Big News to Come Soon!

...and no, we're not pregnant, if that's what you were thinking.

Thinking and praying today...

...not only for the repose of the soul of my cousin's son Max, and the comfort of his family and friends,

but also for the hundreds of thousands walking today in the bitter cold in Washington to give witness to the sanctity of life from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death.

May the slaughter stop, please God.

Less of Me

Those of you who read my posts on my blog itself instead of through a feed will notice a new widget in the sidebar. This widget, entitled "Less of Me" will be chronicling my attempt at this year's New Year's Resolution. I need to lose weight. Really. My job is rather sedentary and I don't find the time or money for a gym membership, so I've put on some pounds over the last few years.

I like food. I like cooking. I like being warm and comfortable. Put it together, and you get a guy who's uncomfortable in any weather over 60 degrees, likes elastic waistbands and starts twitching when the fridge has run out of cheese. Not good.

But mostly, I have come to the realization that my weight is now preventing me from being all the father that God calls me to be. I'm too out of shape to do a lot of activities with my boys; I can't chase them around in the yard without wheezing after only a few minutes. A few weeks ago, I played paintball with some friends. After the first couple of rounds, the host looked at me and asked if I was going to have a heart attack. This guy has a flair for the dramatic, so I laughed it off, but what a wake-up.

I want to be here for my kids as they grow up and I want to be able to enjoy them. I can't do that if I'm too tired to do anything but sit down.

Please keep me in your prayers. Temptation lurks. The spirit is willing, but the flabby flesh is weak. Thankfully, I have an accomplice.

A searching atheist...

...wrote to Mark Shea asking for advice on her investigations into the Catholic faith. Leah is, as Mark points out, not the common frothing-at-the-mouth militant atheist, but is humbly searching for the truth and is willing to consider what she does not yet understand. Please pray for her.

The post and comments are worth reading there, too, especially if you or someone you know is questioning the possibility of faith.

Divine blackmail? An evangelization dilemma

Someone I know is having trouble with the problem of evil, suffering, and Divine Judgment. More particularly, this person thinks it unjust that God 1. doesn't correct what is wrong with the world and 2. might possibly send people that this person knows, respects and loves to Hell, akin to Divine blackmail that people should do as God says or He will send them to burn for all eternity because they weren't convinced to be a follower of Christ.

I ask prayers to the Holy Spirit in formulating a response. I am keenly aware that answering in the wrong attitude could turn this person away (see this blog site's header). Our conversation has so far been pretty intellectual, covering the Trinity, time/eternity, ecclesiology, sacraments, purgatory, free will and responsibility.

I think that ultimately, though, what this person needs to know, is that as Catholics, while we understand the importance of doctrine to shape our faith life, we don't follow a set of rules as much as we follow a person, er, a Person. And this Person is not unfamiliar with our suffering. He willingly chose suffering as a means to purchase us back from death (Hell). God doesn't send us to Hell, it is we who insist upon it for our rejection of God. Jesus Christ offers us the opportunity at every moment of every day to receive His love, and to be filled with the grace to repent of our sins, to draw close to him in holiness.

But the following of Christ is not that we should perfectly follow the doctrines with paranoid scrupulosity, and I fear that maybe I gave that impression. The following of Christ is that we should live by His example. He chose to endure His suffering, not for suffering's sake, but as an act of love to make us whole. The suffering that we endure ought, then, in turn, be offered up as a sacrifice to God for the sake of the salvation of all mankind, including those who do not know Christ. In this act of offering up our sacrifices, we draw closer to the heart of Jesus Christ. Simply put, we fall more in love.

We can think that it is our responsibility to follow to the letter every bit of the commandments, the directives, the suggested devotions, etc. and to avoid every possible transgression. Well, no we should not take it lightly to sin, but to focus only on avoiding sin can become academic, sterile and barren. Our responsibility is to love, to give, to serve, to witness to the truth. We love Him who is truth. (Right, Pilate?)

Coming back to the original hangups this person has, I can't help but think about that passage from Job when Job puts God on the spot for all of his own sufferings, how God could allow such a thing. And for over two chapters, God expounds upon the basic point: "Where were you, Job, when I created the world? Do you command the waters and the skies and they obey you? Who are you to understand all that I am? Who are you to judge the Almighty?"

And while that's not the tone I'd like to take with this person, essentially that is what is going on, judging God for His ways. But God's ways are perfect, though they are far past our understanding.

When I entered the seminary, the vocation director for my diocese had a long talk with me about submission to God's will. He cited Our Lord's choice of the twelve apostles. No man on earth would choose such a disparate, lowly, uneducated, unruly bunch of men to become leaders. Yet God's ways are so superior to our own, and His wisdom exceeds ours like the heavens are above the earth, that we cannot see before us what He is doing. There comes a point that we must let go and trust Him. We must submit to His will and rather than judge His actions, we ought to then ask, "What part can I do? How may I help, Lord?"

I suppose this person ought to pray for those who may be lost. Pray hard, and give witness by example. Show love through action, and when that loves sparks curiosity, explain the source of our hope. Explain about the love of Jesus Christ.

But before we can ever be sent out on the mission, we must know Him.























John, chapter 10: verses

10	The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
11	I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12	He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
13	He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep.
14	I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,
15	as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16	And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.
17	For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.
18	No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father."
27	My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me;
28	and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.

'Cause it's on the brain

My wife has been assisting for the last 20 hours as labor coach for the birth of our next godchild. I'm holding down the fort here with the rugrats trying to clean the house so when all is done she can at least pass out in a tidy home. Please, if you would, offer a prayer for the mother, as she is getting discouraged from the lack of progress (trying to give birth naturally) and is, naturally, exhausted.

Have you said that Hail Mary yet?

When you're done, you can watch this, which has been running through my head all day.

Just a quick post to say...

...I'm still alive. Work went from being like the Maytag repairman to being, well, buried.

I'm taking a much-needed break today to go to a Catholic Men's conference in Woooosta, MA with a bunch of other guys from my area. (Thanks, honey!) Fr. Mitch Pacwa and Dale Alquist are among the speakers. It should be a good day.

Keep praying for votes, not just "no" votes, but "HELL, NO!" votes.

This health care bill is not only an attack on the sanctity of life, but also the freedom of all Americans in this country. Have you called your Congressman?

Did I mention to pray?

I've been bugging St. Joseph...

...for a bigger sardine can. Two adults, three boys, one baby girl and a cat are kind of cramped in 912 ft^2 of living space. We put an offer on a house last week and are waiting to hear back. The seller thinks it's worth twice what it actually is (and twice what we bid on it) despite the fact that it reminds me of a movie with Tom Hanks and Shelly Long. So we'll see what happens. If this is the house God has picked for us, I'll get back to you with good news. If this is not the house He has for us, well, we'll keep bugging St. Joseph.

bloodmoney

The same people who can't say the word "Halliburton" without cringing and ranting about corporate greed, conspiracy theories and the evil Dick Cheney will suddenly light up with praise for the completely altruistic Planned Parenthood. But the truth will eventually come to light.

h/t: DM

A great cause to get off the ground

Ave Maria Home is an independent, non-profit, Catholic lay organization that is dedicated to providing residential care for pregnant women in Southeastern Connecticut. We emphasize a respect for life, recognizing the unique dignity and potential of each individual. We are affiliated with Good Counsel Homes of New York. Our goal is to maintain the highest level of assistance to pregnant women. We uphold the same principles of Good Counsel Homes and operate in the same manner.

I know the people involved and they are trying to start this much-needed project with great faith in God and love for the unborn and their mothers. Their site is still under construction, so please visit often and offer any help you can!

Update on prayer request

Last week I asked you to pray for some friends of mine who were experiencing complications during pregnancy. We found out this morning that they lost the baby. Of course, they are devastated, so please offer up another prayer for their family.

God bless.

Prayer Request

Hey Everyone,
Please pray for a family I know? They’re 11 weeks pregnant and the baby just went through its first ultrasound. The prognosis is not good, and the family is asking for prayers, as their first born was diagnosed with the same thing and was miraculously healed, details follow. Here’s an email excerpt, I changed names for privacy:

The prognosis is bad, as it was for Jerry. It’s called cystic hygroma which basically means that the the lymphatic system isn’t working right so fluid is collecting inside the baby, if it doesn’t resolve the baby’s heart will fail. We don’t know yet if the fact that Jerry had this and it resolved (through a lot of prayer) changes the outlook, it is such a rare, rare thing to happen that it is hard for us to imagine that they aren’t related but the yale doctors (we will have an appointment probably this week or next up at Yale) maybe can tell us that. The causes of this are either genetic (various disorders) or just something went wrong in development. As best we can tell Jerry’s wasn’t genetic (unless extreme stuborness is a genetic disorder). There isn’t very much known about this because something like 90% of people that find out they have this abort (which obviously we would never even consider), except that most babies die. We would just be very thankful to all of you if you could include us in your prayers.
Everyone is doing okay here, Jerry is really concerned but we are trying to help him through this, there aren’t alot of answers, not really a whole lot the doctors can tell us either (especially since I won’t do invasive testing). I am assuming they will put us on the same regimen as with Jerry which is ultrasounds every two weeks to check on the baby until I can feel movement and then just once a month to see if anything is getting better, and then an echocardiogram to check the baby’s heart at 25 weeks (this one is at Yale as well) since heart problems can be associated with the genetic disorders we are talking about (Turner’s syndrome if it is a girl, Newnann’s syndrome if it is a boy, or trisomy 18, which is fatal, and occassionally Downs syndrome).