St Faustina wrote in Divine Mercy in My Soul :
“1293 – It so happened that I fell again into a certain error, in spite of a sincere resolution not to do so-even though the lapse was a minor imperfection and rather involuntary-and at this I felt such acute pain in my soul that I interrupted my work and went to the chapel for a while. Falling at the feet of Jesus, with love and a great deal of pain, I apologized to the Lord, all the more ashamed because of the fact that in my conversation with Him after Holy Communion this very morning I had promised to be faithful to Him. Then I heard these words: If it hadn’t been for this small imperfection, you wouldn’t have come to Me. Know that as often as you come to Me, humbling yourself and asking My forgiveness, I pour out a superabundance of graces on your soul, and your imperfection vanishes before My eyes, and I see only your love and your humility. You lose nothing but gain much…”
Only, and far flung God, Bursting upon the scene of Time To start the clock By uncreated might, And usher forth Your manifold good will, In the splendor of creation, Look on me, In my becoming. In this, the only now I know, This precious fleeting instant, Reveal Yourself evermore.
You entered Time That Man might enter Heaven. You, Who are Eternal Being, Let me contemplate Thee Wrapped in swaddling clothes, Nursing at the Virgin’s breast, Growing as men grow, Yet knowing the Father Creator As only Son.
I see Thee arrayed, Transfigured in the Light, Even as You are stretched Between Heaven and Earth On Your Holy Cross, Becoming Sin, And dying in my stead. Lifted above the earth in Your divinity, Higher than the mountains, Yet pervading depth and breathe, To shake and shape The cursed land and Man anew, In elegant Revelation of Mystery, Rising from the dead, To live in universal blessedness, Across all time and space, Known but by grace.
"BELFAST, Northern Ireland – While American cable TV news engaged in saturation coverage of the closing arguments and verdict in the George Zimmerman murder trial, the BBC and Sky News carried an inspiring speech by Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head last October by the Taliban for advocating the education of girls.
On her birthday, Malala addressed in barely accented English a special youth gathering at the United Nations in New York. She wore a shawl that had belonged to the late Pakistani President Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated by Islamic extremists in 2007.
Only occasionally referring to notes, Malala, who now lives in Birmingham, England, where she received medical treatment following the attack, delivered a speech more compelling than those given by most diplomats and presidents who have spoken at the UN. "Thousands of people have been killed by the terrorists and millions have been injured," she noted, "I am just one of them." She said her injury and the killing and wounding of her friends had launched "thousands of voices."
Malala’s voice needs to be multiplied by thousands, even millions if the Taliban and their terrorist brothers are to be isolated and defeated.
Sounding more mature than her years, Malala said, "The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born."
Invoking the nonviolent teachings of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus, Buddha, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela, Malala said she is not against anyone, rather she is for education for girls and boys, especially the children of the Taliban. She said, "I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me, I would not shoot him."
In a powerful indictment of extremism, Malala said, "The extremists are afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women. The power of the voice of women frightens them."
She accused terrorists of "misusing the name of Islam and Pashtun society for their own personal benefits." While her claim "Islam is a religion of peace" is debatable, given how it is often practiced by many radicals who assert they are the true disciples of Mohammed, Malala’s voice needs to be multiplied by thousands, even millions if the Taliban and their terrorist brothers are to be isolated and defeated. The voices (and most importantly behavior) must come from within Islam, not outside of it.
Here are three recent examples of what Malala and her applauding UN audience face. Last week, Islamic extremists kidnapped and murdered a Coptic Christian in Egypt as part of a protest against the military coup that ousted President Mohammed Morsi. It is the latest example of the growing persecution against Egyptian Christians.
The Middle East Media Research Institute reported that in a Friday sermon in Damascus, a Syrian preacher blamed Jews for the civil unrest throughout the Middle East.
In London, a funeral was held last week for Lee Rigby, a British soldier stabbed to death in May by a pair of alleged Islamic fanatics.
Malala, though courageous, faces a seemingly impossible task, but if one person can spark a revolution, perhaps one can spark a counter revolution with words like these: "Let us wage a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism and let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world."
Good luck, brave heart.
(Readers may e-mail Cal Thomas at tmseditors.)
Cal Thomas is America’s most widely syndicated newspaper columnist and a Fox News contributor. Follow him ontmseditors.
Jesus, henceforth, Live my life In blessed union with me, And accept my every breathe and exertion, As Your own witness to the Father.
Pour, through me, the graces, That change the world, In the power of the Holy Spirit, So that I be a portal In Creation’s web, As gateway, That Heaven may flow, Entering Matter and Time, As on Your Altar, That I may say with Paul, "I live, no longer I, But Christ lives in me," To the glory of God, the Father, God, the Son, And God, the Holy Spirit.
Command angels fly to the aid Of this fallen land, As ever fresh Redemption, Fighting Your battles in the air, And announcing Truth, To renew in You, Those who You have not left orphans.
The lowly exalt You,In the garden of Earth. As we sing Your praise, Turn up the volume of Your Word, That even the deaf may hear. Issue edicts of Love, That, at Your command, We be Holy, As The Father is Holy, And You are Holy. Holy, holy, holy.
You dedicate Yourself, eternally, To our sanctification, That by Faith and "Fiat" All creation blossom forth, A New Heaven And New Earth, And Your rein recognized, And the Lie undone, Triumphantly in the Son.
Asked about the problem of homosexuality, gay ‘marriage’ and their incursion on relgious freedom, Fr. Giertych noted “this is not an issue which is reacting against the Church’s teaching – this is a fundamental anthropological change.” It is, he said, “a distortion of humanity which is being proposed as an ideology, which is being supported, financed, promoted by those who are powerful in the world in many, many, countries simultaneously.”
“The Church,” he added, “is the only institution in the world which has the courage to stand up to this ideology.”
He continued, noting that the increasing role of the state in society has resulted in a substantial lowering of ethical standards:
“Now, what we are observing in many countries world-wide, certainly in the 20th and the 21st century, there is an enormous extension of the responsibility of States. Now, the more the State is encroaching on the economy, on family life, on education – the State is saying that only the State has the monopoly to decide about these things. The more the State is omnipotent, the more the ethical standards are lowered, because it’s impossible to promote high ethical standards by the State."
The 61-year-old of Polish background said, “I’ve seen the Communist ideology, which seemed to be so powerful, and it’s gone! Ideologies come and go, and they have the idea of changing humanity, of changing human nature. Human nature cannot be changed; it can be distorted. But the elevation of perversion to the level of a fundamental value that has to be nurtured and nourished and promoted – this is absolutely sick.”
“The Church, standing up to this ideology which we are seeing now in the Western world, the Church is saying something very normal and humane, which corresponds to the understanding of humanity, which humanity has had for millennia, long before Christ, long before the appearance of Christianity,” he said. “So it’s not a question of the Church fighting the ideology, it’s a question of the distortion of humanity, and the Church standing up in defence of human dignity.”
Fr. Giertych and John-Henry Westen on a balcony within the papal palace.
Speaking of practicing homosexuals Fr. Giertych said, “of course they have to be treated with dignity, everybody has to be treated with dignity, even sinners have to be treated with dignity, but the best way of treating people with dignity is to tell them the truth.”
“And if we escape from the truth we’re not treating them with dignity,” he added.
The papal theologian drew an analogy to smoking saying that helping people stop smoking is not denying their dignity.
He said:
"Homosexuality is against human nature. Now, there are many things that people do that are unnatural – smoking cigarettes is also unnatural. You can live with the addiction to tobacco, you can die of it, but there are people who are addicted to tobacco, yet they live and we meet with them and we deal with them and we don’t deny their dignity. So certainly people with the homosexual difficulty have to be respected … And so the important thing is how to pastorally help such people to return to an emotional and moral integrity."
VATICAN CITY, July 11, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “I think clearly we can see that the economic crisis which we are observing in the western world is a direct consequence of 1968, of the rejection of Humanae Vitae, of the rejection of the Church’s teaching, and the approval of the sexual revolution, which has caused a demographic crash.” Those were the words of Rev. Wojciech Giertych OP, the Theologian of the Papal Household, in a recent interview with LifeSiteNews.com in which the highly-placed prelate related some fascinating history and projections. (See video of this part of the Giertych interview)
Beyond the issue of people working less and living longer which creates economic instability, Fr. Giertych discussed “the moral issue of spending money and throwing the debt on the next generation, on a generation which has been partly aborted, which has not met with the generosity of the parents,” and described it as “the preparation of a violent conflict between generations.”
“I am seeing this brewing, certainly in Europe,” added Fr. Giertych. “In America at least you have a public debate about the morality of extending the public debt and throwing the responsibility on the future generation.”
Children living in poverty because their parents experienced a tragedy or war, can live with their circumstances understanding the calamity that led to their state he explained. He contrasted that however with “a vast segment of society saying we are poor compared to what the generation of our parents had, not because there was some catastrophe, but because the generation of our parents consumed all the [wealth] and threw the responsibility on us.”
The papal theologian drew attention to the violent youth protests and mass unemployment across Europe. “They are generally demonstrating saying, ‘We have the right to receive’, because their parents received grants for their studies, they received cheaper housing, and so they have this sense of entitlement which is a consequence of socialism – somebody has to give.”
Fr. Giertych warned “ultimately there will be a violent conflict.”
He said: “And the states are finally saying, ‘We cannot give. There is a limit, you know. How far can we go?’ And of course the state may produce money and be more and more in debt, but ultimately there will be a violent conflict, and euthanasia is one aspect of this conflict, which is a direct consequence of the expulsion of the transmission of life and the living out of sexuality. Ultimately it boils down to contraception – it’s a consequence.”
The Church, he said, will have an answer for the youth, one they will need to and be glad to hear. “I think there will come a moment where the young people will need to hear, will be glad to hear from the Church a voice which will be on their side, and a voice which will point to the egoism of the hedonist generation that has distorted society,” he said. “And it has distorted society beginning at a very important focal point, which is sexuality… and we are seeing the consequences.”
We began our discussion with the Papal theologian how the Catholic Church could defend its ‘hard teaching’ on contraception.
Fr, Giertych emphasized that the issue is about a reality that applies to everyone. He explained, “it’s not only a question of being in sync with Church teaching, it’s being in sync with reality, with the nature of the human person and the nature of love, which we received from God, whereas the Church’s teaching is showing us the way towards that supreme love.”
For Fr. Giertych there is nothing difficult about the answer of why the Catholic Church forbids contraception. “Because it distorts the human sexuality, and elevates the moment of sexual pleasure, whereas it denies the fundamental finality of sexuality, which is the transmission of life,” he said. “Sexual activity has been created, devised by God, as a way of transmitting life and expressing love, whereas contraception separates the transmission of life which it excludes, and then focuses uniquely on the pleasure, which generates, as a result, egoism.”
“The main reason why the Church says ‘no’ [to] contraception,” said Fr. Geirtych, “is that it destroys the quality of love, and marital love, which is a way of expressing the graces of the sacrament of matrimony, which is a way of living out the divine charity which is infused in the body and soul of the spouses.”
He explained that “marital love is to be of the supreme quality” but “contraception boils down to the saying of the spouse, ‘There’s something in you that I love, but there’s something in you that I hate, and I hate the fact that you can be a mother. So I require that this will be poisoned.’ Well, this is not love. It is not possible for a husband to say to his wife, ‘I love you truly,’ if at the same time he demands that she poisons in her body the capacity to transmit life, to be a mother.”
“That distortion of sexuality,” he said, “distorts human relationships, distorts the entire living-out of human sexuality.”
He added:
“When sexuality is not tied with the virtue of chastity, which trains the person how to integrate the sexual desire within charity, then everything is rocked. And certainly we are seeing this once contraception became so easily available. We’re seeing, successively, the distortions of sexuality, and problems on the level of human relationships, of marriages breaking down, of a violent aggressiveness of women who are discovering that they are being abused as a result of contraception, and so they’re landing in an aggressive feminism, with rage against men. Contraception is leading to abortion, because it treats the potential child as an enemy, and if something goes wrong and a child is conceived then the child is easily aborted.”
Logic leads me to conclude that the Chicago Tribune, in refusing to run this picture, but accepting a revised photo showing not this dead fetus but a photo of a live 20 week old baby en utero, that it finds publishing a picture of a dead baby unacceptable, but has not problem showing a living baby which it has no problem allowing to be killed after maiming, pain and torture, in the act of abortion. Our society wants what it wants and is willing to kill for it.
TBoth the Los Angeles Times and USA Today refused to run the advertisement altogether, while the Chicago Tribune settled for a revised version, with a different picture of a live 20-week old baby en utero.
“It strikes me as ironic that a medically accurate fetal model was too controversial, when the actual babies being aborted are living humans with blood pulsing through their veins,” Marissa Cope, marketing and research director at Heroic Media, a pro-life apostolate, told CNA July 12.
Major newspapers that ran the original advertisement included the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. Some papers ran the ad with the stipulation that the wording “made it clear that it was a paid advertisement,” Cope said.
Cope called the rejections “disappointing, but not surprising.”
The goal of the advertisement was to raise awareness of a baby’s development at 20 weeks gestation. Congress is currently considering a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks, when an unborn child can likely feel pain.
There is evidence that fetuses can feel pain as early as 20 weeks, and they certainly can by 24 weeks.
On June 18, the House passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
It states, “there is substantial medical evidence that an unborn child is capable of experiencing pain at least by 20 weeks after fertilization, if not earlier.”
Though the bill has passed the House, it must still pass the Senate, and the White House has suggested that if it arrives on President Obama’s desk he will veto it.
Today, as I pick flowers, From the garden of life, In which You have Chosen to plant me, By the gift, You have granted me, From Your Most Holy Cross, In giving me Your very own Mother, I press each blossom, Fresh and humble, Into the open Hand of Mother Mary.
I await, With great expectation, The magnificent bouquet, The Woman is arranging, As she gathers In Her Immaculate Heart, All the prayers, Works, and sacrifices, Proffered by the saints, Poured out in faith, Through the ages.
May the sweet aroma, Scent the hope Of this day, And please You, You, Who, In the Love, That brought You To Your Cross, Receive my heart’s desire, As You accepted The precious tears Of the Magdalen, And the sweet anointing oil, Lavished upon You, In repentant sorrow.
You, Who love eternally, Those who love much, In return for Your Divine And undying forgiveness Press these, All abloom, To Your Most Sacred Heart.
In my desire to get my ears and mind around the new encyclical, Lumen fidei, of Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, to sort the “voices” and get to know the trajectory of its arguments, I decided to read it aloud.
.)
Both the Los Angeles Times and USA Today refused to run the advertisement altogether, while the Chicago Tribune settled for a revised version, with a different picture of a live 20-week old baby en utero.
Mary Co-Redemptrix 