Silent No More

Christians who are actively Pro-Life (they are not just pew sitters who are bobble heads in church), are being called into Silence on Tuesday Oct 20th.

Whether they put tape over their mouths and write "life" or if they just maintain silence for a majority of the day. The message is the same: Our generation of siblings, classmates, friends, spouses, etc have been silenced through abortion.

Therefore, we, the ones left remaining, will be quiet on Tuesday. Maybe then, "they" will truly feel the impact of convenience. Then they will see the cost of their compromise. Then someday, some will be able to say there is regret. There is pain. There is suffering from those murdered: they are children, grandchildren, siblings, friends, spouses, doctors, pharmacists, presidents, world leaders, etc.


I will NOT be silent.

I will NOT compromise.

I will NOT forget.

What will you remember?

Did you know that I get caught off guard each time someone asks if I have a brother or not. I don't really know what to say. Some people know about you, but most don't.

I wish I could see you. Who do you look like, mom or dad? Are you the perfect middle child, bridging the two extremes between me and monkey? What do you like? What do you see? Where are you? What's it like to be nameless until 2006, when you would have been 21? You know that I miss you, without having ever seen you, right? You know that I love you too?

I'm sorry that you were just discarded in a biohazard bin. I gave you a name in 2006, Joseph. Maybe that can begin to make amends. It was Jennifer's idea, and it was good, but brought the pain to a new high. It made it real, that you were no longer a mere abstract, but my brother. My little baby brother ... dude, I don't even know what that means; what it feels like or anything else at all.

Remember last year when I hit a point during Lent? I know in my head that its not my fault, that somehow my costing mom and dad over $100,000 in neonatal and preemie care, is not reason alone for you not living. I can't be used as the excuse, nor can your disorder. You've probably seen how that that 'perfect child' ideal has backfired.

There's many reasons why I'm not happy with my mom, but you know that you're among the top. You are probably also aware that each 40 Days campaign I do is somehow for you; mom's never really shown remorse.

Oh, say Hi to Jesus for me, would you? Tell Him I'm doing okay here, but He's got to start coming through for me in some huge ways. He knows what I mean.

See you,

Your sister, Megan

Fight FOCA

There is a terrible piece of legislation called "The Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA).

FOCA would establish the right to abortion as a fundamental right (like the right to free speech) and wipe away every restriction on abortion nationwide.

It will eradicate state and federal abortion laws the majority of Americans support and prevent states from enacting protective measures in the future.

FOCA will do away with state laws on parental involvement, on partial-birth abortion, and on all other protections.

FOCA will compel taxpayer funding of abortions.

FOCA will force faith-based hospitals and healthcare facilities to perform abortions.

Please read the expert analysis by Americans United for Life (AUL) and sign the Fight FOCA petition at: http://www.FightFOCA.com

Richmond VA & Catholic Charities' Abortion Scandal

• Washington Post: Antiabortion Group Urges Inquiry
  
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/07/AR2008070702319.html?hpid=sec-religion
  
• The Washington Times: Prosecution of Charity Ruled Out in Abortion Case
  
  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/08/prosecution-of-charity-ruled-out-in-case-of-teens-/
  
• CBS-6 Richmond (Top Nightly News Story 7/7/08 – the story is the video to the right labeled "Should Charges be Filed in Abortion Case?" )
  
  www.wtvr.com

Sarah's Law

The Child and Teen Safety and Stop Predators Act of 2008
Call Toll Free (866) 828 8355
http://www.friendsofsarah.com

Dear Pro-Family Supporter,

"Sarah" was only 15 when she became pregnant and decided to have an abortion. During surgery the abortionist unknowingly tore her cervix and then sent her home. That week, Sarah's body was ravaged with severe infections related to the botched abortion. Even the hospital ICU couldn't save her because no one knew. Sarah died. Her parents didn't know she was pregnant. Her parents didn't know she had an abortion. Her parents could have saved her, if they had known.

Sarah's Law is a new Family notification Initiative slated for the Novemeber 2008 ballot. Sarah's Law will require a doctor to notify a parent of an under-18-year-old girl 48 hours prior to performing an abortion on her. In addition, Sarah's Law provides that if a minor girl is from an abusive home, the doctor may instead notify another adult family member (such as an aunt, grandmother, or older sibling over 21 years) of the pending abortion.

We need all the help you can give us to collect the 700,000 signatures by March 30 in order to qualify Sarah's Law for the 2008 ballot. Every signature counts. No effort is too small.

Please use the petition sheets right away and collect signatures from family, friends, and co-workders who are California registered voters.

You can call toll-free (866) 828 8355 or email petitions@FriendsofSarah.com to request more petitions.

In addition, if you can help Sarah's Law financially, you can contribute by logging onto www.friendsofsarah.com and make a secured donation.

Let's pass Sarah's Law together and protect our young teen girls. A parent or other family member should know if a minor child is having surgery, whatever the surgery may be.

Operation Outcry

Spirit & Life®

"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 03, Number 09 Friday, February 29, 2008

Operation Outcry

In every country where abortion is being promoted, the insistent mantra of the abortion promoters is the lie that "unsafe (i.e., illegal) abortion" is damaging women's lives and should be replaced by "safe and legal" abortion.

The transformation of abortion from illegal to legal is supposed to make it - magically - safe for women. That was but one of the many lies about abortion that the US Supreme Court swallowed in 1973 when it legalized this killing procedure. While the abortion industry itself admitted that most of the illegal abortions were done by trained doctors in the comfort of their offices, very few arguments were as persuasive as the one that said women would be served by eliminating "back-alley" abortions and replacing them with abortion on demand. This pernicious lie is still a favorite argument of the abortion industry around the world, and they must marvel at how easily people fall for it.

Well, we know how to undo that lie. The same way we undo any lie: we defeat it with the truth. We are quick to acknowledge that abortion is never safe for unborn children, but 35 sad years of destruction has taught us that it's also a lie to think that legal abortion is safe and pain-free for women. Post-abortive women everywhere are the best witnesses to the truth about abortion, and that truth is very simple - there is no such thing as a safe abortion! Period. This testimony is valid both for our own fight here in the United States to overturn Roe as well as for our fight to keep this evil out of abortion-free countries. We need to join that fight as best we can and we now have a way to do that.

I have recently discovered a most worthy project for post-abortion testimonies called Operation Outcry. I am impressed by the scope of their work and the goal that they have set for themselves. This project is sponsored by the Texas Justice Foundation, the group that brought Norma McCorvey (the Roe of Roe v. Wade) back to the Supreme Court to let her story be heard. They want to collect one million "declarations" of post-abortion stories which will be entered into the public record when abortion comes back up before the Supreme Court. They are relying on various pro-life organizations to get the word out to post-abortive women and men who can declare, in a fully confidential manner, that abortion is not the salvation that it was promised to be in 1973 or ever.

In the face of the Supreme Court's ongoing commitment to Roe, the ones who have had real experience of those negative effects are able to testify to the highest court in our land something that we have always known: that abortion is a damaging, degrading and desperate procedure. It robs babies of their lives and women and men of their dignity. We think the Supreme Court needs to hear this message. In fact, the Texas Justice Foundation was the only pro-life brief that was cited in the recent partial birth abortion decision, and so we think there is a fighting chance.

Please do consider looking at the website of Operation Outcry and join in the effort to get declarations from one million women and men who have been affected negatively by abortion. The lie has to be countered by a strong witness to the truth, and after 35 years of abortion on demand, many people certainly have a strong witness to offer. There is no time like the present to use it!

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President,
Human Life International

Thinking of the Agony in the Garden

On the first Saturday of Lent, I spent part of the evening crying. There were two things that held my attention, the Tabernacle behind the altar and a painting of Christ's agony in the garden. These two images and memories are remaining with me this Lent.

I walk away from Adoration with more reflective questions than answers, all centered around Life, death, abortion, choice, free will, Sin, etc. Not only do I bring my Lenten intention to the fore, but I also bring the kids that I have for clients at my internship.

By remembering the Cross, the agony in the garden and all the events that led up to His Crucifixtion, I know that Christ understands many things. He understands abuse, neglect, an unjustified death, and not wanting to die.

The unborn do not ask to die, and Christ likewise told the Father "take this cup from me."

The children never asked to be neglected, and Christ's disciples all fled from His side at the time of His arrest.

The children never asked to be abused, and Christ was scourged, humiliated, and spat upon.

So I go to Christ in prayer and during Adoration and remind Him that He needs to make Himself known to the little ones; to let them know that He understands. So many times we think that God does not understand, but He really does, when we look at the Biblical accounts. He knows what it is like to be an unborn child, and one that others (Herod) sought to kill. He has been a child, growing up among peers. He knows rejection, each time He was chased out of a town or plotted against by the religious authorities. He knows joy and sorrow. He knows phyiscal assault, abject humiliation, nakedness, unbearable pain, and so much more.

***

Matthew 26: 36-42
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to feel sorrow and distress. Then he said to them, "My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me." He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will." When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, "So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Withdrawing a second time, he prayed again, "My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!"

Joined to God Through Pain

Never before have I ever actually chosen to spiritually suffer through Lent. Typically, I choose a new practice like Adoration last year, in hopes of establishing something new into my prayer life. This year, however I have noticed that my fasting from listening to music of any form in hopes for the end to abortion, is plunging me into what I can only hope to explain as joining God in the pain.

Abortion, it's so cold, lonely, and empty. It is a practice that purposefully and directly seeks to end life without a single hestitation or consideration of what God would desire. It is entirely selfish to commit abortion for the sake of financial security, convenience, and so forth. If a thought is given to the child or to God, it is hastily brushed away.

The pain garnered from the merest thought of abortion is not so easily brushed away. It tears at the soul. It's not a physical pain. It is not a pain where I feel abandoned by God, rather I know that He's suffering right next to me as I contemplate the meanings and implications and actions of abortion. He knows my pain, and in a small way, I know His.

It is like I am spending time with Him on this matter even if I am not fully aware of His Presence; there's a veil, and only during Mass and the Consecration is it fully lifted. Then and only then am I able to have a sense of Peace. It's not like other sensations of God's peace that I have experienced. It is not warming. It is not clarifying. It is subtle.

While I remember the Resurrection, I am more earnestly reminded of the Agony in the Garden.

Evening Prayer Hymn from the Office for the Dead

For all the saints who from their labors rest,
Who thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy name, O Jesus, be for ever blest:
Alleluia, alleluia!

Thou wast their rock, their fortress and their might;
Thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
Thou in the darkness drear their one true light:
Alleluia, alleluia!

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in thee, for all are thine:
Alleluia, alleluia!

But, lo, there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array:
The King of glory passes on his way:
Alleluia, alleluia.

Jan 2nd -- Day of Penance for Destruction of Human Life

Day of Penance for the violation to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life.

Due to the legal atrocities that have been committed on human life, the Roman Catholic Church has set aside January 22nd as a day of penance and prayer for full legal rights and respect be returned to the innate right of life. To understand just how far abortion in all forms and the destruction of unborn children for the purpose of science has caused society to fall, we could look at the original Hippocratic oath as formulated by Hippocrates. In the original format, all physicians (pagan and believing) were sworn against committing any harm to the patient, even the prohibition of abortion because it was recognized as the destruction of a human being, although yet unborn. Perhaps this stems from the fertility cults that were prevalent in the centuries before Christ. At any rate, Pope John Paul II was correct in stating a society that kills its own children is a society without hope (even in the evolutionary sense).

Penance Within the faith, penance is both known as a virtue in which the sinner detests his sin for it offends God and destroys the bond and communication a sinner is able to have with Him, and as a sacrament. From the repentance the sinner affirms a decision to avoid the near occasions of sin and to sin no more. Although sinners rely on Christ Jesus for salvation, penance brings us back into Gods grace because we realize our sins and the sorrow it brings to God. As a sacrament, a penitent shows contrition, confession, and willingness for reparation for the sin(s). Known as both Confession and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, “penance” is a full conversion of our hearts towards God. Not only are we healing our spiritual connection with God through this sacrament, but also our fraternal communion to members of the Body of Christ (Barrack, 2007; CCC 1469). Sorrow for our sin encompasses shame, guilt for knowing God’s Law and violating it, sadness in distancing ourselves from God, and wanting to mend the relationship we have with God and the members of His Body. How can we show our repentance and willingness to endeavor in sinning less, or to abandon this particular sin forever more? Through reparation.

Reparation A theological concept, reparation is entwined with atonement. From Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, as sinners we are restored to our original condition before the Fall to a certain degree (newadvent, 2007). Christ made reparation for our sins and our separation from God and perfect union with Him by the Son’s arrest, suffering, and death on a Cross; thusly, we are restored to grace. Our own reparations for our sin can restore us to grace with God as well through various sacrifices and denials in which we can enjoin ourselves to the sacrifice and suffering of Christ (Ibid; Col1:24). In this sense, on January 22nd, a penitent sinner or a Christian who has not committed a sin against Life can fast, pray, or offer up other intentions for the sorrow of the sins he or others have committed against Life.

God as Creator
Throughout the Book of Job we are able to read the woe Job endures as the hand of Satan via the permission of God. These troubles that afflict him are the death of his children, the lass of his home and property. Yet all the loss is not material because it pressed down on his soul just like the dark night of the soul that St John of the Cross addresses. Job didn’t do anything to merit this suffering; he is innocent and just. Throughout, Job rebukes his friends by reminding them and us that God holds each living soul in His hands (10:12). Yet God isn’t just the creator of souls alone. Man’s body is not just a shell or an encasement for the soul; both flesh and spirit are created and loved by God (Merton, 1998). If life is created by God (CCC 2280), who has the authority to end it? Abel was killed by Cain because he gave a more just offering to the Lord. Cain was marked by God and made a nomad for his sin of homicide. Likewise, law given through the Ten Commandments state that no one has the right to murder, or in other words to take innocent life. Yet since 1973 trends as well as laws have tried to change the definition of life and what it means to be a dignified human with integrity worth preserving until natural death.

Life
What is life? If we look at a dictionary such as Webster’s New World Dictionary (1980): “that property of plants and animals which makes it possible for them to take in food, get energy from it, grow, adapt themselves to their surroundings, and reproduce their kind […] the existence of a soul.” Since this is a deeply philosophical question, perhaps it is best left here since the purpose of this is not to discuss ad nauseam about what constitutes life, but more about why life cannot be terminated arbitrarily.

2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.

Just as God informs Jeremiah that He created the prophet from the very moment of his conception, so to are we formed. If one argues that Jeremiah is special by the very nature of his being a prophet, perhaps a look at Christ’s life is called for. Before Christ was conceived in Mary’s virgin womb through the power of the Holy Spirit, He was spiritual just as God the Father is spiritual. Christ did not become flesh (incarnate) until the moment of His conception. He had to assume an absolutely human form in order for Him to assume the sins of the whole human race and give us salvation through His death on a Cross. Christ is fully man and fully divine, we can see as God created Him in the womb, so to must God make each of us in the womb. We are all created by God at the moment of conception, and just as God was the one who took away Christ’s life, so too only He can take ours.

2258 Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.

Of the life forms that exist in our human society, it is the infirm, the elderly, and the young who are unable to fully defend themselves in their inalienable right to life. The elderly are living longer and often found to be suffering from diseases that debilitate them and leave them damaged, incomplete, or wiped out memories. Although it is difficult to see these men and women placed in nursing homes and day care facilities for their protection and care, they are still alive. God has a will for each person to fulfill, and one does not need to be cognizant when fulfilling that will. For the unborn children, this business of human dignity is a paradox. If a pregnant woman is killed, the murderer is charged with two counts of murder, but if the child is killed by the hands of its mother, that is called “choice.”

2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every
procured abortion. […] God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble
mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of
themselves.

In Genesis, Adam and Eve are the parents of the human race and God tells them to
go forth and multiply. They are given charge of creation. When
something is handed over to the care of another person, it is for protection not
destruction as has been seen by an oversimplified examination of the stewardship
parables in the New Testament. Not only does this hold true for the unborn
and infants, but also the infirm and dying.

2276 Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick
or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible.
2277 Whatever possible motives and means, direct euthanasia consist in
putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick or dying persons. It is morally
unacceptable.

What does it convey to the world, when someone says he killed a dying relative out of love? Is love expressed through murderous actions or through support and compassion? What is compassionate and tender about taking away life from someone who may not be able to physically convey to another their will to live?

Inalienable Right to Life

2273 The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being’s right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death.

The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. … As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the [human being], the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation […].

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.--G. K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World

One of the blogs I regularly read at Xanga spoke of 40 Days for Life Campaign.

I was curious. I went to Planned Parenthood online and plugged in my ZIP code.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/findCenterProcess.asp?zipCode=90275&state=&sortBy=center_city&p=4

What Momma Oughta Know, but Doesn't Want to

These last few posts are among the first vocation-related in the last 2.5 months that I have written. I did not intentionally decide to ignore the discernment process. Between midterms in March and until graduation two weeks ago, I many different things going on. There was the Conference in Anaheim, which did not help me at all; there was one Sister to whom I should never have spoken with; her words felt like spiritual poison, saying that I would never properly discern and enter a community/convent if I did not take at least 6 months off of academics and work and just discern (what a luxury that must be!). I tried to ignore it, but didn't work too well. I had graduation pictures to take a few weeks later, and I had to take off my medals (one of our Mother, and another of St. Benedict). I did not put the medals back on for a week. I've since learned that spiritual attacks get disgusting and nasty when I take my medals off -- the kind that make want to not sleep at night. Self-induced insomnia wasn't too fun. prayer didn't work.



~*~

Returning to the present, it wasn't until the Pastor Emeritus at my home parish celebrated his 50th anniversary of his ordination as a priest that I was happy again to be in discernment. Prayer's good, but it'll gradually become better. I'm pulling the vocation mail out from under my bed again, although it's still hard to think of myself as possibly becoming a sister. I had a lot of introspection, a lot of indepth consideration of a friend's doubt.



The majority of what stands in my way of becoming a sister is the stark reality of my personality, my emotions, and quirks. I wrote draft posts, then never posted. My friend said that until I could love my blood relations like I treat the homeless I fed on Skid Row every week, I wouldn't be able to be a Sister. He said that religious life was hard work, and draining, and unless I could unconditionally love, I wouldn't be able to take it. I see his point. He also told me a week later, in person, that there's a lot of passion, a lot of energy in me, but also a lot of anger. I need to work on that anger.

I know that I need to forgive someone in particular, but I don't see a consequence in her life at all. She's blessed: a family, a wonderful neighborhood. She's got friends and people inquire of her when I go to Mass every Sunday. She's got more than most people have, or would think to ask of. There's no consequence. She sins. Doesn't care at all, and throws God out of her life like you throw the garbage out on Monday morning for the trash collector and his smelly truck. Replaces God with mimickry and falsehood. Then has the nerve to yell at me last November that the RCC is a cult. Woman, I know what a cult is better than you ever could.

But she doesn't care. She doesn't want to understand so many things. so many things.

Like the way she's fanantic about her idols, I am like that towards God. The way she's concerned about the status quo and the perfect life, I'm concerned about eternal life/damnation in the same way.

She gets upset with my attitude and tone of voice; woman now you understand what it was like to be the brunt of your disgust back when you had that job and that boss, and all those late hours. You couldn't stand my bad grades; I can't stand your blithe attitude towards sin - like it all don't matter.

Two say its up to me to repair the relationship. Their idea of repairing the relationship is to just go along with whatever she says. She might say "you don't have to go to church, you're already saved," I go anyway. She might drag me to her voodoo and make me participate, but you could read the ridicule and disbelief on my face. She might not like the rosary, the chaplet to St. Michael, and the statue of Mary surrounded by dried flowers, and I just add more flowers, prayer cards, and holy water in vials.

~*~
I don't care about what you want, desire in this life. It's not about you. It's about God. God gives and He takes away. You cannot decide to just take, and think there's no consequence. But God's forgiving, and I'm not. Maybe judgment day will come and He decides that He loves her, and there's no consequence for her. So I don't like her, I don't forgive her, I don't love her very much. Hard to love someone who thinks abortion's okie-dokie and only Catholic on paper, a mere technicality, a blip on a baptismal record and a confirmation record and a marriage license.

There is a Hell.

There is a Heaven.

I'm trying to make my way to Heaven, but woman you make it so darn difficult with your sin and your idols and your concern for the World.

You love the status quo. I fear what you'll do and think and say when you find out that I don't want a part of it. All I want is your approval but I'll never get it.

I'm Catholic, you think it's unattractive.
I'm Catholic, you think it's a cult.
I'm Catholic, you think you don't have to make sacrifices for Faith & Love.

I'm Catholic, and I believe in a Hell and a Heaven that is more than just a symbolic removal from God. I'm trying to work towards one, and you just blindly slide toward the other, but you don't care.

You don't care.

St. Joseph

Glorious Saint Joseph, you are the pattern of all who work. Obtain for me, please, the grace to work conscientiously and to put devotion to duty before my selfish inclinations. Help me to labor in thankfulness and joy, for it is an honor to employ and to develop by my labor the gifts I have received from almighty God. Grant that I may work in orderliness, peace, moderation and patience without shrinking from weariness and difficulties. I offer my fatigue and perplexities as reparation for sin. I shall work, above all, with a pure intention and with detachment from self, having always before my eyes the hour of death and the accounting which I must then render of time ill-spent, of talents unemployed, of good undone, and of empty pride in success, which is so fatal to the work of God. For Jesus through Mary, all in imitation of you, good Saint Joseph. This shall be my motto in life and in death. Amen.
~*~

I found this prayer to St. Joseph as Patron saint of workers/laborers last summer because I needed to find a way to make my work meaningful to me. At the time I was working retail part time, and then spending 6 to 8 hours a week as data entry and research for children / developmental / educational psychology department on campus. Data entry and folding clothes all day long is difficult to make personal, meaningful and really mind numbing; trying to find a way to make my work account for something or to have an impact on others.

It was also the summer that I first began to become interested in Opus Dei. Again, I have found it to be of renewed interest. I have to seriously and prayerfully consider many things that I have neglected in the past year.

Later this past year, in November and the upcoming elections and ballot propositions in California, there was Prop. 85, which is similar to Prop. 73 from the previous year. Both were efforts to make abortions among minors more difficult to obtain, rather than allowing girls to get them without their parents or legal guardians being aware. They did not pass. I was struggling with the fact and tragedy of abortion in my own family, albeit 19 years ago. Jennifer, a staff member from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship had just had her first-born son over the summer and so I spoke with her. It was then that I named my long-ago aborted brother Joseph. Perhaps, true to his namesake, I should make May 1st, his tentative birthday/day of mourning?

~*~
Thus one may come to see how I do look up to Joseph both in work and in family matters.

Abortion a Motherly Act?

Abortion a Motherly Act?
written by Judie Brown, American Life League

How strange it is for me to receive an editorial from The Times in Great Britain on the day after more than 30 people were gunned down at Virginia Tech. Strange because the title of the commentary is "Abortion: why it's the ultimate motherly act."

Imagine a woman writing about the murderous act of abortion as the motherly thing to do. How very disturbing; how very understandable in a world where so many women have surrendered their motherhood on the surgical table of an abortion mill.

The writer of this article, Caitlin Moran, is such a mother ... the mother of a dead child. Perhaps she cannot live with her choice and so she fantasizes about the "good deed" she performed.

Perhaps reality is too frightening for her. She writes, "If women are, by biology, commanded to host, shelter, nurture and protect life, why should they not be empowered to end life too?"

Moran has two living children and, she tells the reader, she aborted a third child last year. She says it was one of the least difficult decisions of her life. She says she was simply too tired to have a baby. She also says, "I didn't want another child, in the same way that I don't suddenly want to move to Canada or buy a horse."

Need I quote further? She is telling us that a child and his or her fate is on a par with buying a horse. How much more dehumanizing can you get? I guess, for those of us who live in Virginia, we know part of that answer: 34 years of murdering the innocent in utero was bound to have consequences.

Violence does beget violence.

Some Wounds Last for Time Immortal

It has been a while since I last posted on a live political issue - about one semester actually and I don't believe that I have done so here on the Blogger since I started posting on this particular page. I've done so on Xanga because I wanted to only write about religious and faith-based issues here.

Proposition 85 will make it illegal for an unemancipated minor to have an abortion until 48 hours after the attending physician is able to notify the minor's parent or legal guardian except in medical emergencies or parental waivers. The minor is able to get a court order waiving this notice based on presentation of convincing evidence that the minor is mature, or that failure to notify would be in the minor's best overall interests. This proposition mandates the physician to keep records stating how many abortions he/she has performed on minors; any violations by the physician results in monetary damages. There are legal consequences if the minor's consent to the abortion is coerced.

Literally: a minor can be authorized to kill another minor; children killing children.

Prayers can be found here.

Look, I know the issue is politically charged; when is an issue in American society not politically charged? I have more difficulty in these issues to argue with fact than with emotions. I do not not know how to emotionally withdraw myself from the argument long enough to have a coherent, factual comeback.

What I think abortion is:

• cowardly - to think that a child is a major problem, therefore a woman scapegoats a blameless child. The child is not the issue at hand, it is the mother who decides to be impure, to make it a financial convenience for herself, who gives into the social pressures from her family, or the father.
• murder - life begins when the soul begins, both of which begin with conception. Therefore a mother is killing her child.
• cheating/theivery - it robs siblings, period cohorts, family relatives, etc from getting the chance to know this child; it acts against God's will and plan for the child's life. Who is the mother to get in the way of the Lord's plan?
• evil - it counteracts God's will. It's full of death, loss, grief, pain; none of which can be consoled or healed by time. It haunts the mother, and later, those who become aware of the person they were refused to become acquainted with.
• making the rest of us born after 1973 survivors.
• a topic that I keep revisiting since I found out 3 years ago about my brother. In a need to make him human, to add dignity to the life that was taken from him by our parents, I named him: Joseph. I will not be made quiet on this topic. I will not be silent: emotionally, mentally, vocally, actively. It will never end, unless abortion ends.
• a preemptive strike on a life before "it" has a chance.