pro-life
Precious Down Syndrome Boy
October 30, 2011
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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R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Missouri Passes Pro-Life Bill
August 1, 2011
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 28th . 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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R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Through Resentment to Forgiveness
February 21, 2011
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
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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R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival
January 30, 2011
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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R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
The Quiet Duel – A Pro-life Film
January 26, 2011
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
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 20th 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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R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
A Hidden Cost of Abortion
January 24, 2011
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
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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R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Praying the Psalms – Psalm 46
November 27, 2010
King David Playing the Zither, Andrea Celesti (1637-1712 Venice), oil on canvas, private collection
Welcome to Praying the Psalms. Jenny at Just a Minute hosts this wonderful meme every Saturday. Visit her for other commentary on this psalm.
Father Paschal Botz, O.S.B. gives us an idea of how this Psalm came to be written:
An exceptional triumph of unbounded trust, the literal encounter with God which inspired it must have been one of the most astounding of sacred history. Many regard the original event as that of 2 Kings 18-19, when the mighty Sennacherib attacked Jerusalem in King Hezekiah’s days. He trusted in the Lord like nobody before or after (18:5). He prayed with his people.
While the enemy stood outside and in mockery blasphemed God and His holy city, Isaiah the prophet came forward and spoke for the Lord. That night an angel of the Lord slew 185,000 Assyrians “at the break of dawn.”
vs. 2- 4 God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress. Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea; though its waters rage and foam and the mountains quake at its surging. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. [Nature is formidable as we have seen in hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods and volcanoes. But God is with us throughout these destructive moments. Whenever our home is threatened with natural disaster I pray for His protection. I ask Him to send His angels to guard us. These verses remind us that no matter how powerfully nature manifests itself, God is more powerful. Our Father delights in protecting His children, such is the greatness of His love. He desires that we remember this and call upon Him in the midst of all threats.]
vs. 5-8 There is a stream whose rivulets gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High. God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed; God will help it at the break of dawn. Though nations are in turmoil, kingdoms totter, His voice resounds, the earth melts away, the Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. [The stream flowing into the New Jerusalem is the water of Baptism whereby we become children of God and are given a share in His life. We make vows to the Lord and He keeps us safe from harm. Only when we leave His protective care and break our vows do we fall into sin. All manner of evil can surround us, but if we take refuge in God, He will guard us from the worst evil of all - falling into mortal sin and severing our ties with Him. All of the city of God is gladdened when a new soul is washed in the stream and the sinner repents.]
vs. 9-12 Come! Behold the deeds of the Lord, the astounding things He has wrought on earth: He has stopped wars to the end of the earth: the bow He breaks; He splinters the spears; He burns the shields with fire. Desist! and confess that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted upon the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. [No matter how bad things appear to our earthly eyes, with our spiritual vision we know that God is more powerful than anything man can set against Him and us with Him.
Christ's name "Emmanuel" means "God with us." He promised to be with us until the end of time. Whatever we do, if we do it in His name, we show His power and love for mankind till the end of ages.
Jesus warned us, "And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Mt.: 10:28). This should be our greatest concern. Nothing else can come close to being a threat to us.
Quite often I am tempted to be drawn into the political issues of our country and the world, and experience fear that those who are clearly outside the Holy City blaspheming God will prevail. With this psalm I can refocus on God, renew acts of faith and trust in Him, and restore my spiritual sight. Our world needs more glorifying of God, more praising of His love and goodness, more embracing of life and the sacrifices necessary to live in a godly way. Lord, with your help I will do this without fear, for you are my stronghold.]
R. Now and forever. Amen.
(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)
Advancing the Reign of Christ Here and Now
August 20, 2010
For some time now I’ve been moved to start something at this blog, regardless of the subject of the post. It has to do with Christ the King.
Christ in Glory, 1597-98, oil on canvas, Annibale Carracci (b.1560, Bologna, d. 1609, Roma), Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence
Few people would deny that the world is against God or that many people who claim to be Christians twist the Word of God to suit their own agenda which often masquerades as “social justice” which always seems to create more injustice, not less. You would have to be a sleeping Rip van Winkle not to see that this is the most godless age ever in the history of the world since God called Abraham – or even maybe before. Since the beginning of the age of enlightenment man has steadily become more homocentric as opposed to theocentric. The heresy of modernism has, since its spawning in the 19th century, greatly facilitated this trend. Sadly, many in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church have become infected to the point of over-emphasizing the horizontal aspect of worship at the expense of the vertical dimension and social work at the expense of spiritual growth.
Interwoven with the de-emphasis on the first three commandments we can see that doctrinal truth has been sacrificed at the expense of ideology of all kinds. Natural law is violated without regard to the consequences. “If it feels good, do it!” is a prevailing mantra which originated in the 1960s and has become the rule of life for many today.
Inconvenient truths in many places simply are not taught, such as contraception being a grave offense against God. Priests have been punished for speaking the truths of the Faith from their pulpits and in their parish bulletins while other priests who speak falsely are rewarded. I have direct experience with a bishop who opposed the Pope and Catholic tradition on a number of issues and earned a very bad name for myself among his supporters. It seems the word “obey” applied only to those of us he strove to corrupt and not to himself. But we cannot obey unjust commands from anyone, which is why some Catholic dioceses are shutting down Catholic adoption agencies, for example. The state demands same-sex couples be allowed to adopt children into a life style opposing the very clear will of God as spoken in sacred scripture, and the Church cannot act opposite to her teachings.
The answer to the corruption of the world
On Facebook and other places you can find groups dedicated to the “Social Reign of Jesus Christ.” That is an admirable and desired end for the world, but Christ must rule in every heart first. If our Savior does not reign in our hearts, our actions will not be congruent with His words. It is up to each individual to examine his conscience daily on the subject of whether he is putting God first and not himself. Only when sufficient numbers of Christians really put Christ first in their hearts, when they ruthlessly root out attachments to their own wills, when they are willing to stand up and live the Two Great Commandments – not just the one, will we have anything approximating the “Social Reign of Jesus Christ.” No doubt, as in the past, we will have many martyrs spilling their blood before this comes to pass, if it ever does in this life.
The difficulty of achieving the preeminence of Christ in this life is no reason for any of us to shirk doing battle with ourselves. Many useful practices and devotions are available to help us, bringing graces upon our souls that strengthen us in fortitude, for the virtue of fortitude is most necessary to fight the human inclination to want to be liked, to blend in and do what everybody else is doing, and to talk and think like the majority – and the majority is not and has not been for Christ in centuries.
We are the servants of the Lord. The servant is not above his Master (Matt. 10: 24). Standing up for Christ is an invitation to get publicly clobbered by the many who want to enforce their self-originated version of truth. But we need not fear the majority because Jesus tells us in Matthew 10: 26-31:
Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
And in Matthew 10: 32-33 we hear the glorious promise to those of us who stand strong against the world:
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
In the times of Ruth and Boaz, the people had a custom of greeting one another with the phrase, Dominus vobiscum (tecum), meaning “The Lord be with you.” The response was, “The Lord bless you.” Today at Mass we hear “The Lord be with you” many times, and we respond, “And with your spirit.” I do not intend to go into the theology of this today, but simply wish to use this as an illustration of one practice people used in Old Testament times to keep the Lord in mind, a practice that is enshrined within our sacred liturgy today.
In religious communities in the 1960s and before, the common greeting when meeting someone in the halls or entering a room was the phrase, “Praised be Jesus Christ.” The answer was, “Now and forever.” I don’t know if this practice is still observed, but I am convinced that if Christians greeted each other this way every time we meet, it would be a big help towards the world being brought back into a right relationship with God.
To do my part in witnessing to the supremacy of Christ the King and to building the virtue of fortitude in my soul, I am going to try to remember to end each blog post with this phrase regardless of the subject. I trust that this practice will keep my posts on track with pure intentions and charity, and that it will always be a reminder to me to suffer with joy. I will explain the “Amen” addition in another post. Will anyone stand with me? I invite you all.
V. Praised be Jesus Christ.
R. Now and forever. Amen.
Runways to God
May 28, 2010
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
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.
Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival
March 21, 2010
Welcome to Sunday Snippets hosted at This That and The Other Thing. We bloggers post our favorites of the week and link to RAnn where we all gather to read what others have to share. Join us, please. If you don’t have a blog, visit anyway and leave comments. We all like to get feedback on our work!
This week I continued to post a Station of the Cross each day. You can find all of them by scrolling through the blog, but here is the one from Monday – Simon of Cyrene is Forced to Take Up the Cross. I am posting these stations because they are no longer available in the beautiful and poetic English of the church of my youth.
Archbishop Chaput wrote a letter to his diocese on the health bill which I posted with highlights and a few comments.
A reflection on suffering and holiness is here. Sometimes we need reminders that God is beside us always, even during the worst of times.
My post on Sabbath Moments is about a stunningly beautiful Madonna and Child I ran across several years ago. In the midst of mental and emotional turmoil over the “death care” bill this Friday I fled to Our Lady. I was able to track down a certain amount of information on this work, but I need readers to ask Polish friends or art specialist friends to visit the blog with information on an interpretation of the image. As I searched I found modern Polish artists who have painted some of the same unique elements which are in the painting I found from 1450. It must be part of the Polish Catholic tradition or Eastern European Catholic tradition. Let’s get some Poles involved here to help me!
Archbishop Chaput on the Health Care Bill
March 15, 2010
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.
Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival
I’d like to welcome you to Sunday Snippets–a Catholic Carnival. It is a chance for Catholic bloggers to share their best posts with others. It doesn’t matter if you blog exclusively about things Catholic or just do so sometimes (like me), you are welcome to join us.
This week I have a couple of short posts with pictures of the snow from this week’s storm, a book review on a fascinating subject, and a chili recipe for those who want to fight the cold and snow. Please enjoy them here.
I have plans for an article discussing the role of depression in a woman’s choice to abort and why I think it is a factor more often than most would believe. We know the aftermath of an abortion brings terrible depression, but I read something that makes me think it also preceeds the abortion. It’ll take me awhile to pull the whole thing together because I want to do a really good job with it. Keep me in your prayers and thanks for reading.
Finally, a Tighter Directive from Catholic Bishops on End-of-Life Care
January 4, 2010
The San Francisco Chronicle wrote its usual one-sided whine in covering a November 17th mandate from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to provide nutrition, hydration, and medication to patients who are in a “presumably irreversible conditions … who can reasonably be expected to live indefinitely if given such care.”
The bishops voted to revise the guide, Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, at their November general assembly in Baltimore. The bishops’ previous guide predated Pope John Paul II’s 2004 address to the International Congress on “Life- Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas” and the August 2007 Responses to Certain Questions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration issued by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.
All Catholic health care institutions and workers have been notified of the new mandate. Whether any will attempt to get around it remains to be seen, but predictably, Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion & Choices, which advocates for the right of terminally ill patients to make life-or-death decisions is making false accusations about the mandate without, apparently, having read it. She claims that these directives are in conflict with legal instructions from patients or their families and will apply to everyone. The answer to the first is “Maybe”, to the second, “No.” The work-around stated as hospital policy, that someone or their surrogate who insists on starving and dehydrating the patient to death will be moved to another institution is not acceptable. Not surprising from someone who is in the business of killing.
However, Lori Dangberg, spokeswoman for the Alliance of Catholic Health Care, which represents California’s 55 Catholic hospitals made a disturbing statement. She is quoted in the article as saying that if a situation was unresolvable, the hospitals would find some other way to accommodate the person. How do you find a moral way of accommodating a person who wants to commit suicide or a family that wants to murder a member? What about the fifth commandment do people not understand?
The bishops wrote:
The moral teachings that we profess here flow principally from the natural law, understood in the light of the revelation Christ has entrusted to his Church. From this source the Church has derived its understanding of the nature of the human person, of human acts, and of the goals that shape human activity…
28. Each person or the person’s surrogate should have access to medical and moral information and counseling so as to be able to form his or her conscience. The free and informed health care decision of the person or the person’s surrogate is to be followed so long as it does not contradict Catholic principles…
The Church’s teaching authority has addressed the moral issues concerning medically assisted nutrition and hydration. We are guided on this issue by Catholic teaching against euthanasia, which is “an action or an omission which of itself or by intention causes death, in order that all suffering may in this way be eliminated.”[38] While medically assisted nutrition and hydration are not morally obligatory in certain cases, these forms of basic care should in principle be provided to all patients who need them, including patients diagnosed as being in a “persistent vegetative state” (PVS), because even the most severely debilitated and helpless patient retains the full dignity of a human person and must receive ordinary and proportionate care…
58. In principle, there is an obligation to provide patients with food and water, including medically assisted nutrition and hydration for those who cannot take food orally. This obligation extends to patients in chronic and presumably irreversible conditions (e.g., the “persistent vegetative state”) who can reasonably be expected to live indefinitely if given such care.40 Medically assisted nutrition and hydration become morally optional when they cannot reasonably be expected to prolong life or when they would be “excessively burdensome for the patient or [would] cause significant physical discomfort, for example resulting from complications in the use of the means employed.”[41] For instance, as a patient draws close to inevitable death from an underlying progressive and fatal condition, certain measures to provide nutrition and hydration may become excessively burdensome and therefore not obligatory in light of their very limited ability to prolong life or provide comfort.
59. The free and informed judgment made by a competent adult patient concerning the use or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures should always be respected and normally complied with, unless it is contrary to Catholic moral teaching.
37. See Declaration on Euthanasia.
38. Ibid., Part II.40. See Pope John Paul II, Address to the Participants in the International Congress on “Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas” (March 20, 2004), no. 4, where he emphasized that “the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act.” See also Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Responses to Certain Questions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration” (August 1, 2007).
41. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Commentary on “Responses to Certain Questions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration.”
The new mandate is a much better document, emphasizing the importance of a properly formed conscience, compassionate about families faced with tough decisions, and clear on Catholic moral teaching. However, a key piece to the puzzle concerning implementation is the elephant in the living room: lack of catechesis on end-of-life issues at the parish and diocesan level. Some Catholics are very fortunate to have bishops who are vocal about pro-life issues and publish steady, authentic teaching in their diocesan media. But the priest has to stand up in the pulpit and tell the entire congregation what the Church teaches and why on these issues and do it often because of the pro-death atmosphere we breathe every day.
Support at the parish level for families in troubling circumstances is also a necessity. Everywhere we must have a loving and caring approach to help people realize that what seems to be the greatest calamity is instead a gift from God and murder has no place in the heart of the Christian.
The Chronicle’s so-called journalism contained no quotes from Catholic medical personnel nor Catholic institutions who view this mandate as a boon and why. Nor did they present any quotes from pastors who support the mandate and how the mandate helps people deal more peacefully with end-of-life decisions. Clearly, from the article, it appears that this is another “bash the big, bad bishops” slant.
Click on the links provided above to read the article and to read the bishops’ document. You can order the document from the USCCB publications page on line.
Please join me in my nine month rosary novena for our country and conversion of those who are pro-death.
A Rosary for Our Country
Today I prayed an extra rosary that our nation be delivered from the pro-death powers governing our country. Over the past few days my mind has seen hordes of dead – not just babies, but disabled people of all ages and the elderly. The implications for life if Congress passes any form of the health care bill they are wrangling over are dim, dim, dim. It’s not only abortion, it’s the denying of livelihood to so many Americans through policies that pander to special interest groups. Terrible poverty, anarchy, and despotism with the attendant cruelty of such a world is all too close. It’s all a continuum. A demonic darkness pervades this country at every level of government, but especially Capitol Hill. If we lose our moral authority through pro-death laws, we can no longer offer hope to the suffering elsewhere on this planet.
This morning, I understood that I was to devote more prayer and sacrifice to our country’s situation. Since today is Friday, I took the Sorrowful Mysteries of the rosary to Our Lady and asked her to crush the head of Satan – to put the screeching demons to flight. I cannot go out to demonstrate anymore, I have written letters, sent emails, and done what I can from the temporal angle. Now what is left is penance and prayer.
Agony in the Garden, 1465, Donatello, bronze, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence
Agony in the Garden: Dear Mother Mary, Jesus suffered a terrible agony in Gethsemane with no one beside Him except the angels. He knew the pharisees were out to kill Him. He sweat blood for us. We are your children. Please Mother Mary, do not let the demons of hell continue to inspire the evil directed at America through the power-drunk politicians who seek to destroy the nation and make it into something it was never founded to be. Obtain from your Son, Jesus, the great graces necessary to convert their hearts and waken to the love of God.
Scourging at the Pillar: Dear Mother Mary, Jesus was scourged almost to death while the sadistic Roman guards laughed and the Pharisees and High Priests gloated. His blood was poured out everywhere. Please, dear Mother Mary, gather your children, we the brothers and sisters of Jesus, and ask your loving Son to stay the hands of those who would have our blood and our livelihood. Obtain from your Son, Jesus, the great graces necessary to convert their hearts and waken to the love of God.
Crown of Thorns, c. 1510, Cranach, Lucas the Elder, oil on lime panel, private collection
Crowning with Thorns: Dear Mother Mary, with a cruelty beneath that of the animal kingdom and worthy only of the hateful demons of hell, the Roman guards pressed a crown of sharpest thorns into the head of your Son and our Brother. They shoved a reed into His hand and threw a red cloak about Him while mocking His Kingship. Please, Mother Mary, we are your sons and daughters, too. Ask our dear Jesus to stay the hands and tongues of those who mock life and the dignity of all man with their plans to strike down the poor and helpless and continue the genocide of races. Obtain from your Son, Jesus, the great graces necessary to convert their hearts and waken to the love of God.
Carrying of the Cross: Dear Mother Mary, you followed Jesus as he carried his heavy cross through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha. You saw the people curse and spit on Him. You saw the soldiers beat Him when He fell. You saw little mercy toward Him except for Veronica. Please, Mother Mary, for the sake of the suffering of your Divine Son, ask dear Jesus to give His followers the strength to remain on the narrow path of life and to defeat the demonic forces that would go against the natural law of God. Plead with Him to stay the hands that would lay burdens upon our backs so heavy that we will fail under their load. Obtain from your Son, Jesus, the great graces necessary to convert their hearts and waken to the love of God.
Crucifixion, 1503, Cranach, Lucas the Elder, pine panel, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord: Dear Mother Mary, you saw and heard it all – the hammering of the nails, the thump and jolt of the cross as it sank into its hole. You saw the soldiers gambling to win your Son’s clothes. You heard the mocking of the crowd and more gloating from the Scribes and Pharisees. You heard him cry out from the Cross. You accepted us as your children when He gave you to us as our Mother before He died. Please, Mother Mary, ask your Son, Jesus, to come to our aid in this time when so many lives are threatened by the greedy and pompous who live by the dictatorship of relativity. Plead with Him to stay the hands of those who would have us die because they believe we are unworthy of life. Obtain from your Son, Jesus, the great graces necessary to convert their hearts and waken to the love of God.
A Right Relationship with God
Christ in the House of Martha and Mary 1570-1575, Tintoretto, oil on canvas, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
“Now it came to pass as they were on their journey, that He entered a certain village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him to her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also seated herself at the Lord’s feet, and listened to His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. And she came up and said, ‘Lord, is it no concern of Thine that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her therefore to help me.’
But the Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things: and yet only one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the best part, and it will not be taken away from her.’” Lk. 10: 38-42
About eight or ten years ago, some devout Catholics got riled up over criticism of a small monastery of cloistered Carmelites by fellow Catholics engaged in what we call “social justice” issues. It seems some Catholics attached to the local Franciscans were saying that since the Carmelites were diminishing in number and had more space than they needed, their monastery should be taken away from them and used to house the poor because “those nuns weren’t doing anything anyway.”
I knew that the Carmelites owned their property, that there was no danger of the bishop taking the monastery away from them and using it for other purposes, but I visited with one of the nuns anyway and carried back the information to the others to calm their anxieties.
The monastery is a juridical person, that is, the group of nuns were protected as an entity by canon law. They were also a foundation of pontifical right, which means only the Pope could close them down, and he would have to have a very good reason to do so. So the worries were unfounded and things calmed down.
The devaluing of contemplative life disturbed me a great deal then and still does today. Martha and Mary stood out in my mind strongly. Moreover, I now look back at what happened within the context of those who are too ill or disabled to “do” things and their devaluation by others using the utilitarian yardstick.
Martha threw herself into a great deal of effort to entertain Jesus, and was distracted from Him with all her preparations. She was commendably concerned to show Him respect and honor, but her bustling about making much ado was beyond necessary and she could not see that. As so often happens in these situations, Martha was probably more than a little irritated with Mary or she would not have complained to Jesus about it, fully expecting Him to take her side.
Showing His deep care for her, Jesus calls Martha by name twice and tells her that she is too concerned with activity and, in so many words, not enough concerned about focusing on Him.
This Gospel story shows how easily we can get immersed in worldly pursuits to the neglect of our relationship with God. We get seduced into thinking that a whirlwind of activity around a good cause shows that we are dedicated to Christ when we really are dangerously close to running on empty spiritually. Mary had chosen the better part and it was not to be taken from her.
Mother Teresa knew she could not accomplish what God asked of her without putting Him first. Each day the Missionaries of Charity begin with adoration. Jesus comes first. Mother Teresa did not think that a couple of hours in adoration was “doing nothing.”
We can also see that the many sick and disabled of this world who cannot “do” anything still have a great contribution to make by suffering and praying for others who have much to do. It is a way we all help one another to keep our priorities straight and maintain a right relationship with God.
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