If Only She Knew

How do young people today decide where to stand on the issue of legal abortion? The issue has taken on such heated arguments politically, religiously, and personally that it is hard to listen, read, or speak about where lines should be drawn, or when laws should permit or forbid the act of separating a pregnant woman from the unborn child she carries in her body. That is what abortion literally means, and the physical act required to remove the unborn child from the mother has profound consequences.

One of the reasons I think people have a hard time thinking and speaking about abortion is that is an unpleasant subject and that those people to whom we are speaking have such a variety of opinions, often hard held opinions, due to their political views or personal experience.

Considering the over 50 million abortions that have been performed in America since abortion-on-demand was made legal in the United States on January 22, 1973, it stands to reason that few families have escaped the trauma of deciding what to do when faced with an unintended pregnancy within their family. What families decide to do, I believe, becomes the basis for their family members’ hard held stance on the abortion issue thereafter. They preach it, they defend it, and they counsel others to do the same as they did.

I know that’s what I do. My family faced the challenge of unintended pregnancies that met the typical formula for unquestioned abortion: high school and college aged pregnancies. The future plans and careers of my children were suddenly at stake, balanced against the lives of very small, as yet undetected, unborn babies. Continue reading If Only She Knew

New Year – New Beginnings

5, 4, 3, 2, 1…. Happy New Year! And so begins another new year.

As we turn into a new year, 2018, I am given over to thoughts of new beginnings and new years resolutions. Well laid plans for this new year. However, I have to wonder whether my plans for this year are worth making in the first place and if I am going to succeed.

I have to ask myself what is different to this time last year. I made well laid plans for 2017 but what happened?

Let’s just say that 2017 wasn’t a good year… neither was 2016. And if I’m to be totally honest, 2015 was a bit of a washout in terms of resolutions unachieved.

The purpose of New Years resolutions is to make some kind of change to ones behaviour or undesired trait or to accomplish some kind of personal goal in order to ultimately improve ones life. Continue reading New Year – New Beginnings

Peddling Salvation by Charity Alone

Warning: the following advertisement may have been produced under the pressures of a time crunch and a house full of sick kids. Extreme snarkiness is possible. Read at your own risk.

“Everyone who lives a good life goes to Heaven!” You’ve all heard that catchy phrase, well now this cheerfully inclusive worldview can be yours—just subscribe to the idea of Salvation-By-Charity-Alone.

No longer is Faith-Alone your route to heavenly happiness—nowadays its all about Charity: “as long as a person is living a good life, they are eternally set,” the Charity-Alone advocate says.

Imagine the peace of mind this philosophy will bring you when you think about your friends and family who may not be living that traditional “Christian” lifestyle. There will be no more embarrassment, no more distress and certainly no need to direct them to Truths which tell them their lifestyle is wrong. Since faith isn’t a component of Salvation, having a relationship with God and seeking out what He says about an issue isn’t strictly necessary.
Continue reading Peddling Salvation by Charity Alone

The Best Gift This Christmas

The Lord, in all His conflicts brought about by temptations, never fought out of self-love, that is, for Himself, but for all throughout the universe. He did not fight therefore to become the greatest in heaven, for that is contrary to Divine love. He scarcely did so to become the least. He fought solely so that all others might become something and be saved, as He Himself also declares in Mark,

The two sons of Zebedee said, Grant us to sit in Your glory, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left. Jesus said, Whoever would be great among you must be your minister, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man also came not to be ministered to but to minister, and to give His life as the price of redemption for many. Mark 10:37, 43-45.

Arcana Coelestia 1812