Franklin Graham on Going Back to God

Ben Franklin on Guidance

Pope St. John Paul II on Praying for Life

The sanctity of life issue has risen to the forefront of the American polity.  

The Supreme Court is deciding a religious liberty case on whether the Little Sisters of the Poor should be forced to violate their consciences by passive compliance with the Obamacare Contraception Mandate.  

Republican Presidential front runner Donald Trump took myriad alleged pro life positions, including the modest proposal of legally punishing aborting mothers. Then Trump lapsed into allowing the status quo. However, in a Today Show Townhall, Trump vowed to change the GOP pro life platform to allow exceptions which Planned Parenthood would endorse.  

Congress continues to investigate how Planned Parenthood was selling baby body parts and altering abortion procedures to maximize the harvest. But these hearings received scant coverage in the Lamestream Media.

Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards took an aggressive advocacy position for Democrat Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton who has emphasized Abortion on Demand.  Moreover, Cecile Richards managed to hold a Pro-Choice rally at Georgetown University, a Jesuit purportedly Catholic college.

With all this in mind, Father Frank Pavone and the Priests for Life are engaged in a campaign of prayer and fasting to end abortion in the United States along with the evils perpetrated by Planned Parenthood. 

Father, you have created us in body and soul
To honor you and our neighbor
And to receive honor and respect in return.

Our bodies are sacred.
They reflect you, our Creator.
And we hold sacred
The bodies of all the children in the womb.

Lord, we are saddened
That these children are being killed,
And saddened again
That their body parts are being harvested and sold.

Have mercy on our nation.
Have mercy on those who are perpetrating these evils.
As more and more people become aware of this,
Turn their hearts towards you,
The Fountain of life and love.

Give consolation to all who have had abortions,
And give wisdom to our public officials
That they may respond adequately
To the corruption found in the abortion industry.

Grant that we,
The People of Life and the People of Mercy,
May recommit ourselves to building a nation
Without abortion and without the many evils that flow from it.

May we choose life;
May we choose mercy;
May we choose your Kingdom!
Through Christ our Lord. Amen

Some may wonder, why pray to end abortion, especially as the Lord's Prayer includes the intention "Thy will be done".


 
Perhaps the point is that is is our invitation to participate in building the Kingdom of God even through the power of prayer.  Such sentiments echo Pope St. John Paul II's exhortation in Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life, 1995).

Senator James Lankford on Religious Liberty

Pope Francis on Good Shepherds

Telling--Trump's Favorite Scriptural Passage Is Lex Taliones

In a telling interview with a Rochester, New York radio station, Republican Presidential front-runner Donald Trump revealed the Bible passage which has most informed his thinking-- An Eye for an Eye.

Naturally,  Mr Trump did not spew out the exact scriptural reference, so for all he knew it was the Code of Hammurabi instead of the Book of  Levitucus 24:19-21.   It's not exactly something that one would hear about from Two Corinthians (sic). Nor did Trump appreciate how St. Augustine marked it as a controversial passage showing the vengeful nature of the Old Testament. 

An eye for an eye is known as the Lex Taliones (Latin for Law of the Talon)  for a law of retaliation which today has particular relevance in tort law, for translating non-economic losses into money.

Considering Trump's public persona, which craves flattery but lashes out when others' oppose him and his persistent pugilism, Trump's memory verse rings true.  Trump's candid scriptural citation certainly peers into what burnishes his soul. 

Elections certainly ought to be about vetting ideas of how to govern the polity.  But they can also act as a measure of a man's character.  To install a leader of the free world who swears by lex taliones may make being a pirate commonplace.

Cavaet emptor.  

Jaroslav Pelikan on Christ's Resurrection

Legendary Golfer Gary Player Muses About Heaven

Secular College Snowfakes Scared of Cleric's Garb

Recently, there was a frantic eyewitness report from a student that a Klansman was walking the campus of the University of Indiana Bloomington with a weapon.  Other students confirmed that there was a guy wearing a white hooded robe with what looked like a whip around his waist.

Following the spirit of Hoosiers Helping Hoosiers, word was quickly spread throughout the campus The Residents Assistant at Eigenmann Hall Sophomore Ethan Gill dutifully spread this warning to his charges via e-mail.

Two hours later, Gill sent this update after another sighting of the mysterious man at the Red Mango Frozen Yogurt shop:

Before one simply tut-tuts the cluelessness of these secular snowflakes for mistaking a Dominican Friar as a KKK Klansman, it is worth considering the social media commentary after the elucidation of this so called "hilarious misunderstanding". 

One wag wondered, in a less than graceful way, why the friar was on campus at night.

A few social media commentators who seemed to get it gave the wayfare wag his comeuppance. 

HT: The Tab

Celebrating a Belated Lady Day

The Feast of the Annunciation, or Lady Day, is normally celebrated on March 25 which is nine months before Christmas.  However, this year March 25th was Good Friday, so it is inconceivable to observe such a solemnity on the same day so the liturgical observance of Lady Day was moved.  

Eastern Catholic Churches, like the Melkites, observed the Annunciation on March 28th, the day after Easter.  In the Roman Catholic Church, the Octave of Easter is eight days, so the Solemnity of the Annunciation was moved to April 9th.

Lady Day used to be the start of the New Year in England from 1155-1752.  With calendar changes, the observance moved from April 5th (old Lady Day) to April 6th.  One vestige of considering Lady Day as the start of the year is that the United Kingdom's tax year starts on Lady Day. 

Sometimes the miracle of the Annunciation gets glossed over in Christmastide or it gets confused with the Immaculate Conception of  Mary.  As one contemplates the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, one gets a glimpse at how the Lord can be surprising and nothing is impossible for God to choose a humble virgin full of grace from the backwater country to be the Mother of God.  

As Scripture and Holy Tradition has it, Mary is the first believer and all of her actions point to her Son Jesus.  Hence Pope Francis' pearl of wisdom about Mary being like the figurative sunrise for her son (metaphorical sun) Jesus.

St. Faustina's Diary on Divine Mercy

Mother Angelica on Getting to Heaven

Mother Angelica on Dying

From a view in the peanut gallery, Mother Angelica need not have worried about being a good servant or having to do more for her beloved Lord.