JMJ. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. God forgive me my sins. Many years ago, as a young RN in surgery, I helped with abortions. It assuages my guilt to say that I didn't know any better but I did. I thought I was being so politically- correct. Wasn't it, after all, a woman's right to end her pregnancy which she and another had thoughtlessly begun? After all, didn't society say, "If it feels good, do it?"
But time marches on and I have come to realise that any life, any human life, regardless of the manner of its conception, is of infinite value. I can liken back to those long-gone years and imagine that I hear the screams of the lives which I helped to take. God forgive me. I know now that what I thought then to be correct was reprehensible. I will never forget those silent accusations.
I just recently had a discussion with two fellow workers on the subject of abortion and we agreed up to a point. I said "Never" and they said "Maybe." "Maybe if the baby was conceived in rape or incest. Maybe it would be ok then for the girl to abort."
Linda walked Linus this afternoon. She came in tearful. There was a squirrel, she said, under the oak tree which looked like it was dying. Please do something. I went to look and found a poor animal on its last legs, gasping for breath, its eyes barely open, almost unable to move. Its mate, some feet up the bole of the oak tree chittered at me.
I have a pellet gun. There seemed to be no other course so I went inside and armed it. At this point I could barely see for my tears but I knew what I was being called to do. I went outside and put a shot into its tiny body. The poor squirrel twitched and then died. Even as I write this I can barely see for the tears as I could then.
I have never personally taken a life, human or otherwise, and it was a horrible wrench within me to do so. How can anyone imagine that it is ever right to end any life, born or unborn? I wish that they could have looked down on the poor, sodden sight of that squirrel that I rightly put out of its misery and heard the anguish of its mate. God help us when we lose sight of the value of human life, regardless of how small.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Light on the Hill
JMJ. The light on the hill is a lighthouse. Lighthouse Catholic Media, that is. When I started these screeds at my friend Charlie's behest I had had no idea that I'd ever be endorsing a product. Well, hundreds of products, actually. Our Lord commanded us to be a beacon that all might find His truth. There are a number of beacons that I've found over my ten years in the Catholic Church. This one may well be the most concentrated as it's composed of so many of my favourites.
Two weeks ago our administrator (who replaced the retired Fr. Keller) announced from the ambo in place of his homily that a series of CD's from Lighthouse Catholic Media (appropriately enough) would be available for sale between Masses and from a small display kiosk thereafter.
Ok, thought I. I'll take a look but I'll bet they're the usual new-age type stuff. Admittedly, our new administrator seems to be faithful to the teachings of the Church but one never knows. I was blown away at the list of speakers available--several by Scott Hahn, Fr. John Corapi, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, and Peter Kreeft to name but a few!
Alright, I'll invest $20, thinks I. That bought me seven different titles. You won't get that deal on the web-site. CD's or MP-3 down-loads range between 3 and four dollars apiece. Our bunch were gone before the after the last Mass. More were ordered. They're most gone, too. People will just suck up the truth!
Visit these folks at their web-site, plead with your pastors to provide access to this series, get these CD's into the hands of family, friends, and even strangers. It's close to what it must have been like to sit at the feet of the apostles. You will learn more about the truth of our Catholic faith in just a few minutes than you ever thought there was to learn. Guaranteed. Let me know what you think.
Two weeks ago our administrator (who replaced the retired Fr. Keller) announced from the ambo in place of his homily that a series of CD's from Lighthouse Catholic Media (appropriately enough
Ok, thought I. I'll take a look but I'll bet they're the usual new-age type stuff. Admittedly, our new administrator seems to be faithful to the teachings of the Church but one never knows. I was blown away at the list of speakers available--several by Scott Hahn, Fr. John Corapi, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, and Peter Kreeft to name but a few!
Alright, I'll invest $20, thinks I. That bought me seven different titles. You won't get that deal on the web-site. CD's or MP-3 down-loads range between 3 and four dollars apiece. Our bunch were gone before the after the last Mass. More were ordered. They're most gone, too. People will just suck up the truth!
Visit these folks at their web-site, plead with your pastors to provide access to this series, get these CD's into the hands of family, friends, and even strangers. It's close to what it must have been like to sit at the feet of the apostles. You will learn more about the truth of our Catholic faith in just a few minutes than you ever thought there was to learn. Guaranteed. Let me know what you think.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Hope
JMJ. On this day, eight years ago, world-wide Islam declared war on the United States. Granted, I consider myself to be a citizen of the Confederate States of America, but the US is where I live so I took the actions of Islam quite personally, as did (and do) so many Americans.
I will never forget as long as I live the stark reality of a blazing, smoking Tower as another airliner appeared on the TV screen and collided with the second.
From that point on, the images became surreal. The sight of the Twin Towers collapsing seemed almost cartoonish by then.
I was numb, all of the folks at work that day who watched in dumb amazement were numb, too. For days thereafter it was almost as if we had been swathed in cotton batting. But most jarring for me were the video footage and pictures from around the world of the jubilation of Islam. According to a good friend of mine who lives in Copenhagen there was gaiety and glee amongst the Danish Moslems. They stopped their celebrations only when threatened with bodily harm by the non-Moslem Danish.
That's what I remember the most--for it was a flagrant declaration of war. All protestations on the part of a very few Moslems in the US and Europe that Islam is a peaceful religion and that this was a heinous attack were lost in the far-greater jubilation.
Today a Moslem doctor with whom I work muttered to himself, "Sept. 11, a horrible day." That was the first time I personally heard a Moslem make such a statement. Perhaps there is a scintilla of hope. But I doubt it.
I will never forget as long as I live the stark reality of a blazing, smoking Tower as another airliner appeared on the TV screen and collided with the second.
From that point on, the images became surreal. The sight of the Twin Towers collapsing seemed almost cartoonish by then.
I was numb, all of the folks at work that day who watched in dumb amazement were numb, too. For days thereafter it was almost as if we had been swathed in cotton batting. But most jarring for me were the video footage and pictures from around the world of the jubilation of Islam. According to a good friend of mine who lives in Copenhagen there was gaiety and glee amongst the Danish Moslems. They stopped their celebrations only when threatened with bodily harm by the non-Moslem Danish.
That's what I remember the most--for it was a flagrant declaration of war. All protestations on the part of a very few Moslems in the US and Europe that Islam is a peaceful religion and that this was a heinous attack were lost in the far-greater jubilation.
Today a Moslem doctor with whom I work muttered to himself, "Sept. 11, a horrible day." That was the first time I personally heard a Moslem make such a statement. Perhaps there is a scintilla of hope. But I doubt it.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
On Japan--and Being an American
JMJ. This is going to be a long post. You've been warned. And it's not religious, either. I've had foreign attacks on my mind a bit lately as we approach the eighth anniversary of the Al-Qaida attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. I can't help but be reminded of the "date which will live in infamy," Pearl Harbor.
I grew up in a wonderful neighborhood in Berea. Very cosmopolitan. Shoot, we had Canadian Catholics next door, two black families on our block, an Italian-American family down the street and a Japanese-American family two doors down. The Yoshizawas. Miss Alice's parents had been born in the US but Mr. Jim was a Nisei--his parents had been born in Japan.
As far back as I can remember we were treated to Japanese food, music and customs. We even learnt how to do a simple Japanese dance. Miss Alice taught the kids in the neighborhood to use chopsticks and to enjoy an abbreviated tea ceremony. It was only as an adult, though, that I learnt that (to our everlasting shame) America had imprisoned its own citizens in concentration camps following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Yoshizawas never mentioned this.
And it was only two years ago that Mr. Jim admitted that he had been a Nisei Warrior, one of a unit of Japanese-Americans who had swallowed their anger at America's treatment of them and became the most-decorated soldiers in the US Army during WWII! He's in his 90's now, bent and hard of hearing but still proud. As I am of him.
Japan entered my life again when my younger sisters, Lori and Beth, and my parents were hosts to a wonderful girl, Tokiko Kubota, from Japan. Unfortunately, I was only peripherally aware of her as I was away at college most of the time. Like all teen-agers, the three of them had their frictions but the friendship which started so many years ago has remained alive and vibrant to this day. Toko never forgot to write to Mom and Dad and Lori and Beth and kept them apprised of her life.
She is married now and has two beautiful children and when my Mom died in April they sent a huge and exotic flower arrangement to the memorial service. I know that my parents were almost as important to her as her own. I am privileged to have reacquainted myself with Toko and hopefully we will both be the richer for it.
Which brings us to Pearl Harbor, which should rightly be FDR's infamy. What most Americans do not know, because it has been carefully hidden, is that America brought the attack on by her own actions. Do the research for you won't believe me but American interests in the Pacific were at complete odds with those economic interests of Japan and America did her best to block Japan at every opportunity. We backed Japan into a corner and then were surprised when she chose to fight us.
Even in this we were complicit! The US government, headed by FDR, knew that the Japanese fleet was steaming toward Pearl and against the Navy's own regulations, ordered all the battleships into harbor where they were caught like sitting ducks. Only the carriers were at sea and Roosevelt and his cronies counted on them to form the nucleus for retaliation against Japan. Even Honolulu radio stayed on the air after midnight (when it usually signed off,) acting as a beacon for the in-coming Japanese airplanes.
Should the attack have taken place? I don't know. I DO know that I will never condemn Japan as so many have done down through the years. We called Pearl Harbor a "sneak attack" but when we did the same thing to Iraq a few years ago to bring down Saddam Hussein we called it a "pre-emptive strike." I love this country and supported her by serving in Viet Nam but this is hypocrisy!
I learnt of something just recently that brought tears to my eyes. I read of the supreme sacrifice of a small congregation of Japanese Catholics who gathered in their Cathedral in Nagasaki and in a solemn Mass offered themselves as sacrifices for a speedy end to the war. Moments later an atomic bomb was detonated overhead and the war DID come to a speedy end. THAT, my friends, is the courageous sacrifice that Jesus epitomised.
I will never see Japan in this life but I hope our Lord will allow me to visit sometime in the next. I have no desire to see anything Muslim.
I grew up in a wonderful neighborhood in Berea. Very cosmopolitan. Shoot, we had Canadian Catholics next door, two black families on our block, an Italian-American family down the street and a Japanese-American family two doors down. The Yoshizawas. Miss Alice's parents had been born in the US but Mr. Jim was a Nisei--his parents had been born in Japan.
As far back as I can remember we were treated to Japanese food, music and customs. We even learnt how to do a simple Japanese dance. Miss Alice taught the kids in the neighborhood to use chopsticks and to enjoy an abbreviated tea ceremony. It was only as an adult, though, that I learnt that (to our everlasting shame) America had imprisoned its own citizens in concentration camps following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Yoshizawas never mentioned this.
And it was only two years ago that Mr. Jim admitted that he had been a Nisei Warrior, one of a unit of Japanese-Americans who had swallowed their anger at America's treatment of them and became the most-decorated soldiers in the US Army during WWII! He's in his 90's now, bent and hard of hearing but still proud. As I am of him.
Japan entered my life again when my younger sisters, Lori and Beth, and my parents were hosts to a wonderful girl, Tokiko Kubota, from Japan. Unfortunately, I was only peripherally aware of her as I was away at college most of the time. Like all teen-agers, the three of them had their frictions but the friendship which started so many years ago has remained alive and vibrant to this day. Toko never forgot to write to Mom and Dad and Lori and Beth and kept them apprised of her life.
She is married now and has two beautiful children and when my Mom died in April they sent a huge and exotic flower arrangement to the memorial service. I know that my parents were almost as important to her as her own. I am privileged to have reacquainted myself with Toko and hopefully we will both be the richer for it.
Which brings us to Pearl Harbor, which should rightly be FDR's infamy. What most Americans do not know, because it has been carefully hidden, is that America brought the attack on by her own actions. Do the research for you won't believe me but American interests in the Pacific were at complete odds with those economic interests of Japan and America did her best to block Japan at every opportunity. We backed Japan into a corner and then were surprised when she chose to fight us.
Even in this we were complicit! The US government, headed by FDR, knew that the Japanese fleet was steaming toward Pearl and against the Navy's own regulations, ordered all the battleships into harbor where they were caught like sitting ducks. Only the carriers were at sea and Roosevelt and his cronies counted on them to form the nucleus for retaliation against Japan. Even Honolulu radio stayed on the air after midnight (when it usually signed off,) acting as a beacon for the in-coming Japanese airplanes.
Should the attack have taken place? I don't know. I DO know that I will never condemn Japan as so many have done down through the years. We called Pearl Harbor a "sneak attack" but when we did the same thing to Iraq a few years ago to bring down Saddam Hussein we called it a "pre-emptive strike." I love this country and supported her by serving in Viet Nam but this is hypocrisy!
I learnt of something just recently that brought tears to my eyes. I read of the supreme sacrifice of a small congregation of Japanese Catholics who gathered in their Cathedral in Nagasaki and in a solemn Mass offered themselves as sacrifices for a speedy end to the war. Moments later an atomic bomb was detonated overhead and the war DID come to a speedy end. THAT, my friends, is the courageous sacrifice that Jesus epitomised.
I will never see Japan in this life but I hope our Lord will allow me to visit sometime in the next. I have no desire to see anything Muslim.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
A Sure Path and Politics
JMJ. Senator Ted Kennedy just died. There are many instances of death when I can breathe a sigh of relief and say to myself--that person seemed (admittedly, to me) a good and holy person. That being the case, what is there to worry about in a person's ultimate destination? As an example, the wife of my dear friend, Bob died a while back. She is as godly a person as I am ever likely to meet and so says her husband.
Now, me I'm worried about. Jesus is a Constant in this ever-changing universe, despite what the United Church of Christ has to say ("God is Still Speaking.") I know in the very depth of my being that He will never leave me or abandon me; that to my last, dying breath He will be there at my side. What I'm worried about is that (for whatever dumb reason) I might leave HIM!
Time and again, in many different words, He has told us, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." He is the good Shepherd Who never abandons His sheep. But there are so many ways for the sheep to wander or to stumble. But ultimately I have to trust in Him for His mercy. Which brings me back to Sen. Ted. He left our Lord willingly. He openly espoused a woman't right to abortion, he espoused same-sex marriage and homosexual rights; he espoused foetal stem cell research and euthanasia. Can any right-thinking Christian honestly believe that Jesus would support any of these?
It gives me chills to imagine that I might unthinkingly separate myself from God but that one might do so intentionally is beyond my comprehension. May God have mercy on each of us, especially Ted Kennedy. Please pray for him.
Now, me I'm worried about. Jesus is a Constant in this ever-changing universe, despite what the United Church of Christ has to say ("God is Still Speaking.") I know in the very depth of my being that He will never leave me or abandon me; that to my last, dying breath He will be there at my side. What I'm worried about is that (for whatever dumb reason) I might leave HIM!
Time and again, in many different words, He has told us, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." He is the good Shepherd Who never abandons His sheep. But there are so many ways for the sheep to wander or to stumble. But ultimately I have to trust in Him for His mercy. Which brings me back to Sen. Ted. He left our Lord willingly. He openly espoused a woman't right to abortion, he espoused same-sex marriage and homosexual rights; he espoused foetal stem cell research and euthanasia. Can any right-thinking Christian honestly believe that Jesus would support any of these?
It gives me chills to imagine that I might unthinkingly separate myself from God but that one might do so intentionally is beyond my comprehension. May God have mercy on each of us, especially Ted Kennedy. Please pray for him.
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