I haven’t been tagged by a meme in a while – at least that I know of. I wasn’t sure I actually had regular readers any more since I haven’t been a very regular writer. But Nod at Wynken, Blynken, and Nod gave me the nod if you will (how do you like how I fit both a nod and a wink in there).
The meme is to name five favorite devotions. Here goes – in no particular order:
A judge has again overruled the people of California and has again redefined marriage in this state. It is a shame that democracy is so clearly dead in this society and judges have placed themselves in the role of philosopher kings. It is also a shame to see or culture drift even further over the edge of lunacy.
This is simply the next phase of a process that began as a result of the technological separation of procreation from the procreative act. The technology involved (contraceptives and abortion), have led to the continuing undermining of our culture. I suspect it may be too late for our culture.
As a result of this ruling, I expect persecution of Christians, like we saw during and after the Prop 8 campaign to continue and intensify. Our last hope is that the Supreme Court will restore sanity and the rule of law . If not, I fear for the future of our country and I suspect that the future of Christians in it will become more difficult.
To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE
This is God. Today I will be handling all of your problems for you. I do not need your help. So, have a nice day.
I love you. Remember…. If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box.
I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours. Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.
Should you decide to send this to a friend; thank you. You may have touched their life in ways you will never know!
Bart Stupak and the other purportedly pro-life Democrats sold out for an executive order that real pro-lifers understood was a powerless lie. It turns out the real pro-lifers were right, and now our tax dollars will be funding abortion through the Obama “health” program. This president and his Democratic cronies continue to expand the slaughter of innocents that afflicts our nation. The leading cause of death in America is abortion (more than 1.2 million per year, heart disease is at 0.6 million per year) and it is now officially and directly paid for by our tax dollars.
The Obama administration has officially approved the first instance of taxpayer funded abortions under the new national government-run health care program. This is the kind of abortion funding the pro-life movement warned about when Congress considered the bill.
…
The abortion funding comes despite language in the bill that some pro-abortion Democrats and Obama himself claimed would prevent abortion funding and despite a controversial executive order Obama signed supposedly stopping abortion funding.
Have a Happy Fourth of July! Here is a salsa I created for this weekend. It is the culmination of many efforts to find the perfect salsa. This one is one of my favorites.
1/3 lb roma tomatoes (2 or 3 depending on size)
1/3 lb tomatillos, peeled and rinsed (this could vary a good bit by size, 6 or so small to medium)
3 jalapeño peppers
2 Serrano peppers
1/2 cup cilantro leaves (just remove most of the stems).
1 small white onion, rough chopped.
1/4 tsp cumin
pinch of Mexican oregano
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 additional roma tomato (not broiled)
Preheat the broiler.
Wash then place Place the first 4 ingredients on foil on a cookie sheet. I prefer to remove the stems of the chilles at this point. Broil for 5 minutes. Remove the sheet, turn everything over, and broil the other side for 5 minutes. This will turn the skins a nice brown to black, and provide a lot of tasty flavor. Let the ingredients cool a bit so they are easy to handle. You can clean the cilantro and remove the stems while they are cooling.
[OPTIONAL] At this point, if you want to make a mild salsa, you slice open the jalapeños and remove the seed and membrane – a quick rinse of the inside helps. I don’t like to remove the seeds myself, but my wife does (which means I usually end up with two batches).
Place all of the ingredients, into a blender, and blend to the consistency you like. I let it go for a bit, so that there are not chunks of onion.
Elena Kagan is a radical who, if on the Supreme Court will be an activist judge. Her judicial “hero” is all about the judge/king role. This is not a view that fits our country. Kagan should be rejected. Obama needs to put forward someone who would look to the Constitution, not rewrite it.
American taxpayers have provided about $1 billion in funding for organizations that promote legal abortion in the US and abroad, according to official statistics furnished by the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO).
This is a mind-blowing, shameful, inexcusable disgrace.
An online Catholic blogger from the UK has asked for a bit of help getting the word out about The Tablet/ He pointed out a bit of trouble with the logic about abortion in the purportedly Catholic news-like publication. Remarkably, the offending publication is sold in the back of Churches. His post is worth your time reading, particularly if you happen to be on that side of the Atlantic.
I have stared a new site called Benedictus Fructus. Here is a little from the “About” part of the site.
Benedictus fructus is Latin for “blessed fruit” (everything sounds more profound in Latin). This blog will be dedicated to exploring and the fruit of the vine and of the earth. We will be enjoying wine, beer, coffee, chocolate and other products (but especially wine and beer) then sharing our opinions.
All of the items we will be reviewing will share a connection. Each will be connected in some way to God, the Bible, saints, or the Catholic Church. The connection may be direct, for example made by monks. It may be less direct, such as having a saints name. It may even be more subtle such as containing the image of a cathedral on the label.
Check it out when you have a chance. Perhaps you might want to subscribe to the feed. I will be reviewing a product once or twice a week, so this will not be a hard core productivity endeavor. It will be chance to share some of the good things in life that are in some way connected with the best thing in life. The project is still in the early phases, so any ideas you may have would be greatly appreciated.
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at that gate of the temple which is called Beautiful to ask alms of those who entered the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, with John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention upon them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Acts 3:1-10
When I read this recently, so many things struck me. Someone placed this man at the gate everyday. Who? He was set to beg from the people enter the Beautiful Gate – never entering himself. He saw Peter and John about to enter, but he didn’t really see them, because Peter tells him to “Look at us”, and when he did he looked expectantly. Imagine the hopelessness of at a place described as beautiful, where your only act is begging because you cannot even move yourself. In this state he doesn’t even really see the Apostles as persons until they look at him intently in all of his broken humanity and they call to him. It is then that he hopes for some response to his begging. Little does he know that the something they have is more valuable than gold or silver, and more valuable even the gift of walking. They give this man two greater gifts. They give him God – he enters the temple leaping for joy and giving thanks to God. They also give him the gift of witness – by his brokenness and God’s work in his life he becomes a witness to those who recognized him, but never really saw him, and they were amazed.
This passage leaves us with so many questions about our lives.
How do we get where we are broken? Who puts us there? Do we persevere? Do we maintain hope? Do we really see those around us even when we are hurting? Do we ask for what we really need?
Do we intently look at those in need or do we look away? Do we give them what we have? Do we give it in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth? Do we grab them by their right hand and raise them up?
Do we praise God? Do we enter into His house leaping for joy for all he has given us – our brokenness and our healing? Do we witness to Christ so that others might be amazed?
One of the frustrating aspects about the arguments on the illegal immigration problem in the US is the illogic on both sides of the equation. On the right, there are those who rightly point to the rule of law, but mix with it a failure to respect the dignity of the person. Don’t disagree with tis group- they’ll accuse you of wanting an open border.
On the left, you have those who scream about the dignity of the person but they forget that there is a rule of law and that millions of people have broken that law. Every nation has the right to regulate immigration, and would be immigrants have the duty to respect those laws. Disagree with this group they call you racist.
I have seen some Catholics on the right rage against their bishops – which is itself a form of injustice. Bishops have a duty to speak on moral issues. Frankly, the law in Arizona is unjust. Not because it is “Nazi” or “Communist” (even some bishops don’t get things right), but because it will make the illegal aliens themselves more vulnerable to exploitation. If they are more afraid to speak to the police, how is justice served? But the desire to enforce immigration laws – that is not unjust. Unfortunately, some bishops have failed to take a fully Catholic perspective which balances both the need for compassion and justice in its teaching on immigration.
We need to take a step back and look at those involved in the situation and how they need to behave. There are four players in this debate. Each group has failed to meet its obligation which contributes to the immigration problem.
The US government. The government is required to create and enforce just immigration laws. The current laws are unjust, and just about all would argue that there isn’t much in the way of enforcement. Right now there is a need for immigrants, and that need is being met by illegal immigrants because the law cannot accommodate the need. That must change. The law also must be enforced. For those old enough to remember, we went through this same argument in the 1980′s – but failure to enforce the laws never fixed the problem. This must change.
The Mexican government. Part of the problem with illegal immigration is the sorry state of the Mexican government which has fallen down on providing for its people or even of maintaining the rule of law – particularly with increased violence in the illegal drug trade. Violence spilling into the US from that problem is part of the background of the Arizona law. Additionally, Mexico benefits from money sent back from the US – so it is vested in this illegal arrangement. Mexico needs to improve the laws on its side of the border and look out for its citizens.
The immigrants and would be immigrants. It is incumbent upon all would be immigrants to respect the culture and law of their adopted country. It is a requirement to obey the law, not an option. While we must show compassion to those who have chosen to break the law to better their families, we must also recognize that it is in fact against the law.
US Citizens. Citizens of the US are among the richest in the world. We have an obligation to help our neighbors – not merely exploit their cheap labor. This means treating them with dignity and holding our government accountable for the creation of just laws. This doesn’t mean abandoning the rule of law, but it does mean treating fellow human beings with compassion. We also must admit that we have a need for the labor illegal aliens provide and create a system where by we can justly fill that need – providing a just wage rather than slave labor wages. Knee jerk reactions that cloak themselves in legal only argument, but fail to recognize the human face on the issue are unworthy of Americans – particularly the Christian variety. We must be better than that.
The issues here are not as simple as the sloganeers on the right or left would have us believe. neither a hard heart nor a soft head does the job. The balance of a hard head and soft heart are needed - justice and compassion must be pursued simultaneously. As US citizens, we must do our part to get the other players to solve the problem in a way that respects the rule of law and the dignity of the person.
Last night in my Confirmation Catechism class, I was looking for students to answer that the priesthood is about sacrifice. Here is the brief exchange.
Me: “What makes a priest a priest? what does it mean to be a priest in any religion?”
…blank stares and silence… <<I start to think about how to elicit the answer. Aha, I’ll try this..>>
Me: “What makes a priest different from a minister?”
Student: “A priest is legit”
It is nice to see they are learning something.
They finally got the real answer when I asked them what Old Testament priests did and we connected it to the Mass and Christ’s sacrifice. But the initial answer was enough to get a chuckle worth sharing.
They removed nuclei from the sperm and egg of affected couples, leaving behind the mitochondria.
The nuclei were put into one of the fertilised eggs left over after other women had IVF treatment.
This egg had its nuclei removed – but retained its healthy mitochondria.
Eighty embryos were created but destroyed after eight days.
Lead researcher Professor Doug Turnbull said: “What we’ve done is like changing the battery on a laptop.”
Is that all? Imagine me thinking it was a bigger deal than that – taking parts of two human beings to create a third “better” human being. Well Doctor Frankenstein Turnbull, I guess it must be alright then.
I think that it perhaps unfair to call him Dr. Frankenstein. I mean if Dr. Frankenstein were more than a literary figure then he would be rightly insulted. After all, he only played God with dead bodies.
The kings of the earth rise up,
and the princes conspire together
against the LORD and against his anointed:
“Let us break their fetters
and cast their bonds from us!” (Lectionary)
Lord Jesus, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament,
and living perpetually among us through Your Priests,
grant that the words of Your Priests may be only Your words,
that their gestures be only Your gestures,
and that their lives be a true reflection of Your life.
Grant that they may be men who speak to God on behalf of His people,
and speak to His people of God.
Grant that they be courageous in service,
serving the Church as she asks to be served.
Grant that they may be men who witness to eternity in our time,
travelling on the paths of history in Your steps,
and doing good for all.
Grant that they may be faithful to their commitments,
zealous in their vocation and mission,
clear mirrors of their own identity,
and living the joy of the gift they have received.
We pray that Your Holy Mother, Mary,
present throughout Your life,
may be ever present in the life of Your Priests.
(how do you like how I fit both a nod and a wink in there).
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