Two friends of mine have recently given birth naturally! This is amazing to me not only because of how painful I've heard childbirth is, but because of their willingness to sacrifice in the face of that pain. Their main reasons for giving birth without the help of pain meds is because of side-effects meds can have on the baby. My friend Natalie, gave me some incredible words of encouragement after giving birth to her beautiful son Joseph that I want to share. Natalie and I met while discerning the religious life. We both spent a week together at St. Walburga's in Colorado a couple of years ago. Here's what she had to say:
"I will definitely pray for you... that you will trust God, not be afraid and that all will go well for you and your baby. And don't worry, God will help you out. Something that really helped me was continually offering up the suffering for the salvation of my baby. Seeing labour as the cross Christ was calling me to bear at the time made it actually really meaningful suffering. One's attitude toward suffering, whether you fight it or try to embrace it, really makes the world of difference! "
Such a beautiful example of motherhood, and so early into it too!! Thanks Natalie!!
Only 4 few weeks left until I get to put all the childbirth classes and faith I have into practice!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Saturday, November 08, 2008
The numbers
When I look at the numbers I'm confused as ever. My friend Andrew recently posted an entry about the Catholic Vote in the election. It leaves me puzzled. Catholics...what happened to you? Do people really think that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are good examples of living according to what the Church teaches? They aren't. Check out Andrew's post.
CLICK HERE TO READ
CLICK HERE TO READ
Thursday, November 06, 2008
The Culture of Life is happening in some places :)
Here is a great article about AIDS declines in Uganda due to.....yay! Abstinence education!!! Woohoo!!
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2008/0805fea3sb2.asp
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2008/0805fea3sb2.asp
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
In hope we are saved right?
Here are the daily mass readings for today. Hope in Christ always.
"I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living."
Reading 1Phil 2:12-18
My beloved, obedient as you have always been,
not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
For God is the one who, for his good purpose,
works in you both to desire and to work.
Do everything without grumbling or questioning,
that you may be blameless and innocent,
children of God without blemish
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you shine like lights in the world,
as you hold on to the word of life,
so that my boast for the day of Christ may be
that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
But, even if I am poured out as a libation
upon the sacrificial service of your faith,
I rejoice and share my joy with all of you.
In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.
Responsorial PsalmPs 27:1, 4, 13-14R.
(1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?T
he LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
One thing I ask of the LORD;this I seek:
To dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD
and contemplate his temple.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
GospelLk 14:25-33
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
"I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living."
Reading 1Phil 2:12-18
My beloved, obedient as you have always been,
not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
For God is the one who, for his good purpose,
works in you both to desire and to work.
Do everything without grumbling or questioning,
that you may be blameless and innocent,
children of God without blemish
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you shine like lights in the world,
as you hold on to the word of life,
so that my boast for the day of Christ may be
that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
But, even if I am poured out as a libation
upon the sacrificial service of your faith,
I rejoice and share my joy with all of you.
In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.
Responsorial PsalmPs 27:1, 4, 13-14R.
(1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?T
he LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
One thing I ask of the LORD;this I seek:
To dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD
and contemplate his temple.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
GospelLk 14:25-33
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
Well...he won.
Last night on facebook after watching the election coverage I posted my status as "Val thinks moving home to Canada is a good idea now. :)"
Here are some of the fun responses I got.
friend 1 - "so what are Canada's immigration policies?"
friend 2 - "that is the best thing that's been said all night. I might go study abroad until the next election. Australia anyone?"
friend 3 - "Val, I only live 2 miles from the border, so please pick me up on your way. I'll start packing now!"
Yes, amid all the media coverage of the celebrations across the United States there are some young adults asking themselves, "How do I get out of here?!"
I am asking myself, what's next?
Is he really going to sign the Freedom of Choice Act?
"The Freedom of Choice Act (H.R. 3719/S. 2020) is a bill in the United States Congress which, if enacted, would abolish all restrictions and limitations on the right of women in the United States to have an abortion, whether at the State or Federal level."
Well he did say no to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, so probably.
So we can be sure that Barack Obama is going to allow another 1,000,000 babies to die through abortion on demand in this country in the next year without a fight.
This has also been weighing in the back of my mind.
So I guess we should start praying that FOCA doesn't happen and that we aren't tested by terrorists. Why would Biden say that? So weird.
Hrm....... roll up your sleeves Pro-Life Movement, this is going to be a really tough 4 years.
My friend Neil posted some really amazing comments from a prominent apologist about the election. Check this out.
http://thedepositoffaith.blogspot.com/2008/10/coming-election.html
I hope Neil doesn't mind me reposting it on here. Wow, Martignoni, Wow!
-------------------------------------------
Here is a few Words from John Martignoni from the Bible Christian Society about what is at stake in this election. This is from his newsletter: "Apologetics for the Masses"
What I have tried to do in the past two newsletters is simply provide information pertinent to the upcoming election. I have given you information regarding what the bishops have said – as a group and individually – regarding Catholic moral teaching and how it relates to this, or any, election. I have given you the positions of the two main candidates for President on pro-life issues – the issues that should be the most important, bar none, to any Catholic who believes that God is the Author of life. And, I have told you how I, personally, am going to vote.
In this newsletter, I would like to ask you to ponder a few questions that I believe get to the heart of what is at stake in this election, and hopefully make it crystal clear what you are voting for this Tuesday, regardless of how you vote:
1) If Adolf Hitler said that electing Barack Obama would result in the gassing of more than one million Jews per year, could you still vote for Obama, in “good conscience,” even if you agreed with his position on the economy, the war, welfare, education, and so on?
2) If the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan said that electing Barack Obama would result in the lynching of more than one million blacks per year, could you still vote for Obama, in “good conscience,” even if you agreed with his position on the economy, the war, welfare, education, and so on?
Now, I want to be clear in that I am not comparing Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler or to the Grand Wizard of the KKK. The point I am making with these two questions is this: If someone who has knowledge of, and a vested interest in, the gassing of Jews, or the lynching of blacks, says that the policies instituted by another person will result in the killing of millions of Jews and blacks…do you think they might know about that of which they speak?
Which leads me to my third question: 3) If the abortion industry said that electing Barack Obama would result in the killing of more than one million unborn babies per year, could you still vote for Obama, in “good conscience,” even if you agreed with his position on the economy, the war, welfare, education, and so on?
And, guess what? The abortion industry has said just that. The abortion industry has stated that the restrictions that a majority of states have put on abortion – parental consent laws, 24-hour and 48-hour waiting periods, informed consent laws – have all worked to reduce the number of abortions by a few hundred thousand per year over the last several years. Plus, the abortion industry has further stated that the lack of federal funding for abortions has “forced” women to carry more than a million pregnancies per year to term. In other words, more than one million babies per year are being born, that wouldn’t be born, if we had federal funding for abortions.
Now, Barack Obama has vowed to do two things that are relevant to these questions. He has vowed to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which will eliminate all of the restrictions on abortion that have been enacted by the states; and, he has vowed to repeal the Hyde Amendment. The Hyde Amendment currently prohibits federal funding of abortion. In other words, Barack Obama has promised to do the very things that the abortion industry has stated will result in a million or more additional abortions per year.
So, if you answered, “No,” to the first two questions above, then to be morally consistent, you should answer, “No,” to the third question. But, there are any number of people who call themselves “Catholic,” who have no problem answering, “Yes,” to the third question. How can that be?
How can one not vote for a man if they know his policies would end up killing a million or more Jews per year, or killing a million or more blacks a year; but they can vote for that man even if they know his policies will kill an additional million or more unborn babies each year?
I’ll tell you how: Catholics, or any one else, who would not vote for Barack Obama if he was going to institute policies that would kill Jews or blacks, but they are more than willing to vote for Barack Obama knowing that he will institute policies that will indeed kill unborn babies, have de-sensitized themselves to what an abortion actually is. They speak of killing babies in terms of a woman’s “right to choose,” or a “woman’s reproductive freedom,” but they never think of abortion in terms of a baby getting sliced into pieces which are then removed, piece-by-bloody-piece, from their mother’s womb. They never think of abortion in terms of a baby being literally burned to death through saline poisoning within its mother’s womb and then being expelled from its mother’s womb by induced labor.
That is why I challenge anyone who plans to vote for Obama, but especially those who call themselves Catholic, to go to this website and view this short video on what an abortion actually is. If you’re going to vote for a man whose policies will result in the killing of an additional one million human beings, then by golly you have the moral responsibility to take a good long look at what it is your vote will allow to happen.
And, if you cannot bring yourself to look at this video, because something in your gut is telling you that what you will see will be too horrible for you to stomach, and will cause you to lose sleep at night, then how in the name of all that is holy, can you vote for a man who is promising to visit this horror upon a million or more babies each year?!
If you do not watch this video, yet you go on and vote for Barack Obama, then I call you a coward and a hypocrite and I ask you what, pray tell, will you say to the Creator of Life when you stand before His Judgment Seat with the blood of millions of unborn babies dripping from your hands? Will you say, “I didn’t know?” Or, will you say, “But I was worried about my tax bill?” May God indeed have mercy on your souls.
Now, if you are all in favor of increasing the number of abortions in this country; or if you don’t believe in God and that God will have the last say in regards to the horror of abortion; or if you believe the killing of millions of unborn children is just one issue among many that you need to consider…well, it is clear that you need to vote for Senator Obama and I am happy to offer this newsletter as an informational source that will help you to solidify your vote.
In Conclusion
Please pray for God’s will to be done in this election on Tuesday, and may God have mercy on us, every one!
Here are some of the fun responses I got.
friend 1 - "so what are Canada's immigration policies?"
friend 2 - "that is the best thing that's been said all night. I might go study abroad until the next election. Australia anyone?"
friend 3 - "Val, I only live 2 miles from the border, so please pick me up on your way. I'll start packing now!"
Yes, amid all the media coverage of the celebrations across the United States there are some young adults asking themselves, "How do I get out of here?!"
I am asking myself, what's next?
Is he really going to sign the Freedom of Choice Act?
"The Freedom of Choice Act (H.R. 3719/S. 2020) is a bill in the United States Congress which, if enacted, would abolish all restrictions and limitations on the right of women in the United States to have an abortion, whether at the State or Federal level."
Well he did say no to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, so probably.
So we can be sure that Barack Obama is going to allow another 1,000,000 babies to die through abortion on demand in this country in the next year without a fight.
This has also been weighing in the back of my mind.
So I guess we should start praying that FOCA doesn't happen and that we aren't tested by terrorists. Why would Biden say that? So weird.
Hrm....... roll up your sleeves Pro-Life Movement, this is going to be a really tough 4 years.
My friend Neil posted some really amazing comments from a prominent apologist about the election. Check this out.
http://thedepositoffaith.blogspot.com/2008/10/coming-election.html
I hope Neil doesn't mind me reposting it on here. Wow, Martignoni, Wow!
-------------------------------------------
Here is a few Words from John Martignoni from the Bible Christian Society about what is at stake in this election. This is from his newsletter: "Apologetics for the Masses"
What I have tried to do in the past two newsletters is simply provide information pertinent to the upcoming election. I have given you information regarding what the bishops have said – as a group and individually – regarding Catholic moral teaching and how it relates to this, or any, election. I have given you the positions of the two main candidates for President on pro-life issues – the issues that should be the most important, bar none, to any Catholic who believes that God is the Author of life. And, I have told you how I, personally, am going to vote.
In this newsletter, I would like to ask you to ponder a few questions that I believe get to the heart of what is at stake in this election, and hopefully make it crystal clear what you are voting for this Tuesday, regardless of how you vote:
1) If Adolf Hitler said that electing Barack Obama would result in the gassing of more than one million Jews per year, could you still vote for Obama, in “good conscience,” even if you agreed with his position on the economy, the war, welfare, education, and so on?
2) If the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan said that electing Barack Obama would result in the lynching of more than one million blacks per year, could you still vote for Obama, in “good conscience,” even if you agreed with his position on the economy, the war, welfare, education, and so on?
Now, I want to be clear in that I am not comparing Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler or to the Grand Wizard of the KKK. The point I am making with these two questions is this: If someone who has knowledge of, and a vested interest in, the gassing of Jews, or the lynching of blacks, says that the policies instituted by another person will result in the killing of millions of Jews and blacks…do you think they might know about that of which they speak?
Which leads me to my third question: 3) If the abortion industry said that electing Barack Obama would result in the killing of more than one million unborn babies per year, could you still vote for Obama, in “good conscience,” even if you agreed with his position on the economy, the war, welfare, education, and so on?
And, guess what? The abortion industry has said just that. The abortion industry has stated that the restrictions that a majority of states have put on abortion – parental consent laws, 24-hour and 48-hour waiting periods, informed consent laws – have all worked to reduce the number of abortions by a few hundred thousand per year over the last several years. Plus, the abortion industry has further stated that the lack of federal funding for abortions has “forced” women to carry more than a million pregnancies per year to term. In other words, more than one million babies per year are being born, that wouldn’t be born, if we had federal funding for abortions.
Now, Barack Obama has vowed to do two things that are relevant to these questions. He has vowed to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which will eliminate all of the restrictions on abortion that have been enacted by the states; and, he has vowed to repeal the Hyde Amendment. The Hyde Amendment currently prohibits federal funding of abortion. In other words, Barack Obama has promised to do the very things that the abortion industry has stated will result in a million or more additional abortions per year.
So, if you answered, “No,” to the first two questions above, then to be morally consistent, you should answer, “No,” to the third question. But, there are any number of people who call themselves “Catholic,” who have no problem answering, “Yes,” to the third question. How can that be?
How can one not vote for a man if they know his policies would end up killing a million or more Jews per year, or killing a million or more blacks a year; but they can vote for that man even if they know his policies will kill an additional million or more unborn babies each year?
I’ll tell you how: Catholics, or any one else, who would not vote for Barack Obama if he was going to institute policies that would kill Jews or blacks, but they are more than willing to vote for Barack Obama knowing that he will institute policies that will indeed kill unborn babies, have de-sensitized themselves to what an abortion actually is. They speak of killing babies in terms of a woman’s “right to choose,” or a “woman’s reproductive freedom,” but they never think of abortion in terms of a baby getting sliced into pieces which are then removed, piece-by-bloody-piece, from their mother’s womb. They never think of abortion in terms of a baby being literally burned to death through saline poisoning within its mother’s womb and then being expelled from its mother’s womb by induced labor.
That is why I challenge anyone who plans to vote for Obama, but especially those who call themselves Catholic, to go to this website and view this short video on what an abortion actually is. If you’re going to vote for a man whose policies will result in the killing of an additional one million human beings, then by golly you have the moral responsibility to take a good long look at what it is your vote will allow to happen.
And, if you cannot bring yourself to look at this video, because something in your gut is telling you that what you will see will be too horrible for you to stomach, and will cause you to lose sleep at night, then how in the name of all that is holy, can you vote for a man who is promising to visit this horror upon a million or more babies each year?!
If you do not watch this video, yet you go on and vote for Barack Obama, then I call you a coward and a hypocrite and I ask you what, pray tell, will you say to the Creator of Life when you stand before His Judgment Seat with the blood of millions of unborn babies dripping from your hands? Will you say, “I didn’t know?” Or, will you say, “But I was worried about my tax bill?” May God indeed have mercy on your souls.
Now, if you are all in favor of increasing the number of abortions in this country; or if you don’t believe in God and that God will have the last say in regards to the horror of abortion; or if you believe the killing of millions of unborn children is just one issue among many that you need to consider…well, it is clear that you need to vote for Senator Obama and I am happy to offer this newsletter as an informational source that will help you to solidify your vote.
In Conclusion
Please pray for God’s will to be done in this election on Tuesday, and may God have mercy on us, every one!
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