Social Justice and Human Rights Letter to Editor

(Written by my husband, Stan)

Lately the political talk is about Social justice and Civil and Human rights issues.

The greatest social justice and human right IS the right to life! Without life, no other right is necessary or applies.

At the end of our lives we will have to account for our actions (or lack of action).

It seems to me if we have not defended the unborn by casting our vote for the party which allows less abortion in this country then we have misguided priorities. We must defend life from the womb to the tomb. There is no greater obligation than to defend the helpless unborn child's rights.

This economy is a result of a culture of death that has killed 55 million consumers through abortion since 1973. Can we expect God to favor a country that kills His children in their mother’s womb and calls it legal? God’s most innocent creation depends on our vote! 

And Planned Parenthood?? It should be called Planned no-parenthood. It's the business that does abortions not mammograms!

I have heard Abby Johnson share her story of when she worked for Planned Parenthood and I encourage all to go to her website for more information. Abby Johnson tells the truth about Planned Parenthood: http://www.abbyjohnson.org/

When I hear comments that it is the "mother’s right to choose" the response will and should always be "It is the Babies right to choose".

The other comment I hear often is "What about rape and incest cases?" Answer: Less than 2% say they became pregnant as a result of rape or incest.  Source: The Alan Guttmacher Institute, Perspective on Sexual & Reproductive Health, Sept. 2005

Testimonies from some individuals report that when they aborted their child it doubled the anxiety of the rape/incest and they felt even more violated because of the abortion. Others reported that by having the child they found forgiveness and healing from the assault.

In closing this letter I believe that as an independent business owner I should have the right to decide what kind of benefits I provide my employee's and for a President to dictate to me that I will provide a service which is intrinsically evil denies the personal religious freedoms on which this country was founded.

Be it Republican or Democrat no person on this earth has the right to make legal the killing of a baby or forcing another human to pay and provide the service (Obamacare) to kill an innocent child. Or to provide birth control (which has abortifacients in it.) The Obama administration has rescinded the Mexico City Act, partial birth ban, late term abortion bans etc in order to honor previous campaign pro-choice promises.  It is time to stop forcing taxpayers to provide funding for abortions to Planned Parenthood and Obamacare policies.

Religious freedoms are under attack by the Obama administration that violates the most basic human right. 'the right to be born"!

If you have not yet voted, or are uncertain as to which party to vote for in this election because you don't like either candidate, I encourage you to vote for the ticket that supports "less evil." In this election that would be the Romney/Ryan vote.

We will be held accountable for our actions (or lack of action)!

Please God, bless America.

 

Introspection or If God Looked In

Friends of Faith:

If God looked into me what would he see?

I have often said that what I write each week is really an introspection of my own, an examination of my own conscious. (And as usual I continue to be amazed by the “coincidence” of the Sunday gospel readings as they pertain to these introspections.)

I cannot write without seeing inside myself, without seeing my own inability to change the things about myself that from the “outside” look or seem to contradict the very things I write.

In one of those “wide awake” nights this weekend I wrote the following: “Sometimes we have to answer the tough questions and make tough choices, but often times it is not the choosing that is difficult but rather executing those choices. And our choices are these:  right or wrong, good or evil, heaven or hell, saint or sinner.

Only God can know me (and your) personal inner struggles, in our thoughts and in our prayers, as we seek to continually face the challenges which will allow the Spirit of God (our conscious) to guide us and change us for Him.

I am pretty sure, for some, my writings sometimes seem like a “bull in YOUR china closet;” meaning the ideas they contain seem to try to beat you, or break the very ideas that you hold nearest and dearest to your own heart.

It is humanly difficult to “break” or have “broken” a sin of the past by the Spirit who gives us the gifts of wisdom, understanding and awe at God’s greatest desire for our lives—to remain the innocent child he created.

I am also reminded with an ever growing humility, that I have been given something many others have not, and that is the gift of a great husband, a great friend. It is a gift to know that not only does Stan pray for me, but he is equally committed to God’s ultimate goal for us. We are blessed with joy in our marriage, and to share the knowledge that our intentions for each other are “right” and that we are willing to serve and be served by each other, for life, freely and faithfully. (This is God’s design for marriage.)

So, I pray, with the hope of God, that you understand where my writing comes from—not from a desire to change you, but from my own introspection, my own experience, my own sins and my own struggles to choose God—every time. It comes from a desire to change myself, so that I will be as He designed me to be—created in His likeness, a holy child of God.

"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother." He replied and said to him, "Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Mk 10: 17-22

I do have one other desire and that is that every one of us would share heaven together.

Yet God’s own words this Sunday pointed out: “Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Mk 10:23-25

God did not say it would be easy to be human, because as humans we are sinners.

I know that I will often be challenged, emotionally and spiritually, with the failings of culture and our society.  And I struggle in my writings to contain my patience, anger and judgment of others. But I also know that I must become what I believe and that I am called to share my beliefs. (Blessed Pope John Paul II, The New Evangelization)

Therefore, my introspections are often challenging: a growing realization that I have been given unique gifts, and that I must use these gifts; but the more I use them, the more I am challenged by them: to change the wrongs in myself, before I point out the wrongs of others.

And of course this creates the challenge that I may be ostracized for sharing my thoughts, just as many of God’s followers were outcast.

So it is with great hope I continue Mark’s gospel: “They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God." Mk 10: 26-27

So here is my abbreviated and concentrated short examination of conscious (and long prayer) for myself this week—

God blesses me with an abundance of food: I choose to be healthy. Help me not eat everything I see, but instead to seek His true food, the Eucharist, at every opportunity.

God blesses me with an abundance of earthly wealth: I choose to be humble and thankful, making my decisions based on WWJD and not about money or gain for myself. Help me to give up control and seek opportunities for others without a “pat on the back” for giving away my time and treasures.

God blesses me with the opportunity to attend church: I choose to put God’s time first. Help me to focus on prayer and see church time as a privilege and an opportunity rather than as an obligation.

God blesses me with a talent to write: I choose to write about how God’s teachings influence my religious conscious, with the prayer that God’s voice in life and death issues will be heard above the culture of materialism. Help me to be guided and protected by the Spirit, and help my words to be charitable and tolerant. May I always write faithfully on God’s design for marriage (one man and one woman) and in expressing the need to vote for the protection of innocent, voiceless children and the freedom to make decisions based on my religious conscience. Amen.

“I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire. Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep. Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.” Wis 7:7-11

May my own introspection guide you to see God’s Spirit in your life this week,

Blessings and thanksgiving for each of you who hear my heart,

Charlotte

 

 

Made for More

Friends of Faith:
I know I have everything I need.  And yet humanly I still sometimes think I need more –more things to possess, more places to see, and more time to do it—whatever “it” is. Therefore I struggle internally with my personal desires, forgetting to be thankful, and to enjoy, not only all that I have, but all that God has promised.

And if you are reading this, you too have everything you need—food, shelter and if you desire and ask, God’s love. For if you have internet and email you also have a roof over your head and food on your table. And we all have God, who is Love, if we have faith in His presence and belief in His forgiveness.

But knowing that doesn’t mean we won’t still “want” more.

Yet we don’t need more, as much as we are MADE FOR MORE.

“The world would be better off if people tried to become better. And people would become better if they stopped trying to be better off.” Peter Maurin (Together with Dorothy Day, Maurin helped found the Catholic Worker Movement who’s mission it is to provide food, clothing, shelter and sometimes work, in 185 cities around the world with very little administration, because of their faith.)

Jesus told his apostles (and us) to pack light: “He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick--  no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.” Mk 6: 8

Can we leave all the earthly behind and trust that He will provide for all of our needs, both earthly AND heavenly?

Our lives here on earth must be “made for more.” And in order to be more, God must be our “more!”

So by praying His famous prayer, we have been promised everything here on earth: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Mt 6: 11

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” Eph 1: 3 May we never want “more” here on earth, help us to be satisfied. Thank you for every “more” that I have, especially Your wisdom and awe in my life. Help me only to want more of you here on earth, for my own spiritual fulfillment and the fulfillment of others, so that I may reach my promised destiny of heaven. Amen.

I recently made reference to the evils of “socialism.” I believe social justice is a balance between being able to speak AND LIVE our faith and physically survive in this world.” And I believe without freedom of religion we will not be able to physically survive here on earth—because I think it is more important to survive in heaven than it is to survive on earth. (See CCC 2425, 2426)

I would urge you, therefore, to read the following as it can be said no better scripturally than through the Catechism of the Catholic Church: (my “emphasis” would be the “short version”).  (Paragraph #’s are in Bold, the annotations are the Scripture references below. This will also link to the Catholic/Christian definition of “socialism,” referred to above, CCC 2425, 2426) www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church . (Section 7, Chapter 3, Article 3, Sub-section IV)

2830 “Our bread”: The Father who gives us life cannot but give us the nourishment life requires—all appropriate goods and blessings, both material and spiritual. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus insists on the filial trust that cooperates with our Father’s providence.¹¹⁵ He is not inviting us to idleness,¹¹⁶ but wants to relieve us from nagging worry and preoccupation. Such is the filial surrender of the children of God: (2633, 227)

To those who seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he has promised to give all else besides. Since everything indeed belongs to God, he who possesses God wants for nothing, if he himself is not found wanting before God.¹¹⁷

2831 But the presence of those who hunger because they lack bread opens up another profound meaning of this petition. The drama of hunger in the world calls Christians who pray sincerely to exercise responsibility toward their brethren, both in their personal behavior and in their solidarity with the human family. This petition of the Lord’s Prayer cannot be isolated from the parables of the poor man Lazarus and of the Last Judgment.¹¹⁸ (1038)

2832 As leaven in the dough, the newness of the kingdom should make the earth “rise” by the Spirit of Christ.¹¹⁹ This must be shown by the establishment of justice in personal and social, economic and international relations, without ever forgetting that there are no just structures without people who want to be just. (1928)

2833 “Our” bread is the “one” loaf for the “many.” In the Beatitudes “poverty” is the virtue of sharing: it calls us to communicate and share both material and spiritual goods, not by coercion but out of love, so that the abundance of some may remedy the needs of others.¹²⁰ (2790, 2546)

2834 “Pray and work.”¹²¹ “Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.”¹²² Even when we have done our work, the food we receive is still a gift from our Father; it is good to ask him for it and to thank him, as Christian families do when saying grace at meals. (2428)

2835 This petition, with the responsibility it involves, also applies to another hunger from which men are perishing: “Man does not live by bread alone, but... by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,”¹²³ that is, by the Word he speaks and the Spirit he breathes forth. Christians must make every effort “to proclaim the good news to the poor.” There is a famine on earth, “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”¹²⁴ For this reason the specifically Christian sense of this fourth petition concerns the Bread of Life: The Word of God accepted in faith, the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist.¹²⁵ (2443, 1384)

2836 “This day” is also an expression of trust taught us by the Lord,¹²⁶ which we would never have presumed to invent. Since it refers above all to his Word and to the Body of his Son, this “today” is not only that of our mortal time, but also the “today” of God. (1165)

If you receive the bread each day, each day is today for you. If Christ is yours today, he rises for you every day. How can this be? “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” Therefore, “today” is when Christ rises.¹²⁷

2837 “Daily” (epiousios) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Taken in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical repetition of “this day,”¹²⁸ to confirm us in trust “without reservation.” Taken in the qualitative sense, it signifies what is necessary for life, and more broadly every good thing sufficient for subsistence.¹²⁹ Taken literally (epi-ousios: “super-essential”), it refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the “medicine of immortality,” without which we have no life within us.¹³⁰ Finally in this connection, its heavenly meaning is evident: “this day” is the Day of the Lord, the day of the feast of the kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist that is already the foretaste of the kingdom to come. For this reason it is fitting for the Eucharistic liturgy to be celebrated each day. (2659, 2633, 1405, 1166, 1389)

The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made members of him, we may become what we receive.... This also is our daily bread: the readings you hear each day in church and the hymns you hear and sing. All these are necessities for our pilgrimage.¹³¹

The Father in heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to ask for the bread of heaven. [Christ] himself is the bread who, sown in the Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the oven of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes the faithful each day with food from heaven.¹³² 

¹¹⁵ Mt 6:25-34;¹¹⁶ 2 Thess 3:6-13; ¹¹⁷ St. Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 21: PL 4, 534A;¹¹⁸ Lk 16:19-31; Mt 25:31-46;¹¹⁹ AA 5; ¹²⁰ 2 Cor 8:1-15; ¹²¹St. Benedict, Regula, 20, 48; ¹²² Attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola, cf. Joseph de Guibert, SJ, The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1964), 148, n. 55; ¹²³ Deut 8:3; Mt 4:4; ¹²⁴ Am 8:11; ¹²⁵ Jn 6:26-58; ¹²⁶ Mt 6:34; Ex 16:19; ¹²⁷ St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 5, 4, 26: PL 16, 453A; Ps 2:7; ¹²⁸ Ex 16:19-21; ¹²⁹ 1 Tim 6:8; ¹³⁰ St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20, 2: PG 5, 661; Jn 6:53-56; ¹³¹ St. Augustine, Sermo 57, 7: PL 38, 389’; ¹³² St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 67: PL 52, 392; Jn 6:51.  www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church

May you be blessed with God’s “more” this week,

In Christ,

Charlotte

It Doesn't Affect Me

Women of Faith:

Have you ever been asked to take a stand on a moral, church or political issue and said, “It doesn’t affect me?” I know I have, especially when I was younger and didn’t understand the direct (or indirect) affect that those decisions I made had on others.

This saying often comes from “a false sense of security,” “a complacency,” that as long as I do right, it doesn’t make any difference what the rest of my family or my community does around me.

Like the food chain we learned in middle school biology, when I make a choice, or take a stand, or allow someone else to do so, it DOES affect others--family, community, or world. Even a relatively easy decision like going shopping can affect all three: my purchase has spent money that could have been used for a more “needy” purpose in my family, or the money could have been used to make a payment on debt/credit card (community), or to feed the needy (world)—and my time could have been spent with my spouse or my children doing the more “simple” –staying home (family), visiting a sick or lonely friend (community) or helping at a food shelter (the world).

In Sunday’s first reading, Amos is pretty clear about how “complacency” is affecting the people of Zion—the people are eating the lambs and calves and enjoying their treasure “luxury” (ivory) while the poor are starving: “Thus says the LORD the God of hosts: Woe to the complacent in Zion! Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, they eat lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall! Improvising to the music of the harp, like David, they devise their own accompaniment.” Am 6:1a, 4-7

I read one of those internet “forwards” the other day about a mouse who asked each of his “larger” animal friends for help—everyone said “it doesn’t affect me;” in the end each of them dying because of the indirect cause and affect we have on each other.

It is pretty clear what God calls us to do: “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called.” 1 Tm 6:11-16

Yet the problems facing our society today: the rich getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer; a 60% divorce rate; 4000 abortions a day and same sex marriage—just because I am making the “right choice;” just because “I” choose to follow the commandments, doesn’t mean I should allow “free choice” because it is “their life,” “their choice.” Our choice to follow Jesus, means we would lay our lives down for another, just as He did for us. But are we willing, are we spreading God’s word, are we attempting to tell others the truth, especially our children and friends, God’s truth, and most importantly, are we following God’s truth ourselves?

These are tough choices, these are not popular choices. We are in a spiritual war, and war is not easy. But I don’t think we can just sit back and say nothing; I don’t think we can “expect” our children to realize that society’s teachings are not God’s teachings. As church going Christians, we are the “larger,” while there are some that may not listen, there are many others that do not know God at all, because there has been no one to teach them, to show them God’s truth. Life is not easy, we may even suffer for making the “right” choice, or for speaking God’s truths, but just as it is the military’s duty to defend our country, so is it our duty to defend the teachings of Christ.

It is our job to teach not only our children the faith, but also to let our friends know when a particular choice, or a society choice, is not fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives. And it is our duty as Christians to vote our faith. (See the attached article by Father Corapi.)

Dear God: Praise Your Truth, praise Your Righteousness. Help me to pursue Your Truth and Your Righteousness. Forgive me for being a “slow learner.” Give me the grace and knowledge to make the tough decisions, to speak the Right Truth, Your Truth. And let Your Spirit be with me in passing Your Truth to those around me, with patience, understanding and true love. Amen.

Search for God’s Truths. Choose the Truth. Spread the Truth.

Blessings,
Charlotte