Roy Shoeman’s excellent book, Salvation Is from the Jews: The Role of Judaism in Salvation History. In another post I will write a review, but today I want to bring you some words of St. Edith Stein he highlighted that have special significance for those seeking to understand suffering and death in today’s world.

As many contemplatives do, Carmelite nun Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (what a prescient choice of name in religion that was!) kept notes on insights she obtained during prayer.  As a Jewish convert to Catholicism, she saw what the Nazis were doing to the Jews in light of the Cross. She wrote of a prayer she made during a holy hour in the convent:

I spoke with the Savior to tell him that I realized it was His Cross that was now being laid upon the Jewish people, that the few who understood this had the responsibility of carrying it in the name of all, and that I myself was willing to do this, if He would only show me how.  I left the service with the inner conviction that I had been heard, but uncertain as ever as to what “carrying the Cross” might mean for me.

Later she wrote:

I understood the Cross as the destiny of God’s people, which was beginning to be apparent at the time (1933).  I felt that those who understood the Cross of Christ should take it upon themselves on everybody’s behalf…. Beneath the Cross I understood the destiny of God’s people.

St. Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) 1938 passport photo

All religious write a final testament and St. Teresa Benedicta’s spirituality is evident in hers, penned in 1939:

I joyfully accept in advance the death God has appointed for me, in perfect submission to His most holy will.  May the Lord accept my life and death for the honor and glory of His name, for the needs of His holy Church — especially for the preservation, sanctification, and final perfecting of our holy Order, and in particular for the Carmel of Cologne and Echt — for the Jewish people, that the Lord may be received by His own and His Kingdom come in glory, for the deliverance of Germany and peace throughout the world, and finally for all my relatives living and dead and all whom God has given me; may none of them be lost.

She was, with her sister Rosa and a train transport composed entirely of baptized Jews, murdered at Auschwitz.

When reading her words I could not help thinking of the condition of our nation today – the blatant attacks on human life by those in power, the war on marriage and the family waged by perverted souls and government bureaucrats, the corruption of the power elite, and all those who become co-operators in the various evils designed to separate man from God, for that is the final goal of the Enemy. The similarities between the leaders and supporters of Nazi Germany and America’s leaders and their supporters today are much too close in spite of the vigorous denials given voice by the press.

As St. Edith Stein did in her day, do we understand what our society is doing and becoming in the light of the Cross? Underneath all the ideologies of the day, the war is between man and the principalities and powers as St. Paul wrote in Eph. 6:12. A reversal of the path our most powerful leaders are currently on calls for extreme sacrifice. Are we ready as St. Edith Stein was to “joyfully accept in advance” what God has chosen for us to suffer, even death, for the salvation of souls, for our country, for the conversion of sinners?

Will it be the blue pill or the red one?

Today we met with our insurance agent because I received notice that my supplemental Medicare policy was going up $40 a month.  No way is that in the budget.  When he came over he told us about an all-day meeting he attended yesterday on the Deathcare bill Congress just foisted on all of us while exempting themselves and all federal employees.  Among the many evils of the bill, he said that by 2015 Medicare will no longer pay for Home Health Care, Hospice Care, or “swing beds” – that is when someone has a major operation and can’t go home right away but must go to a nursing home for some days.  It seems that people will be expected to pay for these things with some kind of private insurance, yet everything in the bill is designed to drive private insurance out of business. Moreover, few will be able to afford the premiums. Without these services, many, many, many people will die.  It may not be euthanasia outright, but it is still going to lead to death by denial of care.  Eventually we will be forced to submit to being murdered.  I wonder how long it will take for all the people clamoring for free health care to find out that not only is it not free, they aren’t going to have access to what they need in the first place.

Pray, pray, pray for the deliverance of our country.

On February 11, 2010 I wrote about a holistic approach to treating depression where I presented a combination of actions one can take to feel better without going on anti-depressants.  Since the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that “depression is the leading cause of disability as measured by YLDs (years living with disability) and the 4th  leading contributor to the global burden of disease (DALYs) (disability adjusted life years) in 2000,”[1] continuing examination of approaches beyond the holistic is warranted for those who can’t beat depression with a natural approach.

The use of anti-depressants is often part of a comprehensive approach to treating chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and autoimmune diseases since struggling with these problems takes a toll physically and mentally, often disrupting brain chemistry in addition to the other problems the disease brings.  All anti-depressants carry “black box warnings” and none are without side effects.  For some people they just don’t work.  However, there is hope and before turning to electroconvulsive therapy two other approaches may provide the relief other avenues have not.

Recently I saw a television program about vagus nerve stimulation which provided relief for treatment-resistant depression.  Originally approved for treatment of epilepsy, VNS involves intermittent stimulation (typically 30 seconds on, five minutes off) of the left cervical vagus nerve delivered via the VNS therapy system.  Epileptic patients who were treated with this therapy started reporting that their depression was lifting not long after starting treatment.  Doctors began researching this positive side affect and cannot say exactly why this approach works, but in case after case when at least two antidepressants have failed, VNS works.  It does require invasive surgery, however. For more information, visit the site in the link above.

There may be an even better treatment than VNS, however, and that is Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES).  Currently significant research is being conducted on the use of this approach which shows it works well for many patients.  CES is a non-invasive treatment, and each individual must discover for himself the right length of time and frequency for using the stimulators. As with VNS, no one really knows exactly how CES works, only that it does and is safe.  In clinical studies CES has been shown to normalize the electrical output of the brain as well as increase the body’s serotonin and beta endorphin levels. Both VNS and CES devices are FDA approved.

[1] http://www.who.int/mental_health/management/depression/definition/en/

Depression treatment links: http://www.depressiontreatmentnow.com/depression_treatment_links.html

In the February 2010 issue of Inside the Vatican Robert Moynihan wrote on this subject - that suffering and the cross is “a mystery hidden at the heart of the faith which we must not minimize.”

Agony in the Garden, c.1587, Jacopo Ligozzi (b. 1547, Verona, d. 1627, Firenze), oil on panel, private collection

He points out that “since the Second Vatican Council, when many have rightly stressed that Christians are ‘a Resurrection people,’ but wrongly neglected that…we are a ‘crucifixion people’ with all that implies,” we have, as Catholics, minimized this great mystery. The overwhelming “happy talk” from many pulpits has resulted in a failure by many to comprehend the salvific value of suffering as Pope John Paul II wrote about in Salvifici Dolores. (If you have not read the Pope’s Apostolic Letter, click on the title and you will go to it on the Vatican web site.  It is excellent.)

In his editorial, Moynihan quotes New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan on the condition of Haiti:

Haiti is the broken, bloodied body of Christ….Yes, we all have a share in the Resurrection, but as a race redeemed, we also sometimes take part in His Passion.  Christ scourged.  Christ crucified.

Somehow suffering frees us from worldly attachments if we adopt the right disposition. As we discover our lack of control over our worldly plans and desires, if we submit to God and embrace what He sends us no matter how burdensome, if we fix our eyes on the cross, we see more clearly our dependence on God in a rightly ordered way. He is the one who will deliver us and not we ourselves.  This ascent into truth, as it were, is an ascent into holiness if we learn to desire what God wants for us.

It’s easy to forget in the midst of pain and frustration that God wants only our good and that every obstacle He sends us is a sign of love and an opportunity to train our wills and hearts to desire “Thy will be done.” A great good and a great privilege is to be invited by Christ to ascend the cross with Him, to offer up our sufferings with His for the redemption of souls. Let us carry this message of hope to those who have never heard of this way of thinking, that they may find the purpose in their pain and the special place they have in God’s plan.

A HT to Father Zuhlsdorf over at What Does the Prayer Really Say?  for alerting us to Archbishop Chaput’s latest column on the health care (or is it death care?) bill.  From the Denver diocesan site we have his letter which will be published in the March 17 Denver Catholic Register.  Please send this on to every Catholic and pro-life person you know.

This is a good week to fast, pray and suffer so that God will intervene and this bill will not pass.  Stupak’s 12 are down to 5 and many “deals” (bribes?) are being cut behind closed doors.  Meanwhile, God bless Archbishop Chaput for his outspokenness.  The emphases in the text are mine.

Archbishop Chaput of Denver

The Senate version of health-care reform currently being forced ahead by congressional leaders and the White House is a bad bill that will result in bad law.  It does not deserve, nor does it have, the support of the Catholic bishops of our country. Nor does the American public want it.  As I write this column on March 14, the Senate bill remains gravely flawed.  It does not meet minimum moral standards in at least three important areas: the exclusion of abortion funding and services; adequate conscience protections for health-care professionals and institutions; and the inclusion of immigrants.

Groups, trade associations and publications describing themselves as “Catholic” or “prolife” that endorse the Senate version – whatever their intentions – are doing a serious disservice to the nation and to the Church, undermining the witness of the Catholic community; and ensuring the failure of genuine, ethical health-care reform. By their public actions, they create confusion at exactly the moment Catholics need to think clearly about the remaining issues in the health-care debate.  They also provide the illusion of moral cover for an unethical piece of legislation.

As we enter a critical week in the national health-care debate, Catholics across northern Colorado need to remember a few simple facts.

First, the Catholic bishops of the United States have pressed for real national health-care reform in this country for more than half a century. They began long before either political party or the public media found it convenient.  That commitment hasn’t changed.  Nor will it.

Second, the bishops have tried earnestly for more than seven months to work with elected officials to craft reform that would serve all Americans in a manner respecting minimum moral standards.  The failure of their effort has one source.  It comes entirely from the stubbornness and evasions of certain key congressional leaders, and the unwillingness of the White House to honor promises made by the president last September.

Third, the health-care reform debate has never been merely a matter of party politics.  Nor is it now. Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak and a number of his Democratic colleagues have shown extraordinary character in pushing for good health-care reform while resisting attempts to poison it with abortion-related entitlements and other bad ideas that have nothing to do with real “health care.” Many Republicans share the goal of decent health-care reform, even if their solutions would differ dramatically.  To put it another way, few persons seriously oppose making adequate health services available for all Americans.  But God, or the devil, is in the details — and by that measure, the current Senate version of health-care reform is not merely defective, but also a dangerous mistake.

The long, unpleasant and too often dishonest national health-care debate is now in its last days.  Its most painful feature has been those “Catholic” groups that by their eagerness for some kind of deal undercut the witness of the Catholic community and help advance a bad bill into a bad law. Their flawed judgment could now have damaging consequences for all of us.

Do not be misled.  The Senate version of health-care reform currently being pushed ahead by congressional leaders and the White House — despite public resistance and numerous moral concerns — is bad law; and not simply bad, but dangerous. It does not deserve, nor does it have, the support of the Catholic bishops in our country, who speak for the believing Catholic community.  In its current content, the Senate version of health-care legislation is not “reform.” Catholics and other persons of good will concerned about the foundations of human dignity should oppose it.

This bill is not about health care.  Bottom line: it is about the government deciding who gets to be born, how long we will live, and when we will be forced to die.  I thought that was God’s job.