40 Days For Life - Day 28

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Ephesians 2:4-5 says, "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, made us alive together with Christ; by grace you have been saved."

Because of God's mercy and grace towards us, we who receive Him receive eternal Hope. Those who curse you, hate you, spitefully mistreat you and persecute you need that same Hope. That is the only way we can ever expect them to behave differently. Ask the Holy Spirit to love them -- through you -- so they are drawn to the Hope that is in you, that is Christ Jesus.

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live
(h/t Durham Catholic Society)

Day 28 Devotional
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40 Days For Life - Day 27

Father of mercy and grace, we thank you for the gift of our children. Grant that every fiber of our being may rejoice when a new baby, our own or any else's, is born into the world. Help us to welcome them as we would welcome you, for whenever a new baby is conceived, another life to bear your image and another voice to praise and worship you, is beginning. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Day 27 Devotional
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40 Days For Life - Day 26

Day 26 Devotional
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Archbishop Prendergast Cancels D&P Speaker's Tour

LifeSiteNews:

Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast has cancelled the speaking engagements of the head of one of Development and Peace’s partners, after personally investigating and finding that the actions of the partner are “incompatible with the Church’s defence of the right to life from conception to natural death.”

Thank-you Archbishop Prendergast.

40 Days For Life - Day 25

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Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, 'surely we did not know this', does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

-- Proverbs 24:11-12

ZENIT

.."We knew that, when people went out and peacefully prayed in front of these clinics, moms would choose life. We trusted that, we hoped for that and certainly, it’s been a blessing to see that.

One thing that has been out of the middle of nowhere has been the 43 abortion clinic workers who have […] had conversions and quit their jobs. Many of them have actually prayed on our side of the fence […] in front of the abortion facilities that they were working.."

Day 25 Devotional
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Canadian Doctors Advocate Euthanasia by Dehydration

In a statement released today, the Cdn Paediatrics 'bioethics' committee advocated the death by dehydration of children not otherwise dying.

Alex Shadenburg of Euthanasia Prevention Coalition comments :

When a person is actually dying and nearing death, the death occurs from the medical condition. But when a person has cognitive or other serious disabilities or conditions, but is not otherwise dying, when fluids and food are intentionally withheld or withdrawn, the cause of death is intentional dehydration.

Many leading bioethicists would like you to believe that there is no difference between killing and letting die, but in fact there is a big difference. When we allow the killing of a person, we are allowing an intentional action or omission to directly cause death. Letting someone die means that we are actually allowing natural death to occur.

Some bioethicists will refer to the "artificial" nature of providing fluids and food as the issue. This argument is false. We always receive fluids and food by some means, whether it be by a spoon, straw, bottle or mothers milk, etc...

You MUST be the advocate for your loved ones. You. In Canada, only doctors that you know personally to be true, can be trusted to have the survival of your loved one as their objective.

Canadian doctors practice the withholding of food and hydration, as "legally and ethically acceptable as part of a palliative care plan" - but how does that apply to a child who is not actually dying at the moment?

"The CPS makes clear that any decision should be based solely on the benefit to the child, while considering the child's overall plan of care."

When does it benefit the child to not provide food and hydration, causing death? Why does the CPS believe they hold the key to the 'rubric of human value'?

Who made them GOD?

Also troubling is the way that the Canadian media has no problem with this. As with other 'culture of death' issues (like abortion) they present information as if no public discussion should be expected. Canadians are 'told' what the deal is. That's the end of it. Accept.

DO NOT ACCEPT

Be part of that minority of Canadians that speaks up against the self-annihilating societal 'norms' perpetuated by ignorance, selfishness and moral depravity .

Save Canada from itself.

Canadian Physicians For Life

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40 Days For Life - Day 24

222 BABIES SAVED

Charlotte,N.C.

“Thank you,” said the e-mail message one of the Charlotte coordinators received. “You saved my baby today!” ...

Day 24 Devotional
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Real Bishop : Denver

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Archbishop Charles J. Chaput:

"We live in a time when the Church is called to be a believing community of resistance. We need to call things by their true names. We need to fight the evils we see. And most importantly, we must not delude ourselves into thinking that by going along with the voices of secularism and de-Christianization we can somehow mitigate or change things. Only the Truth can set men free. We need to be apostles of Jesus Christ and the Truth he incarnates."

(h/t Integrated Catholic)
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40 Days For Life - Day 23

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"Today is Terri’s Day — the 6th anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo, who died after nutrition and hydration were cut off, against the wishes of her family.

It’s a day to recall her story, and to pray that all would recognize the value and dignity of all human life.
Today’s devotional certainly fits; we are all 'fearfully and wonderfully made' — from the child in the womb to those nearing the end of this life — and anyone society deems inconvenient."

Day 23 Devotional
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UPDATE : Campbell Soup and Solae Drop Controversial Testing

LifeSiteNews :

"After the release of information yesterday on corporations partnered with a biotech company found using aborted fetal cells lines in food flavor testing, LifeSiteNews.com has learned that two of those companies – Solae and Campbell Soup – are no longer partnered with the unethical testing company..."

previously

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40 Days For Life - Day 22

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Pray for fathers who participated in the decision to abort their child, and for those who did not have a voice, that they would find freedom and healing in Christ.

Day 22 Devotional

Dad's Brain

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Consumer Alert : Does Your Food Taste 'Good'?

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Biotech company using aborted fetal cell lines to test its flavor enhancers

Yes. The usual suspects. Pepsico, Kraft Foods, Campbell Soup, Solae and Nestlé are collaborating with Senomyx :

Senomyx website states that “The company's key flavor programs focus on the discovery and development of savory, sweet and salt flavor ingredients that are intended to allow for the reduction of MSG, sugar and salt in food and beverage products....Using isolated human taste receptors, we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor.”

Senomyx notes their collaborators provide them research and development funding plus royalties on sales of products using their flavor ingredients.

“What they do not tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 – human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors...

...“They could have easily chosen COS (monkey) cells, Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, insect cells or other morally obtained human cells expressing the G protein for taste receptors”, Vinnedge added.

Read the whole article for the 'responses' to public disgust.

Stem Cell Research and the Catholic Church

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journeying

Lenten Music Online
Musical Musings
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40 Days For Life - Day 21

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To be or not to be?

There is no question!

The question of "being" is something philosophers have long pondered. What is the meaning of being and what is the source? ... We have being because we are known by God.

Dayton,OHIO

...Former Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk on Sunday told about 200 people gathered for a pro-life rally in Kettering that it’s important to maintain respect for all kinds of life, not just the unborn child.

“If there is no life, there is nothing. There is no hope, there is no joy, there is no outreach into the world,” said Pilarczyk, 76, who served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati from 1982 through 2009.

He led a praying of the rosary before speaking at the event outside the Women’s Med Center, 1401 E. Stroop Road. The event marked a midpoint of the Dayton 40 Days for Life campaign, which features prayer, peaceful vigil at abortion facilities and educational outreach as part of a national program.

Pilarcyzk said afterward that he supports Ohio House Bill 125, known as the “heartbeat bill,” which would outlaw abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be medically detected, generally about six or seven weeks.

“Anything that limits the destruction of life, I’m for,” he said.

Mary Britt, a member of the local 40 Days for Life committee, said “all of the country is watching” Ohio...

Day 21 Devotional

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Causes of deaths in Canada

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The Interim:

On Jan. 29, the National Post ran a full-page feature article on the causes of death in Canada. Most of it was a graphic presentation, using proportionate-sized circles, showing how people died in 1967 and 2007. The National Post article stated, “Death is life’s one and only inevitable event, and it comes in many ways – officially, there are 999 causes.” However, as Interim reader and advertiser, Cambridge lawyer Paul Vandervet wrote to them in an unpublished letter to the editor, it did not include abortions. So there are 1,000 ways to die and the illustration and story did not include the number one cause of death: abortion.

The paper also stated that “Considering the way we die tells us much about the way we live." ....

Canadians like to be comfy. Sacrifice is not understood as an opportunity , but as a burden, to be avoided at all costs. Abortion saves countless (well, about 100,000 a year) Canadians from the burden of sacrificing time, physical discomfort and money, at the cost of sacrificing soul, family, peace of mind, physical well being, someone to love and A HUMAN LIFE.

Its a 'chicken and the egg' phenomenom. Which came first- the total moral and intellectual degradation of the public school system, or the total ignorance of the elements of being truly human (what separates Canadians from earwhigs)- for example USING intellect to seek TRUTH and form MORAL judgements based on REALITY? - CARING?

The pioneers would be Oh so proud! of what a wasteland Canada has become - how their efforts to establish a 'new land' have to be repeated over and over for lack of progeny to carry things forward - a lack of national will to live !

We're not multi-cultural... just perpetually seeking a culture that will stick. Right now we're working hard to have a rainbow culture which common sense dictates, will have its own troubles producing descendants. Then there is Quebec, who has a fictional culture that is really only a language on totalitarian life support ... None of which, naturally, is in the 'area of interest' of the current Prime Minister. (Why should he rock the sinking boat?)


Yeah Canada!

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40 Days For Life - Day 20

O Lord, help us follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Let us humbly and diligently work to restore legal protection for the unborn, the disabled, the medically dependent and all innocent children of God whose lives are threatened. Let us remember the old adage that "He can never lead who has not first learned to obey." And, Lord, grant us a peaceful heart as we labor in your name. Amen.

Day 20 Devotional

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40 Days For Life - Day 19

WINDSOR,ON

I had my first experience last week with the 40 Days for Life taking place in front of Met Hospital. It was an eye-opener.

An eye-opener because I had not realized the venom and rudeness of the pro-abortion faction. Yes, I know that they prefer "pro-choice" but that is a euphemism as I discovered from their response to our standing there...

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"When Carol Everett, a former abortionist and post-abortive woman, was asked what turned her heart from death to life in Christ, she said, 'It was unconditional love,' shown by a man who prayed daily for her in front of the abortion clinic where she worked."

Day 19 Devotional
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Princeton 'Theological' Seminary Silences Prolife Student

Nat'l pro-life leaders, Black community respond to student's persecution at Princeton

"National Pro-Life and Black Community Leaders responded today to Princeton University's persecution of a pro-life student who has been passing out informative literature on Black Genocide. The student advertised Maafa 21, a recent Life Dynamics movie on the history of Black Genocide, by posting flyers and hosting screenings of the movie on campus, while also passing out Human Life Review literature to educate her peers..."

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40 Days For Life - Day 18

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"Many of you have said that you fervently believe that it's God's will that this work continue and that it must grow. There are two important things you can do to help make that happen.

The first way you can contribute to the future of this mission is through your continued prayer. In addition, the coordination and growth of the 40 Days for Life effort will require financial assistance.

40 Days for Life was incorporated as a non-profit organization in order to accept contributions to fund this work. You are prayerfully invited to support the life-saving mission of 40 Days for Life. "

Day 18 Devotional

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40 Days For Life - Day 17

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"If you ever doubt that we can bring an end to this culture of death, this destruction of the family, this destruction of life by abortion, if you ever think for a moment that it's impossible, then ask yourself this: Can a man who has been scourged, crowned with thorns, nailed hands and feet to a cross, pierced with a lance, has died and been buried; can such a man ever live again?"

Day 17 Devotional

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The Wonderful Yes

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Tale of Two Bishops

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                                 (Archbishop Predergast leading his flock.)

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Archbishop Terrence Prendergast has reaffirmed his support for the National March For Life, despite the probable use of graphic images by some attendees. This comes on the heels of a statement by Archbishop Richard Smith announcing the Alberta bishops boycott of the provincial March For Life, as a protest against the use of graphic images of abortion.

Who is being a true shepherd? Can both be right?

I think if we read the balanced approach of Archbishop Prendergast we recognize that he not only supports lay people and the fight against abortion but also freedom of expression and an openminded approach to advocacy for the unborn. Contrasted with Archbishop Smith's ultimately damaging approach, Ottawa would seem to have a more trusting and trust worthy shepherd.

The Alberta bishops are particularly unhelpful and disappointing. The prolife youth in Alberta have recently been in legal difficulties at the Univ. of Calgary for using graphic images in their advocacy. The Alberta bishops are behaving as if they are too delicate to be able to understand an approach they find personally upsetting. They admit that the organizers of the Alberta MFL have not refused to guarantee no graphic images will be used, but simply cannot guarantee it. Still they boycott. They make a pretense of having serious philosophical problems with the display of graphic images, such that they cannot bear to be associated with them - that it would be WRONG to do so. This is confusing, since they say they are not interfering with the attendance of the March by their flock . Is it wrong or not?

Compared to Archbishop Prendergast's approach, the Alberta bishops look suspiciously like they are being only politically correct. Not wanting to judge the bishops, I admit there's a possibility they are merely being naive. Perhaps they are not aware that their boycott gives power to advocates FOR abortion and will be used against the ecumenical lay efforts of their community. (Can they be so naive?)

Who knows why dioceses of Canada that need particular help with faithfulness, have bishops who bring mixed messages at best.

Let us hope and pray that Canada receives the help of more and more bishops like Archbishop Terrence Prendergast (Ottawa) and Archbishop Thomas Collins (Toronto) - because Canada could surely use an upgrade in Catholic teaching and practice.

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40 Days For Life - Day 16

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"Often the womb has been referred to as the 'first home of the whole human race.' It is the place where life begins, where our stories start. In the womb the great men and women of history began their magnificent march through life. In the womb Divinity met humanity, and God the Son was born into the world."

Day 16 Devotional

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US Accused of Lying To Secure Support For Gay 'Rights' Declaration

C-FAM:

In their statement in support of the “sexual orientation” declaration, the US stated that it was proud to join in support of “LGBT rights”, which the delegate likened to the struggle for democracy in parts of the world, including the Middle East. In a press release issued today, the US touted its role in securing 20 additional countries to sign onto this year’s declaration, who had not signed onto the 2008 or 2006 statements.

Which apparently they acquired by lying, through a series of meetings, to the Latin American delegates, telling them that the Vatican had changed its opposition to the declaration. US officials acknowledge they had meetings, but deny lying... they only IMPLIED that the Vatican was now in agreement.

"..they were only told that the Holy See was against violence against all individuals including those based on their sexual orientation."

Archbishop Tomasi clarifies the Vatican's actual stand :

“Human sexuality, like any voluntary activity, possesses a moral dimension,” said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, on behalf of the Holy See. “It is an activity which puts the individual will at the service of a finality; it is not an “identity”. In other words, it comes from the action and not from the being, even though some tendencies or “sexual orientations” may have deep roots in the personality. Denying the moral dimension of sexuality leads to denying the freedom of the person in this matter, and undermines ultimately his/her ontological dignity,” said Tomasi.

UN Human rights - rights without the freedom 'to be' or the dignity 'of being' more than a body with bodily functions . A world where the human being is just a body - and only some bodies are valuable. Gays ,apparently , are somebodies - but only when 'being' gay? Perhaps you are only a 'somebody' if you are having sex. That fits with current attitudes towards the unborn, the old, sick, disabled or poor(except those having sex- they are very interested in those bodies).

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