O Come Let Us Adore Him

Healing Prayers

Because we're all still sorta sick...

Prayer of St. Bernard
Come, Lord Jesus, take away scandals from Your Kingdom, which is my soul, and reign there, You alone who have the right. For greediness comes to claim a throne within me; haughtiness and self assertion would rule over me; pride would be my king; lust says "I will reign"; ambition, detraction, envy and anger struggle within me for the mastery.  I resist as far as I am able; I struggle according as help is given me; I call on my Lord, Jesus; for His sake I defend myself, since I acknowledge myself as wholly His possession.  he is my God, Him I proclaim my Lord; I have no other king than my Lord, Jesus Christ.  Come then, O Lord, and disperse these enemies by Your power, and You shall reign in me, for you are my King and my God.  Amen. 



The (Entire) Serenity Prayer 
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference; living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will, so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.


Lead O Kindly Light

Lead, O kindly light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead thou me on the night is dark and I am far from home, Lead thou me on Keep thou my feet, I do not ask to see the distant scene, one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou should lead me on. I loved to choose and see my path, but now Lead thou me on. I loved the garish day, and spite of fears pride ruled my will; remember not past years.
So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still will Lead me on O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till the night is gone, and with the morn those angel faces smile, which I have loved long since, and lost awhile. Amen.
Cardinal Newman


The Litany of Humility

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

NOTHING!

The answer to yesterday's riddle is NOTHING!
Congratulations to Redcat, Quaerens, Christy & Adam for figuring it out :-)

And while we are on the theme of NADA, here is a wise quote from St. John of the Cross:
“If you purify your soul of attachment to and desire for things, you will understand them spiritually. If you deny your appetite for them, you will enjoy their truth, understanding what is certain in them.”

Monday Riddle

Only 5% of Stanford University graduates figured it out! Can you answer  all seven of  the following questions with the same word? 1. The word has seven letters.... 2. Preceded God... 3. Greater than God... 4. More Evil than the devil... 5. All poor people have it... 6. Wealthy people need it.... 7. If you eat it, you will die.  Tune in tomorrow for the answer

And this, from the Obedience File

Seems we've not heard the last from Fr. Pfleger.  Remember him? I can almost hear the whining from here. One clever commenter wrote: "I heard Rev. Wright might be looking for an assistant"? 

From the Curt Jester...

The embattled pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church told radio show hosts Tavis Smiley and Cornel West this weekend that he would look outside the Catholic Church if offered no other choice but to work at a Catholic high school.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger also said on the “Smiley & West” public radio program that he had been banned from speaking at events in the archdiocese and blamed pressure from conservative Catholics and the National Rifle Association for his most recent clash with Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George.

“I want to try to stay in the Catholic Church,” Pfleger said. “If they say ‘You either take this principalship of [Leo High School] or pastorship there or leave,’ then I’ll have to look outside the church. I believe my calling is to be a pastor. I believe my calling is to be a voice for justice. I believe my calling is to preach the Gospel. In or out of the church, I’m going to continue to do that.”

In an interview with the Tribune, Pfleger clarified that he feels called to preach and push for social justice in a Catholic context. He said he loves the Catholic Church and prefers to stay there. But going to Leo full-time would not happen, Pfleger said.

“I’ve always said I could not do something that I don’t feel called or equipped to do,” he told the Tribune. “A full-time position at Leo is not something I’m equipped to do. I think Leo has made it clear they don’t see any need for me to come there. For both sides this would be a lose-lose. 

All politics is local & what we do in the Mean Time

I'm sure you're as frustrated (and maybe a bit confused) over the inability of the folks in congress to accomplish an objectively reasonable goal of not balancing the budget with the blood of the unborn.  It seems simple to most fair-minded individuals that shutting down the government might have been worth it to make this simple point.  If you are a pro-life person with an active conscience, my heart is with you on this one.  On the other hand, we still don't have what it takes from the Senate to muster the votes necessary to enact far-reaching legislation that would de-fund the abortion giant-Planned Parenthood.  Call me a skeptic, but I don't have faith in the Senate to make it happen.

Game changer?  I think not. Congress has clearly demonstrated that they can write law after law after law but still fail to obliterate the abortion/choice law.  (Which is really bad law, by the way).  I'm not saying that we should not be incrementally savvy--just look at what some fantastic legislation has done here in Arizona recently for the rights of the unborn.  That is an extraordinary example of being legislatively "wise as serpents & as gentle as doves". At the end of the day, though, abortion law change does not happen with the legislative branch of government.

I personally believe that there will be an end to legalized abortion in my lifetime.  It will take not an act of congress but an action of the Supreme Court....an overturning of Roe V. Wade.  And I am confident that we are inching ever closer to this showdown with each passing year.  Once it is overturned, it will pass to the state level where each state will enact its own "Life Legislation" etc. etc. That's at least my view.

So what do we do in the meantime?  (& yes, it's a pretty mean time) We don't give up hope!  We do what we can do, where we can do it and with the capacity that God gives us to do it, whenever possible.  Is there an abortion clinic in your neighborhood? Organize a prayer vigil at it. Write letters to the local establishments that surround it.  Tell them that you are uncomfortable with there being an abortion clinic right next to your a) dry cleaner b) veterinarian c) pizza parlor d) Walgreens e) grocery store.  Send letters of abortion testimonies to the clinic and include the fabulous turnarounds by doctors who used to be a part of the abortion industry (www.silentnomoreawareness.org).

And you can do what Jim & Linda from my parish just did:  They took their teen Religious education class out our local abortuary - Planned Parenhood Thunderbird - and prayed the rosary.  A rosary field trip! Not only did they pray, but the EDUCATED the young people about the culture of life.  These teens are the next generation of doctors, lawyers, legislators, justices. These are future parents, voters, teachers and humanitarians.  These will be the torch bearers of the next generation entrusted with the sacred duties which have been so unscrupulously lost on my generation. I have great hope in them.  (And I tell them so!)

Below, please enjoy their eye-witness accounts and commentaries on their experiences & especially the miracle at the end.  And if you know of any other Jim and Lindas in your neighborhood, say a pray for them.  They don't wear any noticeable armor, but they are warriors just the same.

(Reprinted with their permission)

Jim & Linda Ward

Sacramental Preparation Class/St. Joan of Arc

High School Students

Some of the teens in the High School Sacramental Preparation Class at St. Joan of Arc Roman Catholic Church in Phoenix, chose for their “Community Service Project” to attend a class on “How to help an abortion-bound woman make a life-affirming choice” held on a Saturday morning at St. Joan of Arc.  Some others who were not able to make it to the class held a “baby shower” with gifts to be donated to Maggie’s Place; and a combination of these young adults came to pray in front of an abortion mill on a Friday afternoon after school! What you will see below is an exact transcript of some of their thoughts on this life-saving community service project!

“From the moment we set foot on the property, a feeling of despair seemed to fill the air.  It was as though everyone knew there was something wrong, but no one wanted to say it.  Everyone going into and coming out of, or even going by the “clinic” seemed rather bitter about the place, and seemed ready to lash out at anyone who went too close.  The instant we began praying, we began to receive strange looks from people in adjacent buildings.  (Let it be noted that the Planned Parenthood building had blurred windows, highly contrasting the clear glass of all the other stores on the property, as though to hid something!)  As we prayed, we got stares that made it very clear that we were not to feel welcome in this place.  After one mystery (of the Rosary), a worker walked out and threatened to call the police, because it seemed that we were to be as far from the place as they could legally make us.  We moved to the sidewalk and continued to pray, and as we were moving, two girls going by in a car, yelled about how the teachers should be ashamed for taking “children who don’t even know what’s going on.”  This struck me as both insulting and hypocritical because they were referring to us as “children” when we are already 15; and hypocritical because then they say “children who don’t know what’s going on,” my first thought was of children still in the womb, who are killed without any reason besides convenience.  When I’d heard all the stories of pure hatred emanating from abortion clinics, I thought they were exaggerating, but I was wrong.  These “clinics” are the very embodiment of ignorance and hatred.”    Ivan Garcia

“Last week on Friday, a group of kids from my Sacraments class and I prayed outside an abortion clinic.  That experience made me realize why it is wrong to have abortions, and although many people shouted comments to us about how we were wrong, I realized that people like to believe they are right, and so they try to shut off God, and in that process they commit many sins, such as abortion, because they aren’t aware of the truth of God.  It also made me realize the importance of saying the Rosary because many abortion clinics have closed after people have said the Rosary, and because of that I realized the importance of praying the Rosary.  As a result of this experience, I will be saying the Rosary more often as well as praying to end abortion.  Before this experience, I thought abortion was OK, but after actually praying to end it and seeing how the girls who were getting an abortion reacted to us praying, I realized that taking anyone’s life is wrong, whether it be by abortion or euthanasia.”     Telvi Campos

“Community Service:  My thoughts. 

For my community service, I couldn’t go to the clinic, but I went to the preparation class.  My experience there was amazing!  I learned many new things.  But also understand the consequences and how many problems there were.

When I was in the class, I learned that a baby’s heart starts beating in just 4 weeks!  I learned many new things!  I used to be okay with abortion, but when I took that class and came out I was surprised that I even thought it was okay.  That class really helped me.  I also learned how they took the baby out.  It was shocking!  I couldn’t even believe they can do something like that.  I also heard about a book that a lady from Planned Parenthood wrote who disclosed many things about abortion.

Taking this class was very, very helpful.  I learned many new things in just one day!  It was amazing.  I really like it.  It’s shocking that a person that horrible can do something that horrible to a person so innocent.  This really changed my way of thinking and my way of acting.”    Karen Canizalez

“When we went to the clinic I was very nervous because I didn’t know what to expect.  We started praying and everything was going well, until some lady that worked in the clinic came out and told us to leave or she would call the police.  I wanted to say something, or cry, I was feeling all this emotion, but I stayed quiet and just kept praying.  I’m actually glad I went because I felt very good inside.  Knowing that I’m helping by praying against abortion, and I will keep doing whatever I can to help out.” 

Karen Ledezina

“When going to the clinic I thought that if we got insulted it wouldn’t affect me.  Once I heard what these two ladies said, that was when it hit me.  They started saying that why did we have kids (my little brothers) there, that they didn’t even know anything and they started to “flip us off.”  While that happened a nurse came out and started yelling and telling us that if we didn’t leave, they were going to call the cops.  So we left to go to the sidewalk and continued praying.  I went up to my Mom and asked what was wrong and she said that she felt bad because they pointed my brothers out.  My Mom was teary and my brother was crying.  I felt really sad and I started to feel all choked up, but I knew I had to be strong and not cry, so I was.  When we were finished, I felt very proud of myself, my brothers and my boyfriend and my Mom for taking it very well, and I’m also proud of my boyfriend because he volunteered to go.  I’m very happy to have experienced this, and I am willing to do it again. J”       Liz Cejudo

And a few additional comments from some of the other students:

“I chose to pray the Rosary outside of an abortion clinic to help save the lives of unborn babies…I learned that some people need help, even if they don’t know it.”

Carolina Castillo

“…it is good to pray to stop abortion…I didn’t care what people would say…”

Angel Garcia

“I chose to pray at the abortion clinic because it was a great opportunity to save lives and to get closer to God…my parents encouraged me to do this…I grew in the understanding of serving my neighbors by helping others who are most in need, by understanding their need, and helping them no matter what.”     Jacqueline Garcia    

(Please note, Jackie also counseled a friend who is pregnant and her mother wanted her to get an abortion.  She gave her friend information to help out with her pregnancy and is praying for her.  The friend said she just didn’t feel right about aborting the baby and Jackie confirmed that it was not the right thing to do!  A life has been saved because of her prayers, knowledge and bravery in speaking the truth)

Lies & Buzzwords Planned Parenthood want you to buy

Here are the must-haves that the PP crowd (including the dems in congress) think indispensable:
Birth Control
Cancer Screening
STD Testing
Prenatal Care (Oh, and we know what THAT means at a PP clinic)
HEALTHcare

(I'm becoming so exasperated by that last word...I should have given it up for lent.  Perhaps I will strike it from my Easter Season lexicon.)

And they think the only place one can get them is (drumroll please):  Planned Parenthood.
These mantras are repeated over and over again like a skip in an old vinyl record. And if you're paying attention to the news media and to the PP Channel on Youtube...it's gone viral.  That's their story and they're stickin to it. They will slap you in the face by telling you that you are throwing women under the bus and taking away their healthcare rights if you make one move to defund this organization.  They are bullies and liars. We must continue to examine the motives of this hostile organization and why it is becoming agonizingly clear that the current administration and pro-choice congress wants you to know that it is refusing to budge on what they initially considered a minor issue.

All those buzzwords? It is a ruse.  This is all a "get you in the door" ploy.  Don't be fooled. Planned Parenthood (somebody mistakenly called that Planned Partnerhood once which is a funny irony); makes its living off of abortion services which include and are not limited to contraception on demand, surgical abortion and chemical abortion.  In other words, they are in business to slay of the unborn within the womb and to re-educate you on why this posture must be maintained. They even think that the American woman should be entitled to co-payless birth control pills and dressed up a young woman in a pill container to travel around a large metropolitan city under the title of BC Girl to convince you of this necessity..  (google on BC Girl Planned Parenthood YouTube) .. I wonder if BC Girl is aware that birth control pills are considered, by the American Cancer Society, a class I carcinogen? I bet she's a bit quiet about that.

An excerpt from the book Demonic Abortion will show you precisely that the PP model is a business plan to gain access to your teenager and to indoctrinate them into the culture of death by means of an "unholy trinity": contraception, comprehensive sex education and abortion. These three standard tactics of the death peddlers work in a sick harmony to distort and mutate all the things that God considers sacred. From the book...

Abortion promoters do not go into traditional cultures and try to convince them to start killing their babies. Quite the opposite, oftentimes the abortion-promotors enter disguised as St Paul describes the devil and his servants as "angels of the light", to deceive a culture into thinking that they are preventing abortion by promoting contraception as a solution to "unwanted pregnancies".  They claim that fewer children will bring greater economic prosperity and that the development of their country is intimately tied to reducing their birth rate.  In other words, in overt and subtle ways, they blame the economic poverty of a country on children and stigmatize large families as irresponsible. At times, they impose government-ordered limits on child-bearing overtly or punish reproduction through other forms of disincentives like social pressure and medical coercion.  Along with that, the abortion promoters, rarely, if ever, admit that contraception fails, because they know that when it does, it creates a need for abortion as its sinister backup.

They also tell you that all of this nonsense is Healthcare that women should be entitled to and if somebody in congress doesn't write that check, then WE are evil.

Watching this video, you will learn that the president of PP admits that the Planned Parenthood doctor may be the ONLY DOCTOR that a woman may see all year.  Do you realize what a monopoly that is?  Do you see what kind of money & power these people seek and cannot afford to lose? If you were a doctor (a real doctor providing legitimate healthcare), wouldn't you like access to a portion of the $363 million dollars that come to you every year?  Wouldn't that be extraordinary job security?

Please pray for passage of HR 1179

CARDINAL DINARDO URGES SUPPORT FOR ‘RESPECT FOR RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE ACT’

WASHINGTON— Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has written to urge all members of the U.S. House of Representatives to support a bipartisan bill protecting conscience rights in health insurance. Introduced by Reps. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) and Dan Boren (D-OK), the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act of 2011 (HR 1179) “will help ensure that the new health care reform act is not misused to violate the religious freedom and rights of conscience of those who offer and purchase health insurance coverage in our nation,” Cardinal DiNardo wrote.

“Federal law, until now, has never prevented the issuers and purchasers of health coverage from negotiating a health plan that is consistent with their moral and religious convictions,” Cardinal DiNardo explained. “This could change, however, with implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) as now written.” He noted that the law “establishes a new list of ‘essential health benefits’ that will be mandatory for most health plans throughout the United States,” and also “requires all group and individual plans to cover general ‘preventive services,’ as well as additional preventive services specifically for women.”

“For months,” Cardinal DiNardo wrote, “Planned Parenthood and other groups have been urging that mandated ‘preventive services for women’ include all drugs and devices approved by the FDA for contraception—including those that can prevent the implantation and survival of a newly conceived human being, and hence are seen as abortifacient by the Catholic Church and many others.”

“Mandated inclusion of contraception, sterilization and abortifacient drugs in health plans poses an obvious potential conflict with rights of conscience,” Cardinal DiNardo wrote. “Such conflicts would also arise if HHS mandates inclusion of some fertility treatments such asin vitro fertilization, treatments using material from deliberately killed unborn children, or other procedures specifically rejected by the teachings of some religions.”

PPACA “arbitrarily and inexplicably does not protect the many religious denominations – including those providing the backbone of the nonprofit health care system in this country – whose moral teaching rejects specific procedures,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “If religious and other stakeholders are driven out of the health insurance marketplace by this aspect of PPACA, legislation whose purpose was to expand health coverage could have the opposite effect.”

The Respect for Rights of Conscience Act “is modest and well-crafted legislation…it only prevents PPACA itself from being misused to deny Americans’ existing freedom to seek health care coverage that meets their medical needs and respects their deepest convictions,” he wrote. “I am sure that most members of Congress voting for PPACA did not intend that it should deny or take away this freedom. Therefore I hope and expect that Representatives who supported PPACA as well as those who opposed it will join in co-sponsoring the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act and in helping to ensure its enactment.”

The full text of the letter may be read at...

http://www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection/DiNardo-ltr-HR1179.pdf

What do aborted fetal parts have to do with my Nestle Crunch Bar anyway?

From LifeSite News last Wednesday... "A pro-life group that monitors the use of cells from babies victimized by abortions is today highlighting a biotech company, Senomyx, which it says produces artificial flavor enhancers using aborted fetal cell lines to test their products...."

Company Uses Fetal Cells From Abortions for Testing Artificial Flavors | LifeNews.com

AMAZING Grace (thx Ray!)