This just in....

Dr. Janet Smith, who I previously mentioned, will be in Philadelphia this weekend!


Details:

St. Gabriel's Catholic Church

2917 Dickinson Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146

7:00 PM - Holy Hour

8:00 PM - Lecture by Dr. Janet Smith (Professor of Sacred Heart Seminary) on "The Sexual Mess We're In and How We Got There"

9:30 PM - Questions and Answers


Pax et Bonum!


(No emergency room visits this weekend.)

3 in a row?

Well, Wednesday my wife and I were at morning Mass and she nearly fainted from the heat and for a pregnant woman, I've learned that it's best to always be super cautious. So, we went to the emergency room and after running a bunch of pre-cautionary tests everything was fine and her and the baby are doing well.

Last night we were again at the emergency room, but this time it was for me. I went and sliced my finger on a soup can. I got 5 stitches and all is well.

Can today make it 3 days in a row? I hope not...


So, while sitting in the emergency room, I thought about how frequently we forget those people in our prayers that are not related to us or even part of our lives. I looked at all of the people in there, none who I knew, and just began to pray for them, their families, and the hospital employees who were attending to all of the traumas. How important it was to pray for them that our Lord send them enough grace to accept their suffering and to unite that suffering to Our Lord's Passion. How important it is to have people praying for us and for us to be praying for other people, even those we don't know and come in contact with.

And this all reminds me of our dear friend, Fr. Marc, who once told me that when our minds wonder and someone pops into our head, to just pray for them, and how it's a good practice to always stay in communion with "the Body."

So for all of those souls experiencing pain and suffering each and every day in our hospitals around the globe, Father please watch over them and their families. Amen.

...from Lorenzago di Cadore

I was catching up on yesterday's news from the VIS (Vatican Information Service) and came across part of a speech the Holy Father gave to some clergy during his holiday in Lorenzago di Cadore. He encouraged priests to live "with their feet on the ground and their eyes on heaven." He also went onto say that "the essence of Christianity cannot be considered just as a collection of dogmas" and that the best way to announce God's message is to "live a life of love."

Thank you Your Holiness, for that speaks to us non-clergy as well. We can tell the spirit of St. Francis is with you on your vacation...

Life...

"I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then."

I am reminded of Deuteronomy 30:19 every time I think of the abortion debate. I had planned to touch on some other topics today, but after reading a friend's blog entry and news out of South Korea that a life really isn't a life until labour occurs, it had me thinking differently.

I feel so strongly that abortion has become more about people being uninformed and uneducated than anything else and consequently starts with our youth. If the pro-abortionists won't allow the pro-lifers to use the Word of God to debate, then we must use facts and begin to educate our children (and our baby-boomer parents). My dear friend Judi, and the rest of Generation Life, have done such wonderful work educating the youth on chastity and abortion in the past couple of years and I encourage you to familiarize yourself with them and their mission.

I also cannot leave out professor Janet E. Smith, PhD, who was so instrumental in my education of the subject. Dr. Smith examines, not only abortion, but the role of artificial methods of birth control and its role in the moral downfall of our capitalistic country. (I think you can actually get her talks on cd for less than $5.00.)

So, since this will become a series to present the massive amount of facts accumulated, I’ll start this first entry with a prophetic piece from Servant of God Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae, which was released 39 years ago (this past Wednesday) on July 25, 1968:

Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.

Wow. Maybe that explains the rise in marital infidelity and divorce, pornography, pre-marital sex, degradation of women, and abortion...

Next entry, I'll discuss the "Negro Project."

Our Lady of Guadalupe...

...pray for us.

BLOGOUT 001

Thanks be to Mike Lehr (for many things). My dear brother since Architecture School. We became roommates at a very crucial time for each of us and both had something the other needed. Mike's love of God (and example) couldn't have come at a better time for me. A time when college life had me questioning my faith in God. Not sure where I'd be without the guy. A true ambassador to Christ.

Thank you, Mike.

ALPHA

In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen .

I've had a lot of things on my mind lately and am thankful for the time - and space - to express all that the Spirit of God has given me. I therefore invoke the Holy Spirit to guide me on this adventure...