tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-241986712024-03-06T23:33:02.834-08:00A View from My BedsideThe musings and reminisces of an unremarkable man. The adventures of those around him as reported to him by his very remarkable housekeeper-Concepcion.
Special recipes and tips on living by the same indomitable Concepcion—a litany and theology of life and living.D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-88651050159390126152017-02-26T15:42:00.001-08:002017-02-26T15:45:17.293-08:00<div>
Miss Norma Sunday reflections</div>
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I shared this privately with Miss Norma's son in law Friday night at the viewing as I thanked him for the Bob Marley Three Little Birds and we reminisced over song memories we know Miss Norma loved-telling him when they let me know Saturday last no need to drive down as Miss Norma had gone peacefully....that after my prayers and tears, the first song I went to in my reflections of dear, sweet Miss Norma was this song because I was with Miss Norma so often where she had the opportunity to call out truth in the same manner in her own unique style.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I mean this in no irreverence to Miss Norma but in the certain and sure knowledge that for all these years there were two distinct sides of an ongoing culture divide who chose to win or use Miss Norma for their advantage or cause-and I have now lived silently through a week of article after article still wanting to frame Miss Norma-her life, her believes, her lifestyle, what she did or did not truly believe, why she did or did not do what she did or did not do.....but Miss Norma lived her life true to herself and loved deeply those she loved-and called out those when she felt they needed to be called out, and I will always be changed and better for her colorful life and just who she was behavior.....perhaps the saddest of all privileged people are those who believe we all-any of us can be put into little boxes-carefully labeled and cookie cutter shaped-that was not Miss Norma for all you have written what/who you think she really was or what she really thought. Sad for you that you never really knew her...</div>
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(This is a You Tube clip-i did not make nor do I own it...)</div>
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https://youtu.be/4ivUOnnstpg</div>
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D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-5714966168619959972017-02-26T15:40:00.001-08:002020-06-06T16:04:00.544-07:00<!-- Start BlogNetworks code --><style type="text/css"><!--.bn_widget {}.bn_widget .bn_header {}.bn_widget .bn_footer {}.bn_widget .bn_body {}.bn_widget a {text-decoration:none;color:#3B5998;font-weight:normal;}.bn_widget .bn_footer a {text-decoration:none;color:#FFFFFF;font-weight:normal;}</style><br />
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<a href="http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/" style="color: white; font-size: 8px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Blog Networks</a>Miss Norma Sunday reflections<br />
<br />
I shared this privately with Miss Norma's son in law Friday night at the viewing as I thanked him for the Bob Marley Three Little Birds and we reminisced over song memories we know Miss Norma loved-telling him when they let me know Saturday last no need to drive down as Miss Norma had gone peacefully....that after my prayers and tears, the first song I went to in my reflections of dear, sweet Miss Norma was this song because I was with Miss Norma so often where she had the opportunity to call out truth in the same manner in her own unique style.<br />
<br />
I mean this in no irreverence to Miss Norma but in the certain and sure knowledge that for all these years there were two distinct sides of an ongoing culture divide who chose to win or use Miss Norma for their advantage or cause-and I have now lived silently through a week of article after article still wanting to frame Miss Norma-her life, her believes, her lifestyle, what she did or did not truly believe, why she did or did not do what she did or did not do.....but Miss Norma lived her life true to herself and loved deeply those she loved-and called out those when she felt they needed to be called out, and I will always be changed and better for her colorful life and just who she was behavior.....perhaps the saddest of all privileged people are those who believe we all-any of us can be put into little boxes-carefully labeled and cookie cutter shaped-that was not Miss Norma for all you have written what/who you think she really was or what she really thought. Sad for you that you never really knew her...<br />
<br />
(This is a You Tube clip-i did not make nor do I own it</div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- End BlogNetworks code -->D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-87225012909145097462017-02-18T23:23:00.001-08:002020-06-06T16:03:40.013-07:00<!-- Start BlogNetworks code --><style type="text/css"><!--.bn_widget {}.bn_widget .bn_header {}.bn_widget .bn_footer {}.bn_widget .bn_body {}.bn_widget a {text-decoration:none;color:#3B5998;font-weight:normal;}.bn_widget .bn_footer a {text-decoration:none;color:#FFFFFF;font-weight:normal;}</style><br />
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<a href="http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blogpage.php?blogid=12971" style="color: #3b5998; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A view from my bedside</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="color: #777777;">Topics:</span><br />
<a href="http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/searchpage.php?tag=Catholic" style="color: #3b5998; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Catholic</a>, <a href="http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/searchpage.php?tag=humor+musings" style="color: #3b5998; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">humor musings</a>, <a href="http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/searchpage.php?tag=pastoral+theology" style="color: #3b5998; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">pastoral theology</a></div>
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<a href="http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/" style="color: white; font-size: 8px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Blog Networks</a>I was on the way to spend the night by Miss Norma's bedside as her life was winding down in a hospice bed in the loving of God today, February 18, 2017 at 11:07 AM, Texas.<br />
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<br /></div>
<div>
Those are the facts in the fast news world we live-less than 20 minutes later, The New York Times had "broke the story" followed by Fox News...Shattered our quite time with </div>
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Miss Norma and her f</div>
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But those few words does not build a picture of the beauty of a soul, the bigness and vastness of a simple life cast into the public eye. Miss Norma and I first met on opposite sides of an issue that has divided the nation for over 43 years-an issue made sunomonus to her very public name-Jane Roe, of the Roe v Wade decision in 1995. I would stand praying the rosary as afrom inside A Choice for Women a local abortion clinic in Dallas, Texas. At the time I was a young Baptist pastor who was the son of two parents and the grandson of two sets of grandparents and churches full of <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"> white folks who also were kids from the same set of parents and grandparents and very involved with extended families-quite new to the abortion issue when Planned Parenthood announced in 1992 they were brining an abortion clinic to my happy little Baptist town of Waco, Texas. Later when Operation Rescue came to Waco to focus attention on the new facility in 1994 they opened my eyes to a broader need to be part of the Church in the Streets and I found myself traveling to Dallas as often as I could to join them in front of the 13 abortion facilities in Dallas at that time and to stand with the Bishop of Dallas one Saturday a month for a public Rosary for Life.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">I will always hold dear the transformation in Miss Norma and her friend Miss Connie, her conversion to Christianity in July 1995, being invited to offer the baptismal prayer at her baptism, and our journey together into the Roman Catholic Church-my family and I on August 15, 1998 in Dallas, and her two days later <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" x-apple-data-detectors-result="4" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">August 17</a> in Dallas. I hold such fond memories of her bombshell announcement of desiring to "complete her journey of faith and come on to the Holy Roman Catholic Church" from my pulpit in Waco, Texas where she proclaimed Waco her Bethlehem and caused my church board to wonder if I would not be happier as a Catholic thus making Miss Norma the instrument of me losing my favorite job ever-giggles.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Over the years as our friendship developed, and especially after she moved back to Dallas, I had the privilege of taking her to <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" x-apple-data-detectors-result="5" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">Sunday lunch</a> every Sunday for three years. We often found ourselves giggling over the thankfully not very well read book, More than these, A Call to Reformation-written by Ralph Ovadal (sorry can not bring myself to call him pastor) who in his 270 pages calling Evangelicals to abandon the pro-life movement because it was a secret wepon of the Vatican to pull Evangelicals away from Christ and into the Catholic Church-and his proclamation that Miss Norma and I would go to hell for becoming Catholic...Giggles-good times.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">We were avoid people watchers I like to people watch-Miss Norma lived for it. The human race is so amazing-so much more than just white and married, with parents and grandparents all married and all to the same spouse they started with-they are funny, happy, sad, complicated, conflicted, nice, angry, upset, thoughtful-and millions of other aspects and feelings and actions each and every day. I no longer have a sense of agreement to the idea that we should all be the same, or that one part of the human race is any better than the other. God certainly seems to love variety and diversity and as Miss Norma and I watched above all believed together that He seems to have a great sense of humor too. And he can be what we perceive to be slow to showing up in certain events, lives, and times. But, He is Good and worthy of our love and trust and we loved the art, the beauty, the poetry, and most of all the goodness in people all around us.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">For the last twenty-three years some of my favorite times have been people watching with Miss Norma. The stories we filled out about the people all around us-such fun-so many giggles. So much opportunity to glory in the goodness of God to the children of men, all around us. Our long drives, our weekly lunches at <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" x-apple-data-detectors-result="7" x-apple-data-detectors-type="misc" x-apple-data-detectors="true">Norma's Cafe</a> off W. Davis in Oak Cliff, our visits to watch the tattoo artist in Bishop's Arts, our oldies blaring 1969-1974-we were purist, with both us singing loudly and badly along with every word...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Miss Norma took me out of myself and showed me who I was, could be, should be when no one else was around or looking-she made me a better me. She was my Miss Daisy and I her Great Gatsby in our Sunday hats and thrift shop jaunts. My Sundays will never be the same-love and peace Miss Norma-your darling man, Daniel.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><img src="evernotecid://132D9EE6-A1F4-4C18-AC42-2747ED5076D6/ENResource/p792" width="150" /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><img src="evernotecid://132D9EE6-A1F4-4C18-AC42-2747ED5076D6/ENResource/p793" width="256" /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><img src="evernotecid://132D9EE6-A1F4-4C18-AC42-2747ED5076D6/ENResource/p794" width="372" /></span></div>
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<!-- End BlogNetworks code -->D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-43556053400441009722017-02-18T20:53:00.000-08:002017-02-18T20:53:32.505-08:00Miss Norma-memories February 18, 2017<div>
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I was on the way to spend the night by Miss Norma's bedside as her life was winding down in a hospice bed in the loving care of her dear daughter Milessa and Eric and the hospic staff-when word reached me that Miss Norma had entered the arms of God today, February 18, 2017 at 11:07 AM CST in Katy, Texas.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Those are the facts in the fast news world we live-less than 20 minutes later, The New York Times had "broke the story" followed by Fox News...Shattered our quite time with Miss Norma and her family-such is the world we live.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But those few words does not build a picture of the beauty of a soul, the bigness and vastness of a simple life cast into the public eye. Miss Norma and I first met on opposite sides of an issue that has divided the nation for over 43 years-an issue made sunomonus to her very public name-Jane Roe, of the Roe v Wade decision in 1973.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I would stand praying the rosary as a Baptist pastor on the sidewalks while she called the police from inside A Choice for Women- a local abortion clinic in Dallas, Texas. At the time I was a young Baptist pastor - the son of two parents and the grandson of two sets of grandparents all still married to each other- and pastored churches full of <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"> white folks who also were kids from the same set of parents and grandparents and all very involved with extended families. Quite new to the abortion issue -when Planned Parenthood announced in 1992 they were brining an abortion clinic to my happy little Baptist town of Waco, Texas. Later when Operation Rescue came to Waco to focus attention on the new facility in 1994 they opened my eyes to a broader need to be part of the Church in the Streets and I found myself traveling to Dallas as often as I could to join them in front of the 13 abortion facilities in Dallas at that time and to stand with the Bishop of Dallas one Saturday a month for a public Rosary for Life.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">I will always hold dear the transformation in Miss Norma and her friend Miss Connie, her conversion to Christianity in July 1995, being invited to offer the baptismal prayer at her baptism, and our journey together into the Roman Catholic Church-my family and I on August 15, 1998 in Dallas, and Miss Norma two days later <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" x-apple-data-detectors-result="4" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">August 17</a> in Dallas. I hold such fond memories of her bombshell announcement of desiring to "complete her journey of faith and come home to the Holy Roman Catholic Church" from my pulpit in Waco, Texas where she proclaimed Waco her Bethlehem and caused my church board to wonder if I would not be happier as a Catholic thus making Miss Norma the instrument of me losing my favorite job ever-giggles.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Over the years as our friendship developed, and especially after she moved back to Dallas, I had the privilege of taking her to <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" x-apple-data-detectors-result="5" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">Sunday lunch</a> every Sunday for three years. We often found ourselves giggling over the thankfully not very well read book, More than these, A Call to Reformation-written by Ralph Ovadal (sorry can not bring myself to call him pastor) who in his 270 pages calling Evangelicals to abandon the pro-life movement because it was a secret wepon of the Vatican to pull Evangelicals away from Christ and into the Catholic Church-and his proclamation that Miss Norma and I would go to hell for becoming Catholic...Giggles-good times.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">We were avid people watchers- I like to people watch-Miss Norma lived for it. The human race is so amazing-so much more than just white and married, with parents and grandparents all married and all to the same spouse they started with-they are funny, happy, sad, complicated, conflicted, nice, angry, upset, thoughtful-and millions of other aspects and feelings and actions each and every day. I no longer have a sense of agreement to the idea that we should all be the same, or that one part of the human race is any better than the other. God certainly seems to love variety and diversity and as Miss Norma and I watched and above all believed together that He seems to have a great sense of humor too. And He can be what we perceive to be slow to showing up in certain events, lives, and times. But, He is Good and worthy of our love and trust. We loved the art, the beauty, the poetry, and most of all the goodness in people all around us.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">For the last twenty-three years some of my favorite times have been people watching with Miss Norma. The stories we filled out about the people all around us-such fun-so many giggles. So much opportunity to glory in the goodness of God to the children of men, all around us. Our long drives, our weekly lunches at <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" x-apple-data-detectors-result="7" x-apple-data-detectors-type="misc" x-apple-data-detectors="true">Norma's Cafe</a> off W. Davis in Oak Cliff, our visits to watch the tattoo artist in Bishop's Arts, our oldies blaring 1969-1974-we were purist, with both us singing loudly and badly along with every word...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Miss Norma took me out of myself and showed me who I was, could be, should be when no one else was around or looking-she made me a better me. She was my Miss Daisy and I her Great Gatsby in our Sunday hats and thrift shop jaunts. My Sundays will never be the same-love and peace Miss Norma-your darling man, Daniel.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
I was on the way to spend the night by Miss Norma's bedside as her life was winding down in a hospice bed in the loving care of her dear daughter Milessa and Eric and the hospic staff-when word reached me that Miss Norma had entered the arms of God today, February 18, 2017 at 11:07 AM CST in Katy, Texas.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Those are the facts in the fast news world we live-less than 20 minutes later, The New York Times had "broke the story" followed by Fox News...Shattered our quite time with Miss Norma and her family-such is the world we live.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But those few words does not build a picture of the beauty of a soul, the bigness and vastness of a simple life cast into the public eye. Miss Norma and I first met on opposite sides of an issue that has divided the nation for over 43 years-an issue made sunomonus to her very public name-Jane Roe, of the Roe v Wade decision in 1973.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I would stand praying the rosary as a Baptist pastor on the sidewalks while she called the police from inside A Choice for Women- a local abortion clinic in Dallas, Texas. At the time I was a young Baptist pastor - the son of two parents and the grandson of two sets of grandparents all still married to each other- and pastored churches full of <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"> white folks who also were kids from the same set of parents and grandparents and all very involved with extended families. Quite new to the abortion issue -when Planned Parenthood announced in 1992 they were brining an abortion clinic to my happy little Baptist town of Waco, Texas. Later when Operation Rescue came to Waco to focus attention on the new facility in 1994 they opened my eyes to a broader need to be part of the Church in the Streets and I found myself traveling to Dallas as often as I could to join them in front of the 13 abortion facilities in Dallas at that time and to stand with the Bishop of Dallas one Saturday a month for a public Rosary for Life.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">I will always hold dear the transformation in Miss Norma and her friend Miss Connie, her conversion to Christianity in July 1995, being invited to offer the baptismal prayer at her baptism, and our journey together into the Roman Catholic Church-my family and I on August 15, 1998 in Dallas, and Miss Norma two days later <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" x-apple-data-detectors-result="4" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">August 17</a> in Dallas. I hold such fond memories of her bombshell announcement of desiring to "complete her journey of faith and come home to the Holy Roman Catholic Church" from my pulpit in Waco, Texas where she proclaimed Waco her Bethlehem and caused my church board to wonder if I would not be happier as a Catholic thus making Miss Norma the instrument of me losing my favorite job ever-giggles.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Over the years as our friendship developed, and especially after she moved back to Dallas, I had the privilege of taking her to <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" x-apple-data-detectors-result="5" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">Sunday lunch</a> every Sunday for three years. We often found ourselves giggling over the thankfully not very well read book, More than these, A Call to Reformation-written by Ralph Ovadal (sorry can not bring myself to call him pastor) who in his 270 pages calling Evangelicals to abandon the pro-life movement because it was a secret wepon of the Vatican to pull Evangelicals away from Christ and into the Catholic Church-and his proclamation that Miss Norma and I would go to hell for becoming Catholic...Giggles-good times.</span></div>
<div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">We were avid people watchers- I like to people watch-Miss Norma lived for it. The human race is so amazing-so much more than just white and married, with parents and grandparents all married and all to the same spouse they started with-they are funny, happy, sad, complicated, conflicted, nice, angry, upset, thoughtful-and millions of other aspects and feelings and actions each and every day. I no longer have a sense of agreement to the idea that we should all be the same, or that one part of the human race is any better than the other. God certainly seems to love variety and diversity and as Miss Norma and I watched and above all believed together that He seems to have a great sense of humor too. And He can be what we perceive to be slow to showing up in certain events, lives, and times. But, He is Good and worthy of our love and trust. We loved the art, the beauty, the poetry, and most of all the goodness in people all around us.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">For the last twenty-three years some of my favorite times have been people watching with Miss Norma. The stories we filled out about the people all around us-such fun-so many giggles. So much opportunity to glory in the goodness of God to the children of men, all around us. Our long drives, our weekly lunches at <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a dir="ltr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" x-apple-data-detectors-result="7" x-apple-data-detectors-type="misc" x-apple-data-detectors="true">Norma's Cafe</a> off W. Davis in Oak Cliff, our visits to watch the tattoo artist in Bishop's Arts, our oldies blaring 1969-1974-we were purist, with both us singing loudly and badly along with every word...</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Miss Norma took me out of myself and showed me who I was, could be, should be when no one else was around or looking-she made me a better me. She was my Miss Daisy and I her Great Gatsby in our Sunday hats and thrift shop jaunts. My Sundays will never be the same-love and peace Miss Norma-your darling man, Daniel.</span></div>
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</div>I was on the way to spend the night by Miss Norma's bedside as her life was winding down in a hospice bed in the loving care of her dear daughter Milessa and Eric and the hospic staff-when word reached me that Miss Norma had entered the arms of God today, February 18, 2017 at 11:07 AM CST in Katy, Texas.
Those are the facts in the fast news world we live-less than 20 minutes later, The New York Times had "broke the story" followed by Fox News...Shattered our quite time with Miss Norma and her family-such is the world we live.
But those few words does not build a picture of the beauty of a soul, the bigness and vastness of a simple life cast into the public eye. Miss Norma and I first met on opposite sides of an issue that has divided the nation for over 43 years-an issue made sunomonus to her very public name-Jane Roe, of the Roe v Wade decision in 1973.
I would stand praying the rosary as a Baptist pastor on the sidewalks while she called the police from inside A Choice for Women- a local abortion clinic in Dallas, Texas. At the time I was a young Baptist pastor - the son of two parents and the grandson of two sets of grandparents all still married to each other- and pastored churches full of white folks who also were kids from the same set of parents and grandparents and all very involved with extended families. Quite new to the abortion issue -when Planned Parenthood announced in 1992 they were brining an abortion clinic to my happy little Baptist town of Waco, Texas. Later when Operation Rescue came to Waco to focus attention on the new facility in 1994 they opened my eyes to a broader need to be part of the Church in the Streets and I found myself traveling to Dallas as often as I could to join them in front of the 13 abortion facilities in Dallas at that time and to stand with the Bishop of Dallas one Saturday a month for a public Rosary for Life.
I will always hold dear the transformation in Miss Norma and her friend Miss Connie, her conversion to Christianity in July 1995, being invited to offer the baptismal prayer at her baptism, and our journey together into the Roman Catholic Church-my family and I on August 15, 1998 in Dallas, and Miss Norma two days later August 17 in Dallas. I hold such fond memories of her bombshell announcement of desiring to "complete her journey of faith and come home to the Holy Roman Catholic Church" from my pulpit in Waco, Texas where she proclaimed Waco her Bethlehem and caused my church board to wonder if I would not be happier as a Catholic thus making Miss Norma the instrument of me losing my favorite job ever-giggles.
Over the years as our friendship developed, and especially after she moved back to Dallas, I had the privilege of taking her to Sunday lunch every Sunday for three years. We often found ourselves giggling over the thankfully not very well read book, More than these, A Call to Reformation-written by Ralph Ovadal (sorry can not bring myself to call him pastor) who in his 270 pages calling Evangelicals to abandon the pro-life movement because it was a secret wepon of the Vatican to pull Evangelicals away from Christ and into the Catholic Church-and his proclamation that Miss Norma and I would go to hell for becoming Catholic...Giggles-good times.
We were avid people watchers- I like to people watch-Miss Norma lived for it. The human race is so amazing-so much more than just white and married, with parents and grandparents all married and all to the same spouse they started with-they are funny, happy, sad, complicated, conflicted, nice, angry, upset, thoughtful-and millions of other aspects and feelings and actions each and every day. I no longer have a sense of agreement to the idea that we should all be the same, or that one part of the human race is any better than the other. God certainly seems to love variety and diversity and as Miss Norma and I watched and above all believed together that He seems to have a great sense of humor too. And He can be what we perceive to be slow to showing up in certain events, lives, and times. But, He is Good and worthy of our love and trust. We loved the art, the beauty, the poetry, and most of all the goodness in people all around us.
For the last twenty-three years some of my favorite times have been people watching with Miss Norma. The stories we filled out about the people all around us-such fun-so many giggles. So much opportunity to glory in the goodness of God to the children of men, all around us. Our long drives, our weekly lunches at Norma's Cafe off W. Davis in Oak Cliff, our visits to watch the tattoo artist in Bishop's Arts, our oldies blaring 1969-1974-we were purist, with both us singing loudly and badly along with every word...
Miss Norma took me out of myself and showed me who I was, could be, should be when no one else was around or looking-she made me a better me. She was my Miss Daisy and I her Great Gatsby in our Sunday hats and thrift shop jaunts. My Sundays will never be the same-love and peace Miss Norma-your darling man, Daniel.
D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-88297884733201467682015-05-21T13:43:00.000-07:002015-05-21T13:43:12.105-07:00<div>
21, May 2015</div>
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Thursday at 8:38 AM, I role out of bed-wash my face, wash my teeth, shave and comb the unruly locks-slip on my uniform-Baby blue mock shirtsleeve tee, black linen pants, socks and black Jaxon casuals-grab a bottle of water and rosary-and slip into 9:00 AM mass at 8:59.</div>
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It is 55 degrees on the 21st of May in Dallas, Texas. During a wonderful couple of weeks of what I call Waco weather. As a kid back in the early 70's in Waco we would have extended periods of cloudy, you better carry your umbrella weather. All the Yanks who have moved here in the last 40 years and now loudly and bitterly complain anytime we have a day without Sunshine like they are entitled to such, have never believed me when I say this is the weather we had before our 40 year drought. But, here it is and how I love it.</div>
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On the 3 mile drive to the local parish church, I glory in the cold air with both front windows down, until I have to close the passenger window and then my own-lovely. What a thrill to hear the Consecration in Aramaic-the same words Jesus spoke when he was a child. The little Chapel was built for 30, and we crowd in and say our prayers, and line up to receive the Body of Christ. 41 minutes later I am on my way-what a great way to start the day.</div>
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Thursday's I make my way over to Main Street Lewisville and my weekly Winco run. What a great store. I get my weekly 5 bottles of V8 Lemon-aide for $1.48-bargin to be sure. Foster oil cans for a mere $2.23 a piece-Summer staple at the House of Vinzant-come on over and let us sit and sip by the pool. And all the other things I am convinced I can not find anywhere else at the price I pay here.</div>
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I pack the trunk, grab my iPad and then walk the parking lot-browsing the Second hand furniture stores till I get to the corner anchor store-Mama's Daughters Diner. I make my way to the counter. Whenever I eat out, I love to find a counter or a bar stool where I can enter act with the staff and watch the action-a nice way to be around folk but by yourself at the same time.</div>
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This is where the fun begins. I am Sweetie-she is Darling. To my left is Wendell-I have never met-and still have not-aWendell, who sits down after me and Darling immediately announces his order, he nods without a word. I stay here for a couple of hours. Now to my right who as he sits, Darling announces his order and he also nods without speaking a word. I believe in my couple hours as the folks at the counter come and go-I alone am the only one who actually consults the menu and makes a selection. The regulars are clearly known, and the conversation picks up from last visit which may have been just yesterday.</div>
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I have coffee-Caine-very good with half and half-three cups. The chicken fried chicken with creamed gravy, fried okra, stewed tomatoes and okra, and fresh out of the oven corn muffins. Followed by a piece of coconut cream pie and a fountain Dr. Pepper-the pie is so tall with meringue that you cannot fit a tall bite into your mouth-not good for me, but the best-giggles.</div>
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I have the pie and Dr. Pepper as a tip of the hat to Granddaddy Vinzant. Sitting at the counter on days like this always remind me of him. Granddaddy Vinzant lived out on the farm on what was known in the County as the Vinzant Place. A simple place with Grandmothers Moon Flowers and the black kettle out by the back porch where she made lye soup after every pig slaughter the first Blue Norther-a wrap around front porch off the ground high enough for a sandy play area for the Grands with our big yellow dump trucks and army men, a big collie dog, and across the drive Granddaddy's half acer garden. He worked that garden till he turned 85 and then he and Grandmother both moved to the city to be closer to the kids and he gave up driving. Every Saturday my Dad and me and sometimes an Uncle would pick up Granddaddy and take him to the Donut shop where he would have a donut, a cup of coffee with 6 sugars and a Dr. Pepper-giggles. He never weighed more than a 170 pounds and lived to 101- 3 months and 3 weeks-and on that last day he got up still living alone-widowed at 99-made his oatmeal from scratch and had it with a Dr Pepper, read the paper, and then sat down in his Barcalounger and fell asleep. So dammit-after months of dieting today I had pie and a Dr Pepper to toast the dear man. On days like today I am never far away from Granddaddy and all those who have gone before me. I finally take my leave-tip Darling extra good and get smiles from her as she sees my stack of ones and make my way to the back corner of the Second Hand Furniture Store, find a rocker just like my Granddaddy's old rocker and rock for 25 minutes in my wonderful memories of all those who have made me who I am and who I will ever be-world without end. I think I will buy the rocker today, and smile-No, it will be here next Thursday when I come to visit Darling and have me some okra and Dr Pepper.</div>
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Today, in Dallas there are those who are cursing almost 7 weeks of daily rain. And then there is Danny boy with his deep, deep memories and a nice cold Dr Pepper.</div>
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"I have desired to go</div>
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Where springs not fail, </div>
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To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail </div>
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And a few lilies blow.</div>
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I have desired to go.</div>
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And I have asked to be</div>
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Where no storms come,</div>
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Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,</div>
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And out of the swing of the sea."</div>
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Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918. 2. Heaven—Haven A nun takes the veil</div>
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D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-43110393759091852132014-12-04T17:13:00.001-08:002014-12-04T17:19:25.275-08:00Here are some ways to enjoy Christmas through the Whole Advent and Christmas Season-- <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">St Ann’s Knights Meeting
December 4, 2014</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So Happy St
Nicholas' Feast Day to you and yours, on the 6th-my boys are way old, but
Traditions are what they are but modified with age--I now put the mounds of
gelt for them not in their shoes, but on top of their key board and phone
charges-</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Giggles, but what "kid"
out grows gold covered chocolate coins-giggles.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, after Mass on the Great Feast
Day on the 8th and after the Hour of Grace, I start putting the 9 creche sets
around the rooms--all with the 3 Wise Men far removed so they can travel to
their destination and finally land on January 6th which yes, is the end of the
12 days of Christmas--but no not the END of the Christmas season--that is
February 2nd-Candlemas. And then we have two weeks off before Ash Wednesday on
the 18th of February.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here are some ways to enjoy
Christmas through the Whole Advent and Christmas Season-- </span><span style="color: grey; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">St Nicholas
Feast Day-<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>December 6<sup>th</sup></u></b>—great
fun for the children and grandchildren.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tradition is to put gold chocolate coins in the children’s shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then as a family you go from there-special
breakfast, or dinner, or out to eat and movie night. A good teaching moment
too—how did he become a Saint? Taking care of the poor and those in need- we
are always called to help the poor.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">December 8<sup>th</sup></span></u></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">-Immaculate Conception-Wonderful Holy
Day—and yes this year there is a work around the Sunday-Monday mass if two in a
row is simply too much for you-you must make your mass obligation. But, if you
go to Sunday mass after 4:00 PM according to Cannon law that is an anticipatory
mass for the following day- your Mass would count as the obligation of mass on
the 8<sup>th</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some will try and
say that you have to have the readings of the mass to be valid-but that is nowhere
to be found in Law .Giggles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know you
were thinking that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I like to
begin my home decorations after this mass and finish up by the 12<sup>th</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>December 12<sup>th</sup></u></b> is the glorious Feast of Our Lady
of Guadalupe. I suggest you treat it as a Holy Day if you want any favors from
your Mother. Seriously.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have nine creche sets which I put in different places, and with each one the 3 Wise men
are put away a ways and they travel to Bethlehem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They arrive <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>January 6<sup>th</sup></u></b>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now you all know the 6<sup>th</sup> is
Epiphany, but how many of you think that is the end of the Christmas
Season?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You would be
wrong. As Catholics we take our cue from our Elder Brothers in the faith-the
Jews-we celebrate in Octaves and in Forty Day cycles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we have our Christmas Eve Mass—so
wonderful, and then we come home to late night snacks and some presents. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Christmas
Day</u></b> (a Holy Day if you have not made the Vigil) and then we keep the
celebration going for Eight Days and it cumulates on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>New Years Day</u></b> (another Holy Day of obligation and need to
make mass) is the celebration for the Great Mother of God, Mary Most Holy. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then we
continue to keep the Season of Christmas-Christ in our hearts-come as the
Emmanuel-The Christ Child all the way to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>February
2<sup>nd</sup></u></b>-Candlemas. The first day out of the Christmas Season is
the 3<sup>rd</sup> and St. Blaze Feast Day where we have the blessing of the
throats and blessing of candles at Candlemas.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GSTH3G1YIs">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GSTH3G1YIs</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">A Christmas Version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah that
will Give You Chills</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Notes for a
Reflection Talk to Grandparents:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Now for
those of you who have raised your own children and think that life is passing
you by—this is for you. Samuel, the Old Testament Prophet was very great in
Israel’s history. I Samuel 1-2-3 tells the story of Samuel's birth and very good
to read if you do not know it well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">During this
historical period Israel unlike the heathen nations around them had no
King—they were ruled by a Prophet of God. And sadly the previous prophet, Eli
had gotten very old and had left the running of all things to his two sons—and
they were corrupt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, they were
so evil that God decided to kill them-have them die in such a way that all
would know it was a judgment of God to the way they acted and to the fact that
he as there Dad did not stop them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
Hophni and Phineas, the father Eli, and the son’s wife all died in the same
day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">And Samuel
became Judge of Israel and Scriptures say Samuel judged Israel all the days of
his life and was the best Judge and Prophet Israel had seen—and when he became
old, he appointed his two sons to rule over Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now you would think, Samuel would be very
aware of the way things turned out under Eli, and that he would make sure
things did not go badly with his sons----but NO, his sons started down the same
path of doing what worked for them, accepting bribes-and it got bad enough that
the people had a March on Samuel and said—look you are old, they are no
good-appoint us a King.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Of course I
am leaving out many details and building a particular story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can address how wrong it was to want a
king and the judgment of God that came upon them for that choice and make
comparisons to today’s government and problems in another talk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I want you to consider is this.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Eli and
Samuel were just like so many of us—it takes such effort to hold a family
together, to make a living and to build and keep a carrier that will give you
the ability to provide for your family—and so many of us as parents make the
same mistake made famous in Harry Chapin’s famous song—the Cats in the Cradle.
And our children do not always come out the way we had</span> <span style="font-size: large;">hoped, prayed for and
dreamed all our dreams around.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">One of my
favorite Bible verses—Romans 2:4 </span><span style="background: #F9FDFF; color: #001320; font-size: large; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“Or
do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience,
not knowing that <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">the
kindness of God leads you to repentance</span>?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: #F9FDFF; color: #001320; font-size: large; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I grew up singing it this way and it
became a prayer of my heart:</span><span class="line" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: yellow; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-highlight: yellow; padding: 0in;">It's your kindness that leads us to repentance, oh Lord, </span></span><span class="line" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: yellow; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #3a598f; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-highlight: yellow; mso-shading: #E6EFF8; padding: 0in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Knowing that You love us-No matter what we do-Makes
us want to love You too</span></span><span class="line" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: #E6EFF8; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #3a598f; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="line" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: yellow; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #3a598f; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-highlight: yellow; mso-shading: #E6EFF8; padding: 0in;">God’s
Kindness is Grandchildren</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span class="line" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: #E6EFF8; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #3a598f; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Heman- I Chronicles 25:5 </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: large; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">The
Chief Seer of David-Choir Director to the King</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">God
gave him fourteen sons and three daughters—and none of them ever departed from
the Temple of the Lord or its service.<br />
</span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<!-- End BlogNetworks code -->D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-72784363880390092492013-12-13T15:29:00.000-08:002013-12-13T15:29:02.342-08:00<div>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">I was invited to reflect on the last 20 years of pro-life activity in Waco, Texas. I had intended to share the day and festivities with you, but life gets in the way often, eh</span><div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
Although, my sons and I moved to Coppell in 2000, Waco and the work of the Gospel of Life has never left my heart. You are remembered in my daily prayers and </div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
as I lead the Dallas diocese pro-life prayers each month at Planned Parenthood in Dallas, you are remembered in our prayers always.</div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
I am always reminded of my roots in Waco-Waco is truly a good place to be from.</div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
In 1992 when Planned Parenthood announced they were going to begin doing abortions in Waco-it shocked me, as many of you, to our cores. Up to that time I of course considered myself very pro-life and made sure I preached a pro-life sermon the week of January 22nd to remember Roe v Wade. Not much else. Up to 1992 I had only really talked to one person in a crisis pregnancy, so the whole abortion issue seemed so out of sight, out of mind. Within a day my family set up shop with a prayer candle and Bibles to stand and silently pray that God would keep this horror from our community.</div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
Within a month the ladies of my church did a very effective phone campaign to call every OB/GYN in Waco asking if they would do or refer a woman for abortions. It was effective-the OB/GYN doctors on the board of the local Planned Parenthood made hasty retreats and later we joined with efforts to bring in Miss Carol Everett and started a Say No to Planned Parenthood campaign that had over 10,000 simple copied signs and then later an effective bumper sticker campaign. The prayers continued there on Columbus Avenue, and we as a city kept them from performing a single abortion for two years. Thanks God.</div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
Then in 1994 it Began-Please God-was the fervent prayer we began again across the city-that He would stop this horror from our city streets. As a local pastor, I was privileged to invite and host first Rusty Thomas, and then later Operation Rescue National, Paul Vaughan, and many other heroes of the Rescue Movement to come to Waco and continuous Street prayers and even activism began in earnest in the streets of Waco, Texas. </div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
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Miss Carol Everett</div>
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Miss Norma McCorvey</div>
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Jim Sedlak from STOPP and American Life League</div>
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Human Life International</div>
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Priests for Life</div>
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the CPLC and the White Rose from Dallas</div>
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the Liberty Bell and Dave and Phylis Hall---so many wonderful Heroes--so many more that a 5 minute clock does not allow to fully remember....</div>
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Some quick remembrances:</div>
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The Waco Project-seeing Chef Giovanni and his monthly meatballs and wonderful meetings grow out of this</div>
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The 100 Days of Waco--100 days of daily White Crosses placed on a different street corner throughout Waco each Summer from 1994-1999</div>
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The Tuesday Night Rosary-started by a simple Evangelical pastor who saw great value in established prayers at such places of Darkness</div>
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The live Baby Showers and the Baby Summer Wadding Pools--which brought such sharp contrast to why we were there and to what was happening inside</div>
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The founding of Bears for Life and a consistent pro-life presence at Baylor</div>
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Being the Kick off speaker at St Mary's in Bryan when they began their fight--seeing David Bereit and his good works grow out of that</div>
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The two windows broken out of my cars and the conversations they produced with the wrecking yard guy who fixed them for me</div>
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The all night vigils with the Liberty Bell</div>
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Seeing the actual children I have been introduced to who were actually saved from abortion-- grow up into such wonderful people-Thanks God</div>
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Knowing that Waco still had some who prayed, who cried, who tried to STAND JUST-who groaned and sighed against Injustice</div>
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Like St Athanasius who stood against the whole world-Contra Mondo-you STAND for the Gospel of Life against the Culture of DEATH. Thank you dear wonderful Christians who gather in Waco and do what the hands and feet of Jesus have done in every place and every time-you are Running Well-continue to Run the Race with confidence that HE who has begun these good works in you will continue to the END.</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">I remain blessed and humbled by all your many good works and deeds, and that your zeal for the Lord and His House has consumed you. I remember standing so many days alone in the sun during those 100 Days of Waco with those 33 White Crosses-wondering When God-when will you rise up your army of Life in this place, among these people? You have answered so well and for so long now-Well done my friends, and May our Blessed Lord Jesus continue to lead you the next two decades as you answer each and every onslaught that is thrown at your dear town and continue to STAND JUST.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">For Life,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">DanielWaco</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Daniel Vinzant</span></div>
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<a href="mailto:danielwaco@yahoo.com"><span style="font-size: medium;">danielwaco@yahoo.com</span></a></div>
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214-566-2298</div>
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D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-9340337877841281242013-09-05T16:19:00.001-07:002013-09-05T16:19:29.354-07:00<img src="file:///C:/Users/INWDAL/AppData/Local/Temp/enhtmlclip/Image(5).png" style="cursor: default; font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><div style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Pope and Syria: let
us raise a strong cry for peace</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pope Francis General
Audience September 5, 2013 1:40 length</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Dear Daniel,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Brothers and sisters, I
have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September, the vigil of the
birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria,
the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person,
including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of
good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">On 7 September, in Saint
Peter's Square, here, from 19:00 until 24:00, we will gather in prayer and in a
spirit of penance, invoking God's great gift of peace upon the beloved nation
of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world.
Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace!
I ask all the local churches, in addition to fasting, that they gather to pray
for this intention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let us ask Mary to help
us to respond to violence, to conflict and to war, with the power of dialogue,
reconciliation and love. She is our mother: may she help us to find peace; all
of us are her children! Help us, Mary, to overcome this most difficult moment
and to dedicate ourselves each day to building in every situation an authentic
culture of encounter and peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Mary, Queen of Peace,
pray for us!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-80779525476292038502013-08-01T16:22:00.000-07:002013-08-01T16:22:23.693-07:00Conversation at St Ann of Coppell Knights on August 1. 2013 from two articles from this week in the news<div>
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Conversation at St Ann Knights of Columbus, August 1, 2013 from this weeks news</div>
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Daniel</div>
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<a href="http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/humanae-vitae-at-45-an-epic-war/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter">http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/humanae-vitae-at-45-an-epic-war/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter</a></div>
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<b>Humanae Vitae at 45: An Epic War</b></div>
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<b>COMMENTARY</b></div>
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<b>BY JANET SMITH</b></div>
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| <b>Posted 7/30/13 at 12:56 PM</b></div>
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When Joseph Ratzinger stepped out on the balcony and became Pope Benedict XVI, I fell in love with him immediately. I actually felt a bit like</div>
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an unfaithful spouse: I had loved Pope John Paul II so much, how could I so quickly transfer my allegiance? I didn’t love Pope Francis</div>
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immediately, but I have come to do so quickly. Pope Francis is just the pope we need at this time. He never ceases</div>
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exhorting us to grow close to Christ and to take his message out to the world. He wants us to build the civilization of love so beautifully</div>
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described by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.</div>
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Sadly, <span style="color: #2d4fc9;">for the last 45 years, there has been so much division within the Church</span> that we have not been able to present a united front to the</div>
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world. That division began with the rejection by many of Humanae Vitae (The Regulation of Birth), following its release in <span style="color: #1c3387;">July 1968</span>, 45 years</div>
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ago. It is scandalous but true that priests were trained not to teach the truths of Humanae Vitae. Since dissent spread to virtually every other teaching, Catholics have</div>
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been woefully ignorant of the teachings of their own Church. <span style="color: #1c3387;">The internal battle is certainly not over, but orthodoxy has the energy of the</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c3387;">youth, a large number of bishops and most of the young priests on its side.</span> There is also a plethora of theological and catechetical material, plus media resources and more and more educational institutions that train people well to take the battle beyond the borders of the Church. (A really good example of an innovative effort in that regard is the website 1Flesh.org.)</div>
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That is very good news — since we are engaged in a war of epic proportions. (Yet how much better equipped we would be to fight it, had we maintained a united front over all these decades.) Some of us saw long ago the connection between the use of contraception and the debilitating scourge of unwed pregnancy in our culture,</div>
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which is the source of the “need” for abortion, of the ubiquitous practice of promiscuous sex and of cohabitation. More are seeing the connection between single parenthood and the terrible cycle of poverty besetting a frightening portion of our population. More are even seeing the terrible health effects and environmentally bad</div>
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effects of contraception. These are a whole set of bad consequences that have been accumulating for decades. But, in a way, even</div>
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worse ones have sprung up in the last year or so. </div>
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John Paul II, in Familiaris Consortio (The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World), famously called contraception a lie that falsifies the language of the body. The sexual act by its very nature “speaks” of the connection between sexual intercourse and the bringing forth of new life. The Father of Lies has exploited that</div>
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lie to advance a host of other vicious lies. The mainstreaming of same-sex relationships has been under way for two decades or so. The American voting</div>
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public has resisted the legalization of same-sex “marriages,” but the “gay agenda” received a huge boost from the recent Supreme Court decision that dictated that states have the “right” to recognize same-sex “marriages.” </div>
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Healthy people in healthy cultures have a natural revulsion to the thought of same-sex sexual acts, but that natural revulsion has been eroded by the fact that, for decades, our culture has made contracepted sex the norm. <span style="color: #1c3387;">Contracepted sex, by removing the baby-making possibility from the sexual act, has led our culture to</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c3387;">embrace the idea that sex is just for recreation between individuals who are attracted to each other. No openness to children, no love or commitment is expected.</span></div>
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Currently, we hold that sex should be between only two relatively adult persons (of either sex), but soon logic will demand that we accept polygamous marriages and sex between adults and minors: <span style="color: #1c3387;">If sex is just a physical pleasure and if marriage is whatever we say it is, we can’t say “No” to any sexual relationships or any</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c3387;">legal arrangements. Contracepted sex is itself deviant sex and thus paves the way for acceptance of other deviant sexual practice</span>s. Since we buy the lie that sexual relations are necessary to happiness, despite the overwhelming evidence that that is a lie, we don’t want to deny happiness to those who experience same-sex attraction — to our siblings, our children, our friends and co-workers. We love them and want the best for them. Yet the fact is that sexual relationships not rooted in indissoluble, faithful, heterosexual marriages welcoming to children generally result in heartbreak and misery.</div>
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<span style="color: #1c3387;">Acts opposed to the natural law and revealed law offer only an allusion of happiness</span>. But already many of our schools are teaching that same-sex relationships are equal to heterosexual ones and that people who oppose same-sex “marriages” are motivated by hate — the lie concocted by Justice Anthony Kennedy in the Supreme</div>
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Court’s June 26 overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act. It is telling that the battle for religious liberty in this country is being fought over a government mandate that</div>
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religious employers pay for contraception. Contraception, which cures no physical maladies and promotes individual sexual irresponsibility and societal ruin, is now considered so essential to our well-being that it is the only “health” care measure provided for free!</div>
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Our bishops have courageously and energetically fought the HHS mandate, but their task is made much more difficult by the fact that most Catholics have used contraception and do not understand or accept the Church’s condemnation of it. Pope Francis is tireless in his exhortations that we must live and preach the truth and also be aware that the devil will make every attempt he can to thwart our efforts. Again, <span style="color: #1c3387;">among the worst evils of our day are the breakdown of the family, poverty, the acceptance of homosexual relationships and the growing hatred and suppression of religious belief. The rejection of the Church’s teaching on contraception contributes mightily to the growing presence of these evils.</span> Forty-five years after the promulgation of Humanae Vitae, we must make teaching the truths of Paul VI’s</div>
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encyclical a priority of the New Evangelization. I pray that the day will come when the world at large realizes how lost it is concerning wisdom about sexual</div>
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morality. The Church really does possess the truth about sexual morality. Its members must be prepared to share that wisdom with the world.</div>
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<b>Janet E. Smith, Ph.D., holds the</b></div>
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<b>Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/irelands-abortion-bill-passed-because-of-40-years-of-bad-moral-theology-pri">http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/irelands-abortion-bill-passed-because-of-40-years-of-bad-moral-theology-pri</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Ireland’s abortion bill the result of 40 years of bad moral theology: priest/professor</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">by Hilary White</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Mon Jul 29 4:43 PM EST</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #1c3387;">DUBLIN, July 26, 2013</span> (LifeSiteNews.com) – The success of the Fine Gael/Labour Party <span style="color: #1c3387;">abortion bill is due to the failure of the Catholic Church in Ireland to coherently and robustly present its teachings, a leading Irish moral theologian has said</span>. According to Fr. Vincent Twomey, abortion has been all but legalised in Ireland because in the last 50 years, the Church has failed to articulate a moral and philosophical alternative to the left/liberal political and social agenda.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Fr. Twomey told LifeSiteNews that the result of the abortion debate in Parliament was due to a new kind of moral theology, taught in Irish seminaries since the close of the Second Vatican Council, which is “radically at variance with church teaching.” <span style="color: #1c3387;">It is a moral theology that “denies there are any moral actions, even abortion, that are intrinsically wrong.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">In a recent op-ed in the Irish Times, Fr. Twomey had written that this new kind of moral theology has placed individual conscience above the moral law, “allowing Catholic politicians to put political expedience above their ‘private’ moral convictions.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">In his 2002 book, “The End of Irish Catholicism?” the theologian posed the question of why the Catholic Church in Ireland has been “unable to meet the challenges of the modern age… the onslaught of secularisation, the onslaught of relativism, etc.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">“I said it was because we have no tradition of serious, reflective theological study. The faith had become something you picked up as a child; you took it for granted. That encouraged conformism. And what we’ve done now is simply to exchange one form of conformism for another,” he told LSN. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">He closely followed the passage of both the government’s gay “marriage” and abortion bills, and pointed to the same cause ultimate for both. It has been a decades-long work by the liberal faction in the Church, in conjunction with outside elements in the media and the political sphere, “to undermine the moral life of the people.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">“They’ve been working on this for the last 40 years at least,” he said. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">“People would never be outright pro-abortion,” he said, but without clear moral teaching, “they’re left not quite sure what they’re against or how to make effective arguments against it.” This has been encouraged by trends among “priests, bishops and moral theologians, to say ‘these are just private issues; they shouldn’t impinge on the public domain.’” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">This has come at the same time as a deliberate rejection of the Church as a leading force in society. “What I think has happened in Ireland over the last thirty years, has been an adolescence, a rejecting of the domination of the Church and an attempt to ‘do it our own way’ and to catch up with what all the so-called progressive nations of the world are doing.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">People were worn down by a strategy that started by portraying their moral convictions as “antiquated, outdated, not modern, not progressive.” But most significantly, the push started at the same time as the failure of the Church to vigorously respond to the claims of secular “liberalism,” leaving the people, including politicians, without intellectual defences. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">“If you are being constantly barraged with this pro-liberal agenda, it has to affect you eventually,” he said. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">This project has been greatly aided by the media that “adopted that agenda at least 35 years ago, and have been pushing through all these issues, divorce, contraception, euthanasia and ultimately same-sex ‘marriage’.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The easy passage of abortion legislation, he said, was achieved politically by a combination of factors, including the power of “obfuscation, ambiguity and deception”. <span style="color: #1c3387;">“The bill’s wording was very ambiguous and cleverly designed. The word ‘child’ was never mentioned, nor was the word ‘abortion,’ but only ‘termination of pregnancy,’ which could mean direct abortion or indirect. The title of the bill was ‘Protection of Life During Pregnancy’… it was all very Orwellian.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The confusion all this created allowed the government to convince skeptical TDs that direct abortion was not being legalised. “Representatives of the lower house, whose anti-abortion views were well known, were targeted by the abortion campaigners to convince them that there was no change in the law.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">To this confusion and obfuscation was added the all-important factor of the dominant media consciously campaigning for legalisation. In particular, he said, they used the “tragic case of a beautiful Indian woman,” Savita Halappanavar, who died in a Galway hospital of sepsis while miscarrying. An inquest had found that an abortion would not have saved her life – and indeed that the law already provided for all the medical intervention she could have needed it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The entire process, Fr. Twomey said, was a “superbly orchestrated ploy to get the bill through,” a “manipulation of politics to achieve a certain end, and totally undemocratic, in my opinion.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #1c3387;">He also laid part of the blame on the failings of the national character, saying that the Irish are “essentially a very pragmatic people.” With their long history of tragedy, famine, foreign domination and extreme poverty, he said, that “when the crunch comes, it is the economic element,” not moral issues, that will take hold of the public’s attention. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">“The Irish, because of their history of being browbeaten for centuries by the English… are tolerant even of intolerance. We’re a beaten people, quite frankly. If you bully us sufficiently we give in.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">“People won’t like me saying this but I’m afraid it’s true.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">But he also pointed to strong signs of hope, particularly in the action of the small group of Fine Gael TDs who defied enormous pressure from the party to oppose the abortion bill, “and suffered for it.” At least one of these, he added, has contacted him asking for a public discussion on the role of conscience in political life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">He noted that one of the problems faced by the Irish hoping to turn the tide has been the failure of their Church to establish a “more vibrant” conservative moral alternative to the “dominant” liberal moral theology. This conservative subculture has grown in the US, bolstered by the papacy of Pope John Paul II and his successor, throughout the period following the 1960s social revolutions, but it failed to cross the Atlantic. It is only growing now in an Irish society just beginning to wake up to the consequences of unrestrained “progressivism.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">“We haven’t got that far in Ireland yet, but that will come.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Overall, the debate on the bill has had some good effects in serving as “a wake-up call” on issues of conscience, he said. “The whole question of a free vote, which is very rare in Ireland, is related to the conscience issue – though they don’t use the term ‘conscience’. Quite a number of highly respected secular commentators have questioned the validity of a party whip on life and death issues, such as abortion,” he said. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #1c3387;">Among the hopeful signs in the Church, he said, is the appointment of “half a dozen new bishops in recent months” with a more orthodox approach, as well as strong signs of a genuine renewal in the religious life at the local parish level. These include “new youth movements beginning to spring up, who are enthusiastic about the faith,” “young orthodox theologians,” both clerical and lay, and the admittedly “very few” but “good vocations,” of young men for the priesthood who are aware that they are “swimming against the tide” and who will be “much more effective in the future.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">“So, I’m full of hope for the future. I do believe that despite everything we have a very deep substratum of the faith in Ireland.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">One of his greatest interests, he said, is to try to establish “a dialogue between those who believe and those who are searching for faith.” He described a renewal of interest and openness among those who have never been exposed to religious ideas or whose parents may have rejected their faith. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">“There’s a generation coming up now of people who have had no experience of the negative side of the Church. Who have been raised by parents who have lost the faith, who are much more open to truth and faith issues than their parents,” he said. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #1c3387;">“In time, once we recover our spiritual heritage, the spiritual richness of the Irish tradition, then we’ll have the future. But there’s a huge amount of work to be done.” </span></span></div>
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D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-58803272567659118552013-08-01T16:18:00.002-07:002013-08-01T16:18:55.796-07:00<span style="font-size: large;">Thursday, August 01, 2013</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If you do not read anything else I write all year—Read this NOW-Please--</span><span style="font-size: large;">the Indulgence given directly from Jesus to St Francis--you have till Sundown on the 2nd. And the first Sunday in August. (reprint from 8/01/08)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">August 1, 2013</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">PORTIUNCULA INDULGENCE</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Portiuncula indulgence, which we can gain every year on the first Sunday of August, we owe to the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. Portiuncula or Portiuncula (in Latin) simply means small portion in Italian and refers to the wonderful Little Church of the Benedictines right outside of Assisi, Italy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">During the time of St. Francis it had fallen into terrible disuse and it was here while prostate before the Crucifix that Francis first heard the voice of his Beloved—“Build my Church, stone by stone, build it Stronger…” It was here that Francis first had his first of many experiences with Christ and Our Lady. It was here he received his first followers, were he received the Lady Clare as his first spiritual daughter and founder of the Poor Clares, were he received his wounds adoring Christ in the San Damiano Cross, and here where he died still ever before Our Lord.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The Benedictines wanted to give Francis the church but in order to remain faithful to Lady Poverty, Francis rented it from them with the annual compensation of a basket of fish from the Tescio river. Of all the many beautiful devotions that he gave to us or helped restore to the Church—his commendation of this place to his brothers was paramount.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">During the night in July, 1216, Francis was praying in the little church of the Portiuncula devoured by love for God and a thirst to save souls. He prayed for the forgiveness of sins of mankind. Suddenly a brilliant light shone all around. In great splendor Jesus and Mary appeared in the midst of a dazzling cloud surrounded by a multitude of radiant angels. Out of fear and reverence, St. Francis adored Our Lord prostrate upon the ground. Then Jesus said to him: “Francis you are very zealous for the good of souls. Ask me what you want for their salvation.” St. Francis was rapt in ecstasy before Jesus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When he regained his courage he said:"Lord, I a miserable sinner beg You to concede an indulgence to all those who enter this church, who are truly contrite and have confessed their sins. And I beg Blessed Mary, your Mother, intercessor of man that she intercedes on behalf of this grace." Our Lady at once began to beseech her son on behalf of Francis.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"It is a very great thing that which you ask Me; but you are worthy of even greater things, Friar Francis, and greater things you will have. So I accept your request, but I want you to go to my Vicar, to whom I have given the power to bind and loose in Heaven and on earth, to ask him on my behalf for this indulgence."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">With one of his companions, Francis hastened to Pope Honorius III and prostrate implored him to proclaim that every one visiting the church and confessing their sins with a contrite heart would be as pure from all sin and punishments as he was immediately after baptism. Honorius was astonished at this strange petition, and hesitated to grant it. But Francis said: "What I ask, I do not ask of myself; our Lord Jesus Christ sends me to you and commands me to make this request." The Pope having been convinced of the truth of his speech granted his petition and ordered that the little church should be solemnly consecrated and the indulgence proclaimed for the second day of August.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">From that time pilgrims from all parts of the world flocked to the Portiuncula church in order to gain the indulgence, and numberless were the conversions which occurred at that shrine of grace. In order to make this indulgence more accessible to the faithful, the Popes subsequently extended it to all the churches of the Franciscans. Afterwards it was extended to all parish churches, and the first Sunday of August was appointed as the day for gaining it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: large;"><b>The date was set from vespers of the first of August until sundown on the second of August, the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels. It is said that St. Francis was given this day by Our Lord because the Feast of the Chains of St. Peter celebrated on August first is the day Peter was released from prison and his chains removed. This is an extraordinary demonstration of God’s mercy in removing the chains of sin from those who devoutly and faithfully seek to gain the indulgence by completing its requirements.</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-size: large;">The conditions to obtain the Plenary Indulgence of the Forgiveness of Assisi is (for oneself or for a departed soul) as follows:</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-size: large;">-- Sacramental Confession to be in God’s grace (during eight days before or after.)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-size: large;">-- Participation in the Holy Mass and Eucharist</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-size: large;">-- Recitation of The Apostles Creed, Our Father and a prayer for the Pope’s Intention.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Portiuncula Indulgence is a grace not to miss not only for yourself but for the many suffering souls in Purgatory.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mark your calendar for the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels beginning on the First of August to August 2. Tell everyone of the magnitude of this gift. Once again, we see the unfathomable Divine Mercy of God. In the words of St. Francis: O my Brothers and Sisters, I want you all to go to Heaven!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">“The Catholic faithful may gain a plenary indulgence on 2 August (the Portiuncula) or on such other day as designated by the local ordinary for the advantage of the faithful, under the usual conditions (sacramental Confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff), by devoutly visiting the parish church, and there reciting at least the Lord's Prayer and the Creed. The Indulgence applies to the cathedral church of the diocese, and to the co-cathedral church (if there is one), even if they are not parochial, and also to quasi-parochial churches. To gain this, as any plenary indulgence, the faithful must be free from any attachment to sin, even venial sin. Where this entire detachment is wanting, the indulgence is partial.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Portiuncula indulgence is the first plenary indulgence that was ever granted in the Church. There were indeed indulgences at all times, but they were only partial, and only a partial remission of the temporal punishments could be obtained by them. But, as already remarked, he who gains the Portiuncula indulgence is freed from all temporal punishments and becomes as pure as after holy baptism. This was also the reason why Pope Honorius was astonished when St. Francis petitioned for the confirmation of this indulgence, for such an indulgence, up to that time, had been entirely unknown. It was only after he had come to the conviction that Jesus Christ himself wished it, that he granted the petition of the saint and confirmed the indulgence.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>This indulgence is granted for all time to come, i. e., until the consummation of the world</b>.</span> In the primitive ages of Christianity it was not customary to grant indulgences for ever, they could be gained only during a certain period. It was with them as it is with our jubilee indulgences, which are limited to a certain time, and which, after the lapse of that space of time, cannot be gained. When St. Francis preached in the Portiuncula church in the presence of several bishops, and solemnly announced to the assembled people the indulgence granted by Christ and confirmed by his vicar on earth, the Pope, and added that this indulgence could be gained on the second day of August for all time to come, the bishops were shocked at this addition and would have it only for ten years. They therefore raised their voice and were going to say, only for ten years, but miraculously guided by God, they unanimously cried out, for all time to come! The Portiuncula, indulgence, which has already continued for more than six hundred years, will continue till the end of the world, and even shortly before the coming of Christ to judgment this indulgence could still be gained.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Finally, what distinguishes the Portiuncula, indulgence especially from all others is, that on the day on which it is granted, it can be gained not only once, but oftener. You can gain other indulgences only once on the same day, but the Portiuncula indulgence you can gain on the first Sunday of August, and that, too, as often as on that day you visit a church of the Franciscans, or the parish church, and there pray for some time according to the intention of the Holy Father. The Congregation of the Council has twice so decided, on the 17th of July, 1700, and again on the 4th of December, 1723. In fact, when doubts were submitted to the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences as to whether the faithful who visit a church of the Franciscans on the second Sunday of August can obtain the indulgence as often as the visit is repeated, the answer was in the affirmative, February 22nd, 1847, and it was declared at the same time that it is not necessary to receive Communion in any of the churches of the Franciscans. Pope Pius IX. confirmed these decisions by a decree of the same Congregation, dated July 12th, 1849.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It is indeed true that on one day we can gain a plenary indulgence for ourselves only once, but this does not interfere with the doctrine that the Portiuncula indulgence can be gained more than once on the same day, for we may apply it to the souls in purgatory, if we gain it the second and the third time, etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Portiuncula indulgence then is a great grace of which we should avail ourselves every year. Try to gain it. See above all, that you make a humble, contrite and sincere confession, for a good confession is the first and most necessary requisite for the forgiveness of sins and the gaining of the indulgence.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Receive Holy Communion with the most profound humility and adoration.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Say the prayers for an indulgence with devotion and sentiments of repentance, according to the intention of the Holy Father, and relying on the merits of Jesus Christ, on the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Francis, and the other saints, beseech God with confidence to impart to you the indulgence and to deliver you from all temporal punishments.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Promise to be thankful to him for this grace all the days of your life by carefully keeping your conscience free from even small faults.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Visit the church several times and after repeating the prayers for an indulgence apply it to the poor souls that they may partake of the grace thereof. Thus the Portiuncula will be to you a key with which you will open heaven, both for yourselves and for many poor souls. Amen.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You and yours remain in my heart and in my prayers as we enter this lovely month of August. We will get through the heat of Summer and Septembers song will be here soon.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Daniel</span>D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-63901798401023016852013-05-14T13:05:00.000-07:002013-05-14T13:05:33.558-07:00<h2 class="entry-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://fatherstefan.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/fear-transformed-becomes-perfume-by-fr-stefan/" rel="bookmark" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Fear transformed becomes perfume by Fr Stefan</a></h2>
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<span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on</span> <a href="http://fatherstefan.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/fear-transformed-becomes-perfume-by-fr-stefan/" rel="bookmark" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #777777; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="3:08 pm"><span class="entry-date" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">May 14, 2013</span></a> <span class="by-author" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="sep" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">by</span> <span class="author vcard" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://fatherstefan.wordpress.com/author/fatherstefan/" rel="author" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #777777; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Father Stefan">Father Stefan</a></span></span></div>
<div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 12px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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Fear</div>
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Fear is Dark Oil</div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent;">At the Bottom of a pit</span></div>
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Fear can give you quite a fit</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
This oil is not just a boil</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
But the fuel</div>
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Fuel for what you say?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
I will not keep you at bay</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
The greater the oil</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
You need not toil</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
This oil is the fuel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
Fuel for what you say?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
A spark of fire</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
Falls into the mire</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
A fire goes up</div>
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The oil burns burns burns</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
The spark of fire leaves its mark on the mire</div>
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The fire transforms the oil without much toil</div>
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Into a sweet perfume</div>
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A perfume that goes up to God with the scent of a rose</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
Fear is the oil</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
The fuel</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That becomes the perfume that goes up to God</span></div>
</div>
D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-44048020888396442332013-05-09T14:52:00.000-07:002013-05-09T14:52:50.991-07:00<div>
<b style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Naming the 45 Babies Retrieved From the Gosnell Abortion Clinic--Please God-save a people for yourself, save a people from themselves</b><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">The trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell is about much more than the man himself. In a painful way, it brings</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">America face to face with abortion, which, as the defense argued, is “bloody” and “real.”</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">For those who have had abortions, it brings them again in touch with a pain that is never really far away,</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">and it brings them in touch yet again with their need for healing. This is especially true when we see what</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">the Gosnell case has confronted us with: bodies of babies in bags and cartons in the freezer, severed feet</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">in jars, some 45 babies retrieved in a raid on the clinic and entrusted to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner.</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">As Pastoral Director of the world’s largest ministry for</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">healing after abortion, Rachel’s Vineyard, as well as of the</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">largest mobilization of those who speak out about their</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">abortions, the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, I</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">have accompanied countless mothers and fathers on their</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">journeys of healing. And I have presided over the burials</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">of many aborted babies.</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">One of the key moments of that journey of healing after</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">abortion is when the parents name their child. The moment</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">is powerful and freeing. Up until then, the child was a victim</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">of de-humanization. Before we can kill, we have to</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">dehumanize. “This is not a child,” we lie to ourselves; or we</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">say, “This is not a child for whom I am responsible right</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">now.” In these or a thousand other ways, a veil of</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">dehumanization covers the child; a chasm is introduced between that child’s humanity and our awareness</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">of our need to respond to it with an unconditional acknowledgement and acceptance. But the time is not</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">right, the burden too great, and so we keep any semblance of the child’s humanity as far away from our</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">consciousness as we can.</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">And that is where the power of the name comes in.</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">People have names. One of the first things we do when coming into the presence of another person — or</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">even learning about their existence when apart from their presence — is to inquire as to their name. The</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">name expresses the person, it invites the presence of the person, it both calls and welcomes the person, it</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">acknowledges that there is something in common between the person and ourselves, and hence in</span><br style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">receiving their name we offer our own.</span><div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
In the case of Dr. Gosnell, we have heard of the 45 babies retrieved from the clinic. And we have read the<br />
Grand Jury Report and heard the witnesses speak of “Baby Boy A,” “Baby Boy B,” Baby C, D, E, F and G.<br />
But now it’s time, in our collective journey through this nightmare, to connect with these children more<br />
directly. It’s time to name the children. We have no evidence that anyone else has given them a name or<br />
was interested in giving them a name. In fact, these babies were brought to an abortion facility to be killed<br />
and then thrown away. The fact that their parents abandoned them does not give us permission to do so.<br />
“Though father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me,” Scripture tells us (Psalm 27:10). “I have<br />
called you by name, you are mine,” the Lord says (Isaiah 43:1). As Pope John Paul II wrote, “God … has<br />
entrusted the life of every individual to his or her fellow human beings, brothers and sisters” (Evangelium<br />
Vitae, 76). From the point of view, then, that we are one human family called into being by God, these<br />
children are also ours. And that’s why we can name them when nobody else has.<br />
This is what Priests for Life has done. On Ascension Thursday, May 9, 2013, a simple ceremony was held<br />
in the chapel at the headquarters of Priests for Life in Staten Island, NY. We heard the Word of God,<br />
prayed for these babies, their families, and those who participated in their deaths. And we then named<br />
them. I chose the name “Adam” for “Baby Boy A,” simply as a reminder that Adam, the first man ever<br />
created, reminds us that in each man — and in each child — all humanity is somehow represented, and<br />
that our response to that one person, whether acceptance or rejection, shapes our response to every<br />
person. I named “Baby Boy B” Michael, to remind us of the struggle between good and evil that rages in our<br />
culture and in our own mind and heart as we choose how we will respond to each person.<br />
Most of the other names are gender-neutral, since we do not have information on the genders of most of<br />
the babies. </div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
Moreover, the naming ceremony took place on this Feast of the Ascension, for on that day, the humanity</div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
that the Lord Jesus took to the heights of heaven is the same human nature shared by all of us — rich and<br />
poor, healthy and sick, born and unborn — and by all these babies. We remembered all the babies killed by<br />
Dr. Gosnell, well beyond those found in his clinic, as well as the over 50 million children killed across<br />
America since Roe vs. Wade declared they were not persons.<br />
The names we gave to the 45 babies follow. We invite you to pray for them and their families, and for Dr.<br />
Gosnell and his staff. We look forward, once receiving permission of the Medical Examiner, to give these<br />
children a proper funeral and burial.<br /><br /><b>Names of the Gosnell Babies</b><br /><b>From the Grand Jury Report:</b> “The Philadelphia medical examiner analyzed the remains of 45 fetuses<br />
seized from the clinic. Of these, 16 were first-trimester; 25 were second-trimester, ranging from 12 to 21<br />
weeks; 2 were 22 weeks; 1 was 26 weeks; and 1 was 28 weeks.”<br />
Baby Adam (Baby Boy A, aborted at seven and a half months, six pounds weight)</div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
Baby Michael (Baby Boy B, killed at 28 weeks)<br /><b>Baby Alex</b> (Baby C, breathed for 20 minutes after delivery.)<br /><b>Baby Chris</b> (Baby D — Was delivered into the toilet and was seen swimming there.)<br /><b>Baby Andy</b> (Baby E — This baby was heard to whine.)<br /><b>Baby Lou</b> (Baby F — This baby’s leg jerked and moved after being delivered.)<br /><b>Baby Pat</b> (Baby G)<br /><b>Baby Joshua<br />
Baby David<br />
Baby Ashley<br />
Baby Sal<br />
Baby Terry<br />
Baby Sam<br />
Baby Val<br />
Baby Tony<br />
Baby Ronnie<br />
Baby Sarah<br />
Baby Melanie<br />
Baby Sandy<br />
Baby Corey<br />
Baby Drew<br />
Baby Ryan<br />
Baby Toby<br />
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5/9/13 Naming the45Babies RetrievedFromtheGosnell AbortionClinic | LifeNews.com</div>
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LifeNews.com Note: Father Frank Pavone is the national director for Priests for Life.</div>
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by Father Frank Pavone | LifeNews.com | 5/9/13 10:25 AM</div>
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Leon Kass: The Meaning of the Gosnell Trial</h1>
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Eminent bioethicist Leon Kass on the dangers of a world increasingly indifferent to matters of human dignity.</h2>
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By <a href="http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=SOHRAB+AHMARI&bylinesearch=true" style="color: #093d72; letter-spacing: 1px; outline: none; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase;">SOHRAB AHMARI</a></h3>
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The trial of Kermit Gosnell—a Philadelphia doctor charged in January 2011 with, among other things, murdering seven infants who survived abortions he performed—has been under way for a month. But it was only last week that the case was thrust into the national spotlight. Thanks to intense pressure from conservative critics of the media's apparent lack of interest in the case, the rest of the country has now glimpsed some of what went on for years in Gosnell's benignly named Women's Medical Society.</div>
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Investigators who raided the clinic in 2010 saw "blood on the floor" and smelled "urine in the air," according to the grand jury that indicted Gosnell. They also found "fetal remains haphazardly stored throughout the clinic—in bags, milk jugs, orange-juice cartons, and even in cat-food containers." Members of Gosnell's staff testified that the abortionist would deliver babies who had been gestating for as long as 30 weeks, far longer than the 24-week limit imposed by Pennsylvania law. Gosnell or staff members would gouge the infant's neck with scissors to sever the spinal cord, according to the grand jury report. Gosnell referred to the method as "snipping."</div>
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Best of the Web Today columnist James Taranto on the murder trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Photo: Getty Images</div>
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These and other appalling details of the Gosnell trial elicit reactions that might be called revulsion or disgust or horror. The word that eminent bioethicist and physician Leon Kass prefers is "repugnance." This intense human reaction reflects a sort of deep moral intuition, he says, and it is one that deserves much more serious consideration than our too-sophisticated culture allows.</div>
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"As pain is to the body so repugnance is to the soul," Dr. Kass says as we sit down for an interview in his book-lined office at the American Enterprise Institute, where he is the Madden-Jewett Scholar. "So too with anger and compassion. Repugnance is some kind of wake-up call that there is something untoward going on and attention must be paid. These passions are not simply irrational. They contain within them the germ of insight. You cannot give proper verbal account of the horror of evil, yet a culture that couldn't be absolutely horrified by such things is dead."</div>
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The observation may not sound controversial, yet Dr. Kass, who was the chairman of President George W. Bush's Council on Bioethics from 2001 to 2005, has often found himself in a minority among bioethicists when it comes to abortion, euthanasia, embryonic research, cloning and other right-to-life questions. Dr. Kass's emphasis on what he calls "the wisdom of repugnance," for example, has been assailed by liberal thinkers. The philosopher Martha Nussbaum, for instance, said in a 2004 critique of Dr. Kass's work that repugnance has been used in the past "as a powerful weapon in social efforts to exclude certain groups and persons."</div>
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Dr. Kass says his critics misunderstand the role of repugnance in his thinking. "It's not that repugnance is always right," he says. "There was once repugnance at interracial marriage, and there have been other repugnancies that turned out to be mere prejudice. But you wouldn't want to live in a society where people feel no guilt or shame just because guilt and shame are sometimes disruptive—or in a society that doesn't feel righteous indignation at the sight of injustice."</div>
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Degradation and its opposite, human dignity, are central elements of Dr. Kass's philosophy, and he fears that American society risks becoming disrespectful of dignity and indifferent to degradation.</div>
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Consider abortion. After years of calling for abortions that are "safe, legal and rare," the Democratic Party in its 2012 platform dropped such language altogether in an attempt to appeal to its feminist base. But viewing childbearing solely as a matter of personal reproductive choice, Dr. Kass says, "means we no longer see a child as a gift but as a product of our will to be had by choice only. That makes human choice the basis of all value"—at the price of the child, for "he or she comes from the hands of nature."</div>
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"Nascent life prior to birth," Dr. Kass says, "does not yet display any of the grand and glorious things for which we applaud humanity in its flowering. And yet it is the dignity of human possibility to be found in nascent life that should lead us treat it not less well than it deserves." He admits to being "agnostic" on the question of whether the embryo "is a human being equal to your grandchildren." Even so, Dr. Kass says, "in the face of our ignorance about its status, the embryo does have a certain claim on us. It is the bearer of human possibility, and we owe it not to mistreat it."</div>
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Despite his deep respect for the antiabortion movement—"the people who respect the dignity of nascent life have going for them not just 'Thou shalt not kill' but also a certain regard for the continuity of the generations and the renewal of human possibility"—Dr. Kass sometimes finds himself at odds with its advocates. The movement's narrow focus on nascent life, he worries, blinds it to the fact that "abortion is connected to lots of other things that are threats to human dignity in its fullness."</div>
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"Pursuing perfect babies, ageless bodies and happy souls with the aid of cloning, genetic engineering and psychopharmacology," he thinks, are among the most significant of those threats.</div>
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"Killing the creature made in God's image is an old story," he says. "I deplore it. But the new threat is the ability to transform that creature into images of our own choosing, without regard to whether the new creature is going to be an improvement, or whether these so-called improvements are going to sap all of the energies of the soul that make for human aspirations, art, science and care for the less fortunate. All of these things have wellsprings in the human soul, and they are at risk in efforts to redesign us and move us to the posthuman future."</div>
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Leon Kass was born in Chicago in 1939 to a family of Jewish immigrants. His childhood home was "Yiddish-speaking, nonreligious, lower middle class." At age 15, he was admitted to the University of Chicago where, he recalls, "I did very well on my science placement tests so my adviser made me a science major."</div>
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He entered University of Chicago's School of Medicine upon graduation, but not before "acquiring a prejudice in favor of reading old books slowly, a certain taste for philosophical questions, and a keen interest in liberal education."</div>
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While he was a medical student, he met and married his wife of nearly 52 years, the classics scholar Amy Kass. The couple went on to Boston, where he completed an internal-medicine internship and earned a biochemistry Ph.D. at Harvard.</div>
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"A funny thing happened to me in graduate school," he recalls. "My wife and I spent part of the summer of 1965 in Mississippi doing civil-rights work." The couple lived with a black farmer in Mount Olive, Miss., in a home that had no toilet or indoor plumbing. "I came back from this place with this conundrum: Why was there more honor, goodness and decency in these unschooled black farmers than I found in my fellow graduate students at Harvard, whose enlightened and liberal opinions I shared?"</div>
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The answer, he eventually concluded, was that his black hosts displayed "the dignity of honest work and religion"—things he didn't often find among his highly educated peers, most of whom "were only looking out for Number One." Around the same time, Dr. Kass's reading of Rousseau, C.S. Lewis's "The Abolition of Man" (1943) and Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel "Brave New World" (1931)—the latter remains a constant reference in his writings—led him to see that as science advances, morals don't necessarily improve; that the opposite might well be the case.</div>
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"And then it dawned on me that you didn't have to go Mississippi to find moral questions," he says. "There were big moral questions right at my feet in the biomedical profession."</div>
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After a number of teaching and research stints, in 1976 he returned to the University of Chicago as a professor in the college, later teaching in the graduate program called the Committee on Social Thought. (Dr. Kass retired from teaching in 2010, and he and his wife have in recent years worked together to create "What So Proudly We Hail," an anthology and e-learning project that promotes civic literacy and patriotic attachment through speeches, stories and songs.)</div>
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"Unlike questions of segregation and, before it, slavery, where evil was clear and the only question was how to deal with it," Dr. Kass says, "the evils that I saw close to my own area of work were ones that were embedded in very high-minded pursuits: better health, peace of mind and the conquest of nature. Yet they contained within them the seeds of our own degradation."</div>
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The trouble wasn't so much with science itself, he thought, as with "scientism," by which he means "a quasi-religious faith that scientific knowledge is the only knowledge worthy of the name; that scientific knowledge gives you an exhaustive account of the way things are; and that science will transcend all the limitations of our human condition, all of our miseries." Scientism's primary goal, Dr. Kass says, "is to put the final nail in the rule of revealed religion." But scientism "also hits traditional, humanistic understandings of the special place of the human being, of the importance of soul, of inwardness and purposiveness."</div>
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The idea that materialism "can cure men of the fear of God and the fear of death," as Dr. Kass puts it, is at least as old as ancient Greece. But today it has become especially potent thanks to "the new genetics, which bore more deeply than ever before into the molecular basis of living processes." Then there is the rise of neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, which purport to explain "absolutely everything about human life" in materialistic terms.</div>
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Take the concept of human dignity. In a 2008 essay highly critical of Dr. Kass's work on the Bush bioethics council, the Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker questioned the value of dignity as a moral guide. "Dignity is a phenomenon of human perception," Mr. Pinker wrote. "Certain signals in the world trigger an attribution in the perceiver." The perception of human dignity, Mr. Pinker went on, is no different from how "converging lines in a drawing are a cue for the perception of depth."</div>
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That such an outlook is both blinkered and dangerous, Dr. Kass thinks, should be obvious to anyone who has ever been in love or felt other great emotions. "There's no doubt that the human experience of love," he says, is mirrored by "events that are measurable in the brain. But anybody who has ever fallen in love knows that love is not just an elevated level of some peptide in the hypothalamus."</div>
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Nor are degradation and dignity. The Gosnell trial and the terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon have degradation written all over them. As for dignity, Dr. Kass says, "You see it in the way nurses treat people who come in for chemotherapy. You see it in the way a great hostess treats a handicapped guest, helping him without causing him embarrassment. You see it in the way people come close to where there is human suffering and are not put off by the horror but do what is humanly necessary."</div>
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His voice lowered almost to a whisper, he adds: "You saw it in Boston. Some people fled to safety—others rushed to the danger."</div>
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<em>Mr. Ahmari is an assistant books editor at the Journal.</em></div>
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A version of this article appeared April 20, 2013, on page A13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: The Meaning of the Gosnell Trial.</div>
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D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-29313971339074018192013-05-02T16:55:00.000-07:002013-05-02T16:55:32.796-07:00<br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Fox News will air a one-hour special on abortion practitioner </span><a href="http://www.lifenews.com/2013/04/29/gosnell-attorney-closes-no-evidence-babies-alive-when-necks-snipped/" style="background-color: white; color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Kermit Gosnell and his murder trial</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">, but the data and time have changed. Fox news has moved up the time from Sunday to Friday, May 3, at 9 p.m.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Dr. Gosnell and The Temple of Doom</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>April 27th, 2013</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">It’s hard to know all the specifics of child sacrifice in Pre-Columbian America. Why were they killed? How many were there? By whom and to whom were they sacrificed? Anthropologists have found the remains of 42 children near the Great Pyramid at Tenotchitlan. National Geographic counts another 17 found near Mexico City, but the mysteries of this barbaric practice, pale in comparison to the <b>grisly discovery of the remains of more than 45 children Philadelphia</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The stories from ancient ruins are unearthed and pieced together with educated guesses, but the evidence in this latest discovery of infanticide and child sacrifice, leaves little to the imagination. Not since the trial of Jeffrey Dahmer, has there been a case any more disturbing, than that of Philadelphia abortionist, Dr. Kermit Gosnell. It is a story of with every kind of evil…murder, greed, drugs, racism, vice, politics, sexual deviancy, and horrendous medical malpractice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The story would be a ratings-buster for TV news, yet most have only heard the story, because of the media’s reluctance to cover it. It’s ironic, but irony may be the only thing more prevalent to the story than unabated blatant wrong-doing. The story unfolds in an abortion clinic, but one’s opinion on abortion should have NO bearing on one’s reaction to it. If this story doesn’t cause even the most adamant pro-choicers to call for justice, then this tale is also rife with hypocrisy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>In 2011 Dr. Kermit Gosnell was charged with eight counts of murder, one the death of a woman who died of a drug overdose in his clinic, the others alleged to the killings of babies born alive at his clinic, The Women’s Health Society</b>. Attorneys for the defense, alleged the case was racist–even calling it a “lynching“. Certainly there was racism in this mess, but its source was the defendant, not the prosecution. Dr. Gosnell, preyed upon the poorest and most vulnerable minority women in his community–mostly blacks. His handling of white clients, showed his disregard for his minority patients. By all accounts, the clinic was filthy. The clinics resident cats were allowed to urinate and defecate on the floors. The chairs and blankets used in recovery were bloody. His outdated medical equipment was broken and dusty. White women waited to see the doctor in a different part of the clinic, than his minority clients, because Dr. Gosnell feared they were more likely to complain about the squalid conditions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Gosnell had little regard for his clients. Perhaps this is why he said, “I personally would never agree to have an abortion performed on any women bearing my child”. His history as an abortionist goes back more than forty years. Before Roe vs. Wade, he was already an abortion activist. Gosnell said he was very “concerned about the sanctity of life”, but also said, “It is for this precise reason I provide abortions for women who want and need them.“</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Say what?????</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>In the early ‘70s, Gosnel</b>l is estimated to have been performing more than 1000 abortions each year. During that era, Gosnell had his first legal run-in, when he joined psychologist Harvey Karman, who had been running an underground abortion service since the 1950s. It was Karman, who invented the suction cannula still used for first trimester abortions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Karman, who was NOT a doctor, had hoped to pioneer a procedure for second trimester abortions with another invention he called the “super-coil“. Despite the harmless sounding name, the device was actually a gel-covered ball of plastic razors. Once inserted in the womb, the gel was dissolved by the warmth and moisture. This allowed the ball to expand, presumably to lacerate and dismember the fetus and bring about miscarriage. <b>Karman claimed to have tested the device on hundreds of Bangladeshi women (under the banner of Planned Parenthood Federation) without complications.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>In 1972, in what was later referred to as the Mother’s Day Massacre</b>, Gosnell joined Karman in trials of the super coil device on 15 American women. Nine suffered serious complications, including perforated uterus, hemorrhage, retained fetal parts, and infection. At least one was left barren, after requiring a hysterectomy. This incident caused great embarrassment and disagreement among abortion activists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Gosnell wasn’t charged in the case, but it was the first of many more legal complaints against him. He has been named as defendant in 46 lawsuits. Ten of which were malpractice–including one in which a patient died of sepsis after a perforated cervix and uterus. Gosnell was able to settle that case for $400,000. He was able to settle other cases for undisclosed sums. Complaints against Gosnell were common, yet they were ignored. A politically-motivated conspiracy to ignore complaints about abortion clinics, allowed him to fly under the radar. Despite numerous complaints, his clinic in West Philly, was not inspected by the Health Deparment for over 15 years. Ironically, the pro-abortion crowd, who insist say we must keep abortion legal to protect the lives of women, chose to protect abortion instead of the safety of women.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">In more irony, when Gosnell’s clinic was finally raided, it was NOT in response to countless complaints filed about his abortion practice. Instead it was a complaint regarding his practice of selling prescriptions for controlled substances. In exchange for cash, walk-ins at Gosnell‘s clinic were able to get prescriptions for Oxycontin, Percoset and other narcotics. Since Gosnell was rarely in the clinic during the day, he left signed prescription pads, so his untrained staff could write prescriptions. Making drugs readily available to addicts, allowed him to pocket unknown sums of cash, but the resulting raid, revealed more than just evidence of an illicit pill-mill, including years of fetal remains, stored in everything from water jugs, shoe boxes, and old cat litter containers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">In addition to the lucrative practice of selling prescriptions, <b>authorities estimate he was making as much as $15,000 per day performing abortion</b>s. It is impossible to know exactly how much money was flowing through the <b>cash-only clinic</b>, but when Gosnell was charged in this case, he asked to be represented by a public defender, claiming he could not afford an attorney.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">It would seem Gosnell was better at collecting money, than shelling it out. The properties he had overseen, including a halfway house, a methadone clinic, and his abortion clinic, had delinquent taxes and tax liens. <b>In 2004, when the health department received an anonymous complaint</b> about fetal remains being stored in the employee’s refrigerator, Gosnell was forced to produce proof of a contract for safe disposal of medical waste. He produced a contract, but then failed to pay the company for services. Seven years worth of infectious waste later, Gosnell claimed a dispute over the contract, as the reason his basement had become a storage facility for medical waste and aborted fetuses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">If filth and years of fetal remains weren’t bad enough, the raid also revealed a macabre collection of severed babies’ feet stored in jars. Gosnell claimed he was keeping them in case they were needed for paternity testing or research. Testimony, before the grand jury, also revealed his twisted practice of taking pictures of women’s genitals before performing abortions on them. The witness testified Gosnell claimed the pictures were necessary for his research and teaching–trouble was, Gosnell was neither a researcher, nor a teacher.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Presumably, the 2004 complaint regarding the fetuses in the staff refrigerator came from one of his own employees, but his staff were an odd assortment of untrained individuals, some of whom complied with troubling practices, because they were obligated to him in some way. Employees, as young as 15, were administering strong narcotics, manufacturing misleading ultrasounds, severing the spines of live born babies, and witnessing the unthinkable. As a bonus, they were given $20 each time they assisted with a late-term procedure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The employees sometimes referred to other employees as “Doctor”, even though those on staff, had no medical training. Gosnell didn’t even have a nurse on staff, except for the four days in 2009; when after the death of Karnamaya Mongar, he sought accreditation from the National Abortion Federation (NAF). At that time he hired a nurse, cleaned the facility, and replaced his blood-stained recliners with new ones, but the NAF denied his accreditation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Wearing torn gloves, reusing unwashed tools, and ignoring standards of safe practice put patients at risk. One of his assistants was known to have Hepatitis C. Eventually other doctors in the area, complained Gosnell was infecting his patients with STDs and other infections. An unknown number of patients suffered tears, or punctures to the cervix, bowel or uterus, but those who knew of the complaints did nothing. In glaring contradiction, the same folks who say we must keep abortion legal to protect the lives of women were curiously silent. There were no protests. No oversight. Not a single word from those who use women’s health and safety as an argument for legal abortion. No outrage from those who will go to great lengths to protect the lives of other living creatures.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Perhaps, this is why the media’s reluctance to cover the story, became a bigger story. Many speculated the story was hushed, because the abortion industry couldn’t afford the bad press. This case would have provided the perfect argument for the dangers inherent in back-alley abortions, yet there was a code of silence. Perhaps it was because those who aim to legalize “live-birth” abortion, feared the public reaction of what is nothing more than infanticide.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">This is not a case about the merits or evils of abortion. Though both mothers and babies were butchered at the Women’s Health Society, this is a murder case. Motivated by greed and abetted by those with a political agenda, it is as cold-blooded and evil, as any other murder. Women’s lives were endangered. A sociopath was protected. Gosnell’s practice of allowing his assistants to administer labor-inducing drugs, then showing up after the mothers had already given birth to living breathing babies, was not abortion. These were unassisted births, followed by the inhumane and gruesome killing of newborns.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Those who wish to protect a woman’s right to choose at any cost, may call it abortion, but it was murder–infanticide. Children sacrificed at the pro-choice altar. Call it what you will, but is was infanticide–as primitive and brutal as anything found in ancient societies.</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">NOTE: During the writing of this post, the number of charges against Gosnell were reduced, the following day, the judge said he made a mistake and reinstated one count. The Grand Jury’s report can be read at: <b> <a href="http://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/pdfs/grandjurywomensmedical.pdf">http://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/pdfs/grandjurywomensmedical.pdf</a></b></span></div>
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Nebraska bishop: Contraception laid groundwork for Gosnell’s ‘House of Horrors’</h2>
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<a href="http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/nebraska-bishop-contraception-laid-groundwork-for-gosnells-house-of-horrors?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=010e24dc3a-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_04_30_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0caba610ac-010e24dc3a-326240502">http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/nebraska-bishop-contraception-laid-groundwork-for-gosnells-house-of-horrors?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=010e24dc3a-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_04_30_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0caba610ac-010e24dc3a-326240502</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOax_Q9LnZo&list=PLytHy7PQxOT6dUJFOOuHH6E0k2f6DSqXU" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: purple; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOax_Q9LnZo&list=PLytHy7PQxOT6dUJFOOuHH6E0k2f6DSqXU</a><span style="font-size: 16px;"> Rep. Bill Johnson and Rep. D Ross</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcrRXGkJmP0&list=PLytHy7PQxOT6dUJFOOuHH6E0k2f6DSqXU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcrRXGkJmP0&list=PLytHy7PQxOT6dUJFOOuHH6E0k2f6DSqXU</a> Rep Chris Smith</div>
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<b>It is not just on Pro-life issues that the world disagrees with the Church-picked from the Newsfeed this week:</b></div>
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<b>So how should we then live? What is our response as Catholic men who want to live out a Christ like--a Christian witness in the world today?</b></div>
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I like to go back to darker times in human history. Sadly everyday we are losing our real witnesses to World War II--it has now been 67 years since the end of the war. But, we all remember well the history of the war and the great evil that it was fought over.</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The whole world was at stake--some 72 million people died during the war--11 million during the Holocaust-over 6 million of them Jews.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Here is a wonderful story out of the horrors of that war. Denmark stood alone as a Nazi occupied company in rescuing the Jews in Denmark. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">The</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><b style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">rescue of the Danish Jews</b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">occurred during</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="Nazi Germany">Nazi Germany</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">'s</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Denmark" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="Occupation of Denmark">occupation of Denmark</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">during</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="World War II">World War II</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">. On October 1, 1943 Nazi leader</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="Adolf Hitler">Adolf Hitler</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">ordered</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Denmark" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="History of the Jews in Denmark">Danish Jews</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">to be arrested and deported. Despite great personal risk, the</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_resistance_movement" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="Danish resistance movement">Danish resistance movement</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">with the assistance of many ordinary Danish citizens took part in a collective effort to evacuate about 8,000</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="Jew">Jews</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">of</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="Denmark">Denmark</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">by sea to nearby neutral</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="Sweden">Sweden</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">The rescue allowed the vast majority of Denmark's Jewish population to avoid capture by the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="Nazism">Nazis</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> and is considered to be one of the largest actions of collective resistance to repression in the countries occupied by Nazi Germany. As a result of the rescue and Danish intercession on behalf of the 5% of Danish Jews who were deported to </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresienstadt_concentration_camp" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="Theresienstadt concentration camp">Theresienstadt</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> transit camp in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemia" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="Bohemia">Bohemia</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">, over 99% of Denmark's Jewish population survived the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px; text-decoration: none;" title="The Holocaust">Holocaust</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.1875px;">Here is the rest of the story. The members of the Danish Resistance Movement who were captured by the Nazi's were all put on the same floor of the prison camp and every day they would pick one captured man and march him out to the field in plain view of all the others locked up--as he was being marched away-the others would all stand at the doors of their cells and sing loudly to their </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">comrade--Day by Day and with each passing moment-strength I find...</span></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Day by day, and with each passing moment,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Strength I find to meet my trials here;</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I've no cause for worry or for fear.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Gives unto each day what He deems best,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Mingling toil with peace and rest. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Every day the Lord Himself is near me,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">With a special mercy for each hour;</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">He whose name is Counsellor and Pow'r.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The protection of His child and treasure</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Is a charge that on Himself He laid;</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">"As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,"</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This the pledge to me He made. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Help me then, in every tribulation,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">That I lose not faith's sweet consolation,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Offered me within Thy holy Word.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">E'er to take, as from a father's hand,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Till with Christ the Lord I stand. </span></b><br style="background-color: white; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><br style="background-color: white; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;" /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><br /></span><div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lNVCcph6cnI#!">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lNVCcph6cnI#!</a> Day By Day and with each Passing Moment</div>
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The writer of this Swedish hymn was out rowing on the lake with her father and the boat turned over, and he drowned right before her eyes.</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">And, yet she found such Comfort from the Great Consoler of our hearts that she left us words to be comforted by-words to live by.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">We pray and live, day by day, we work and pray and we live like it All depends on God's mercy, all the while we do what we can. We are aware of what is going on around us, but we never get overly moved because we Know and have come to know more and more each day the Father's loving Care--we Trust God and offer him our lives and our days, day by day.</span></div>
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2, May 2013</div>
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Feast of St. Athanasius </div>
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<!-- End BlogNetworks code -->D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-39509493974953506792013-04-24T10:23:00.001-07:002013-04-24T10:29:22.974-07:00Letter to a college friend on Matthew 7:6<br />
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So, my good friend, you thought I forgot you. How nice to see a college student not in a
Bible class, reading the Scriptures and asking questions—does my heart
good. There is yet hope in the world.
And you do choose one of the most taxing questions of our Lord to ponder
on. The big guns of Scripture study-the
theologians equally wonder aloud on this one. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Let us take a look:
Matthew 7:6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your
pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and
tear you to pieces.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Scripture must always be interpreted in the light of
Scripture and I truly believe that we use the lens of the Old Testament to
understand the New. With that in mind, I
always like to see what our Elder Brothers in the Faith-the original People of
the Book-the Jews have to say on a subject.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here is an old Jewish proverb and we can see how Jesus
incorporates it into his teaching on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7-"do
not cast pearls before swine", nor deliver wisdom to him, who knows not
the excellency of it; for wisdom is better than pearls, and he that does not
seek after it, is worse than a swine.''
Jewish proverb<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are many references from the Old Testament, but let me
pick my favorite for our discussion: Proverb 9:7“He who corrects a scoffer gets
dishonor for himself, and, he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for
himself.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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This saying appears in the Didache 9:5 in a completely
different context: “But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist except those
who have been baptized into the name of the Lord, for the Lord has also spoken
concerning this: ‘Do not give what is holy to dogs’ (Μὴ δῶτε τὸἅγιον τοῖς κυσί).”<o:p></o:p></div>
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I added that last line in the original Hebrew translated into
Greek, for as a young man on campus, you never know when you need a proper
response to place one squarely in the quiet-and quoting from the Holy
Scriptures can hardly be called an insult, but it brings its own sting to the
right conversation—you might want to have it printed on a tee and the Greeks
will not get it but will not admit they do not know what it says. :D It
can be your own private giggle on the matter. Who knows, you might sell some.<o:p></o:p></div>
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FYI- when talking to the young Evangelicals, and when
encouraging young, fellow Catholics-the Didache is a short book that predates
the Bible—written between- 90-110 AD. It
is the oldest Christian work we have, and you will note the use of the term
with full Catholic meaning-Eucharist. It
is very short and you can Goggle and find it right on the Internet.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I said earlier, some say this is the most difficult of
Jesus’s statements. I truly believe
there are others more difficult. The
obvious meaning can easily be gleaned and that is there is time to speak up and
there is a time to just remain quiet.
There are those we can do great good by words of encouragement and even timely
rebuke, and there are those that no amount of talking will profit ever and it
will only draw you into endless quarrels, strife, or worse. We learn as we go on those occasions. Mostly, we learn by the many conversations
that go array when we are young and we grow out of the need to argue or quarrel
for argument sake.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So in this first and easier explanation of what Jesus is
saying, it brings to mind a couple of my old Uncle Williams favorite
sayings. He was a simple cotton farmer.
He would tell me often, “When you throw a rock at a pack of dogs, the one who
yelps is the one that got hit.” And, “Never
try to teach a pig to sing—it frustrates you and annoys the pig”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Doubtless, as you grow in the wisdom of experiencing many
peoples and places these expressions will come to mean more to you-perhaps as
me, you will make them your very own and use them wisely.We come to know the
power of our words, and we know when they affect someone else, and we know when
it is time to stop offering them to certain folks and situations.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So the first and easiest lesson is one of discretion. We know when to talk and when to remain
silent.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And the second lesson is one of reverence. There are things
that are Holy. And the holy must never be mixed with not just the common, but
the unclean. You grew up in a home very
affectionate to animals and have had a wide range of pets over the years I have
known you, but praised among them always seems to be the dogs you have had.
That is a very Western concept. In the
East the dogs were wild, even as the most unclean animal was the pig. The dogs were not domesticated and enjoyed,
but ran in wild packs and were scavengers.
And the Jewish person was not only forbidden to eat from the pig, but to
even touch them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus is clearly telling us that the things of our religion,
the things that belong entirely to Him are holy and must not be mixed with the
unholy. Dogs and pigs in the East are
the lowest of the animal world, scavengers of the streets. And in the Bible
they reference such behavior among men. Look
at this one reference, you can find many: Revelation 22:15 “for without are
dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and
whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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We have a lesson of discretion and of reverence. But, I
believe there is so much more here. When
you read the entire passage as one reading-the Sermon on the Mount-Matthew
5-6-7 you see it is truly a model of the life in Christ, an original catechism
of Christian living. And as it is, it grows from the baby steps to the harder
teachings-the easier things to do and be daily, and those harder things we
struggle with, but in conquering come to maturity in our faith.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Many read the verses 1-6 as rules for judging others, and it
is that, but so much more. We must judge
ourselves, judge our own acts, and not try to enforce our judgments for
ourselves on everyone else. It is so
easy to make our word a law to everyone else. We must not judge rashly. In fact we should not be passing judgment on others.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is so easy to make snap judgments, to judge too quickly, and
only see the worst of people. I outnumber
you greatly in age- in fact at your age you must see me as quite old—and this
is still a great struggle of mine. I
give you an example. When I was your
age-actually a Sophomore on campus, it dawned on me suddenly that the reason I
could stay up so late and study such long hours was that I was drinking over 20
cups of coffee a day-without realizing it.
Twice a day friends would gather at the same spot to talk and have
coffee, and I would get on a rant and the waitress would keep coming by and
filling my cup with me paying no attention, until my friends started counting
and reporting at the end of the day how many cups they saw me down. Knowing it
was bad, even dangerous for my health-I stopped and suddenly would not drink
any coffee. But, I also decided if 20 cups were not good for me, then no amount
of coffee was good for anyone, and I would silently judge anyone I saw drinking
coffee-the dopes, did they not know better? How could they do such a bad thing
to themselves? I would terrorize any who would listen on the dangers of coffee
and exhort them to quit. Sadly, I have done this over the years about a great
many things. Thankfully, for the most
part I have outgrown this behavior, but still I catch myself doing it-it is a
struggle.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I am glad to say that now, 2 cups of coffee each morning is
one of the delights of my day. I limit
it to that and only that, and enjoy it immensely. When it comes to advocates and reformers the rules
I now live best by—first reform me. It
helps me work on the necessary self-improvement, conquering defects and sins in
myself and hopefully living a godly example which inspires others to more Christ-like
living.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was easy of the Jews as the chosen people, and it is easy
for us as Catholics today to have an elitist attitude—we are so much better
than others attitude. The entire summation of the Sermon on the Mount is the
context of the giving and loving Father.
In fact in every mass and many times in our daily rosaries we repeat the
prayer given here to us by Jesus-Our Father….<o:p></o:p></div>
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So in context-yes there are some people who so devalue the
sacred, and live such profane lives, that nothing we can say will admonish them
or lead them to repentance. But we are
to live in such a way that the love, mercy, goodness, and kindness of our God
shows and flows from our life in our everyday living. And even, though we
should not engage in word such folk, in life and in deed we should offer a door
of hope, by the very way we live. Often
we note that the worst example to the atheist or unbeliever is the actual
Christian they have experienced. We are sent out into the world, we are to in
every situation appear different-to be a light shining on the hill. And we are
never to live lives of narrowness and selfishness-the “us four no more” attitude
of many Christians. Matthew is showing
that everyone is highly valued in the Kingdom of God. Each person is an image bearer of God; each
person is created to be an image bearer of Jesus Christ. No person is ever a means, but each person is
an end—that end is to live with Jesus in His Father’s house forever-to know, to
love, to serve God and to live with Him forever, world without end. Note that
the last word-Matthew 28:19 is the command of Jesus to take his message to the
world and to make disciples of everyone.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Have you ever known me to be able to just say yes or no.
Giggles. Hopefully this gives you a bit of food for thought and does not
overwhelm you to never ask another Bible question. But, when you get a chance
have a comfortable seat in a quiet place-read out loud Matthew: 5-6-7 all in
one sitting and imagine Jesus sitting with his best friends on a beautiful day,
on the side of a hill talking to you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Your friend,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Daniel<o:p></o:p></div>
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23, April 2013<o:p></o:p></div>
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Feast of St.
George<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!-- End BlogNetworks code -->D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-4120415350322039532013-04-18T11:01:00.000-07:002013-04-18T11:06:12.788-07:00In the midst of tragedy, we pray, we sigh for the suffering, we gather deeper into our friends, and we find the giggles where we can<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWgCWX-nhGTiiQLNdU58jNwz6iTcfZ3LkY2YyD3eUEca3L72VPXygH8Z-ol-T5KIPf5lzaKOESU1rs3NOe9Jzmh_oQGl6sUlhgck6yuXUGgpNbNaa-_M5-ezCQ4qr0sQHDS7hg/s1600/Adult+Wren+children.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWgCWX-nhGTiiQLNdU58jNwz6iTcfZ3LkY2YyD3eUEca3L72VPXygH8Z-ol-T5KIPf5lzaKOESU1rs3NOe9Jzmh_oQGl6sUlhgck6yuXUGgpNbNaa-_M5-ezCQ4qr0sQHDS7hg/s320/Adult+Wren+children.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is a real life picture of adult children of my very good friends--and they are all unique and yet such good friends of each other--I love being near them.</div>
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They are a good picture example of the below article-open, read, and work at adding such friends to your circle of influence.</div>
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<a href="http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationships/5-types-friends-everyone-should-have">http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationships/5-types-friends-everyone-should-have</a></div>
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Excellent and very timely with all the tragedy in the immediate world today--my heart still grieves for the loss of innocence to have a wonderful day of tradition and all round fun like the Boston Marathon weekend--the wounded and the dead there, and now the devastation in West-the little town I have worshiped in, done funerals in, weddings, had the best meals, the best of pastries and coffees and sausages-the best of times for my whole life.</div>
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It is so painfully true that we do not yet have the great reliance of the people of Western Europe who get up the next day, and amiss tears, sweep the sidewalk and start again--and with good friends and a little wine or something even tastier and stronger-they find a crack of a smile, a laugh, even a giggle--we sigh and offer our prayers and whatever else help-blood donations, clothes, open our homes to those in need and devastated.</div>
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So, here in the midst of prayers and sacramental works of mercy, charity, and healing--I offer a good read and some practical advice on preparing yourself against future horror and evil that is always so terribly sufficient to the day--the five types of friends you need to make you better, more real, and most prepared to meet the day--and HELLO-I am not just meant to be the Older friend in your life--although I fail in the wiser, more self-disciplined, and refined bit-Sorry.</div>
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I am glad to say I have all 5 types--although if you are one of the really younger ones you KNOW just how hard it is to get on my dance card for that-giggles, and I am still not sorry for that. Sorry for many things in my life, but not sorry for having tough requirements for the under 30 friend in my circle of friends. And for the atheist--yes you do make me a better Christian and a better person--but I will be sure to get you to Heaven in the end-Do you hear Me?</div>
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We cry for the poor, the suffering, and the needy-We do our sacraments acts of mercy and penance,</div>
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but we daily look for the giggles where we can--I have openings for 3 more friends--apply soon.</div>
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In prayer and with giggles,</div>
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Daniel</div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A//www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationships/5-types-friends-everyone-should-have#" style="color: black; cursor: pointer; display: inline; text-decoration: none; word-break: break-word;">5 Types of Friends Everyone Should Have</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationships/5-types-friends-everyone-should-have">http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationships/5-types-friends-everyone-should-have</a></div>
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<div>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A//www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationships/5-types-friends-everyone-should-have#" style="color: black; cursor: pointer; display: inline; text-decoration: none; word-break: break-word;">We all naturally gravitate toward people like ourselves—but what if we widened our inner circle?</a></div>
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And to make the last point clearly.</div>
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While we Stand praying for the suffering, we look for giggles where we can.</div>
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Poor Mickey indeed.</div>
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<!-- End BlogNetworks code -->D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-9344021708253311782013-03-07T18:02:00.000-08:002013-03-07T18:02:23.408-08:00<br />
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<b>Prayer for the Church</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">O Lord Jesus Christ, Supreme Pastor of Your Church, we thank you for the ministry of Pope Benedict XVI and the selfless care with which he has led us as Successor of </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Peter, and Your Vicar on earth. Good Shepherd, who founded Your Church on the rock of Peter's faith and have never left Your flock untended, look with love</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">upon us now, and sustain Your Church in faith, hope, and charity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Grant, Lord Jesus, in Your boundless love for us, a new Pope for Your Church who will please You by his holiness and lead us faithfully to You,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">who are the same yesterday, today, and forever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Amen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">March 20th and 27th-both Wednesday nights are wonderful nights in the diocese of Dallas during the Season of Lent 2013. It is called Leave the Lights On and every Catholic parish in the diocese will be open and have extra priests to make sure that folks who have not taken the time to go to Confession for say-the last 10, 15, 20, or more years-can come home and find the joy and the gladness we find from making a good confession, and receiving the Absolution for our sins through Jesus Christ Our Lord. If you have not been this year, or forever-Come Home-We will Leave the Lights On for You.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The Story goes that Maria and her mother were very close in the little village in Ecuador. It was just the two of them, it had always been just the two of them and they loved each other very much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">They were poor-just a two room little huddle that had always been their home. Very sparse, but very clean. They ate simply but well. Maria's mother worked long hours to provide the sustenance that they did have-and she never complained. She made daily mass as had Maria done when she was younger. But, now that Maria was getting older, even though they lived in a small village--the allure of the world was not unknown. At school she would see magazines and hear stories. At the local market where she was able to have a after school job, she saw advertisements and heard the radio that piped through the store, and even saw some television in the break-room.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Maria was almost 18 and she began to be more and more wistful about a life away from this simplicity-the city and all the allure that it had to offer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Maria was allowed to keep the little she made after school and unknown to her Mama she had saved enough to have a bus ticket to the city that was 4 hours away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">At night by candlelight she would count her coins over and over and over and dream of making it to the city-she could see the beautiful people, and taste the beautiful foods, and go the most beautiful places, and after she got work and saved, she could buy for herself the most beautiful clothes and have the most beautiful things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">On her birthday, her mother made her favorite foods,and they laughed with the neighbors who came by to bless her--they sang songs and had their prayers and her mother gave her a lovely but simple blue dress she had saved to get for her daughter-it was a lovely day. The next day Maria wore her dress and went by the little photo booth at the market-deposited her coins and out popped 5 little candied shots of her in her new blue dress. She brought home the pictures and a lovely bouquet of flowers she picked for her mom, and left these on the small table with a note--Mama, do not be angry and do not be sad. You know I have longed for more and I have to follow my dream. I have taken the five o clock bus to the city. I have a little money-I will get a job-I will make it and will send word soon with my address and tell you all my adventures. Love, Maria.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Her mother came home to a dark and empty house, she read the note and fell to the floor in a torrent of tears. In her sorrow and pain she cried out to God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">It was too late to do anything that night, but to pray a fitful night through telling the beads-calling out to the Holy Family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The next morning she knew what to do. She grabbed the little savings she had, packed a small bag, and went and bought her ticket to the city. Then she took the pictures of her darling Maria-the only pictures she had of her with her and boarded the bus. As soon as she got to the city the first thing she did was to find a place who could make copies-many copies of the small pictures of Maria. She bought as many as she could-and then she spent the next three days going to all the run down, seedy places that girls like Maria who had no experience, no money, and no skills ended up--these places are known in every city. In each and every place she quietly slipped in and in every womens room, on every bulletin board, by every wall phone, and by every back door--she wrote something on the back of a picture-and tacked it up. 100's of pictures in so many places. And then with money all gone, and beads in hand-prayers on her lips, she went home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Weeks went by, and still she prayed, lit candles, and implored the priest to remember Maria in his daily masses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">And everyday-she would make sure she was at the 5 o clock bus waiting to see if Maria got off the bus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">And after many weeks-on an ordinary day-the bus door opens-and there is Maria in her blue dress clutching the picture of herself-as someone would clutch a treasured prayer card or a saint. She sees her Mama, she runs into her opened arms and with bitter tears now joyful tears of being received with such love--she buries her head in her Mama's neck and melts into her Mother's love-and the picture tumbles out of her fingers and falls to the ground backside up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">In her night of passion, the Loving Father had given her the words-she knew that when things got bad and her daughter was looking for a way of escape, that she would notice a picture of herself. She also knew that her pride would keep her from returning home and until she had endured all she could to make her dreams come true.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">On the back of every picture the Mother had written these words-Whatever you have done, whoever you have been with, whatever you have become--it does not matter-I love you Maria, Come Home. Mama.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">This is Lent-our time to increase our prayers, our self-denying, and our alms giving to the poor. A time to reflect on our lives--a time to remember that He Leaves the Light on for us-Come Home, You are loved-Come Home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">St Ann's Knights talk</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">March 7, 2013</span></div>
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<!-- End BlogNetworks code -->D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-92060619559390842032013-02-07T17:25:00.001-08:002013-02-07T17:26:25.858-08:00<div>
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<b>All For Good</b></div>
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This is a story that comes out of India--one of my favorites and in my talks through the years, it has always been my most requested to be re-told.</div>
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During the times of the Maharishis, when India was ruled as small feudal land principalities-there was a certain Maharishi who ruled his kingdom fairly and treated his servants quite well.</div>
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His palace was known far and wide. And his most trusted man-servant was a Christian. In fact, he was the only Christian in the whole palace, and the only one the Maharishi knew.</div>
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That in itself was a bit of an irritation, and had it not been for the work-ethic and the trust and integrity that was such a part of his life, the Maharishi would have gotten rid of him many times over.</div>
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The irritation was not the fact that the servant was Christian, but the way in which this belief affected his every thought and deed. You see because he was most trusted servant, he had access to every area of the Maharishis life which meant that there was no escape. On days that he was worried, the servant would be there with his gentle encouragement-"All for Good, Master, All for Good."</div>
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When he was sad, here would come an unsolicited, "All for Good, Master, All for Good."</div>
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When he did not feel well, along with all the excellent ministration to his needs came another, "All for Good, Master, All for Good."</div>
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As much as he protested, scolded, pouted, and even outright forbid him from expressing this opinion, the servant kept on unfazed and unrelenting with his very unsolicited opinion-"All for Good, Master, All for Good." And as I said, as much as it irritated the Maharishi, his many assets and talents outweighed the irritation.</div>
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And then a particularly unrelenting Bad Spell came upon the principality:</div>
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Longer than usual Monsoon-"All for Good, Master, All for Good."</div>
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A following Drought that would not end-"All for Good, Master, All for Good."</div>
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Cattle dying-"All for Good, Master, All for Good."</div>
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Crop failure-"All for Good, Master, All for Good."</div>
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Rampant disease-"All for Good, Master, All for Good."</div>
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And then-the Maharishi is out on the Veranda taking in all this devastating and destruction and he can find no peace. He decides to whittle and try to calm his mind--put effort into his hobby and distract himself from his Woes. But, as so often happens when one is distracted and upset with knife in hand--as his mind tumbles on every thought, he misses the mark on the wood, his hand slips, and he cuts off his Index finger on this left hand. Blood pouring, his finger laying on the ground, and such immense pain-and here is the trusted servant, applying pressure and a bandage and spouting, "All for Good, Master, All for Good."</div>
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Enough, enough--how can this be--perhaps that is some truth to all the other events and happenings, but how can he possibly spouting such drivel at a time and during an injury like this?</div>
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Guards-Guards-the Maharishi calls and he has the faithful servant carried away to the dungeon. He must be punished, he must be taught a lesson.</div>
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Out of sight, out of mind. And as the well to do know much better than those who work paycheck to paycheck--there is a blessing in a change of scenery--sometimes one needs nothing more than to see life through the Rear View Mirror for awhile so to speak. Servant in the dungeon being taught a lesson, the Maharishi decides to join the next Caravan and get the perspective of taking time and trip. In those days and in that region one never traveled alone--it was far to dangerous. There was safety in numbers. In those days there were many bands of marauders. The only safe way to travel was in large groups-Caravan's which offered much more protection.</div>
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It so happened that there was a particularly fierce band of marauders who had a specialty of hitting even the Caravan's. And while raping and pillaging this particular Caravan, they noticed the Maharishis tent and decided to take him as a human sacrifice to their goddess, Cali. They bound him, and gaged him, and rolled him up in the fine hand knotted rug in this tent and took him back for sacrifice. Now the goddess Cali is many armed and very ferocious in appearance-the goddess of Destruction. But, what you may not know is that pagans take their acts of worship to their gods much more serious than the regular Christian.</div>
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And in the frenzy of their worship, as they brought the rug into the midst of the bonfire and flung it open at the very feet of Cali, and as they all came towards the Maharishi with knives drawn to offer him as sacrifice-the Maharishi did what any sane and fearful man would do--he help his hands up to face to offer what protection to himself he could--and there in the glow of the fire the pagans began to shriek and tear their robes and pull at their hair--for here was a 9 fingered man-deformed and not worthy of sacrifice to their goddess. In all the wailing and anguish, the Maharishi was able to escape and he ran and ran till he got home, and in his mind he could finally see--an Epiphany--the Christian servant was Right-had he not cut off his finger, he would be dead, and dead from a most vile and horrific death.</div>
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He was wrong-he had wronged his servant. He must make amends. Before he would even allow himself to be cleaned up from his journey, from his ordeal, from his great escape-he called for his servant.</div>
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As the servant was presented to him, dirty and unkempt, lost weight due to privation, the Master is overwhelmed by his Wrongness and beings to profusely cry out over his failing, over his wrongness-and with a sweeping smile, the servant interrupts-"All for Good, Master, All for Good." And with everything that has happened the Maharishi cannot help himself and explodes--"Enough, Stop-I am wrong and you must allow me to make amends, to apologize, and to make right my great wrong--and there is no way you can say that what I have done as a willful wrong against you could be Good-Stop it Now."</div>
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With growing wide-faced grin, the Christian servant laughs ever so gently and says, Yes Master--here you see. If you had not been angry and put me away in the dungeon, and you had gone on the pilgrimage who would be with you? Me, and who would be asleep at the foot of your bed and on the very rug you were rolled up in? Me. and who would have been taken from your tent and flung at the foot of the dread goddess? Me, and when I went to shield my face from my murderers, what would they have seen? Look Master-and holding up ten fingers he says-you see, "All for Good, Master, All for Good."</div>
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Let us remember and take to heart and proclaim with full heart and belief in good times and in bad times-when we can See it and in the Darkness of Faith-God is Good All the Time.</div>
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Amen.</div>
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Music is and should be an important part of our lives. In fact I do not trust people who absolutely have no use for music-never listen to it, can live without it-do not trust them.</div>
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Something is seriously wrong with a person who is not moved by some kind of music.</div>
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Here are three secular songs that are all written and sung as a prayer--maybe some more than others, but still a prayer to God Above with sincere petitions, questions, hopes and dreams.</div>
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Take them time to enjoy them.</div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPJFB0nfLAg&list=PL46BA6AF74D065115">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPJFB0nfLAg&list=PL46BA6AF74D065115</a></div>
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<b>Susan Boyle singing Hallelujah</b></div>
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Now I've heard there was a secret chord-<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">That David played, and it pleased the Lord </span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">But you don't really care for music, do you? </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">It goes like this-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The fourth, the fifth-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The minor fall, the major lift-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The baffled king composing Hallelujah </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Hallelujah-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Hallelujah-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Hallelujah-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Hallelujah </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Your faith was strong but you needed proof</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">You saw her bathing on the roof-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">She tied you-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">To a kitchen chair-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">She broke your throne, and she cut your hair-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Baby I have been here before-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I know this room, I've walked this floor-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I used to live alone before I knew you. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I've seen your flag on the marble arch-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Love is not a victory march-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">There was a time you let me know-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">What's really going on below-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">But now you never show it to me, do you? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">And remember when I moved in you-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The holy dove was moving too-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">And every breath we drew was Hallelujah </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">You say I took the name in vain-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I don't even know the name-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">But if I did, well really, what's it to you? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">There's a blaze of light-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">In every word-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">It doesn't matter which you heard -</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The holy or the broken Hallelujah</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I did my best, it wasn't much-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">And even though-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">It all went wrong-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I'll stand before the Lord of Song-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah, Hallelujah </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hallelujah</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSKhIyQ5PpY&list=PL46BA6AF74D065115">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSKhIyQ5PpY&list=PL46BA6AF74D065115</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>George Michael and Queen singing Somebody to Love</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Can anybody find me somebody to love? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Each morning I get up I die a little-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Can barely stand on my feet </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Take a look in the mirror and cry-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Lord what you're doing to me </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I have spent all my years in believing you-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">But I just can't get no relief, Lord! </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Somebody, somebody-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Can anybody find me somebody to love? </span></div>
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<br style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I work hard every day of my life-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I work till I ache my bones </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own - </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I get down on my knees-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">And I start to pray </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Till the tears run down from my eyes-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Lord - somebody - somebody </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Can anybody find me - somebody to love? </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">(He works hard) </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Everyday - I try and I try and I try -</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">But everybody wants to put me down </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">They say I'm goin' crazy-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">They say I got a lot of water in my brain </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Got no common sense-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I got nobody left to believe </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Yeah - yeah yeah yeah </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Oh Lord-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Somebody - somebody-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Can anybody find me somebody to love? </span><br />
<br style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Got no feel, I got no rhythm-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I just keep losing my beat </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I'm ok, I'm alright-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Ain't gonna face no defeat-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I just gotta get out of this prison cell-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Someday I'm gonna be free, Lord! </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Find me somebody to love-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Can anybody find me somebody to love? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ctvyvAgDu8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ctvyvAgDu8</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><b>Bring Him Home</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Jean Valjean:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">God on high-Hear my prayer</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">In my need-You have always been there</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">He is young-He's afraid</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Let him rest-Heaven blessed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Bring him home-Bring him home-Bring him home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">He's like the son I might have known-If God had granted me a son.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">The summers die-One by one</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">How soon they fly-On and on</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">And I am old-And will be gone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Bring him peace-Bring him joy-He is young-He is only a boy</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">You can take-You can give</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Let him be-Let him live</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">If I die, let me die-Let him live</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Bring him home-Bring him home-Bring him home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Segoe UI, Corbel, helvetica, verdana, arial;"><br /></span></div>
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D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-35956143291098372712013-01-03T16:37:00.001-08:002013-01-03T16:37:51.316-08:00Birthday musings January 3, 2013<br />
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<span style="background: #FFFEFD; color: #001320; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">January 3, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FFFEFD; color: #001320; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Feast of the Holy Name
of Jesus<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FFFEFD; color: #001320; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Talk to Knights of
Columbus, St Ann Coppell<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: #FFFEFD; color: #001320; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But as for me, the
nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell
of all Your works.</span> Psalm 73:28 One of my all-time favorite Scriptures- for
myself and sharing with those who quickly need to hear a word of comfort from
our Loving Heavenly Father.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: #FFFEFD; color: #001320; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Say it with me-the
nearness of God is my good. Let it roll
over your tongue and down into the depths of your very being-the same way we
take the Body of Jesus in the form of bread onto our tongue, down our throats,
and into our belly-our very being-the nearness of God is my good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FFFEFD; color: #001320; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I always find humor with
the modern colloquial expressions of the day-my bad, my bad, people are all
running around saying with a half turned smile-and if they are Catholic enough
a pectoral whack to the chest-My Bad. The humor is most of the times people are
using this as a way out of a moral failure or an abject work of evil-where they
need to be saying to God and perhaps His people publically-I am bad, I am the
man, I have sinned, Lord have mercy on me a sinner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FFFEFD; color: #001320; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the Top news
items of the Year 2012 is a famous General who was found to be in a
compromising adulterous relationship with a woman-affecting two marriages,
children, his honor, and national security. I am sorry we do not need press
conferences where such actions can be explained away as a lapse in judgment. A lapse in judgment is wearing the pants
that are two sizes too small, or showing up at the Country club without a collared
shirt and Navy jacket, or white wine with anything other than fish-giggles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FFFEFD; color: #001320; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">We gather together each
month to build community and to hold ourselves up to a moral code, a code of
honor-we state we are Catholic men in good standing with the Church. This means when we mess up, we get right with
God and man-we pay our dues, we ask forgiveness, we rebuild and start over. So
that is what we do with moral failure-we do not call it lapses in judgment and
think a cute My Bad will get us out of trouble.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FFFEFD; color: #001320; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But as in cases of
honor, cases of right living, cases of moral judgment-words matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FFFEFD; color: #001320; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">So, let us take a quick
look at these words of healing, comfort, and hope-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FEFDFA; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
nearness of God is my good. God is my good. Good, an adjective, could also be translated as "a good
thing, a benefit, welfare, prosperity, happiness."</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: #FEFDFA;">Does it surprise you that nearness is
only used twice in the Old Testament?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FEFDFA; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nearness
means-an approach, a drawing near.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FEFDFA; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalms
73:28 and Isaiah 58:2. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yet they seek Me day
by day and delight to know My ways,<br />
As a nation that has done righteousness<br />
And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.<br />
They ask Me for just decisions,<br />
They delight in the nearness of God."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One translation says, “</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">to take
pleasure in closeness to God</span>”.<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FEFDFA;">What is your good? What makes you feel close to God? When I was
17 and meditating on this Scripture, the thought that came to me was of the
many times that I felt God’s Presence in my life-where I felt his
Pleasure. I think you can best relate to
what we call the “atta boy” moments.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FEFDFA; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am a great father to my sons in their 20’s while they are
living well and making good decisions.
We have great moral ethics talks each time we are together. Just over
Christmas break we have been talking about the General and his being in the
news and we had some very good and very frank discussions on honor, moral
ethics, when public repentance is called for and what shape that takes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FEFDFA; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But when they were younger playing Little League I confess
I was not the most attentive. Often I
would work the phone behind the bleachers, talk to the other parents, and even
read a book, till my wife nudge me with one of her, “you’re missing it, you’re
missing it.” warnings. I remember, the
time I looked up and saw the bases loaded, looked over to see two outs on the
board, and my son sauntering up to bat.
Oh my. He takes his time and gets up to bat and I am watching, he swings
and I am out of my bleachers and up to the fence, right behind home plate, and
I am saying, “Come on son, you can do it, I know you can do it…” as he
swings-Strike One. I am erect, with my
feet firmly planted like I am in the batter box, and my hands are curled into
the weave fence, with my mouth pressed into the whole in the fence, as my voice
escalates, “good job, you’re doing fine-you can do this, you can do this..” and
he swings, Strike Two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FEFDFA; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now my hands are so entwined into the fence I am losing
feeling. My toes are pressed against the
fence and I am shaking the fence while I scream through the fence the best encouragement
I know, “you are doing good son, no worries, and way to attack the ball. You
got this watch the pitch and connect, you are doing great, I am here with you,
I know you can do it son, you got this…” And he swings, and he connects and he
drives the ball deep past Center field and he has made first base and third has
made it in, and I am going wild, “way to go Buddy, atta boy, wow, keep running,
you can do this..” as he takes his place on second and second gets to third and
then to home and first gets to second and then to third and then to home and
here he is rounding third while they are passing the ball up and into the
infield and he is stopped and he is safe on third and the three runs have come
in and won the game—and my hands are out of the fence and I am shouting and
cheering and screaming and our eyes connect-and I know he has felt my
Pleasure-that his Dad has seen what he has done and loves it, and he takes
delight in what he did and in his teams win, and in his Daddy’s absolutely out
of control joy over him and his accomplishment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FEFDFA; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do you feel God near to you like that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #FEFDFA; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do you feel His pleasure over you?</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: #FEFDFA;">"Draw near to God and He will draw near
to you." James 4:8</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: #FEFDFA;">"The LORD is near to all who call upon
Him, to all who call upon Him in truth." Psalm 145:18 </span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="background: #FEFDFA;">Listen to some good music, read good books,
watch good movies, read the Scriptures, and make as <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="background: #FEFDFA; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">many daily Masses as you can—and stop walking
down the aisle to the Alter without really saying to yourself—I am going to
take Jesus on my tongue, into my mouth, and He is going to come and live inside
me today, He is going to be in me…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I know I have lived long enough to no longer
be surprised by what some people think of as their greatest good in
life. The things most important to them include things
like money, clothes, popularity, and power over other
people. They strive for such things at all cost.
They don’t think God cares what they do in this life, so they go
after their material goals and think little of the life to come. In 1985 I started preaching at Trinity Church
Waco, and we had a beautiful church plant on Lakeshore above Lake Waco and at
the entrance at what was the time the nicest Gated Community in Waco. There was a car I would see often—a brand new
Red Mercedes convertible with the vanity plates-My Goal. And I would smile every time I saw it and the
little bottle blonde on the high side of 35 thinking what will life be like for
her in 30 years? I would love to see her
now and what she is driving and how life has turned out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Mental note-if you are shallow, don’t
Advertise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I started you off with one Scripture, and that
is good. But let us take a step back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Psalm 73 is written by Asaph. He actually wrote 12 of the 150 Psalms. Ps.
50, and then 73-83. If you remember, last month’s lesson about Heman (the
grandson of Samuel),-the Chief Musician of David. Asaph was appointed as his
Right hand man-a place of honor among the Temple musicians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Whom have I in heaven but Thee?</span></em><i><span style="color: #141310; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
</span></i><em><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">And besides
Thee, I desire nothing on earth.</span></em><i><span style="color: #141310; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
</span></i><em><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">My flesh and
my heart may fail,</span></em><i><span style="color: #141310; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
</span></i><em><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">But God is the
strength of my heart and my portion forever.</span></em><i><span style="color: #141310; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
</span></i><em><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">For, behold, those who
are far from Thee will perish;</span></em><i><span style="color: #141310; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
</span></i><em><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Thou hast
destroyed all those who are unfaithful to Thee.</span></em><i><span style="color: #141310; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
</span></i><em><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">But as for me, </span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></i></b></span><strong><i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">the
nearness of God is my good</span></i></strong><em><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">;</span></em><i><span style="color: #141310; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
</span></i><em><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I have made
the Lord GOD my refuge,</span></em><i><span style="color: #141310; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
</span></i><em><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">That I may
tell of all Thy works.</span></em><i><span style="color: #141310; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Many of you are old enough to remember the Baltimore Catechism-Lesson
One, the Meaning of Life-</span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">"</span><em><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal;">God</span></b></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">made me<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><em><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal;">to know him</span></b></em><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal;">love him</span></b></em><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, and to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal;">serve him</span></b></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">in this
world and to be happy with<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><em><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal;">him forever</span></b></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">in the
next.</span>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This is what we were called to-this is our
destiny-this is what we were made for</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">For I was born to be your dwelling place, a home for the
Presence of the Lord, so let my heart now be separated unto thee, that I may be
what I was born to be….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Report from The White Rose –they were opened
during the Holiday Break and must have been the only center opened. On December 28<sup>th</sup>, the Feast of the
Holy Innocents they saw 25 girls-16 abortion minded-at risk-16. It was a full day. I want to tell you about one couple in
closing. They were well dressed,
professional and had one child together already-one year old, and now she is pregnant
again and they are stressing they are not together, but they need to do
something about this pregnancy. The
counselor was able to show them the video we show-it shows all the forms of
abortion and details them. The girl
starts to cry, and the man starts shouting, “If I had wanted a moral lecture I
would have gone to see my pastor.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The brave counselor said without missing a
beat, “Did you go discuss killing your child with your pastor? Did you go talk
to him about ways to kill your baby?”I do not know the end of their story. They got information, they got a sonogram,
and they left to decide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">That is a powerful life lesson. When we make decisions that create consequences
we need the Truth. We need the people of
God who will still speak the Truth. And it is never just a moral lecture—our life
is about morality, about honor, about living in such a way we feel and
experience God in our lives and Know that when we mess up we can come running
back to a loving Father, honestly saying, I have sinned, I am the Man, have
mercy on Me… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">And just for funs on this lovely 3<sup>rd</sup>
day of January,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">My favorite JeanValJean, Colin Wilkonson
singing Danny Boy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSmu3EZCLG8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSmu3EZCLG8</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<!-- End BlogNetworks code -->D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-40886099548076895802012-11-08T17:00:00.000-08:002012-11-08T17:00:15.919-08:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Notes from my talk to
Knights at St. Ann Coppell November 8, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO4QHS69DUk"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO4QHS69DUk</span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Dred Scott</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> (born
1795 into slavery –died free September 17, 1858), was an African-American
slave who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom and that of his
wife and their two daughters in the Dred Scott v Sandford case of
1857-"the Dred Scott Decision."</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">The United States Supreme Court decided 7–2 against Scott. (1857)</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Nine Justices-all men-found, that neither he nor any other person
of African ancestry could claim citizenship. Therefore Scott
could not bring suit in federal court.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Moreover, Scott's temporary residence outside Missouri did
not bring about his emancipation under the Missouri Compromise, which the court
ruled unconstitutional as it would improperly deprive Scott's owner of his
legal property.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Chief
Justice Taney had hoped to settle issues related
to slavery and Congressional authority by this decision.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Instead, it aroused outrage and deepened sectional tensions.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in
1863, and the post-Civil war Amendment"s-13, 14, and 15 finally and
forever nullified the dreadful decision.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">On March 6, 1857, Taney ruled that:</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Any person descended from Africans, whether slave or free, is not
a citizen of the United States, according to the Constitution. There
were free blacks in several of the 13 states when the Constitution was
written. Their number increased dramatically in the Upper South in the first
two decades after the Revolution; by 1810, fully 10 percent of the populations
in the Upper South were free blacks, as numerous slaveholders gave freedom
to their slaves in this period, inspired by Revolutionary principles of
equality. The Ordinance of 1787 could not confer citizenship or freedom
within the Northwest Territory to non-white individuals. The provisions of the
Act of 1820, known as the Missouri Compromise, were voided as a legislative
act, since the act exceeded the powers of Congress, insofar as it attempted to
exclude slavery and impart freedom and citizenship to non-white persons in the
northern part of the Louisiana Purchase.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">The Court ruled that African Americans had no claim to
freedom or citizenship.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> Since they were not citizens, they did not possess the legal
standing to bring suit in a federal court.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> As slaves were private property, Congress did not have the
power to regulate slavery in the territories and could not revoke a slave
owner's rights based on where he lived.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">This decision nullified the essence of the Missouri Compromise,
which divided territories into jurisdictions either free or slave.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> Speaking for the majority, Taney ruled that because Scott
was simply considered the private property of his owners, which he was subject
to the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution,
prohibiting the taking of property from its owner "without due
process".</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> Ultimately, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution settled
the issue of Black citizenship via Section 1 of that Amendment: "All
persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside..."</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Having failed to purchase his freedom in 1842, in 1846 Scott filed
legal suit in St Louis Circuit Court through the help of a local lawyer.
The <i>Scott v. Emerson</i> case was tried in 1847 in St. Louis.
The judgment went against Scott, but the judge called for a retrial.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">In 1850, a Missouri jury concluded that Scott and his wife should
be granted freedom since they had been illegally held as slaves during their
extended residence in the free jurisdictions of Illinois and Wisconsin.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Irene Emerson appealed. In 1852, the Missouri Supreme Court
struck down the lower court ruling, saying, "Times now are not as they
were when the previous decisions on this subject were made."</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> They ruled that the precedent of "once free always
free" was no longer the case, overturning 28 years of legal precedent.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> They told the Scott's they should have sued for freedom in
Wisconsin. Justice Gamble,sharply disagreed with the majority decision and
wrote a dissenting opinion. He later became Governor.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">The Scott's were returned to their master's wife.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">In 1850, Irene Sanford Emerson remarried. Her new husband,
Chaffee-Calvin Chaffee, was an abolitionist, who was elected to the US Congress.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Chaffee was married to Irene for seven years-but maintained he was
unaware that his wife owned the most prominent slave in the United States until
one month before the Supreme Court decision.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> By then it was too late for him to intervene, and Chaffee
was harshly criticized for having been married to a slaveholder. He
was able to convince his wife Irene to return Scott to his original owners, the
Blow family. The Blow family had relocated to Missouri and become opponents of
slavery, granting the Scott's emancipation on May 26, 1857.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Less than three months after the Supreme Court ruling, Scott went
to work as a free man as a Porter in St. Louis for nearly 17 months before
he died from tuberculosis in September 1858.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> Scott was survived by his wife and his two daughters. Scott
was originally interred in Wesleyan Cemetery in St. Louis. When this cemetery
was closed nine years later, Taylor Blow transferred Scott's body to a
plot in the nearby Catholic cemetery, Calvary Cemetery, which permitted
burial of non-Catholic slaves by Catholic owners.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> A local tradition later developed of placing
Lincoln pennies on top of Scott's gravestone for good luck.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">William Wilberforce</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> (24
August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was an English politician and a leader of
the movement to abolish the slavery. In 1785, he became an Evangelical
Christian, which resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong
concern for reform. In 1787 he was persuaded to take on the cause of abolition,
and he soon became one of the leading English abolitionists. He worked for
twenty-six years until the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Wilberforce was convinced of the importance of religion, morality
and education. Wilberforce supported the campaign for the complete
abolition of slavery, and continued his involvement to the Slavery Abolition
Act of 1833, which abolished slavery in England. Wilberforce died just
three days after hearing that the passage of the Act through Parliament was
assured. He was buried next to his close friend, William Pitt
in Westminster Abbey.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Catholic emancipation</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"> was
the process of a number of reforms in British Law to remove the many
restrictions of Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Suppression of
Catholics and the break with the Holy See in 1534 and did not end till the
Emancipation of Catholics in the Catholic Relief Act of 1829—295 years of
Governmental Suppression of Catholics in many ways but to specifically hold any
public office while not publicly denying the Pope, receiving publicly the
Blood in the Church of England and publicly renouncing transubstantiation
in the Roman Catholic mass.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">History Tidbits:</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Act of Uniformity- the many Test Acts- Catholic penal laws</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">From the death of King James II -James Stuart in
1701---- January 1766, the Vatican recognized the House of Hanover as
lawful rulers of England, Scotland and Ireland, after a gap of 70 years, and
thereafter the penal laws started to be dismantled. The most significant
measure was the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, which removed the most
substantial restrictions on Roman Catholics in England. In 1792 the
Papacy specifically referred to George III as the King of Great Britain and
Ireland.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">William Wilberforce fought for the Emancipation of Slavery for 46
years. 1787- 1833, his whole political career. Along the way he had a major
conversion over another political matter of his day—The Emancipation of
Catholics. Originally he was against given Catholics the right to vote and hold
public office. But, for 16 long years he fought for the
Emancipation of Catholics and it happened in 1829 with the Catholic Relief Act.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">William had 6 children. Three of the sons became major
Churchmen-one, Samuel, an English Bishop of the Church of England. Two
other sons- Henry and his study partner at Oxford-John Henry Newman became
Catholics-Newman in 1845, and Henry in 1850. Robert and his best friend Henry
Manning became Catholics within 5 years of each other; Henry in 1851 and Robert
in 1854.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">You know Manning and Newman as:</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Cardinal Henry Manning and Saint
Cardinal John Henry Newman</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO4QHS69DUk"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO4QHS69DUk</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-20186771425248119422011-09-26T09:52:00.000-07:002011-09-26T09:52:26.409-07:00<style type="text/css">
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From my friend Patrick Gothman who is soon to enter a Religious community in France. See <a href="http://www.makeafriar.com/">www.makeafriar.com</a> <br />
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<b><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 19pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://makeafriar.com/2011/09/26/strategy-for-priestly-ministry/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2585b2;">Strategy for Priestly Ministry</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The night before he
was ordained, St. Maximilian Kolbe, OFM, made a retreat and wrote this
bullet-point plan for his life. While written for the life of a friar, I think
the virtues it extolls could very easily be applied to any one of us.</span></i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQO1pYplnOE-UfXXS1BD_qsYjCMGKqtVC5raIhaPkhZudVJqGf-8zf8TzA7RyMXDGTkw5NwtAFYRtauhXFSOakIJKv3Q0vvHlwIuvWxT7P7xST2mbN76ju97eTo3_qtsEEEXK/s1600/St.+Maximilian+Kolbe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQO1pYplnOE-UfXXS1BD_qsYjCMGKqtVC5raIhaPkhZudVJqGf-8zf8TzA7RyMXDGTkw5NwtAFYRtauhXFSOakIJKv3Q0vvHlwIuvWxT7P7xST2mbN76ju97eTo3_qtsEEEXK/s1600/St.+Maximilian+Kolbe.jpg" /></a></div>
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</v:path></v:stroke></v:shapetype><b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> April </span></b></span>27, 1918<br />-Follow very faithfully the timetable of each day, and you will be safe. <br /><br />-This very day begin to serve God.<br />-It may be that this is the last day of your life.<br />-Live it as if it were, indeed, the last day.<br />-Tomorrow is uncertain, yesterday is no longer yours. Only the present belongs to you.<br />-There is an ear which hears all, an eye which scrutinizes all the movements of the heart, a hand which takes note of all.<br />-Not being punished is the most terrible chastisement of all.<br />-'If you want to avoid judgment, stop passing judgment.' (Mt 7:1) <br /><br />-St. Francis de Sales: 'Fidelity in observing the rule is the sacrifice God prefers above all others; it is a mortification and a penance.'<br />-Love the most Blessed Virgin very deeply.<br /><br />-Every action you perform will remain forever.<br />-Choose the least desirable things in food, clothes, tasks, and you will be dear to Jesus.<br />-Silence.</div>
-The souls in Purgatory. Pray and work for sinners, for Holy Church.<br />-Make up by your fervor, for the time you have lost.<br /><br />-Be a man, a Christian, a Religious.<br />
<br />-Be a man:<br />...-Don't blush for your convictions<br />...-Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.<br />...-Have a sense of duty, fulfill it well, without being concerned whether anyone is watching you. Act instead with a noble ambition.<br />...-Don't worry about the evil in others. <br /><br />-Be a Catholic:<br />...-When you kneel before an altar, do it in such a way that others may be able to recognize that you know before whom you kneel. <br /><br />-Be a Religious:<br />...-A good intention in work is like the number '1' in front of a lot of zeroes.<br />...-Men deprive themselves of great treasures when they work without a good intention.<br />...-As you arise in the morning, so you will be all day long.<br />...-Every action you do is noted down. Nothing will fail to be either rewarded or punished.<br />...-You might die this very day!<br />...-Be recollected; whoever pours himself out on exterior things quickly loses the graces he has acquired. A full jewel box is always kept closed.<br />
<br />...-Humility:<br />......-Avoid all those words which can draw down on you glory, esteem, or the appreciation of others.<br />......-Let us listen unwillingly (without interest or reflection) and with interior reluctance to the words of those who praise or commend us. It is dangerous to listen to one's own praise in the mouths of others. It makes one lose his good judgment. When others praise us let us keep our sins before our eyes. In this way we shall judge ourselves unworthy of any commendation, and consequently, we shall find an occasion for being ashamed of ourselves and for humbling ourselves.<br />........-Rejoice when you hear others praised.<br />........-Jealousy, attachment to one's own glory, is a defeat.<br />......-Never do anything so that men may see and esteem you.<br />........-Never do anything out of human respect.<br />........-Do everything perfectly, because you are working in God's presence, for God and not for men. In every situation think more about loving than about working.<br />......-Don't offer excuses when you make a mistake. Don't cast the blame on others. Do not offend by sarcasm those who correct you. Do not renounce in advance your errors which someone is trying to point out to you.<br />........-Practice for a long tima and with zeal until you succeed in willing that your defects may not be hidden any longer, and until you learn how to rejoice when the others judge you imperfect. Do this to make up for your errors.<br />........-When you are reproved unjustly, do not excuse yourself.<br />......-Cut short all thoughts of pride.<br />......-Consider every friar superior to yourself, and yourself the least of all. Recognize everyone as better than yourself, not only in your thoughts, but also in your external deportment.<br />........-If you consider another superior to yourself, then:<br />............-You will converse with him more calmly.<br />............-You will never insult him in words, nor do anything to displease him; you will not suspect him.<br />
............-It will be easy for you to accept a harsh or disrespectful word from him.<br />......-Willingly accept every opportunity for humbling yourself. Don't be offended at:<br />........-A harsh word.<br />........-An imperious tone of voice.<br />........-Not being respected as much as you would like to be.<br />............-Welcome occasions of being disregarded and humiliated, first with patience, then willingly, without raising any difficulties and finally with joy. That will be perfect humility.<br />......-Make acts of humility (as also of the other virtues on which you are in your interior examining yourself), beginning with a rather small number of them; then increase these continually, and make more and more progress. This, in fact, is how one acquires a good habit and makes it grow strong.<br />.........-Humility is the foundation of the virtues.<br />
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D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-1673733750235408442011-03-17T10:41:00.000-07:002011-03-17T11:00:09.825-07:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvn2-pHosQRolfCpn5UpGQ6aPfZ_jrBevDZIFgrIFIA_gxs99tamyrMoWZ1j-PPBZgg932Z4hvMBroVHMZOQt39GcsSNqJNxR3MTL-JsKP2kRg6kSdgP3q3k9pAu_08uktwUQG/s1600/St+Patrick.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 208px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 294px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585110005115618530" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvn2-pHosQRolfCpn5UpGQ6aPfZ_jrBevDZIFgrIFIA_gxs99tamyrMoWZ1j-PPBZgg932Z4hvMBroVHMZOQt39GcsSNqJNxR3MTL-JsKP2kRg6kSdgP3q3k9pAu_08uktwUQG/s320/St+Patrick.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="left">17, March 17, 2011<br />Feast of St. Patrick<br /><br /><br />Hello dear ones,<br /><br />I have not had a long and chatty blog post for some time—none this year. Life keeps getting in the way of our success it seems.<br /><br />What a wonderful couple of glorious feast days today-St. Patrick’s and Saturday-Good St. Joseph’s. Though I look forward each year to Lent and all it brings into our lives as we focus on penance, alms giving to the poor, and prayer-My heart has always found such comfort to take the time to truly reflect and acknowledge these two wonderful godly men, to come as it were, fresh and anew under their strong arms of love, guidance, and protection.<br /><br />The house is beginning to fill with that wonderful aroma of fresh, cured corned beef, swimming in the biggest pot of Irish brew—Stout for me and my lads—and enough to have a swig ourselves as we add the little Red potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and onions.<br /><br />So many of you are kind to say how you enjoy my old family recipes—so here you go for this wonderful feast day. And then following the family favorite is one of my very favorite prayers of protection from dear St. Patrick. If you are not going to attempt the wonderful green cake—so yummy, you must try the Green Tea and the crystalized ginger—such fun little treats.<br /><br />For those of you who have not gone to the blog here is the address. I am very eclectic, but when I do write it is from the heart.<br /><br />http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fa-view-from-my-bedside.blogspot.com%2F&h=1b1fb<br /><br />You will have to copy the above address into your webpage to pull it up.<br /><br />If you want to go the archives I have a short one on St. Joseph from March 19, 2007<br />And, my most requested blog on St. Paddy from March 17, 2006. That is a particular favorite of several—giggles.<br /><br />God bless,<br />Daniel and boys<br /><span style="color:#006600;">St. Patrick Feast Day </span></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#006600;">Aunt Nonie’s Crystalized Ginger & Green Tea St. Paddy Day Cake </span></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#006600;">What you need:<br /></span>2 cups all-purpose flour<br />2 tablespoons Matcha green tea (see notes below on Matcha Green Tea)<br />2 teaspoons baking powder<br />2 teaspoons ground ginger—please only use fresh Ginger root<br />Unsalted butter-1 cup or 2 sticks<br />2 cups confectioners’ sugar<br />5 eggs, Room temperature and separated<br />¼ cup crystallized ginger, rough chop (my favorite kitchen snack—I keep in a Waterford Crystal Biscuit Jar on the Island—you can buy at Sprouts or Whole Food—delish and highly addictive but less harmful than Laudanum)<br />¼ teaspoon Sea salt—get a nice salt bowl to keep by the stove—a must for every kitchen<br />Baking pan: 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan buttered and floured—I prefer a red, Ikea pan, but really any will do </div><br /><div align="left"><br /><span style="color:#006600;">What you do:<br /></span>1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine flour, Matcha green tea and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.<br />Add yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Really be aggressive—beat the hell out of them.<br />2. On slow speed, add flour mixture in 3 or 4 stages, mixing well all the while. Stir in crystallized ginger.<br />3. Separate bowl-beat egg whites with salt until white-holding a soft peak. Fold whites into cake batter. Transfer batter to prepared baking pan and bake until cake pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 55 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before unmolding and transferring to rack to cool completely. </div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><span style="color:#006600;">Matcha Japanese Green Tea $19.95 www.teavana.com<br /></span>Since the 12th century, Matcha tea has been celebrated in the traditional Japanese tea ceremony known as Chado, or 'Way of Tea.' Using ancient techniques green tea leaves are carefully shaded with straw mats 30 days before picking. The shading allows the tea leaves to become rich in chlorophyll and amino acids. Once picked and dried, the leaves are ground into fine bright green Matcha tea powder. Harvested in Nishio, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, this Imperial Grade Matcha is delicious and very high quality. 40g equals approximately 12 teaspoons. 80g equals approximately 24 teaspoons. </div><br /><div align="left"><br />If you could put after-a-rain fresh air in a can, that's what this tea tastes like. This is very green, green tea - beautiful flavor, beautiful color. I've got an electric frothing tool that I mix mine with. But, to really do it right-you need a Matcha whisk and bowl. The only odd thing about this tea is the fact that there will be sediment in the bottom of your drinking vessel. This is normal for Matcha green tea; however, some people may not like it. It tastes great, but looks like swamp sludge. </div><br /><div align="left"><br />Turns out that lumps are only a problem when trying to mix with HOT water. Matcha is a powder so it doesn't need to steep like leaves do. So mix it with COLD water first...a tiny bit of water at a time until it's dissolved...and THEN you can heat it up in the microwave. While I love Matcha hot, I also love it cold. I add it to my water bottle with a bit of Stevia- shake it to mix well. Yum! If it separates in between drinks, shake again. It is extremely convenient for travel and at work and I have 3 or 4 bottles of green tea a day. I drink this tea every morning-- 1 tsp., 8oz purified water (boiled to 180F), with 1/2 tsp. organic honey. I feel great after drinking this tea it seems to give me energy that I need, so that I can go out and ride hard on my bicycle. <span style="color:#006600;">Cheers....<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;">The Lorica of St. Patrick<br /></span>Here is St. Patrick’s most famous and magnificent prayer. It is entitled “The Lorica” or “Breastplate,” an armor of defense. As you pray it you will feel the protection and power of God watching over you as He has His Saints down through the ages-a blessed feast day to you and yours. Let us hold each other in our prayers as we pray this prayer of divine Providence and Protection today.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"><br />I arise today<br />Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,<br />Through a belief in the Threeness,<br />Through a confession of the Oneness<br />Of the Creator of creation.<br /><br />I arise today<br />Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,<br />Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,<br />Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,<br />Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.<br /><br />I arise today<br />Through the strength of the love of cherubim,<br />In obedience of angels,<br />In service of archangels,<br />In the prayers of patriarchs,<br />In preachings of the apostles,<br />In faiths of confessors,<br />In innocence of virgins,<br />In deeds of righteous men.<br /><br />I arise today<br />Through the strength of heaven;<br />Light of the sun,<br />Splendor of fire,<br />Speed of lightning,<br />Swiftness of the wind,<br />Depth of the sea,<br />Stability of the earth,<br />Firmness of the rock.<br /><br />I arise today<br />Through God's strength to pilot me;<br />God's might to uphold me,<br />God's wisdom to guide me,<br />God's eye to look before me,<br />God's ear to hear me,<br />God's word to speak for me,<br />God's hand to guard me,<br />God's way to lie before me,<br />God's shield to protect me,<br />God's hosts to save me<br />From snares of the devil,<br />From temptations of vices,<br />From everyone who desires me ill,<br />Afar and anear,<br />Alone or in a multitude.<br /><br /><br />I summon today all these powers between me and evil,<br />Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,<br />Against incantations of false prophets,<br />Against black laws of pagandom,<br />Against false laws of heretics,<br />Against craft of idolatry,<br />Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,<br />Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.<br />Christ shield me today<br />Against poison, against burning,<br />Against drowning, against wounding,<br />So that reward may come to me in abundance.<br /><br />Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,<br />Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,<br />Christ on my right, Christ on my left,<br />Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,<br />Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,<br />Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,<br />Christ in the eye that sees me,<br />Christ in the ear that hears me.<br /><br />I arise today<br />Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,<br />Through a belief in the Threeness,<br />Through a confession of the Oneness<br />Of the Creator of creation</div>D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com55tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-15232364548248409732010-07-31T23:32:00.000-07:002010-07-31T23:38:05.749-07:00Friday, August 01, 2010<br />If you do not read anything else I write all year—Read this NOW-Please-- <br />the Indulgence given directly from Jesus to St Francis--you have till Sundown on the 2nd. (reprint from 8/01/08)<br /><br /><br />August 1, 2010<br /><br />PORTIUNCULA INDULGENCE<br /><br />The Portiuncula indulgence, which we can gain every year on the first Sunday of August, we owe to the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. Portiuncula or Portiuncula (in Latin) simply means small portion in Italian and refers to the wonderful Little Church of the Benedictines right outside of Assisi, Italy.<br />During the time of St. Francis it had fallen into terrible disuse and it was here while prostate before the Crucifix that Francis first heard the voice of his Beloved—“Build my Church, stone by stone, build it Stronger…” It was here that Francis first had his first of many experiences with Christ and Our Lady. It was here he received his first followers, were he received the Lady Clare as his first spiritual daughter and founder of the Poor Clares, were he received his wounds adoring Christ in the San Damiano Cross, and here where he died still ever before Our Lord.<br />The Benedictines wanted to give Francis the church but in order to remain faithful to Lady Poverty, Francis rented it from them with the annual compensation of a basket of fish from the Tescio river. Of all the many beautiful devotions that he gave to us or helped restore to the Church—his commendation of this place to his brothers was paramount.<br /><br />During the night in July, 1216, Francis was praying in the little church of the Portiuncula devoured by love for God and a thirst to save souls. He prayed for the forgiveness of sins of mankind. Suddenly a brilliant light shone all around. In great splendor Jesus and Mary appeared in the midst of a dazzling cloud surrounded by a multitude of radiant angels. Out of fear and reverence, St. Francis adored Our Lord prostrate upon the ground. Then Jesus said to him: “Francis you are very zealous for the good of souls. Ask me what you want for their salvation.” St. Francis was rapt in ecstasy before Jesus.<br /><br />When he regained his courage he said:"Lord, I a miserable sinner beg You to concede an indulgence to all those who enter this church, who are truly contrite and have confessed their sins. And I beg Blessed Mary, your Mother, intercessor of man that she intercedes on behalf of this grace." Our Lady at once began to beseech her son on behalf of Francis.”<br /><br />"It is a very great thing that which you ask Me; but you are worthy of even greater things, Friar Francis, and greater things you will have. So I accept your request, but I want you to go to my Vicar, to whom I have given the power to bind and loose in Heaven and on earth, to ask him on my behalf for this indulgence."<br /><br />With one of his companions, Francis hastened to Pope Honorius III and prostrate implored him to proclaim that every one visiting the church and confessing their sins with a contrite heart would be as pure from all sin and punishments as he was immediately after baptism. Honorius was astonished at this strange petition, and hesitated to grant it. But Francis said: "What I ask, I do not ask of myself; our Lord Jesus Christ sends me to you and commands me to make this request." The Pope having been convinced of the truth of his speech granted his petition and ordered that the little church should be solemnly consecrated and the indulgence proclaimed for the second day of August.<br />From that time pilgrims from all parts of the world flocked to the Portiuncula church in order to gain the indulgence, and numberless were the conversions which occurred at that shrine of grace. In order to make this indulgence more accessible to the faithful, the Popes subsequently extended it to all the churches of the Franciscans. Afterwards it was extended to all parish churches, and the first Sunday of August was appointed as the day for gaining it.<br /><br />The date was set from vespers of the first of August until sundown on the second of August, the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels. It is said that St. Francis was given this day by Our Lord because the Feast of the Chains of St. Peter celebrated on August first is the day Peter was released from prison and his chains removed. This is an extraordinary demonstration of God’s mercy in removing the chains of sin from those who devoutly and faithfully seek to gain the indulgence by completing its requirements.<br /><br />The conditions to obtain the Plenary Indulgence of the Forgiveness of Assisi is (for oneself or for a departed soul) as follows:<br />-- Sacramental Confession to be in God’s grace (during eight days before or after.)<br />-- Participation in the Holy Mass and Eucharist<br />-- Recitation of The Apostles Creed, Our Father and a prayer for the Pope’s Intention.<br /><br />The Portiuncula Indulgence is a grace not to miss not only for yourself but for the many suffering souls in Purgatory.<br /><br />Mark your calendar for the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels beginning on the First of August to August 2. Tell everyone of the magnitude of this gift. Once again, we see the unfathomable Divine Mercy of God. In the words of St. Francis: O my Brothers and Sisters, I want you all to go to Heaven!<br /><br />“The Catholic faithful may gain a plenary indulgence on 2 August (the Portiuncula) or on such other day as designated by the local ordinary for the advantage of the faithful, under the usual conditions (sacramental Confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff), by devoutly visiting the parish church, and there reciting at least the Lord's Prayer and the Creed. The Indulgence applies to the cathedral church of the diocese, and to the co-cathedral church (if there is one), even if they are not parochial, and also to quasi-parochial churches. To gain this, as any plenary indulgence, the faithful must be free from any attachment to sin, even venial sin. Where this entire detachment is wanting, the indulgence is partial.”<br /><br />The Portiuncula indulgence is the first plenary indulgence that was ever granted in the Church. There were indeed indulgences at all times, but they were only partial, and only a partial remission of the temporal punishments could be obtained by them. But, as already remarked, he who gains the Portiuncula indulgence is freed from all temporal punishments and becomes as pure as after holy baptism. This was also the reason why Pope Honorius was astonished when St. Francis petitioned for the confirmation of this indulgence, for such an indulgence, up to that time, had been entirely unknown. It was only after he had come to the conviction that Jesus Christ himself wished it, that he granted the petition of the saint and confirmed the indulgence.<br /><br />This indulgence is granted for all time to come, i. e., until the consummation of the world. In the primitive ages of Christianity it was not customary to grant indulgences for ever, they could be gained only during a certain period. It was with them as it is with our jubilee indulgences, which are limited to a certain time, and which, after the lapse of that space of time, cannot be gained. When St. Francis preached in the Portiuncula church in the presence of several bishops, and solemnly announced to the assembled people the indulgence granted by Christ and confirmed by his vicar on earth, the Pope, and added that this indulgence could be gained on the second day of August for all time to come, the bishops were shocked at this addition and would have it only for ten years. They therefore raised their voice and were going to say, only for ten years, but miraculously guided by God, they unanimously cried out, for all time to come! The Portiuncula, indulgence, which has already continued for more than six hundred years, will continue till the end of the world, and even shortly before the coming of Christ to judgment this indulgence could still be gained.<br /><br />Finally, what distinguishes the Portiuncula, indulgence especially from all others is, that on the day on which it is granted, it can be gained not only once, but oftener. You can gain other indulgences only once on the same day, but the Portiuncula indulgence you can gain on the first Sunday of August, and that, too, as often as on that day you visit a church of the Franciscans, or the parish church, and there pray for some time according to the intention of the Holy Father. The Congregation of the Council has twice so decided, on the 17th of July, 1700, and again on the 4th of December, 1723. In fact, when doubts were submitted to the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences as to whether the faithful who visit a church of the Franciscans on the second Sunday of August can obtain the indulgence as often as the visit is repeated, the answer was in the affirmative, February 22nd, 1847, and it was declared at the same time that it is not necessary to receive Communion in any of the churches of the Franciscans. Pope Pius IX. confirmed these decisions by a decree of the same Congregation, dated July 12th, 1849.<br /><br />It is indeed true that on one day we can gain a plenary indulgence for ourselves only once, but this does not interfere with the doctrine that the Portiuncula indulgence can be gained more than once on the same day, for we may apply it to the souls in purgatory, if we gain it the second and the third time, etc.<br /><br />The Portiuncula indulgence then is a great grace of which we should avail ourselves every year. Try to gain it. See above all, that you make a humble, contrite and sincere confession, for a good confession is the first and most necessary requisite for the forgiveness of sins and the gaining of the indulgence.<br /><br />Receive Holy Communion with the most profound humility and adoration.<br /><br />Say the prayers for an indulgence with devotion and sentiments of repentance, according to the intention of the Holy Father, and relying on the merits of Jesus Christ, on the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Francis, and the other saints, beseech God with confidence to impart to you the indulgence and to deliver you from all temporal punishments.<br /><br />Promise to be thankful to him for this grace all the days of your life by carefully keeping your conscience free from even small faults.<br /><br />Visit the church several times and after repeating the prayers for an indulgence apply it to the poor souls that they may partake of the grace thereof. Thus the Portiuncula will be to you a key with which you will open heaven, both for yourselves and for many poor souls. Amen.<br /><br />You and yours remain in my heart and in my prayers as we enter this lovely month of August. We will get through the heat of Summer and Septembers song will be here soon.<br /> <br />DanielD. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-56998432375269190442010-02-17T13:13:00.000-08:002010-02-17T13:14:26.841-08:00To my 987 closest friends,<br /><br />Several of you have already asked me for suggestions on what to do--or as I like to say--Add To what we already do on a daily basis for the 40 Days of Lent.<br /><br />Whatever you add to your daily devotions is always good--but just for giggles I thought I would forward what a new friend of mine put together for his Catholic Study Group--a way to Read Through the Compendium of the Churches Social Doctrine of the Church--and I thought for those of you who have not yet gotten around to it--even though the English edition came out in 2004--come on guys--giggles.<br /><br />Keep in mind he said it would only take "a few minutes a day" since he did divide it up for you---for full disclosure sake I must tell you that it is 480 pages and my copy weighs 1.5 pounds. You will feel better to know that the text is really only 225 pages and the sources at 25 pages and the subtopics at another 165 can easily be skimmed.<br /><br />If it makes you feel better, I must tell you that way back there in 1994 when it was hot off Father Fessio's presses at Ignatius Press and my Spiritual Director had it dropped shipped to me-- the Catechism and the Companion Compendium (itself 975 pages) were a wonderful read. I must prepare you this Compendium is a little more heady--theological if you will --although the Church says it is written at High School level--giggles.<br /><br />Anyway--blessed Lent to you all--keep blessing yourselves at the Holy Water fount--none of this cover it and keep it away during Lent nonsense--and add to your faith--and please remember me and all the Vinzant's in the Arms of God on your HOPE bead now and always.<br /><br />With deepest affection to you all, your friend,<br />Daniel<br /><br />And as priest always tell me--"The Darker the ashes, the Deeper the Sin." hmmmm what does that mean when they are the ones who apply it to my forehead?<br /><br />---------- Forwarded message ----------<br />From: Hays, Rob<br />Date: Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 1:23 PM<br />Subject: Reading Through the Compendium During Lent & Easter<br /><br /><br />In case any of you are interested, I’ve attached a schedule for reading through the entire Compendium for the Social Doctrine of the Church during the Lent and Easter seasons. I did this last year with several people and found it incredibly informative and helpful in developing a better understanding of social doctrine. It only took a few minutes a day since you’re reading only 5 to 6 points a day on average. The link to purchase the book via Amazon is http://www.amazon.com/Compendium-Doctrine-Pontifical-Council-Justice/dp/1574556924 and the link to view the Compendium directly from the Vatican website is http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html. Feel free to send this around to others that might be interested. Enjoy! <br /><br />Rob<br /><br />Rob HaysD. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-90795838147678565402009-12-08T13:01:00.000-08:002009-12-08T13:03:33.928-08:00It becomes you to be mindful of us, as you stand near Him Who granted you all graces, for you are the Mother of God and our Queen. Help us for the sake of the King, the Lord God Master ,<br /><br />Who was born of you.<br /><br />For this reason you are called "full of grace".<br /><br />Remember us, most holy Virgin and bestow on us gifts from the riches of your graces, Virgin, full of grace. St Athanasius 373<br /><br /> <br /><br />I have been blessed to become a part of the Bagel Brothers—an unofficial coffee klatch of men who attend morning mass at St Ann in Coppell. I even received my own reusable Coffee Tumbler this last week, which allows me marvelous discounts and offsets global warming by reducing the increasing load of disposable paper cups into the local land fill. As men of good will are wont to do—we turned to deep theological discussions today and some had to come and go—so I thought I would put together a quick smattering of the uniquely Catholic tenants we touched on today and what they mean.<br /><br />Papal Infallibility and Ex Cathedra –Although a uniquely Catholic concept and though it has had tenants in Sacred Scripture and statements to support it all the way back to the Early Church Fathers—you may be surprised to learn that it was until the Council of Trent (which was an answer to the Protestant questions opened by Luther and then expanded upon by later dissenters) the term papal infallibility was used mostly as a charge against the papacy by such dissenters. We must understand that it is long Catholic tradition to not going around defining things definitively until there is some question or statement of heresy to answer and correct.<br /><br />Vatican I address’ the question to the Church and answers with an affirmation that indeed papal infallibility was real and therefore a tenant of the Church and as such had been believed from the beginning. But dogmatically papal infallibility was not defined as a Catholic belief that must be held until 1870.<br /><br />Ex cathedra, ("from the chair"), refers to a teaching by the pope that is considered to be made with the intention of invoking infallibility. This “the chair” does not mean from the actual papal throne but refers back to the Biblical concept from the Old Testament and practiced by all the Tribes of Israel and upheld by the kings of Israel and Judah when they speak of the “chair of Moses”. God Himself tells us that Moses was unique of all men in his day that God chose to speak to him face to face, when we refused to speak to anyone else in such a manner and they live. Speak of protocol—God established from the very beginning how and when he would speak to men and then breaks those very rules to speak straight to Moses as a friend to friend.<br /><br />Catholic belief that as Jesus, Himself establishes Peter as the first among the apostles and gives to him the keys of the kingdom and pronounces him the “rock” upon which He will build His Church—that HE, Jesus, was doing as His Father God had done in choosing to establish Moses as the “seat of Moses” or the one he would speak specifically to lead His people—hence we have the pope-the papal office, which we with full belief call the “chair of Peter”. When we refer to the Holy See we speak of this concept and when the Traditionalist who have broke in recent years from Rome speak of “sede vacante” they are saying the chair is empty. But, to be truly Catholic is to be someone who believes in the one who sits on the chair of Peter as being the one who affectionately and definitively speaks the Word of God to us fresh and powerfully as His Church.<br /><br />In reality, popes are very select in the use of their power of infallibility. The Vatican has no official list of papal infallibility decrees and it is one of the things that moral and pastoral theologians such as myself (albeit arm-chair at best) love to sit around over coffee and debate over for hours such as issues of abortion, the preferential treatment of the poor, and the death penalty—are they infallible teachings or no? I like to laughing say that you can turn on any popular Evangelical, Protestant, or especially Charismatic preacher on the airwaves today and they will make more emphatic-infallible statements in one sermon then the Church has through her Popes in 2000 years. Rather we look to the Pope as the Holy Father to be the Pastor of the World and to be the final voice on deciding what is the accepted and formal beliefs of the Church and how they will be put into actual practice in any given age.<br /><br />In fact--since July 18, 1870, this power has been used only once ex cathedra and that was in 1950 when Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary as a dogmatic dogma—an article of faith one has to believe to be Roman Catholic. Some of my readers are actually old enough that you actually had a choice to believe or not on this issue although from the beginning we have a strong belief in the Assumption of Mary. In 1950 it becomes an actual article of faith for one to believe to be Catholic—let the naysayers call us Mary worshipers—this we do believe (had to quote Father Fred). You still have many choices—even here, you can believe she died first or she did not die—that is up to you. I believe she actually did die surrounded by the beloved Apostles but if that is too much for you, you can go the other way—still takes faith since neither of us were there eh. I also buy into a young and viral St Joseph and not some tottering old man where remaining chaste was a burden—I see a manly, viral, and most upright St Joseph, but if you see an old one we can still be good and faithful Catholics. We may not even vote for the same people-hush Daniel and stop meddling—the point is we have many places where opinions are that, just opinions and many have different ones. But these things—Papal Infallibility, the Assumption of Mary body and soul into Heaven, and today’s holy day of obligation-the Immaculate Conception—these things are articles of faith-dogmatic dogmas-the things that yes we do believe to call ourselves Catholic.<br /><br />J Some of you think right here you have caught me when I say only one time—remember we are Catholics—the way we say something is just as important as the thing itself. Of course now you get the brain teaser—the Immaculate Conception which was indeed defined December 8, 1854 by Pius IX ex cathedra was done so before the solemn definition of Papal Infallibility in 1870. Pius IX consulted the Bishops of the world from 1851-1853 to get a sense of how the universal faithful had believed from the beginning and in his papal bull (letter to the Church with a papal proclamation) “Ineffabilis Deus” (Ineffable God) he defines the dogma/doctrine of the Immaculate Conception: “We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful.”—Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854<br /><br />Now, I must point out the beauty of the Magisterium (hierarchy of the Church-Pope-Cardinals-Bishops) and how the Holy Spirit guides and protects the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth even though He left it in the hands of very weak, frail, and the most mortal of men. The dogma of 1854 was defined in accordance with the conditions of papal infallibility which would not even be defined until 1870 by Vatican I. The papal definition of the dogma declares with absolute authority that Mary possessed Sanctifying Grace from the first instant of her existence and was free from the lack of grace caused by Original Sin. Mary's salvation was won by her Son, Jesus Christ the Son of God and Savior of the World through his Passion, Death on the Cross, and Resurrection from the Dead and was not due to her own merits. I like to say that God reached down outside of human time and saved Mary before she was born through the very merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Again believe with faith and do not add ridiculous wrinkles to your forehead. Is it any harder to believe this than to believe that God could save you and me that Jesus really did raise from the dead and that Heaven is a wonderful place filled with glory and grace and one day God willing we can and will go and be with God as part of His family forever and ever? I know how much I loved honoring my Mom and Dad all the days of their lives and live to honor them even now long after they are both dead. I know how blessed and honored I am by my own children who strive so hard to please me and the many things they do for me out of such love. How easy it is to believe that a God who is love and full of All-power and who chose to empty Himself of Divine Attributes and become man—that such a God would not safe-guard the very vessel that would hold and nourish Him from the very moment of conception by the Holy Spirit. The God of Power and Might of the Old Testament had a very exact formula for the Ark of the Testament to hold his Written Word of God—how much more special would He feel about and protect His Ark that was to hold and carry the Word Made Flesh—Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God?<br /><br />According to Vatican I and Catholic tradition, the conditions required for ex cathedra teaching from the Pope to be infallible are:<br /><br />1. It has to be the Pope-the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church<br /><br />2. He has to speak “ex cathedra" through the authority of his apostolic office<br /><br />3. He has to define<br /><br />4. A doctrine concerning faith or morals—he does not profess to be a brain surgeon or even to be able to drive the Pope mobile—but in matters of faith and morals-he defines the doctrine, and even then to be papal infallible it<br /><br />5. Must be held by the whole Church-the teaching must be clear that the Church is to believe this—to consider it definitive and binding on them as Catholics.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Traditionally the manner of these definitive decrees have a time-followed formula which either has one or both—a verbal proclamation that the teaching is definitive—We declare, we decree, we define…and/or an accompanying anathema (cut off, separated, excommunicated, outside the Church) stating that to dissent from this separates you from the Grace of the Church, but that it is possible to be received back in the good graces of the Church by affirming the belief of the Church.<br /><br />For example, in 1950, with Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII's infallible definition regarding the Assumption of Mary, there are attached these words: “Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which We have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.”<br /><br />As I said earlier-the Vatican has given no complete list of papal statements considered to be infallible. But, again as a reminder of the presence of the Holy Spirit and how He protects the office of the Pope-the Seat of Peter, it is interesting that in 1998 while still Cardinal Ratzinger—our now Pope Benedict XVI while the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith did list a number of instances of papal and ecumenical council statements of infallibility and to complete these musings by answering another—he lists as one point of reference on that list-- Leo XIII’s declaration in Apostolicae Curae that Anglican orders are “absolutely null and utterly void” as one of the teachings to which Catholics must give “firm and definitive assent”. These teachings are not understood by the Church as revealed doctrines but are rather those which the church’s teaching authority finds to be so closely connected to God's revealed truth that belief in them is required in order to safeguard the divinely revealed truths of the Christian Faith. Those who fail to give “firm and definitive assent”, according to the commentary, would “no longer be in full communion with the Catholic Church”.<br /><br />J That should leave the door open for another coffee klatch indeed. If you are not coming to coffee, see what you are missing.<br /><br />Final musings:<br /><br />In July 2005 Pope Benedict XVI asserted during an impromptu address to priests in Aosta that: “The Pope is not an oracle; he is infallible in very rare situations, as we know."<br /><br />Some declared statements from the Council of Trent (16TH Century) of interest to Catholics today:<br /><br />Ordination (twenty-third session) was defined to imprint an ontological mark an indelible character on the soul. The priesthood of the New Testament takes the place of the Levitical priesthood. To the performance of its functions, the consent of the people is not necessary.<br /><br />In the decrees on marriage (twenty-fourth session) the excellence of the celibate state was reaffirmed concubinage condemned and the validity of marriage made dependent upon its being performed before a priest and two witnesses—although the lack of a requirement for parental consent ended a debate that had proceeded from the twelfth century. In the case of a divorce, the right of the innocent party to marry again was denied so long as the other party is alive, even if the other may have committed adultery.<br /><br />Quick musing and reflections after this morning’s coffee with the Bagel Boys of St Ann’s,<br /><br />Daniel<br /><br />Feast of the Immaculate Conception<br /><br />December 8, 2009D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24198671.post-39808878042998576522009-11-30T14:06:00.000-08:002009-11-30T14:07:16.932-08:00St. Andrew Christmas Novena Prayer to Obtain Favors:<br /><br /><br /><br />Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.<br /><br /><br /><br />(It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew (30th November) until Christmas will obtain what is asked.)<br /><br />Imprimatur<br />+MICHAEL AUGUSTINE, Archbishop of New York<br />New York, February 6, 1897D. in Coppellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04110625765594945083noreply@blogger.com0