The Holy Father has issued today his promised letter SPE SALVI - SAVED BY HOPE
It’s a wonderful document and here is a beautiful example he gives in the introduction:
The example of a saint of our time can to some degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with this God for the first time. I am thinking of the African Josephine Bakhita, canonized by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869-she herself did not know the precise date-in Darfur in Sudan.
At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life.
Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the terrifying "masters" who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of "master"-in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name "paron" for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave.
Now, however, she heard that there is a "paron" above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her-that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme "Paron", before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her "at the Father's right hand".
Now she had "hope" -no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: "I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me-I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good." Through the knowledge of this hope she was "redeemed", no longer a slave, but a free child of God.
She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world-without hope because without God. Hence, when she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not wish to be separated again from her "Paron". On 9 January 1890, she was baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the hands of the Patriarch of Venice.
On 8 December 1896, in Verona, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from that time onwards, besides her work in the sacristy and in the porter's lodge at the convent, she made several journeys round Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people. The hope born in her which had "redeemed" her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Abortion's Third Party
The first US conference to focus on the effects of abortion on men concluded today at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco.
I remember at our San Fancisco Walk for Life where men had signs expressing regret for lost fatherhood. The conference focused on this theme.
Vickie Thorn, the executive director of NOPARH and founder of Project Rachel for post-abortive women observed:
"The model to help men with post-abortion healing has to be different than for women.”
She said that grieving men can't be forgotten, "After all, it takes two parents.
Men have a different way of dealing with these issues. While with women, the emphasis is on talking and crying, men have different ways to deal with their grief. "
"There is grief for the child but many times it focuses more on the loss within himself, that he didn't make the transition into fatherhood."
The two-day conference, featured experts, including therapists, from a variety of backgrounds and countries, speaking about men's healing process after abortion; abortion's effects on men's spirituality; fatherhood and abortion; and why men who have been involved in abortion come for help.
I remember at our San Fancisco Walk for Life where men had signs expressing regret for lost fatherhood. The conference focused on this theme.
Vickie Thorn, the executive director of NOPARH and founder of Project Rachel for post-abortive women observed:
"The model to help men with post-abortion healing has to be different than for women.”
She said that grieving men can't be forgotten, "After all, it takes two parents.
Men have a different way of dealing with these issues. While with women, the emphasis is on talking and crying, men have different ways to deal with their grief. "
"There is grief for the child but many times it focuses more on the loss within himself, that he didn't make the transition into fatherhood."
The two-day conference, featured experts, including therapists, from a variety of backgrounds and countries, speaking about men's healing process after abortion; abortion's effects on men's spirituality; fatherhood and abortion; and why men who have been involved in abortion come for help.
Henry Hyde Died Today
God bless him! He was a champion pro-life politician. Pray for his soul.
Choosing not to seek re-electiion last year, he had been chairman of the House Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2001 and served as the lead House manager during Clinton's impeachment trial.
He sponsored the Hyde Amendment, which withdrew federal funding for abortions since its first passage in 1976.
Earlier in November, Hyde was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Choosing not to seek re-electiion last year, he had been chairman of the House Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2001 and served as the lead House manager during Clinton's impeachment trial.
He sponsored the Hyde Amendment, which withdrew federal funding for abortions since its first passage in 1976.
Earlier in November, Hyde was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Promoting legal murder
The Oakland City Council will meet next week and consider passing an “8 foot bubble ordinance.”
If the law passes, and it probably will in this liberal land of ours, there will be this latest effort to protect abortion services.
This law, among other things, will:
Ensure safe and unimpeded access to reproductive health care facilities …
Within 100 feet of the entrance, will prohibit approaching within eight feet any person or motor vehicle seeking to enter the facility, without the consent of the person or vehicle occupant, for the purpose of interfering, harassing, injuring, or intimidating the person or vehicle occupant.
The new ordinance will stifle the efforts of pro-life groups from presenting information verbally or otherwise to anyone near the abortion facility under penalty of jail for a year and/or a $2,000 fine.
This is a diabolic effort to stop anyone from deterring a person entering the clinic for a proposed abortion. It impinges on our freedom and right to disseminate valuable information that saves lives.
Visit the November 27 issue: of "California Catholic Daily"for the list of council members who should be contacted to protest this violation of freedom of expression.
If the law passes, and it probably will in this liberal land of ours, there will be this latest effort to protect abortion services.
This law, among other things, will:
Ensure safe and unimpeded access to reproductive health care facilities …
Within 100 feet of the entrance, will prohibit approaching within eight feet any person or motor vehicle seeking to enter the facility, without the consent of the person or vehicle occupant, for the purpose of interfering, harassing, injuring, or intimidating the person or vehicle occupant.
The new ordinance will stifle the efforts of pro-life groups from presenting information verbally or otherwise to anyone near the abortion facility under penalty of jail for a year and/or a $2,000 fine.
This is a diabolic effort to stop anyone from deterring a person entering the clinic for a proposed abortion. It impinges on our freedom and right to disseminate valuable information that saves lives.
Visit the November 27 issue: of "California Catholic Daily"
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Eucharistic Key
Our Salesian Superior General, Pascual Chavez, has written a masterful letter on the Eucharist. I would like to quote one short passage of his lengthy document which echoes the “Theology of the Body” of Pope John Paul II.
“The human being is called to fulfill himself in love and this in the form of self-giving, implies the total giving of the body. The usual form this self-giving takes is in the 'language” of sex.' In this the body is the protagonist, although there is always the hidden danger that this does not imply the total giving of the person. In this case it would become a lie, given that of its nature it is self-giving, that is, exclusive and total. Sexual donation however is not the only way of giving one’s body as an expression of love. In Jesus we find the eucharistic self-giving as the most profound expression of love, since here the body is the sign and instrument of the donation of the person, the true protagonist of love. In addition it is not limited in its extent; it is ‘for all.’ Jesus does not live his love and the donation of himself in a ‘sexual key’, he lives it in a Eucharistic key.
"Thus for consecrated persons, the special way in which we are living to the full our love and the consequent self- giving implies that we abstain from giving or body and our affection to one single person, so as to give ourselves totally to everyone. Without doubt, here too, we can run a parallel risk to that of sexual giving. There it is possible to give one’s body without giving oneself. Here it is possible for there to be false giving of oneself without that total giving of one’s body, without that :”using up and wearing out” also physically, that is the genuine and essential expression of a love lived in a Eucharist key.”
“The human being is called to fulfill himself in love and this in the form of self-giving, implies the total giving of the body. The usual form this self-giving takes is in the 'language” of sex.' In this the body is the protagonist, although there is always the hidden danger that this does not imply the total giving of the person. In this case it would become a lie, given that of its nature it is self-giving, that is, exclusive and total. Sexual donation however is not the only way of giving one’s body as an expression of love. In Jesus we find the eucharistic self-giving as the most profound expression of love, since here the body is the sign and instrument of the donation of the person, the true protagonist of love. In addition it is not limited in its extent; it is ‘for all.’ Jesus does not live his love and the donation of himself in a ‘sexual key’, he lives it in a Eucharistic key.
"Thus for consecrated persons, the special way in which we are living to the full our love and the consequent self- giving implies that we abstain from giving or body and our affection to one single person, so as to give ourselves totally to everyone. Without doubt, here too, we can run a parallel risk to that of sexual giving. There it is possible to give one’s body without giving oneself. Here it is possible for there to be false giving of oneself without that total giving of one’s body, without that :”using up and wearing out” also physically, that is the genuine and essential expression of a love lived in a Eucharist key.”
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Flowers of Our Age
This week our Salesian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone sponsored "La Luce Dei Bambini” (The Light of the Children) concert in Paul VI Hall marking the U.N. Universal Children's Day.The concert raised money to provide the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome with a specialized digital angiograph machine, valued at almost three million dollars.
Words of the Papal Secretary of State were on the program: “To whom will we entrust our future? What world does even just one child deserve? Something very profound is at stake, that is, how do we understand, in the final analysis, human beings: as an unlimited egoism or as a bestowed freedom that calls to a communion of love and the liberty of sharing.
And even though the “culture of egoism” advances, the cardinal wrote, “there exists also those who welcome children joyfully, blessing heaven and smiling at each gift of God. There are those who also open their heart and welcome children marked by pain and handicaps and become a family to them: These are the deeds of this time, they are the flowers of our age."
Words of the Papal Secretary of State were on the program: “To whom will we entrust our future? What world does even just one child deserve? Something very profound is at stake, that is, how do we understand, in the final analysis, human beings: as an unlimited egoism or as a bestowed freedom that calls to a communion of love and the liberty of sharing.
And even though the “culture of egoism” advances, the cardinal wrote, “there exists also those who welcome children joyfully, blessing heaven and smiling at each gift of God. There are those who also open their heart and welcome children marked by pain and handicaps and become a family to them: These are the deeds of this time, they are the flowers of our age."
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Told you so...
Childish, we know, but since before the passage of Proposition 71 in California we have been beating the drum for adult and cord blood stem-cells, which have been curing people right and left, and opposing immoral embryonic stem-cell research, which has yet to cure a single person.
Well, over the last few days, it seems the scientific establishment has finally decided that adult stem-cells are the way to go. One great opponent of embryonic stem-cell research, Mr. Wesley Smith, has a comprehensive article on the subject today. And he reminds us that it is President George W. Bush who has held the line against embryonic stem cell research by limiting funding, as best he could, in the face of enormous opposition:
"But what really got under “the scientists” skin was the clarion moral message sent by the president: It is wrong to treat nascent human life as a mere natural resource to be sown, reaped, and consumed."
God Bless President Bush, and all who helped in this battle. And may God continue to guide our good scientists, who are achieving such wondrous results using ethical methods!
UPDATE: Wesley Smith is covering the developments extensively on his blog "Secondhand Smoke" And Joseph Bottom over at First Things speculates on the how the hype that surrounded embryonic stem-cells from the very beginning, right up until now, in the face of all the scientific evidence to the contrary, was nothing more than a justification for abortion:
"I have long suspected that science, in the context of the editorial page of the New York Times, was simply a stalking-horse for something else. In fact, for two something-elses: a chance to discredit America’s religious believers and an opportunity to put yet another hedge around the legalization of abortion. After all, if our very health depends on the death of embryos, and we live in a culture that routinely destroys early human life in the laboratory, no grounds could exist for objecting to abortion."
Yep.
Well, over the last few days, it seems the scientific establishment has finally decided that adult stem-cells are the way to go. One great opponent of embryonic stem-cell research, Mr. Wesley Smith, has a comprehensive article on the subject today. And he reminds us that it is President George W. Bush who has held the line against embryonic stem cell research by limiting funding, as best he could, in the face of enormous opposition:
"But what really got under “the scientists” skin was the clarion moral message sent by the president: It is wrong to treat nascent human life as a mere natural resource to be sown, reaped, and consumed."
God Bless President Bush, and all who helped in this battle. And may God continue to guide our good scientists, who are achieving such wondrous results using ethical methods!
UPDATE: Wesley Smith is covering the developments extensively on his blog "Secondhand Smoke" And Joseph Bottom over at First Things speculates on the how the hype that surrounded embryonic stem-cells from the very beginning, right up until now, in the face of all the scientific evidence to the contrary, was nothing more than a justification for abortion:
"I have long suspected that science, in the context of the editorial page of the New York Times, was simply a stalking-horse for something else. In fact, for two something-elses: a chance to discredit America’s religious believers and an opportunity to put yet another hedge around the legalization of abortion. After all, if our very health depends on the death of embryos, and we live in a culture that routinely destroys early human life in the laboratory, no grounds could exist for objecting to abortion."
Yep.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Clarity from Archbishop Nienstedt
Archbishop John Nienstedt of Minneapolis-St.Paul was both applauded and criticized when he wrote an article last week that clearly stated Church teaching on homosexuality. His article was provoked by an attempted address by homosexualist activists in one of his parishes. Among other things, he said:
"Those who actively encourage or promote homosexual acts or such activity within a homosexual lifestyle formally cooperate in a grave evil and, if they do so knowingly and willingly, are guilty of mortal sin. They have broken communion with the church and are prohibited from receiving holy Communion until they have had a conversion of heart, expressed sorrow for their action and received sacramental absolution from a priest."
We can hear the cries of "homophobia" and "exclusion" already. But the Archbishop is applying the same standard that applies to any and all sinners. People with agendas accuse the Church of "excluding" same-sex attracted people, but the real exclusion comes when, out of political correctness, we ignore their sins. They are then being excluded from the experience that is universal among Catholics in all times and places: the struggle for conversion.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
"Those who actively encourage or promote homosexual acts or such activity within a homosexual lifestyle formally cooperate in a grave evil and, if they do so knowingly and willingly, are guilty of mortal sin. They have broken communion with the church and are prohibited from receiving holy Communion until they have had a conversion of heart, expressed sorrow for their action and received sacramental absolution from a priest."
We can hear the cries of "homophobia" and "exclusion" already. But the Archbishop is applying the same standard that applies to any and all sinners. People with agendas accuse the Church of "excluding" same-sex attracted people, but the real exclusion comes when, out of political correctness, we ignore their sins. They are then being excluded from the experience that is universal among Catholics in all times and places: the struggle for conversion.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Adult Stem-Cell, etc. etc. etc.........
Great news just keep on coming. From MSNBC:
"WICHITA, Kansas, Nov. 16, 2007 - A Wichita doctor has found that adult stem cells can be harvested from a woman's menstrual fluid and developed into nine different types of human tissue...Dr. Meng of the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning International made the discovery. His findings show the adult stem cells harvested from the fluid can be developed into tissues such as heart, lung, liver, bone, and others.
"If there is a part of the heart that is damaged, that is dead, you can inject some of the stem cell, which will repair the damaged part," Dr. Xialong Meng, researcher, said. "Then you have whole new heart again."
Remind us again why California voters spent $3billion+ for immoral human-life destroying embryonic stem-cell research that has yet to produce a single cure while adult stems-cells are curing people left and right.
"WICHITA, Kansas, Nov. 16, 2007 - A Wichita doctor has found that adult stem cells can be harvested from a woman's menstrual fluid and developed into nine different types of human tissue...Dr. Meng of the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning International made the discovery. His findings show the adult stem cells harvested from the fluid can be developed into tissues such as heart, lung, liver, bone, and others.
"If there is a part of the heart that is damaged, that is dead, you can inject some of the stem cell, which will repair the damaged part," Dr. Xialong Meng, researcher, said. "Then you have whole new heart again."
Remind us again why California voters spent $3billion+ for immoral human-life destroying embryonic stem-cell research that has yet to produce a single cure while adult stems-cells are curing people left and right.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Adult Stem-Cell Update
When California taxpayers were suckered into shelling out $3billion+ for Proposition 71, they were told it would place the state at the forefront of the "Stem-Cell Revolution." Well, apparently not.
This week Professor Ian Wilmut, who created Dolly the cloned sheep, shocked the scientific world by his decision to abandon cloning, and instead concentrate on new techniques where stem-cells are created from human skin cells. It should be noted that Professor Wilmot has no ethical objection to using embryonic stem-cells--he just thinks there are better ways to reach the goal.
The Guardian reports: "The news will come as a blow to scientists who believe that the use of embryos to create stem cells is the best way to develop treatments for serious medical conditions such as stroke, heart disease and Parkinson's disease.Unlike current stem cell research, the new method does not require the use of human embryos, which has caused controversy in the past decade. Full details of the new technique have not yet been unveiled but Wilmut described it as "extremely exciting and astonishing."
This is a big story, and has also been covered by the Telegraph, The Associated Press, and the BBC, among others.
Update: And the satirical site Scrappleface has fun with the story: Dolly Dad Dumps Cloning, Doesn't Discourage Democrats
“There’s no reason to give up on the search for miracles,” said Rep. Pelosi, “Now is the time to redouble our efforts to increase the value of human life by spurring a vibrant after-market for embryonic byproducts. America should lead the world in this growth industry.”
h/t "Regular Guy"
This week Professor Ian Wilmut, who created Dolly the cloned sheep, shocked the scientific world by his decision to abandon cloning, and instead concentrate on new techniques where stem-cells are created from human skin cells. It should be noted that Professor Wilmot has no ethical objection to using embryonic stem-cells--he just thinks there are better ways to reach the goal.
The Guardian reports: "The news will come as a blow to scientists who believe that the use of embryos to create stem cells is the best way to develop treatments for serious medical conditions such as stroke, heart disease and Parkinson's disease.Unlike current stem cell research, the new method does not require the use of human embryos, which has caused controversy in the past decade. Full details of the new technique have not yet been unveiled but Wilmut described it as "extremely exciting and astonishing."
This is a big story, and has also been covered by the Telegraph, The Associated Press, and the BBC, among others.
Update: And the satirical site Scrappleface has fun with the story: Dolly Dad Dumps Cloning, Doesn't Discourage Democrats
“There’s no reason to give up on the search for miracles,” said Rep. Pelosi, “Now is the time to redouble our efforts to increase the value of human life by spurring a vibrant after-market for embryonic byproducts. America should lead the world in this growth industry.”
h/t "Regular Guy"
Friday, November 16, 2007
Fr. Frank Pavone on "Faithful Citizenship"
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