PathToHoliness

I thank God that here in Florida the horrible Amendment 4 did not pass. South Dakota was the only other state that did not pass their abortion amendment. Out of ten states with measures that would allow the murder of innocent children it was only these two who said “yes to life.” The others include Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, New York and Nebraska (which had two different ones, but both allow abortions).

The Precious Feet lapel pin in the picture is one I wear on my jacket. I get asked what it means and I tell them. Some people like it and others just turn away. But it is a powerful image and something that so many people don’t know about or just don’t care.

I hope that with a change in our nation’s leadership there will be much more value for life in all it’s stages from conception to natural death.

On the ballot is the Florida’s Abortion Amendment. The bishops in Florida say it best.

“We urge all Floridians of goodwill to stand against the legalization of late-term abortion and oppose the abortion amendment. In doing so, we will not only protect the weakest, most innocent, and defenseless of human life among us but also countless women throughout the state from the harms of abortion,” said the bishops of Florida in their statement on Amendment 4. You can read the full proposed amendment here.

In my parish we have the Veronica Guild with contains 6 different teams. I serve on the one Honoring Life. So, for us this is just what we are all about. We honor life in all its stages. And, of course, abortion is a big part of our efforts. There is more information on it here.

Father and maker of all, you adorn all creation with splendor and beauty, and fashion human lives in your image and likeness. Awaken in every heart reverence for the work of your hands, and renew among your people a readiness to nurture and sustain your precious gift of life. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen (USCCB)

I don’t know about you but this era of extreme political correctness is really wearing on me. One of my latest retreat notes said, “Satan hides behind politically correct words like diversity, pluralism, choice . . .” Isn’t that the truth? I’d add words like tolerance to the list. People who preach the mantra of tolerance seem to be the most intolerant people themselves. If you don’t agree with them they attack you and if that’s not intolerance I don’t know what is. How about this word to describe them: hypocritical.

Another word I’d add to the list is sustainability. I work in agricultural communications and this has to be one of the most overused and misunderstood words in our vocabulary, along with organic and natural. What does sustainability mean? Ask 10 people (including so called experts) and they’ll give you 10 different answers. It’s a hide behind word for people with a political agenda for the most part. Guess who’s hiding behind it? Answer is found above.

Sadly, these words are not bad in and of themselves but in how they’re being used in our mainstream media and by politicians, lobbyists and people who want to attack Christian values. So, what can be done about it? For starters let’s use these words in a context that’s defined by our religion and faith. Let’s not lash out in anger at those who are misusing them for their own ends but pray for them instead. Do you have any other suggestions? Feel free to comment.

See video here.

As soon as he reflected seriously and was struck by the conviction that immortality and God exist, he naturally said at once to himself: “I want to live for immortality, and I reject any halfway compromise.” In just the same way, if he had decided that immortality and God do not exist, he would immediately have joined the atheists and socialists (for socialism is not only the labor question or the question of the so-called fourth estate, but first of all the question of atheism, the question of the modern embodiment of atheism, the question of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) built precisely without God, not to go from earth to heaven but to bring heaven down to earth).

~Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

We hear so much about the need to feed the hungry around the world. But how is that being done? Can it be done?

One of the things that will help is increasing the productivity of people who can produce food. That would be farmers. Biotechnology is helping them accomplish this. But like just about everything today it seems, there are people who want to protest it. I think most of them just don’t like big companies. They just use this as an excuse to promote their own personal agenda. Genetically modified crops are very safe and the amount of research that goes into the creation of what is essentially just speeding up a natural process is extensive. There’s never been a negative problem with a GMO.

So, why the Pope’s picture? It’s really because of the action of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and a letter from a Minnesota farmer. Thanks to Terry Wanzek who grows corn, soybeans, and wheat on his family farm in North Dakota and serves as a North Dakota Senator and board member of Truth About Trade & Technology, for bringing this to my attention.

He wrote a letter in which he mentions that the Pontifical Academy of Sciences has given it’s blessing to genetically modified crops as one solution to world hunger. Here’s the first two statutes of the Academy:

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, founded by Pius XI of hallowed memory, is placed under the exalted and direct protection of the reigning Supreme Pontiff.

The aim of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences and the study of epistemological problems related thereto.

Here are a couple of excerpts from Terry’s letter:

There are some people around the world who think religion and science shouldn’t get along. For some reason, they believe the men of the cloth should disagree with the men of the lab coat, now and forever.

Are GM foods dangerous, as so many Europeans have been told? �No substantiated environmental or health risks have been noted,� says the academy. �Opposition to biotechnology in agriculture is usually ideological.�

Isn’t it great when science and religion can agree and even in the face of extreme emotionalism with a political agenda.

Your slacker blogmaster really needs to get with it here and with election day today I just had to get back on track. It’s an important day in America and I hope everyone will exercise their civic and moral duty.

I attended a Sarah Palin rally here in Missouri yesterday and it was a lot of fun. Estimates are 18,000 at the State Capitol. You can see more pics here.

You’ll get the distinct impression from this post that I support voting McCain-Palin.

You are correct. I see this as a very clear choice. Unfortunately, I have some very liberal friends who I believe have convinced themselves so much that they hate our current President that they’ll vote for anyone without seriously thinking it through. They argue that there’s really not much one man can do so why worry? But then why are they so angry at President Bush? I know. It doesn’t make sense and it’s all based on emotion and not thoughtful and prayerful consideration.

We need to move our country back toward the kind of faith filled values that started it. Our country’s founders weren’t liberal anarchists. They very carefully and prayerfully considered what they were doing and acted accordingly. I thank God they did.

You should know how pro-life Chelsea and I are and I believe that’s enough reason to vote for McCain-Palin. However, there are so many more. I’m a small businessman and there’s no way I could support the policies of the O-man. We’re looking at a socialist who could have full Congressional support. That should be pause for anyone who wants to have a job and opportunities in the future.

Oh and btw. Hank Jr. sang a variation of one of his hits, called “McCain-Palin Tradition.” I think you will enjoy it.

I am making up my own Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Protectress of the Unborn and Patroness of the Americas, asking for her intercession for next year’s election. Primaries start in JANUARY!! I am adapting this from an entry I found in the Diary of St. Faustina. Please pray with me for the next nine days:

“Merciful Jesus, I beseech You through the intercession of Your dearest Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe, who nurtured You from childhood, bless my native land. I beg You, Jesus, look not on our sins, but on the tears of little children, on the hunger and cold they suffer. Jesus, for the sake of these innocent ones, grant me the grace that I am asking of You for my country.”

Amen

Presidential hopeful, Senator Sam Brownback, is a rarity as far as presidential candidates are concerned. A devout Catholic, he constantly strives to sanctify his daily life. One of the ways he does this is by keeping a quote from Mother Teresa on the back door of his home about not judging people:

“So easy to judge people,” he says. “I see you coming in the hallway and my mind just automatically goes, ‘Okay, reporter, Washington Post, that’s a primarily liberal publication, be careful.’ Well, now I’ve automatically judged you. So I’ve spent my time judging you instead of thinking, ‘Oh, here’s a great person that I can interact with. I pray to love ’em.’ “

He frequently examines his soul for hate and then works to rid himself from its harmful effects. He even went so far as to apologize to Hillary Clinton for having once despised her and her husband. In the business of politics it is easy to have ill feelings for those with whom you are in disagreement, especially in a heated debate. For these situations Sen. Brownback practices prayer:

“Instead of getting angry at somebody for opposing you on something, you’re just praying for them,” he says. “You just pray blessings on them, blessings on their family.”

In addition to striving for sanctity, the Senator is committed to promoting a culture of life. Recently he was the only presidential Candidate in the Senate to vote against a bill to increase funding for embryonic stem cell research and even lead the floor debate in opposition to it. During the 2004 Republican convention he said, “We must win this culture war. I say we fight.”

So now the Kansas Senator is seeking the office of Presidency and he does so with a humble abandonment to the will of God, “If I win, I win. If I lose, I lose. It’s a great liberation”

Though not an Opus Dei cooperater himself, Sam Brownback, a lifelong Protestant, was welcomed into the Catholic Church four years ago by Fr. John McCloskey, a priest of the prelature.

Source: Faith Based Initiative from the Washington Post

Three cheers for the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the partial birth abortion ban. This is a barbaric procedure which destroys the dignity of human life and our children, our women, deserve better.

Daily prayer for the Supreme Court: “May the Guardian Angels of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices guide them today.”

I’m sure I don’t need to remind you to vote today but I am anyway?

I’ve decided not to listen to any more of the rhetoric. I’ll read about it in the news tomorrow. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care. I’ve done my duty and registered my vote. Now it’s up to the rest of the country to stand up and be counted.

Does your one puny little vote count? You bet it does. What do you think makes up that big number at the end of the day? So, no matter what side you’re on please get out and add your vote. As I heard someone say yesterday, we have the freedom to do this at the cost of many, many lives and they should not be forgotten. I also think our vote is a way to honor those who are still in harm’s way defending our right to do this.

I have to be out of town next Tuesday so it was off to the Callaway County Courthouse today to vote by absentee ballot.

I know the election isn’t until next Tuesday but I urge you to use this right and make your voice heard. We really need to see the proposed Amendment 2 here in Missouri defeated in a big way.

Every vote does count!

At the University of Missouri football game yesterday a plane flew around the stadium pulling this sign.

Let’s keep getting the message out about the truth of this boondoggle and get it defeated next week.

If you need any information please let me know and I’ll be happy to send or point you to it.

In Missouri it looks like we’ve got a number of big names weighing in on the Amendment 2 ballot initiative that would allow human cloning and the destruction of human embryos. I haven’t seen this ad on tv yet but it’s on YouTube and got mentioned in USA Today, although I couldn’t find it in their online edition.

Let’s just hope people will look beyond the emotionalism and see the truth. Vote No on this please.

This would be the good. The people with common sense who are having to spend their hard earned money stopping this horrendous state constitutional amendment 2 that would allow human cloning even though the people behind it claim otherwise.

Don’t be fooled people. The enemies of life are clever.

This would be the bad and the ugly all wrapped into one.

Their billboards show a baby as if what they’re proposing would be good for them. Unfortunately they just want to create babies so they can kill them and harvest their parts. Not something I’m particularly fond of.

No, we don’t need or want embryonic stem cell research in this state or anywhere else.

Somehow the people of Missouri have allowed themselves to be suckered in by an emotional pitch for a pack of lies. The result is a state constitutional amendment that would not only allow human cloning but prevent any law from restricting research on human embryos.

It’s kind of hard to believe that people can be this cruel but then look at abortion in this country. This is all about money and one family in Kansas City who has already spent almost 16 million dollars promoting this phony amendement 2 problem.

So, if you really want to know the facts about what’s going on here I suggest you check out Reflections of a Paralytic. Of course I think it’s great. It’s my daughter’s new website. I’ll let you learn her story by visiting her website and looking at the growing amount of resources she’s linking to on the prolife issue and especially this cloning proposal we have facing us. BTW. That’s her wheelchair in the picture.

I can’t say how proud I am of her and what she’s doing. It’s very well done. In fact, look at what was just written about her on Kansas City Catholic. Her website already has more traffic and visitors than this one!