1/5/13

New Year. New Beginning.



pics on Sodahead


My heart leaps for Joy in Your presence, Lord.

Teach me to love you more.

Let me not be an obstacle to the holiness of others.

Thank-you for my friends and family.

Thank-you for all your good Priests and Religious.

Thank-you for your faithful daily communicants and Eucharistic Adorers.

Keep the innocent.

Mend the broken.

Protect us from evil.

Let your Blessed Mother wrap her arms around us.

In Your Mercy, Lord, Bless us.

12/8/11

40 Hours of Prayer and Adoration For the Unborn

Saint Ignatius Parish, Grand Cayman


Starting after Mass and leading to the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

"O Mary, Conceived Without Sin, Pray For Us "

"O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee."



"O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, did prepare a worthy dwelling place for Your Son, we beseech You that, as by the forseen death of this, Your Son, You did preserve Her from all stain, so too You would permit us, purified by Her intercession, to come unto You.

Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen. "

The Doctrine

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12/2/11

Advent Charity: Holy Innocents Center, Kingston, Jamaica

If you are looking for a place to be charitable this Advent, think of helping the Missionaries of the Poor. Especially pray for their 'mother and child' project - the Holy Innocents Center in Kingston, Jamaica.

Jamaica has been struggling against world pressure to legalize abortion, and the M.O.P. have a very practical solution- care for mothers and babies.

Our family has chosen this particular charity for our Advent sacrifice. Myself, my sons Mark and Paul, and one of their friends, will be praying and running in the Cayman Marathon Relay on Sunday (Dec.4), as the 'Webster Rundown' team. Each leg is approx. 6.5 mi., and we are hoping to come in under 4 hrs.
Please pray with us (race starts 5am EST ) and , if inspired, donate to M.O.P. (scroll to bottom of link page.)

UPDATE : Our team ran the Cayman Marathon in 4:21, and I have been told that some funds were raised for M.O.P.!

A group that regularly prays, runs and raises money for life, is LifeRunners . Check them out for an event near you.

Happy Advent!

11/30/11

"Advent Conspiracy - Enter the Story 2011"



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Needs Focused Service : Mass Mutual

I am impressed by the amount of research and interest exhibited by this insurance company in it's 'Special Needs' focused service. I also love their tv ads and this video:




Nice to see companies reaching out for business/service in this way and for these children.

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Saint Andrew Novena - Anticipating Christmas

A special devotion is a lovely way to focus ourselves and our families on the advent of the Christ. This one, being prayed 15 times a day , has the purpose of drawing us back to the centre throughout the day:

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Thank-you, Saint Andrew.

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5/2/11

Make Me Proud, CANADA

I love Canada. Of course! My (rather large) family is there. I think the geography is amazing. I even love the variety of weather! I love our history and (real) culture. It hurts me to know how indifferent Canadians are to the waste of humankind that is perpetuated , with the help of their indifference and their own taxes. 100,000 Canadian babies are murdered in the womb each year. A crime of depravity ignored by just about everybody. Canadians don't care.

I remember being so proud of Canada as a teen finishing highschool. I couldn't wait to get out there and participate more fully in the future of Canada. I was heart broken to find out how narrowminded and selfish the established 'politically correct' dialogue was, how they excluded truth and reality in favour of a self centered imposed secularism.

Reality bites.

I love Canada, but I am not proud of Canada. Yes, some good people manage to ignore the PC regime, teach their children right from wrong, and maintain their humanity inspite of regulated indoctrination through publicly funded school systems and ideologically enslaved media. Yes, sometimes the government manages to take small steps in the right direction - the direction of true liberty - the freedom to love God and each other in a fully human way. Yes, I have moments of hope for Canada.

Today is a moment of hope.

I hope - really, really hope - that Canadians elect MPs who understand how to be fully human.

Who understand that human life is sacred from beginning to end. Who understand that a human family is an important social unit, one organized and defined by God, and that no 'human' fantastical manipulations can redefine it.

Who aren't sucked into the current 'make-believe' social reconstruction and refuse to encourage or finance it.

I hope for Canada, the most prolife, pro-family, God fearing parliament.

I hope this, because I love and pray for Canada and all Canadians.

God Bless Canada

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4/22/11

"O Sacred Head Now Wounded"



O sacred Head, now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, thine only crown:
how pale thou art with anguish,
with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish
which once was bright as morn!

What thou, my Lord, has suffered
was all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression,
but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
'Tis I deserve thy place;
look on me with thy favor,
vouchsafe to me thy grace.

What language shall I borrow
to thank thee, dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
O make me thine forever;
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love for thee.

Text: Anonymous; trans. by Paul Gerhardt and James W. Alexander
Music: Hans L. Hassler, 1564-1612; harm. by J.S. Bach, 1685-1750

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" Four Scenes from the Passion "

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(Follower of Barend van Orley, circa 1520)

4/21/11

The Garden of Gesthemane - Giorgio Vasari

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Sigh...

Archbishop Currie explains how CCCB report on the investigation of Development and Peace partners was written by D & P...

Archbishop Martin Currie of St. John’s Newfoundland has said that a report that exonerated several pro-abortion groups funded by the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P) and that slammed LifeSiteNews.com (LSN), was actually written by D&P along with the then-General Secretary of the Bishops conference, Mario Paquette...

... Archbishop Currie acknowledged that LifeSiteNews’ investigation may well have been more accurate than that of his delegation. “With LifeSite, perhaps they would dig a lot deeper ... and make connections which perhaps we didn’t make because we don’t have that kind of access or time.”...


I guess nobody is surprised that a document 'investigated' by D & P and ultimately written by D & P , does not censure D & P. I guess noone is surprised that they took the opportunity to make a swipe at LifeSiteNews, the agency that broke the scandal.

Thank God for bishops like Archbishop Prendergast, who felt that the matter of his flock sending 'charity' to abortion promoters was important enough to warrant his time and personal initiative.

And ask God for many more new bishops just like him.

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4/17/11

40 Days For Life - Day 40

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He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"

--Revelation 21:4-5


As pro-life warriors, we must keep our eyes fixed on heaven, and our hearts secure in the hope that the day is coming when all evil will be conquered. It is the future that shapes the present; it is victory that informs the battle; it is the destination that determines the journey...

Balancing Job,College, and the Respect For Life



Leah Chen is a 20-year-old with a mission. The full-time college student and part-time teller is also the local director of the 40 Days for Life Campaign which is making an area abortion clinic a focus of its prayers...


Day 40 Devotional
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4/16/11

Vatican Blogfest

The list of 150 bloggers invited to attend in person the meeting at the Vatican is here!



Congratulations to those selected from the 750 requests! We hope the meeting is enlightening.

pax

(AFP/ANSA/File/Alessandro Bianchi)

40 Days For Life - Day 39

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432 BABIES SAVED

We have reason to rejoice when we consider the many babies whose lives have been saved during the 40 Days for Life campaign. Add to those lives, the women and men who have been spared from a devastating decision and now have opportunity to make a plan for their baby that is both life affirming and God honoring.




Day 39 Devotional

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4/15/11

ELECTION THOUGHTS (Canada)

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IF I could vote (which as a non-resident, I cannot) I would vote for the candidate, not the party. In Canada, for a supporter of the culture of life, what other option is there?



It's not as if , in voting CPC, you guarantee that prolife views will even be heard. They won't be. The PM has taken pains to make that clear.

So since none of the possible winners (overall) are supporters of the 'culture of life', I would vote for the candidate in my riding that has the best understanding of life and family - regardless of party. What difference could it make- how could it be worse?

You may want to factor in economics, and freedom... in which case, I suppose CPC makes more sense marginally - but I would never vote for a CPC candidate who was life-ignorant , over another candidate who was solidly prolife. Never.

If I could vote...


National March For Life MAY 12 OTTAWA

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40 Days For Life - Day 38

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Fr. Frank Pavone:


"It's Friday. Liars attempt to speak for all women and hide the pain of abortion, and ignore the evidence of how it harms women, and call abortion a blessing. But that's because it's Friday. Sunday's comin'! It's Friday. People of hardened hearts guard the clinics and usher desperate women in to have their abortions, while keeping them from the pro-life people who want to give them hope. But that's because it's Friday. Sunday's comin'!

Hope does not mean that we ignore or minimize the evils around us. It means, rather, that we see the whole picture, which is that evil is conquered because of what happened one Sunday morning. The power of sin and death has been broken by the Resurrection of Christ. We are called to proclaim, celebrate, and serve that victory, waiting in joyful hope for Christ's return and the full flowering of the Culture of Life! Indeed, Sunday's comin'!"


Day 38 Devotional
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4/14/11

40 Days For Life - Day 37



Norma McCorvey (the former Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade) used to work at an abortion mill named "A Choice for Women." She now realizes what a cruel irony that title was. She saw first hand, just as pregnancy resource center counselors see, that women don't get abortions because of freedom of choice, but rather because they feel they have no freedom and no choice. They feel trapped, abandoned, desperate and afraid, and have been led to believe that abortion is their only option.

Day 37 Devotional
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Liberty & Life

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Politico
...Speaking for the Iowa Family Leader's presidential lecture series in Sioux City, Paul said that he is troubled when he hears libertarians advocate for abortion rights. Describing conversations with supporters, the Texas congressman and presidential hopeful said he often here a “libertarian type of argument” along the lines of “it’s the woman’s body. She can do whatever she wants. She can have an abortion.”

“I don’t like them to use that argument – that believing in liberty means you can kill the unborn,” Paul said.

Paul contended that libertarianism and opposing abortion are not separate philosophies, but rather stem from the same belief structure.

“Life comes from our creator, not our government. Liberty comes from our creator, not from government,” he said. “Therefore, the purpose, if there is to be a purpose, for government is to protect life and liberty.”
(h/t The Western Confucian)
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4/13/11

Democrats = Abortion

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Ann Coulter:

...I don’t think Republicans did it deliberately. I’m pretty sure they just wanted to cut funding for Planned Parenthood. But, holy cow, did they find the Democrats’ weak spot!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid threatened to shut down the government to save abortions in the District of Columbia. Reid, who is known as a “pro-life Democrat,” said cutting Planned Parenthood’s funding was the “one issue” on which he would not budge...

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CCHD Renewal Floundering - RCN Alerts Donors

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PewSitter
“The very idea that the CCHD would praise CIW in a document that apologizes for funding pro-abortion, pro-homosexual organizations in the past and promises to make a stronger effort to avoid doing so in the future seriously undermines their credibility,” ...

...“The CIW's participation with these groups directly violates the CCHD Renewal documents restriction on participating in coalitions which have positions or actions which contradict fundamental Catholic moral and social teaching.” said Rob Gasper, founder of RCN member Bellarmine Veritas Ministry. “The CCHD's lack of oversight even in its renewal document underscores our concern and call for a delay in the national collection until the 2010 grants list is released.”

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