Imagine a son, brother, husband, or father sitting alone in the quiet of night, illuminated only by a screen. His heart feels empty, yet his body is drawn into patterns of desire that leave him unsatisfied. In the aftermath comes a heavy wave of shame, self-disgust, and a deep sense that he is unworthy — of love, of God’s mercy, of authentic relationship with others.
This suffering rarely remains isolated. A wife senses his emotional distance, his children feels the subtle fracture in family life, and friends notice a growing withdrawal. And if he’s honest, he knows the isolation is killing him. Pornography and unchaste behaviors do not confine their harm to one soul; they erode trust in marriages, distort perceptions of the opposite sex, and leave children in homes shadowed by unspoken pain and secrecy.
Many who struggle carry invisible burdens — guilt, shame, and inner voices insisting they are beyond repair or unlovable. They long for freedom, yet repeated efforts and failures deepen despair. Dear brother deacons, you have likely encountered this pain: in spiritual direction and in the quiet struggles of parishioners, family members, or friends. Perhaps you have seen joy fade from someone’s eyes when conversations grow guarded. This issue is real and the wounds are legion.
Why This Pain Persists: A Violation of God-Given Dignity
Attachment to pornography and the unchaste behaviors that flow from these behaviors arise from a fundamental distortion of our creation as male and female. We are made in God’s image to love as He loves through self-gift. Our sexuality is integral to this call: not merely an act, but who we are as embodied persons oriented toward communion.
As the Catechism teaches: “Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul. It especially concerns affectivity, the capacity to love and to procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude for forming bonds of communion with others” (CCC 2332).
When pornography redirects sexuality toward selfish gratification rather than self-donation, it brings not peace or joy, but guilt, shame, and alienation from self and others. Life is relational; anything that hinders authentic communion wounds the person at the core and the damage is inflicted in a myriad of ways.
The Broader Stakes: Protecting the Domestic Church
The family, rooted in sacramental marriage, is society’s fundamental cell — a visible icon of the Holy Trinity’s love. Through our bodies and vocations, we are called to reflect Trinitarian communion. The evil one, hating all that images God, attacks this foundation relentlessly. Pornography serves as a potent weapon, preventing marriages from forming, eroding existing ones, and distorting the next generation’s understanding of love.
Recent data from the Barna Group (2024) indicates that approximately 75% of Christian men and nearly 30% of Christian women report some level of pornography consumption. In a gathering of ten men, roughly seven or eight may carry this struggle; among ten women, three may as well. These numbers reveal a widespread challenge with serious consequences.
For men, pornography often fosters inward self-focus rather than self-giving protection and love. For women, it can falsely teach that their value lies solely in providing pleasure. When men and women fail to see and love each other in truth, marriages suffer, families weaken, and society bears a heavy cost. A 2003 survey of divorce attorneys found pornography a contributing factor in over half of cases, often due to unrealistic expectations that undermine marital intimacy and foster comparisons incompatible with sacrificial love. And with cell phones found in countless bedrooms, the gulch is widening between spouses who are both seeking genuine intimacy.
The lie persists that private behavior remains private. Yet what we consume shapes how we see and treat others — as objects rather than persons made in God’s image. This especially harms children: recent studies place the average age of first exposure around 8-11 years of age, and today’s content is often aggressive and enslaving. Pornography has become the primary “sexual education” for far too many young people, with lasting effects on formation, behavior, and future leadership.
Human trafficking, a related scourge fueled in part by this distorted view of the human person, generates enormous illicit profits (estimated in the hundreds of billions annually). No one begins life desiring such evil; it is learned, often through the normalization of objectification. This distorted “education” about sexuality and the body comes directly from the pornified culture, and the innocent are directly in danger of being harmed by such programmed behaviors.
The Pastoral Urgency for Deacons and the Church
Pornography ranks among the most frequently confessed sins, yet it is infrequently addressed from the pulpit. Many priests acknowledge the issue in the confessional but hesitate to preach on it — perhaps because estimates suggest a significant portion of clergy struggle as well. This is heartbreaking, as those called to lead must themselves seek healing in order to shepherd with integrity.
In 2019, a pew research survey found that only about 3% of self-reporting U.S. Catholics who attend Sunday Mass regularly affirmed the Church’s teaching on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. This is a significant problem, yet it makes sense: for how can we recognize Christ truly present in the Eucharist if we are conditioned not to see the dignity of the human body and soul in those around us? The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Faith; yet without clear vision of persons as beloved children of God, we cannot perceive the God-man veiled in this Sacrament.
Hope and Healing: Freedom Coaching as a Catholic Response
We believe the Gospel is for all of us, and calls us to receive the gift of redemption. I speak from personal experience: after more than a decade of bondage to pornography, God’s grace brought freedom I never imagined possible (see my book Redeemed Vision: Setting the Blind Free from the Pornified Culture for my full testimony, along with tremendous pastoral guidance on this issue). What started as personal healing has become a full-blown mission to liberate others.
In 2011, Freedom Coaching was founded as an authentically Catholic apostolate and nonprofit. We accompany men and women toward permanent freedom from pornography and unchaste behaviors through transformation of mind, heart, and vision. Unlike approaches focused solely on coping mechanisms, we address root wounds, inviting clients to encounter Jesus Christ the Healer, and then provide them the human and spiritual formation to abide in lifelong freedom.
Our process unfolds in four stages:
Reintegration — Processing emotions tied to past brokenness, we introduce clients to Jesus as the Divine psychologist, often with profound graces and messages being imparted.
Neuroscience — Understanding the brain science of attachment, showing why mere willpower is insufficient, and why a different path for lasting healing is necessary.
Identity Formation — Through the lens of Theology of the Body, clients rediscover their identity as a beloved son or daughter, and then empowered to foster authentic intimacy with God, self, and others.
Vision Coaching — Learning to see others through the education in art and beauty; scales fall from client’s eyes and lust gives way to genuine love.
This work bears fruit beyond stopping sin: clients begin truly seeing the homeless, the barista at their local coffeeshop, their spouse, and their children with reverence. It is this redeemed vision that transforms culture and is what helps make Christ’s reign visible.
Testimonies abound. Here are a few:
Jim (2014): “Freedom Coaching has completely freed me from a desire to lust. I can now be honest with myself and others.”
Fr. Jim (2020): “The process was very supportive in growing in holiness.The power of the evil one was broken. It was one of the best experiences of my life.”
John (2021): “Freedom Coaching very well may have saved my soul. It has changed my relationship with my wife and given me a newly found respect for all females.”
Freedom Coaching enjoys endorsements from Catholic leaders, including Christopher West of the Theology of the Body Institute, various bishops, and recognition as an official apostolate of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. (I encourage you to visit freedom-coaching.net for more testimonies.)
A call to Deacons: become allies in this battle
The call to live an integrated sexuality is the battle of our time, for it is the primary wound undergirding many societal wounds and profoundly decimates one’s capacity to receive and give love. The need is urgent: souls seek help, priests desire resources, youth need protection. But there is hope: At Freedom Coaching, we have witnessed shame transform into dignity, marriages strengthen, and priests renewed.
We invite you, dear deacons, to join us as allies:
Pray for our coaches, clients, donors, and all involved.
Share our resources — ministry cards are available to you, and your priests for the confessional, at no cost.
Support financially if God prompts — scholarships ensure no one seeking help is turned away. Your generosity helps save marriages, restore fathers, protect children, and renew vocations (including creating more deacons!).
I started this article with a description of man trapped in shame. Now picture that same man standing in light, hand-in-hand with his child, meeting his wife’s eyes with honesty, & entering his parish with hope. This transformation is possible through Jesus Christ and the work we do at Freedom Coaching.
The hour is late, yet as long as we trust in Jesus and respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, healing awaits. Let us work together to unveil the reality of mercy, truth, hope, and a redeemed vision of the human person.
Steve Pokorny is the Founder of Freedom Coaching, a one-to-one mentoring system designed to break the power of pornified images in both men and women. His book, Redeemed Vision: Setting the Blind Free from the Pornified Culture, is available from Amazon.
The leaders of our local Patchogue Prayer Meeting produce a PODCAST each week. I would like to recommend it to you. They talk about real life issues of living out our Catholic faith by sharing stories and experiences as well as teaching moments. To me, the thing that makes them stand out is the range in ages from teenage to Grown Adults. I asked them to write a short description and to give links to their podcast. Please find that here:
The Open Doors Podcast is a local Long Island–based, Catholic faith-centered podcast rooted in Christian testimony, reflection, and honest conversation. Through real-life stories of trials and triumphs, the podcast creates space for listeners to encounter God’s presence in everyday moments—especially when faith feels messy, uncertain, or difficult to articulate. Its mission is to encourage deeper trust in Christ and remind listeners that they are not alone on their spiritual journey.
The podcast is hosted by four voices from different seasons of life: Marissa (36), Janine (49), her son James (15), and Ivette (25), from Spain. Together, they offer an intergenerational perspective on faith, family, doubt, perseverance, and grace. Their conversations are intentionally relatable and welcoming, with a special heart for those who may feel disconnected, overlooked, or unsure if they truly belong within the Church.
At its core, The Open Doors Podcast exists to support evangelization by welcoming all—especially those searching for meaning, healing, and belonging. Select episodes are also available in Spanish, helping to reach listeners who feel more comfortable engaging in their native language. Wherever someone finds themselves on their faith journey, the podcast seeks to remind them that God meets them exactly where they are—and that the door is always open.
First of all, this is not a political article, it is simply about the death of a great American Christian evangelist and his impact on so many. His assassination on September 10, 2025 brought widespread sadness to so many people. I watched his memorial service on September 21 and was shocked at two things. First of all, it was a huge service with over 100,000 people attending, including the President and most of his Cabinet. Secondly, it seemed more like an Evangelical praise and worship meeting, than a funeral service. Also, I have never seen so many government officials give testimony to their faith in Jesus. I think that the reason for this was that even though Charlie Kirk was known as a Conservative political activist, I believe that his deepest convictions lay in his Christian faith and his desire to spread the Good News. He himself, when asked what he would like to be remembered for, or what his legacy was, said, “I want to be remembered for courage for my faith That would be the most important thing. The most important thing is my faith”. When asked of his goal of teaching conservatism to people, he said, “You have to try to point them toward ultimate purposes and toward getting back to the church, getting back to faith, getting married, having children. That is the type of conservatism that I represent, and I’m trying to paint a picture of virtue, of lifting people up, not just staying angry.” That is the role of a Christian Evangelist.
The slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk was “a modern-day St. Paul,” New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said in a Sept. 19 appearance on “Fox & Friends.” “He was a missionary, he’s an evangelist, he’s a hero,” he said. “He’s one, I think, who knew what Jesus meant when he said, ‘The truth will set you free.’”
The Cardinal was not familiar with Kirk before his shooting, but when he heard about it, and the tremendous outpouring of grief about it he said, “I thought, ‘I’ve got to learn about this guy,’ and the more I learned about him, I thought, ‘this guy’s a modern-day St. Paul,’” “Now I understand he was pretty blunt and he was pretty direct. He didn’t try to avoid any controversy, he didn’t even try to avoid confrontation,” he said. “The difference is the way, the mode, the style that he did it — always with respect (for his opponents) and not only was that a gracious, kind of virtuous thing to do, it’s effective. … I thought this guy can teach us something.” I agree so much with the good Cardinal. The Cardinal went on saying Kirk “wasn’t afraid to talk about the Lord. He wasn’t even afraid to say the name of Jesus,” Cardinal Dolan said, adding, “I heard Billy Graham once say, ‘I will never publicly speak without saying the name of Jesus because that name has power and it echoes through the universe.’ And apparently, that’s what Charlie did.” Dolan said he had spent the previous evening with about 200 students at the New York University Catholic Center and “this is what they talked about.” He said he is seeing a return to religion among young people, who, he thinks, are feeling there’s “something missing … a void,” despite their jobs and success. There’s a “kind of a revival” of “a sense of value and truth and conviction” among young people, he said, “almost an elevation of the role of faith back into the public square where our founders intended it to be from the beginning.” “This overwhelming sense of appreciation for Charlie and the great solidarity that we’re sensing is itself an answer to prayers and is itself a sign of the Resurrection,” he said. “I would reckon,” the cardinal added, “that some people are saying, ‘Well, you’re saying too many nice things about him (Kirk).’ I don’t know him that well, but I am sure if he was a convinced disciple of Jesus Christ, he knew his sins. Jesus knew them.” He praised Kirk’s debate style — respecting those who disagreed with him and those he disagreed with. The focus of healthy debate, the cardinal said, must be “issues not individuals, principles not just politics, principles not people. The weakest of all arguments, you know, is ad hominem, when you begin to attack the person.”
I agree with our good Cardinal. Whether you agreed with Charlie Kirk on his political beliefs, or not, there is no doubt that he led many young people to Jesus and back to their church. I have now watched several of his video appearances and have been amazed at how much he talked about Jesus and his faith. He has done several interviews and has impressed so many people, both religious and not, with his faith.
R.C. Bishop Robert Barron said, “I first met Charlie Kirk about four years ago when I was in Phoenix for a speaking engagement. He reached out and invited me to breakfast. I was deeply impressed by him that day. He was a man of great intelligence, considerable charm, and real goodness of heart I reconnected with him just last year, after I saw him debate twenty-five young people who were, to put it mildly, hostile to his views. I texted him that I was so struck by how he kept his cool and his charitable attitude in the face of some pretty obnoxious opposition. I then asked him to appear as a guest on my interview program, “Bishop Barron Presents,” and he eagerly accepted my invitation. He was scheduled to come to Rochester, Minnesota in about ten days. The last contact we had was two nights ago. After I appeared on one of the evening news shows to talk about the Religious Liberty Commission, he texted me and told me how much he appreciated what I said and then added, “I’m excited to join you on your show soon. God bless you.” That last sentence shows what was most important to Charlie. He was indeed a great debater and also one of the best advocates in our country for civil discourse, but he was, first and last, a passionate Christian. In fact, when we had that breakfast in Phoenix, we didn’t talk much about politics. We talked about theology, in which he had a deep interest, and about Christ. I know I’m joining millions of people around the world in praying that he rests now in the peace of the Lord. The assassination of Charlie Kirk kept him from going on Bishop Barron’s show. I would have loved to see that.
Another Catholic, Alex Jones who is the co-founder of the Prayer app, HALLOW, said that Kirk had contacted him recently and told him that he used HALLOW as a prayer app. Jones said that Kirk “was so kind to me; a brother in Christ.” Jones said that in the week following Charlie Kirk’s death, the HALLOW app saw a 95 percent increase in new users.
Charlie Kirk worked with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Author and speaker, who said, “I am devastated by the tragic murder of my friend Charlie Kirk. Charlie was not only a fearless voice for America but also a tireless advocate for Israel’s safety and security. We worked together, shoulder to shoulder, as activists committed to strengthening the bond between these two great allies. I’ve been looking back through our many text messages, especially from the days of the first Trump administration, when I strongly encouraged him to ensure that Turning Point USA and young American conservatives fully grasped the threats against Israel. Charlie responded as a devout Christian with passion and conviction, emerging as one of Israel’s leading defenders in the United States. His courage, friendship, and unwavering voice will be deeply missed. America is becoming a sewer of anti-American hatred and anti-Israel violence. Those fomenting that hatred against Jews and their steadfast allies like Charlie Kirk have blood on their hands tonight. May his memory be a blessing.
When Charlie Kirk met with Bill Maher, who was raised in a Catholic/Jewish household and has declared himself an atheist or at least a skeptic, Kirk told Maher, “”The greatest minds of history have been mesmerized by the Scriptures — Isaac Newton, Thomas Aquinas. Isaac Newton wrote more about biblical prophecy than even physics. And so there’s something about the Scriptures that are intellectual, that does push your limits. And that’s what I think is so beautiful about our faith is it can be accessible to everyone, but also infinitely nourishing in exploration.” He went on to say, “In China and, of course, in the Soviet Union, there was an anti-Christian movement. Very hardcore. …What book do you think is best for humanity to live by? I say the Bible. … The entire arc of the Bible is a story of love and a need for humanity’s redemption. …The Bible has wisdom in ways you might not ever imagine. …Humanity will seek to find a book, they’ll seek to find a code to live by.” After Charlie Kirk’s death, Bill Mayer said, “Charlie Kirk and I certainly didn’t agree on much politically, but he sat here, he’s a human being, he’s not a monster,” Maher said. “And I liked him.”
There is no doubt that Charlie, and his evangelical love of God and preaching touched many people. He definitely is responsible for drawing many young people back to Jesus and back to Church. Charlie himself, knew what growth in faith was all about. He was initially brought up by his parents in the Presbyterian Church. They later became Evangelicals and Charlie was definitely an Evangelical Christian. He did, however marry a woman, Erika, who was brought up by Roman Catholic parents and who attended Catholic school. It would appear that she and Charlie shared a deep faith commitment to each other and that a little of each other’s faith rubbed out on each. There are some insiders who say that Erika attends Catholic mass often and there are pictures of Charlie and her and the family at mass. There are pictures of them at mass at St. Bernadette parish in Scottsdale, AZ and at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. Charlie told others that the pastor at St. Bernadette’s was a good friend of his.
Edgar Lujano, of Catholic Answers, tells us that a little more than a week before his murder, Kirk attended a pro-life prayer breakfast in Visalia, California, which is in the Diocese of Fresno. The local bishop was among those in attendance and had a brief, private moment with Kirk. It was there that Kirk told the bishop about his Catholic wife and children and how he attended Mass with them. He punctuated this conversation with “I love my Catholic pastor.” As they were parting to attend the more public portion of the prayer breakfast, Kirk mentioned speculation regarding his contemplating entering the Catholic Church, saying: “I’m this close.”
There are some friends who say that Charlie would even pray the rosary on occasion. In one of his video shows he said, “But let me first say, I think we as Protestants and Evangelicals under-venerate Mary. She was very important. She was a vessel for our Lord and Savior.” “I think that we, as Evangelicals and Protestants, we’ve overcorrected. We don’t talk about Mary enough. We don’t venerate her enough. Mary was clearly important to early Christians. There’s something there. In fact, I believe one of the ways that we fix toxic feminism in America is that Mary is the solution.” “Have more young ladies be pious, be reverent, be full of faith, slow to anger, slow to words at times. Mary is a phenomenal example, and I think a counter to so much of the toxicity of feminism in the modern era.”
In an interview with Russell Brand in 2024, Charlie said, “I mean, I’m nothing without Jesus. I’m a sinner. I fall incredibly short of the glory of God. We all do. I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade, and it’s the most important decision I’ve ever made, and everything I do incorporates Jesus Christ.” On September 6, 2025, four days before his murder, Charlie said, “Jesus defeated death so you can live.”
Pastor Rob McCoy, Co-chair of Turning Point Faith said, “Charlie did not die. Instead, he has begun to truly live. His life was secured eternally by His Savior Jesus Christ. This truth allowed Charlie to face every threat with courage because he didn’t fear death.” I do believe that Charlie is in a better place now. But what about those he left behind. He has a beautiful wife, Erika and two children. Erika is a strong woman, and strong in her faith, and has taken up the role of CEO of Turning Point, Charlie’s organization. She brought me to tears when at Charlie’s memorial service she publically said, “My husband Charlie, he wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life.” She then mentioned how Jesus, while on the cross, forgave those who were killing him and said that they don’t know what they do. She then said, “That young man, I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did and it is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer, we know from the Gospel is LOVE, and always love, love for our enemies, and those who persecute us.”. It seems that Erika is certainly a great choice to continue what Charlie had started. She has shown the world what true forgiveness as a Christian is all about. It is also interesting to know that membership in Turning Point, as well as attendance at the events they have held since the death of Charlie has grown tremendously.
Thank you Charlie for your faith and the way you shared it, especially with young people. “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen”, “May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen”.
First of all, I feel so inadequate to write this because I was brought up as a Protestant Methodist (I converted in 1972) and I heard very little about Mary when I was growing up. About the only time we heard about her was at Christmas. However, after becoming Catholic, I have grown in love with Mary, not only as the mother of Jesus, but also as my mother. Because of this, I am very excited to write about her Queenship. Believe me, most Protestants do not understand how we Catholics can see Mary as Queen. Hopefully, this might help. I think that it is interesting that the Protestant Evangelist and Conservative commentator, Charlie Kirk, only two months before his assassination/death, had this to say, “But let me first say, I think we as Protestants and Evangelicals under-venerate Mary. She was very important. She was a vessel for our Lord and Savior. I think that we, as Evangelicals and Protestants, we’ve overcorrected. We don’t talk about Mary enough. We don’t venerate her enough. Mary was clearly important to early Christians. There’s something there. In fact, I believe one of the ways that we fix toxic feminism in America is that Mary is the solution. Have more young ladies be pious, be reverent, be full of faith, slow to anger, slow to words at times. Mary is a phenomenal example, and I think a counter to so much of the toxicity of feminism in the modern era.” Whether or not you agree with the political side of that statement, I think that it is notable that a Protestant Evangelical made such a statement about Mary. I once read an article stating that Mary would be the one who brings the Protestant and Catholic Church back together. I would love to see that happen.
The main scripture that shows Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth is Revelation 12: 1-6 which describes a woman, with a Crown of 12 stars giving birth to a male child who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” It tells how the Devil wished to devour the child. This vision that Saint John descibes, clearly shows Mary, the Mother of Jesus as a Queen. But the question is often asked, “why does the Church need a Queen? Didn’t Mary fulfill her duty by giving birth and raising Jesus?” The answer is clearly, no. Mary was chosen not only to be the mother of Jesus but our mother too, She was chosen to be the Queen of Heaven and Earth. We can understand this better when we look at the Hebrew scriptures and the history of their Kings. Don’t forget that Jesus is known as the King of Kings and Son of David. The Davidic Kingdom finds its fulfillment in Jesus as KING OF THE UNIVERSE.
In the Davidic Kingdom of the Jews, the King had primary authority and often they had many brides. Even if there was one favored bride, the Mother of the King was known as the Queen. This was a recognized office and not just a title. In her office she possessed a Crown and a Throne and had signigicant powers. The Queen had the title of Gebirah (Hebrew for Great Lady) and served as a powerful and influential person within the King’s royal court. Often the King would have his subjects go to her with their requests and she would bring to him the ones she thought were necessary and would often handle many on her own. Catholics continue this tradition by often bringing to Mary their intercessions, to then to bring to Jesus. Remember that the Queen mother had the highest royal position, even above any of the King’s wives. Today the Church is seen as the Bride of Christ and we can all thus be seen as his bride (males too). There are many scriptures that show this, but my favorite is Isaiah 54:5 – “For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of hosts is His name; and the Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall He be called.” However, even though we have many Brides of the King, we have only one Queen, His mother Mary. This is just like the Davidic Kings.
Bathsheba, the wife of Solomon, is known as the first Gebirah, or Queen mother. Many others followed; Maacha, Azubah, Zibiah, Jehoaddom, Jecholiah, Jerusha, Abi, Hephzihah, Meshullemeth, Jedidah, Hamutal, Zebidah, and Nehusta who was the last when the Babylonians conquered the Kingdom. It should also be noted that the royal expression for addressing the Gebirah was “the mother of my Lord”. This is the same exxpression that Elizabeth called Mary when the Visitation occurred (Luke 1:43). Even Elizabeth, during that very special meeting, while Jesus was still within Mary’s womb, recognized Mary as the Gebirah or Queen Mother. Today the Church continues that tradition of recognizing Mary as the Queen Mother, the Queen of Heaven and Earth. Why? Because Jesus is the King of Kings, the King of Heaven and Earth and Mary is His Mother and both Scripture and Tradition tell us to..
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
1 – Do I really honor Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth?
2 – Do I appreciate the rich link between our Christian faith and the Jewish traditions?
3 – Do I see Mary as someone to intercede to?
4 – Do I recognize Jesus as the King of the Universe?
5 – Do I see how God was at work within the Jewish nation and how it led to our beliefs today?
6 – Do I stand up for my beliefs even among people who believe differently than me?
7 – Can I think of ways to give special honor to Mary, as Queen of the Universe”
8 – Again, how am I doing on praying the Rosary on a regular basis?
9 – In the midst of her Queenship, can I see Mary as my mother?
10 – Do I understand how special I am as a believer in Jesus, as having Him as my Spouse and as having His Mother as my mother too?
There is something very special happening to the Church today. I am seeing more and more young people coming to mass and attending spiritual gatherings. The Church invited youth and young adults to celebrate the Jubilee of Young People for 2025 in Rome in late July and early August. To the surprise of many, 500,000 participated during the week and over 1 million attended the final mass with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV. It was certainly a sight to see. The young people and the Pope reflected so much joy and holiness. They showed that the Church was truly alive and also quite relevant to young people.
This weekend the Church will be canonizing two young men; Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis. Pier was only 24 when he died and Carlo was only 15. Both of them were young men who loved Jesus and His Church and who served as an example to others of what the Christian Life was all about. They also enjoyed the fullness of life as so many young people do. I fully believe that these two Saints (soon to be) will continue to serve the world by being examples to young people about how to enjoy youth as well as how to be a good Christian. I would like to take a brief look at both of their lives. Pier lived in the beginning of the 1900’s and Carlo lived in the beginning of the 2000’s. Pier is known as the “Man of the Beatitudes” and Carlo is know as the “First Millenial Saint”. May they continue to inspire us all, especially the young men and women in today’s world.
CARLO ACUTIS was born on May 3, 1991 in London England. Shortly after his birth, his family moved back to Italy and lived a life like so many others do. Carlo’s parents worked, and Carlo attended school. Carlo had several pets, played soccer, loved movies, went snow skiing and loved to play video games. Ever since he was little, Carlo had a devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist. His mother tells how he could not pass a church without going inside to say hello to Jesus in the tabernacle. Carlo’s parents had stopped going to Church and because of the devotion that Carlo had, they started attending again. Finally, after much anticipation, Carlo received first communion in 1998. Carlo just naturally seemed to know the significance of the Eucharist. To Carlo, that was his fuel for living. Carlo attended mass, and went to Adoration to continually be refueled. His Eucharistic zeal was contagious. Although Carlo did many of the other normal things youth do, like school, homework, sports practices, social events, games, music, the internet and absolutely loving to eat gelato, he stood out from the crowd by managing his time towards the Eucharist and helping others. He once talked about his friends by saying, “They’ll stand in line for hours to go to a concert, but won’t stay even a minute before the tabernacle.” He couldn’t understand this.
In the early 2000’s the Internet was becoming quite available and Carlo dove right in. He learned coding and how to build websites and saw the Internet as a new tool to draw attention to the Church and the Eucharist. He developed websites for his parish and school. He even helped to develop the Vatican website. He began to become known as a technology protege around the world because of his work in the Vatican. He used the Internet to find out more and more about Eucharistic miracles He decided that he wanted to create a website just for that (and you can still use it today). He talked his parents in to taking him around to many sites of the Eucharistic miracles and took pictures and copious notes. He even walked to many and gathered information from 17 countries and made up 142 panels for helping others see the miracles.
In the fall of 2006, this faith filled young man started feeling ill. His parents took him to the doctor with flu-like symptoms. Testing came back showing that he had advanced stages of Leukemia. Despite this bad diagnosis, Carlo kept up his spirit and kept Christ as his top priority, offering up his sickness for the Pope and the Church and for his direct entry in to heaven. Carlo suffered gently and always thanked the people around him and kept a positive spirit. Fr. Sandro Villa, the hospital chaplain tells of the last time Carlo received the Eucharist. He says, “I was amazed by the composure and devotion with which, albeit with difficulty, he received the two sacraments. He seemed to have been waiting for them and felt the need for them.” He continued by saying, “I discovered that he was in love with the real presence of Jesus in the eucharist.” Carlo also said earlier to his mom, “I am happy to die because I have lived my life without wasting a minute on those things that do not please God.” Carlo died on October 12, 2006 at 15 years old.
Rejoice when you see a Statue of a teenage Saint, dressed in blue jeans and sneakers. Check out his website at https://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/liste/list.html
PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI was born in 1901 in Turin, Italy and died in 1924. Saint John Paul II declared him a patron of World Youth Days and named him the “Man of the Beatitudes”. John Paul II also said he “was a young man filled with a joy that swept everything along with it, a joy that overcame the difficulties in his life”. Pier was known for his regular worship and adoration, as well as his service to the poor and the marginalized. He was a great advocate for Social justice and religious liberty. He was an avid mountain climber and saw many parallels between that and Catholic Life. On the back of a picture taken during his final climb, he wrote, “Verso L’Alto” which means “to the heights”.
Like Carlo Acutis, Frassati was enamored by the Eucharist. He once said to young people, “Prayer is the noble supplication which we lift up to the throne of God. It is the most efficient means to obtain from God the graces which we need, and especially the strength of persevering in these times, in which the hatred of the sons of the devil is breaking out violently against the sheep who are faithful to the fold. In recommending heartfelt prayer to you, I am including all the practices of piety, first of all the most Holy Eucharist. And remembering that apostle of the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Father Pius X of venerable memory, I urge you with all the strength of my soul to approach the Eucharistic Table as often as possible. Feed on this Bread of the Angels from which you will draw the strength to fight inner struggles, the struggles against passions and against all adversities, because Jesus Christ has promised to those who feed themselves with the most Holy Eucharist, eternal life and the necessary graces to obtain it. “And when you become totally consumed by this Eucharistic Fire, then you will be able to thank with greater awareness the Lord God who has called you to be part of his flock and you will enjoy that peace which those who are happy, according to the world, have never tasted. Because true happiness, young people, does not consist in the pleasures of the world and in earthly things, but in peace of conscience which we can have only if we are pure in heart and in mind.”
Frassati love to minister to the poor. He spent much of his time doing so. He was known to use his bus fare to give to the poor, and then run home to his parents to be home in time for meals. He not only gave his money to the poor, he also gave of his time. Besides receiving the Eucharist daily, he meditated on St. Paul’s “Hymn of Charity” (I Corinthians 13), and put that in to action. He loved mountain climbing and outings to the mountains. He invited friends to these as well as to his apostolic work, He brought his friends to Mass, to the reading of Scripture, and to praying the rosary. He also did worldly things like going to the theater, to the opera, and to museums. He was a young man who really enjoyed life.
Just before receiving his university degree, Pier Giorgio contracted poliomyelitis. Doctors later speculated he caught it from the sick whom he tended. After six days of terrible suffering Pier Giorgio died at the age of 24 on July 4, 1925. Even on his death bed, he wrote notes to help people that he had cared for. For his funeral, the streets of the city were filled with mourners. His family did not know them. They were the poor and the needy whom he had cared for. They, in turn, were surprised to find out that the Pier Giorgio was the heir of the influential Frassati family. He loved the poor, loved Jesus, loved Mary, loved the Eucharist, loved Adoration, loved the scriptures and loved the rosary. May he inspire us all, especially the young.
One of the greatest things about the Catholic Church is its unity within a great deal of diversity. We can see this on a small scale by visiting different churches within our living areas and even by listening to different priests or deacons preach within our home parish. You can really see this when you understand that the Catholic Church consists of 24 different, or particular Churces using six different rites all under one Pope. All of these Catholic churches have the same core beliefs, they just express them in different ways. One of the churches is the Roman Catholic Church which follows the Latin rite, and is the church most readily recognized as Catholic. This is the largest of all 24. The other 23 churches follow the Eastern Rites and may look quite different in their appearances and liturgy, but follow the same core beliefs. ALL OF THESE CHURCHES ARE CATHOLIC and have the same head, the Pope.
Each church and rite developed within its own area and own history, but it is important to see that we are one. Someday we hope that the Orthodox churches and the Catholic churches will be again united after a 1,000 year separation. Many Popes and Patriarchs have worked on this, and I am hoping to see it happen within my lifetime. Nonetheless, we should celebrate the unity that we have within our Catholic diversity. One can even hope for the return of the Protestant churches. All of the Churches, and Rites (as listed below) are in full communion with each other and recognize the Pope as their head.
Jesus said in John 17: 21-23
May they all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also be one in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, so that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, and thus the world may know that you have sent me and that you have loved them even as you have loved me.
Latin Rite Roman Catholic Church
Alexandrian Rite Coptic Catholic Church Eritrean Catholic Church Ethiopian Catholic Church
West Syrian (or Antiochene) Rite Maronite Catholic Church Syriac Catholic Church Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Armenian Rite Armenian Catholic Church
East Syrian (or Chaldean) Rite Chaldean Catholic Church Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
Constantinopolitan (or Byzantine) Rite Albanian Catholic Church Belarusian Catholic Church Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church Byzantine Church of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro Greek Byzantine Catholic Church Hungarian Greek Catholic Church Italo-Albanian Catholic Church Macedonian Catholic Church Melkite Greek Catholic Church Romanian Catholic Church Russian Catholic Church Ruthenian Catholic Church (Byzantine Catholic Church in America) Slovak Catholic Church Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
After His baptism, Jesus performs His first public miracle at the Wedding Feast at Cana. It would appear that He really chose this place because of the plea of His Mother, Mary. The scripture (John 2:1-12 ) makes it seem that He did not feel that His time had come yet, but because of the intercession of His mother, He changed the water in to wine.
The fact the first public miracle of Jesus happens at a wedding celebration tells us that marriage is of primary importance. Jesus himself chose to come in to the world through a married couple, Mary and Joseph. He chose to submit himself to them as His parents. In doing this, He blessed marriage and family life. Marriage is of primary importance to the world and especially to the Church.
This mystery also tells us that Jesus listens to, and answers the intercession of His mother. It was Mary who saw the need and came to Jesus with the need. At first Jesus tells Mary that His time has not yet come (to begin His ministry?), but Mary proceeds to tell the stewards to do whatever He tells them. I can’t help but to think that Mary knew her son well enough to know that He needed a little “push” to get going. How many of us parents know that sometimes our children need a little encouragement, to begin what they are called to do? Perhaps Mary knew that, and did it.
This mystery also tells us that Jesus and His disciples and Mary knew how to enjoy a good time. They knew how to celebrate. I think that Jesus would today tell us that a little wine (or beer or drink) can help us to celebrate, as long as we don’t have a problem with it, and that we can use it in moderation. Jesus often said that He wants us to have an abundant life and a joy filled life. I think that He loves us to have responsible parties. He does love community and joy.
We cannot stress enough that Jesus listens to His Mother and that she is very concerned with His people. Mary’s roll as both an intercessor and her concern for us, has been shown over and over again in the history of the Church. There is no doubt that we can pray directly to Jesus, however, isn’t it great to have His mother join us in prayer? He listens to His mother and heeds her call.
The very fact is that not only did Jesus act on Mary’s request at Cana, but He did so with over-abundance and great quality (he filled many large jars and even the wine steward said that the wine was the best). Doesn’t it make great sense to have Mary join us in our prayers so that we know we will receive above and beyond what is expected? This definitely builds up our faith, just as it did the disciples who were at Cana. Let us take a few moments to reflect on this.
1 – Do I call upon Mary to help me with her intercession?
2 – Do I expect Jesus to respond to my needs with abundance and even more than I ask for?
3 – Do I have great respect for the Sacrament of Marriage?
4 – Do I have great respect for healthy family life?
5 – Do I enjoy celebrating events with others?
6 – Do I expect miracles from Jesus to happen in my life?
7 – Do I drink alcoholic beverages in moderation?
8 – Do I offer encouragement (and perhaps a little push) to others to ger them started?
9 – Do I have concern for others and offer prayers for them?
10 – Do I allow the miracles of life (and those from the history of the Church) to build up my faith?
Many people ask, “Why did Jesus undergo Baptism by John?” It is obvious that the Baptism performed by John was one of repentance for SIN. Since Jesus did not sin, why would He consent to this baptism? The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, “The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God’s suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. His baptism even is a connection to his saving death and resurrection and unites us to that. Saint Paul tells us, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his [Rom. 6:3-5]. Jesus is the normative man; that is, we should do as Jesus does. The Catechism goes on to say, “Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father’s beloved son in the Son and “walk in newness of life”
Just as the Baptism of Jesus was the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, our Baptism is the beginning of our walk with Him. The baptism that we follow in the Catholic Church is at the command of Jesus. Just before ascending in to heaven, Jesus told His disciples, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19). The Catholic Church follows this command, strictly. Let us take a moment to reflect on how this affects us.
1 – Have I been baptized in the Trinitarian formula (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)? If you were baptized in the Catholic Church, you were. If you were baptized in another faith, you many not have been. Check to see and if you were not, sign up for the Adult Christian Initiation classes in your church and be baptized as Jesus tells us to.
2 – Do I understand that my baptism marks me for all eternity as a follower of Jesus?
3 – Do I understand that my baptism means that I have been given a job to do, namely being like Jesus and telling others about HIM.
4 – Do I understand that when I was baptized, I received new birth and received the Holy Spirit (to be later given in fullness at Confirmation).
5 – Do I understand that my baptism has made me a child of God?
6 – Do I fully appreciate the humility that Jesus showed in being baptized?
7 – Do I treat the baptism of friends and relatives with the respect that it deserves?
8 – Do I understand that God has sanctified water and continually uses it to bring about His graces.
9 – Do I see other baptized people as my brother and sisters?
10 – Have I encouraged my friends and relatives to honor baptism,
The scripture that portrays the 5th Joyful Mystery is Luke 2:41-52 which says; “Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.”
This Mystery causes us to think of many things. First of all, what was the boy Jesus like in those 12 years that we hear nothing about from the scriptures? Second, what was it like to be the Mother and step-Father of the Messiah, the Son of God? Third, did Jesus really know who He was? He readily called God His Father, did His human side know anything about His Divine side? What was the anxiety like for Mary and Joseph. All of these are things that we should ponder. In addition to that, let us question how this affects us in our everyday life.
1 – Do I take my children to Church festivals and feasts throughout the year?
2 – Do I readily mix family and Church together, especially in activities?
3 – Do I trust leaving my children with friends and relatives?
4 – How much anxiety do I feel when I cannot find my child?
5 – How well do I understand my children?
6 – Do I know my children well enough to be able to find them in a reasonable time?
7 – Have I taught my children to be obedient to me?
8 – Can I see how my children mature so quickly?
9 – Do I see my children grow in divine and human favor?
10 – Can I take some time and re-read these questions seeing myself as the child, and God my Father?
In Luke 2: 22-40 we hear how Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the Temple to perform the prescribed rituals as to the custom of the law. We heard how Mary’a time of “purification” was over (not that she really needed it) and that she and Joseph would take the baby Jesus to the Temple. It appears that there was both a need for a purification ritual for Mary and a Presentation of the Lord as the first born son. Both were required by Jewish law. The purification of Mary meant that a sacrifice (two doves indicated their poor status) had to be offered. It was also customary for the first born male baby to be presented to God. This reflected the call from Exodus regarding the Angel of Death passing over the first born males of the Jews, but not the Egyptians. Joseph and Mary did both.
While going in to the Temple, they were greeted by two prophets. The first was Simeon who was led by the Spirit to go to the Temple at that perfect time. Luke relates that Simeon was a Holy man who had been told by God that he would not pass from this life, until he had seen the Messiah. Upon looking at the baby Jesus, Simeon immediately knew that He was the Messiah. Simeon then prayed the
Nunc Dimintis, sometime known as the Song of Simeon or Canticle of Simeon. This prayer says to God:
“Now, Master, you let your servant go in peace. You have fulfilled your promise. My own eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all peoples. A light to bring the Gentiles from darkness; the glory of your people Israel”.
This canticle is recited every day in Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted – and you yourself a sword will pierce, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Mary Queen of Sorrows)
About this time a prophetess by the name of Anna came. All of scripture only mentions four women prophets, and Anna is one of them. We were told that she was a very Holy woman who remained in the Temple day and night fasting and praying. She too immediately recognized the baby Jesus as the Messiah. She gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Luke then said, “when Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.”
There is so much to meditate on in this Mystery. Here are some questions to help us see how this Mystery affects each one of us:
1 – Do I diligently do all that the Church asks and even requires me to do?
2 – Do I include my immediate family in this?
3 – Am I comfortable in going, with my whole family, in to the Church?
4 – Do I see my children as both a gift from God and as a gift to God?
5 – Am I open to listening to the words of Holy men and women?
6 – Am I able to trust God, even when given bad news?
7 – Do I experience the wonder (and grace) of watching my children grow?
8 – Am I open to hear the voice of God, and to do what He asks me to do?
9 – Do I truly believe that every childs is filled with potential?
10 – Am I confident enough to share with another a “word” that God has given me for them?
MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY the Third Joyful Mystery: the NATIVITY – by Deacon Marty McIndoe
Thanks to St. Francis of Assisi, we are all familiar with Nativity scenes. We put them up in our homes, our churches and our communities. We know quite well the stories shared by Matthew and Luke about Joseph taking the very pregnant Mary to Bethlehem and not finding room in the inn and having to settle for a place where the animals made their homes. We know the stories about the angels coming to the shepherds telling them that the new born King had come. We know how the Wise Men came to offer their gifts to the newborn King of the Jews, We know that this new baby is God-made-man and our savior and our Lord, Jesus the Messiah. In the midst of the nativity story, there is so much symbolism about who Jesus would be. The very fact that Jesus was born in a town named Bethlehem is quite notable. Bethlehem literally means House of Bread. This Jesus would become the Eucharist, the Bread from Heaven. It is also notable that Jesus was laid down in a manger, which is actually a feeding trough for animals. This also points to Jesus being the Bread for the World to be eaten as the Eucharist. Jesus later says, “I am the bread of life; unless you eat my body and drink my blood, you will not have life within you.”
The shepherds are awoken by the heavenly Host of Angels praising God and who tell the shepherds to go visit the newborn King. They do so, and it is interesting that there is some (although possibly scant) evidence that the shepherds in the Bethlehem area were the ones responsible for the lambs to be used in the temple for sacrifice. Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. These shepherds, who perhaps were responsible for taking care of the temple sacrificial lambs, get to view the true Sacrificial Lamb, Jesus the lamb of God. One of the gifts that the Wise Men bring is Myrrh, which is used at burial time. Here at the birth of Jesus, we are reminded that He was born to die for us. The very Star that led the Wise Men reminds us of the divine plan that is present and how God leads us to where he wants us to go. The Wise Men’s gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh foreshadow Jesus’ roles as King, Son of God and Savior. The whole story of the Nativity reflects that Jesus is born to be among the common people, among the humble of heart, and around the poor. It is truly a reflection of the life of Jesus.
Questions to Ponder:
1 – Do I embrace humility the way Jesus does?
2 – Do I make room for Jesus in my home, and in my life?
3 – Do I offer a welcome home to others?
4 – Do I truly believe that Jesus, the Lamb of God shares his body, blood, soul and divinity with us in the Eucharist?
5 – Have I fully acknowledged that I am a sinner?
6 – Do I really understand that Jesus is my Savior and the answer to my sinful self?
7 – Do I understand that Jesus is the Lamb of God who died for my sins?
8 – Do I attend mass at least weekly to share in the remembrance of what Jesus did in His Passion?
9 – Do I offer prayers of Praise and Thanksgiving to God for all that He has done?
10 – Do I truly celebrate the real meaning of Christmas, and not just the social meaning?
This mystery recalls when the Blessed Virgin Mary went to visit her relative, Eliazabeth. It is based upon Luke 1: 39-56.
In this mystery, we are called to reflect upon how Mary, newly pregnant with Jesus, traveled to help her older cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. The gospel tells us that Mary went to the hill country to Ain Karim which is almost a trip of 100 miles from Nazareth. It should also be noted that Mary went from a lower elevation to a higher elevation where she climbed uphill 1,336 feet. The gospel mentions only Mary, but it is quite likely that Joseph also went to help protect her. We do not know for sure. It was dangerous country, filled with thieves. Nonetheless, Mary decided that she should go to help her older pregnant cousin.
The scripture also tells us that when Mary greeted the six month pregnant Elizabeth (who had in her John the Baptist), Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, told Mary that the baby within her had leaped for joy at Mary’s greeting. The word “leaped” appears also in scripture when King David “leaped” and danced before the Ark of the Covenant. Now, John the Baptist leaps before the new Ark of the Covenant, Mary. The scripture also says that Elizabeth, again mentioning that she is filled with the Spirit, cries out to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Sound familiar? Elizabeth also calls Mary the mother of my Lord. Elizabeth also blessed Mary for BELIEVING that what was spoken to her by the Lord, would be fulfilled.
Mary then said her famous canticle where she proclaims the greatness of the Lord and tells of all the wonders that were about to happen. She says that even in her lowliness, God has chosen to do great things through her and that because of this, people of all ages will call her blessed. She talks about the holiness of God and his greatness and his mercy. She also says that God will cast down rulers and thrones and lift of the poor. Mary spent three months with Elizabeth helping care for her in her pregnancy and birth of John.
Questions to ponder:
1 – Am I ready to respond to another person’s need, no matter what I am going through?
2 – Am I willing to take that long, and perhaps dangerous journey that God calls me to?
3 – Do I trust completely in God’s love and protection?
4 – Do I respect the gift of life, especially as it is shown in pregnant women?
5 – Am I a person who will go to extremes to protect that life?
6 – Do I help mothers care for their children by providing time or physical resources?
7 – Do I give praise and thanks to God for all that He has done?
8 – Do I hope for a better world and also take steps to work with God to bring it about?
9 – Do I trust and hope that God’s Word will be fulfilled in me?
10 – Do I honor and respect all mothers, especially Mary the Mother of our Lord, and our mother too?
The Gospel that is read on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, gives us three disciplines to use during Lent. They are Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. I personally think that the first discipline, Prayer is the most important one, because it can help us to determine how to put fasting and almsgiving to work for Lent. It is the one that puts us in to a special communion with God. After all, how can you grow closer to someone without spending time with him and communicating with him? For me, personal prayer starts off with praising God for all that He has done for us. I then often take to Him my intentions, and then I wait in silence for what He might have to say to me. Yes, I believe that prayer truly is communication. I speak to Him and He speaks to me. Sometimes we are so busy and our surroundings are so noisy that we don’t experience that. Lent is a great time to quiet down and listen to God.
Lent is a time set aside by the Church for us to work a little harder at becoming the person that Jesus wants us to be. The Church gives us many tools to help us do that, but I would like to share with you some thoughts on how to really begin. Whenever you read the Gospels you can’t help but to notice that Jesus, even when He is working hard in His ministry preaching and healing, takes time to go away from His disciples and His ministry work to spend time alone with God in prayer. Sometimes He goes up a mountain, sometimes He goes in to a desert, and sometimes He just goes outside of town. No matter where He goes, He finds a place where He can be alone with God in prayer. Jesus, by His own example tells us that we too must find time to pray. It isn’t enough to just work for the Lord, but we must also pray to the Lord.
Saint Benedict chose as a model for himself and for his follower the phrase, “Ora et Labora” or in English, “Prayer and Work”. St. Ignatius tells us, “Pray as if everything depends on God; work as if everything depends on you.” Both Saints, when they mention WORK are talking about the work that God calls us to, not just going out to milk the cows or whatever labor we have to do. Psalm 127:1 tells us, “Unless the LORD builds a house, they who build it labor in vain; Unless the LORD guards a city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” For a Christian, we cannot do anything without prayer to God. That is so true in our desire to become who God calls us to be. Before we start any endeavor, we must bring it to the Lord in prayer. We must listen to anything He tells us about it and we must do as He directs. We need His direction and Blessings on all that we do.
Lent is also a time to prepare us to better understand what Holy Week is all about. It prepares us to better understand Psalm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter event. Let us now pause for a moment and look at the center of Holy week, what happens on Holy Thursday evening. After Jesus celebrates His last supper (and Passover) with His disciples on Holy Thursday, He goes out to the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples to pray (and to be betrayed by Judas). Jesus knows what an ordeal He has to experience, and He knows that He needs the strength of prayer to do the work of the Father. He leads the disciples in to the garden, but then goes away, in solitude, to pray. It is a very difficult prayer for Him. He comes out of the prayer strengthened to be able to face the betrayal, the trial, the rejection of the people, the lashing, the carrying of the cross and finally the Crucifixion itself.
Since Jesus has set for us such a great example of going to a place of prayer, and at the time of His greatest ordeal, we must recognize that He does this to show us how we too need a place to pray and be alone with God before we face any of the work that the Father has for us. Lent is a time of work that the Father has for us and it must be a time of prayer. There is so much strength in prayer and we often forget about it and leave it by the wayside. I propose to you that during this Lent, you start taking time each day away from all you activities to pray. I also suggest that you find, or perhaps make, a prayer place.
Late last Spring, my wife and I went to visit one of my favorite authors, Annabelle Moseley, to have her autograph a book that I was giving to a dear friend of mine. While there, she told me about her new book which would soon be coming from the publisher. The new book was called, AWAKE WITH CHRIST – Living the Catholic Holy Hour in Your Home. She told me that the book talks about how important it is to have your own place of prayer in your home, your own Garden of Gethsemane. She showed me the one that she had made right outside her home in her garden. She also gave me a pre-publication copy of the book to read and to do a book review on. I read it and, like her other books, I fell in love with it. I purchased some books to give away and posted a review on Amazon (you can see it there). I would HIGHLY encourage you to get your own copy of this book as a way to start off your Lent. I think that you will find that it has practical answers on how (and why) to build a prayer place in your home. She even tells you how to do it for children. This book is not only an explanation of the importance of prayer, but it is a book to help us learn how to pray. It is a book that talks about how we need a special place to pray. It is a book that is perfect for LENT.
As she does with her other books, Annabelle refers continually to scripture and to the wisdom of the Saints to help us on our Prayer journey. Again, she also uses her poetic gifts to charge the book with poems and to lift us high towards God. Along with that, her love of gardening motivates us as we prepare our own Garden of Gethsemane. The practical explanations of how to make a prayer space (inside or outside), as well as how to make a Holy Hour is great for adults and for them to teach their children. Jesus, on the night that He was betrayed, said to His disciples, “Could you not watch one hour with me?” – Matthew 26: 40 This book will help you be happy to stay with Jesus for His Holy Hour. It will help you to have the most productive Lent ever.
Once in a while you come across a book that is not only interesting and inspirational, but is also something that is so needed for the difficult times we are in. Our House of The Sacred Heart is one of those books. It is a very interesting book. The writer is a gifted poet who is able to deliver both prose and poetry in a way that stimulates the intellect and makes the reader continue to look for more. I found it very difficult to put the book down. As if her writing was not enough (which it is), Moseley presents scripture quotes, words of wisdom and beautiful art work to further stimulate our very being. She tells so many beautiful stories about her family and the way she was brought up. These show us how the gift of faith, especially through the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, makes life bearable and even joyful during both times of trial and times of cheer. When I read her previous book, Sacred Braille, I thought to myself that this is truly a woman of faith. After reading House of the Sacred Heart, I now can see where that faith came from.
I also found the book to be quite inspirational. Now inspirational can mean many things from how God inspired the writing of the Bible to how a hero can inspire others to do good. This book is inspirational in both ways. Now I am not saying that Our House of the Sacred Heart is inspired like the Bible is, but I can say that the same Holy Spirit that inspired the writings of the Bible also inspired Annabelle Moseley to put together this book using her God-given (inspired) talent of writing and using the inspired scriptures and using artwork that everyone can see is inspired. For the foundation of her book she uses the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She takes the 33 titles of the litany and weaves stories around them from her family to help show what each litany means. At the center of the family stories is what she calls Our House of The Sacred Heart, or the Red House, which is her grandmother’s house. So much of what her family is, centers around that house. The house is so much more than a dwelling, it is where the faith has been taught and lived out. I particularly like the cover design showing the Red House. The cover was done by my talented friend, T.J. Burdick. I wonder how much it resembles the actual house?
This book is something that is so needed for this time. Our culture has seen family life being disrupted over and over again. It has also seen a significant decrease in people who find their faith meaningful or even relevant to their everyday life. This book shows, in so many ways, through examples from several generations, how important strong faith and strong family life is. It shows us that faith and family, together, can bring us through the darkest moments and can even bring us joy in the midst of difficulties. The book also shows us that our faith is definitely handed down from one generation to the next. This book can not help but to awaken any dormant faith within us.
Annabelle Moseley has definitely written a book to inspire people towards a better appreciation of family life and a better appreciation or our faith. The book can be used in so many different ways. It is a great book for a person to read and appreciate by themselves. It is also a book that could lead an individual to make a Consecration to The Sacred Heart of Jesus. That consecration could use the book in the popular 33 day consecration method to do this. Moseley has included beautiful prayers at the back of the book to not only lead an individual to the consecration but to also do a Consecration of their home. I also believe that this book could be used in the parish setting by offering a group study that leads to the consecration. I certainly hope that this book becomes popular and that a large number of people read it. It is most interesting, very inspirational and certainly very needed for these difficult times. Do yourself, and your family, a favor and buy and read this book. You will be glad that you did.
SPECIAL ADDITION: The author has personally told me that: “I’m leading a Consecration to the Sacred Heart through my website! For those who sign up, they’ll get on each of the 33 days leading to their Consecration a brief daily podcast reflection that includes classic prayers to the Sacred Heart, contemplation of the Litany line of the day, and a brief soundbite to inspire deeper devotion to the Sacred Heart. The consecration begins on May 9th and ends on the Feast of the Sacred Heart: June 11th (on that day participants will get access to a Consecration Day-webinar and along with an author talk will be open to participant Q&A etc). For anyone who signs up, I will also offer a special parish Book Group “Meet the Author” zoom for any parishioners who have read the book… all they have to do is sign up and then email me at annabelle@annabellemoseley.com ” I think that we should all take advantage of this opportunity. I know that I am and have already signed up. I encourage you to do so too by using the following link. God is good.
Fifteen years ago, Today, the Love of my Life died of cancer.
On the evening of Sharon’s death, I was all alone except a friend who came over, probably for suicide watch. We were in my shop when I had my first experience of the odor of Sanctity. The shop completely and instantly filled up with the scent of the most beautiful, Heavenly perfume I’ve ever smelled. I kept asking my friend if he could smell it but he couldn’t. I even went outside and walked all around the shop to see if I could discover it’s source. It was several months later I gave my Life to the Lord and He delivered me from an 18 year meth addiction. I had not yet even heard of the phenomenon of the Odor of Sanctity but I had a conviction I had a Heavenly visitor that night.
About six months later I wept all over a mountain side that was covered with wildflowers. It was like a botanical garden. I was picking wildflowers with the intention of covering Sharon’s grave with them when I came out of the mountains the following day. As I was picking them I kept saying ”These are for You Baby.” I would instantly collapse into a weeping sobbing heap remembering all the lies I told her about my drug use and whereabouts. I was begging Sharon and begging God to forgive me for who and what I had become. I would recover and resume picking flowers again only to say “These are for you Baby” and Thud… I would collapse into a weeping, sobbing mess again… and again… and again. I finally had a feeling come over me that I was supposed to write something to or for Sharon so I gathered up my wildflowers and returned to my camp and started writing this letter to her. When I wrote the first line I looked up and saw what I call an angel. Honestly, I don’t know what it… He… She was but it was glowing and it looked like it had arms outstretched toward me. It just drifted away until it was out of sight. What I do know is that something Supernatural happened to me that day.
On the anniversary of Sharon’s Death I published what I started writing that day as a Tribute to her in local Obituaries.
“Baby, As long as I live, I will never forget your innocence of a child’s glee smile. It was Christmas time, several years ago and you were watching the Santa Clause you had just bought. I was setting behind you watching this five foot Santa articulating and singing thinking to myself: “I wonder how much this stupid contraption cost?” When you suddenly turned around and looked at me with that smile. That smile of enraptured delight just emanating from your expression. In my lifetime I have never seen such innocence and transparent childlike glee before. Not even close! It was like someone had opened up the window of your soul and right then and right there I saw your heart. That your heart was a true heart. A pure and simple and innocent heart and of more value than anything in this world.
I’m sorry I was a fool. I am so very sorry Baby. Seldom. Very seldom does a day go by that I dont break down and cry when I think of you. The way you were/are. I will never forgive myself for the things I did that hurt such a gentle soul. You were always so kind and generous and loving. It was something that just came so natural to you, like water flowing, like the sun shining, like clouds drifting. Even now I feel your love affecting and influencing my life, my health, my everything. I ALWAYS feel your gentle nudge in my heart. I will NEVER forget your kindness to me. Like the way you took your “storage” room and made it into a “Kevin” room. You made every little detail to the way you thought it would bring a “feel at home” and “make Kevin feel welcome here” essence about it and it did. I want you to know this. Like every endeavor you started you finished with a loving and caring touch. Like Jake’s “dog cabin” you built. With a front porch, breezeway, insulated with an electric heater and two double pane windows so Jake could look out. It was complete with a cedar shake roof and a weather vane on top. Not that Jake ever even once slept in it because you would say: “Tobyyyy Kitty, Jakeyyy, time go bed.” And Jake would instantly climb off the couch and head for the waterbed. I will NEVER forget all the love you showered on me, Jake and Kitty Toby. On EVERYONE Who’s life you touched you imparted a gracious essence of “you”. Like all the help you gave your Mom and Dad, Windy, Barb, Izzy, Jean and everyone else. Like the way you had Christmas and Birthday presents bought and made two and three years ahead of time for many of us. If a person or any creature was Sharon McCarthy Sterling’s Friend, they truly had a friend. A friend in deed. A friend in truth. I love you Baby. I know that God took you because one such as you has an intrinsic value and you will apply yourself to good works in God’s Kingdom, for His Eternal Purpose and for His Glory. I Miss you Baby. I will never forget you Sharon and I will never stop loving you. I long for the day I see you again, and I know I will, and when I do, if you don’t have a hammer or a saw or a paintbrush or a gardening trowel in your hand, I KNOW you will have that same smile of innocent childlike delight glowing on your face.
Luv, Me
“Jesus said unto her “I Am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and he who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25 -26
There is a lot more to this that words just get in the way of expressing. How in living and in dying, Sharon has helped turn and continues to turn my life around. “Except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abides alone. But if it falls into the ground and dies it brings forth much fruit. It’s a debt I cannot repay. It’s about how “the blinding light of God’s Grace can come breaking through with a sweetness that’s only tasted by the forgiven and redeemed.” If you or someone you love is traveling along that same dark and desperate path of drug addiction and sin that I once travelled, perhaps I can point you to Someone Who can and will help you. Someone doesn’t have to die to deliver you from Satan’s hand. Someone already has. I would feel and truly be blessed if I could humbly point you to that Someone. His Name is Jesus.”
On Memorial Day, two years ago I stood by Sharon’s grave and I asked God if it was wrong of me to have my conviction that she gave up her life for mine. Several minutes later a friend in Mississippi texted me a Bible verse “No greater love has anyone than this, to give up their life for their friend.”
On August 2018 While on a Pilgrimage to the Sharon Camp where I encountered God in 2006 I recorded this event:
“At sunset yesterday I picked a bunch of wildflowers and took them to the Sharon tree. I spent some time there praying and talking to Sharon and God.
Earlier, I asked God something I don’t recall ever asking Him before. If I could have some sort of a special visit with Sharon. I wondered if such a request was proper or even admissible, or perhaps what it even meant and why I was asking it? I didn’t know it would play out quite like this.
I told Sharon that largely because of her story I’ve pleaded for the lives of thousands of children. That every time I plead for a child not to be aborted, her child that was aborted did not die in vain. That every time I point post abortive women to God’s mercy, forgiveness and healing that it honors her and that her broken heart was not in vain. I didn’t understand why, but I found myself asking her if she greets these aborted children in heaven and if they are now her friends there? I then had the clearest visual of Sharon, surrounded by beautiful children, full of joy, walking through a beautiful meadow, she was beaming, looking down at them and they were all skipping and dancing looking up at her.
A few minutes later I remembered something that happened a couple years back. It was first thing in the morning and I picked up my Bible to start reading it. Normally I do my prayer time first so I laid my Bible aside. As I did I sensed the Holy Spirit say very clearly. “When you get done with your prayers I have a special Word from the Scriptures for you.” When I finished my prayer time and picked up my Bible the first Verse I laid eyes on was Isaiah 65:10 “Sharon shall be a fold of flocks”
I will never forget the way Sharon was sobbing the day she told me about her abortion. She was crying uncontrollably when she told me that she had always just wanted to be a mother.
I feel that we are somehow “In this Together!”
“Sharon shall be a fold of flocks.” Isaiah 65:10
We have a Strange and Merciful and Magnificent and Beautiful God!!!!
I’M CATHOLIC. NOW
WHAT? By Shaun McAfee – a book review
by Deacon Marty McIndoe
Shaun McAfee, founder of EpicPew.com, blogger at National
Catholic Register, contributor to Catholic Answers Magazine and many other
Catholic resources has written a new book published by Our Sunday Visitor. Personally I think that this is the best book
he has written; and I really enjoyed his other books. When I first saw the pre-publication
announcement for this book, I immediately put in an order for it. The title and description led me to believe
that this book would be a great resource for my parish RCIA program. I have been involved in the RCIA (Rite of
Christian Initiation of Adults) program for many years and know that those who
have gone through it need a really good resource book to continue their journey
after the time in the program has finished.
After reading this book I not only realized that the book is perfect for
that, but that the book is perfect for all Catholics on their journey of living
out the beauty of the Catholic faith.
The author of this book is a convert and has gone through
the RCIA process to become a Catholic.
How I wish that all of the people who go through RCIA become as good a
Catholic as Shaun and his wife have become.
Shaun’s overall knowledge of the Catholic faith and Catholic Theology (he
has a graduate degree from Holy Apostles College) is amazing. The way he lives out that faith with his wife
and family is even more amazing. Faith
is made to be put in to action and Shaun certainly does that. I have followed Shaun and his family on
Facebook for almost six years and although I have never met him in person, I
see the faith filled life that he leads.
That faith filled life pours over in to this book. Shaun tells us all the things we need to know
to be a good Catholic and he gives us personal examples of how to be a good
Catholic.
This 335 page book consists of 100 chapters that give us a
lot of information on the Catholic Church and why we do the things that we
do. I find it very refreshing that he
takes the times to not only tell us the things that we should be doing to be a
good Catholic, but also tells us why we do those things. He often refers to the Holy Scriptures as
well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
He also uses stories from the early church Fathers and the Saints to
explain. Besides that, he gives us plenty of personal examples
from his own life. He covers just about
everything that you can think of that speaks of Catholicism. He not only covers different topics but also
gives us things to do. For example, not
only do we learn about Baptism, but he also gives us ideas on how to celebrate
our Baptism day. He talks to us about
the priesthood and then encourages us to invite a priest over for dinner.
Shaun’s section on BEING A MODERN CATHOLIC has so much
richness to it when discussing evil, relativism (a must read), marriage,
sexuality, abortion, euthanasia, immigration, gossiping, giving, and
consumerism. His discussion of the
current sex abuse scandal and cover up is enlightening. He deals with all of the current issues in
the Church today. His way of facing
these issues clearly shows the HOPE that we as Catholics are called to
have. Shaun ends his book with a section
on EVANGELIZATION: IT’S FOR EVERYONE. The
chapters in this section remind us of our calling as Catholics to share the
Good News that we have received. He
explains the “New Evangelization” and encourages us to reach out to those
around us, especially to our children.
I highly recommend that ALL Catholics read this book. The book covers serious subjects but is very
easy to read. It is informative as well
as interesting. It is a wealth of
information on the Catholic faith. This
book is not only for those who have just recently come in to the Church,
although it is great for them, but it is for all of us on our journey towards
Jesus in His Church. We can all benefit
from the explanations and the suggestions that Shaun makes in this book. As I write this, we are approaching the
LENTEN season. I highly suggest that
every Catholic get this book and read it and study it and live it out for
Lent. It might be the best thing that
you ever did for Lent.
All of us are aware of those things that can kill us. Heart disease, cancer, accidents, chronic respiratory
disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia are listed by
Google (in that order) as the leading causes of death in the United
States. The World Health Organization
lists the world wide death causes that are about the same as the US but with
the addition of diarrheal diseases and Tuberculosis. Neither list mentions THE LEADING cause of
death worldwide in that list. It seems
to be a word that no one wants to mention, a word that everyone wants to
hide. But the Breitbart News Agency did
expose it to the public using statistics from the World Health Agency.
On 31 December 2018, the Breitbart.com website reported
under the headline “Abortion Leading Cause of Death in 2018 with 41 Million
Killed” that “there have been some 41.9 million abortions performed in the
course of the year,” making abortion “the number one cause of death
worldwide in 2018, with more than 41 million children killed before birth.” They also said that the World Health
Organization indicated that between the years 2010 and 2014 WORLDWIDE abortions
averaged 56 million per year. Here in
the United States our abortion rates have dropped from a high of about 1.6
million per year to about 900,000 per year.
Since the 1973 Supreme Court decision, we have had over 60 million
abortions in the United States.
Certainly there are often discrepancies with statistics and who reports
them, but even the CDC reports over 600,000 thousand annual abortions in the
US. These are medically produced and
don’t include chemically induced.
Whatever way you look at it, abortion is killing off a huge amount of
our babies. Here in the United States we
kill about 2,000 babies every day through abortion. Worldwide we kill about 125,000 to 150,000
per day. This is most definitely a
hidden slaughter.
Statistics can help us to better understand what we are
doing. When we read the statistics on
abortion, we have a tendency to be numbed by the figures and really don’t think
about it. We don’t see the abortions
happening (thankfully) and they aren’t real to us. Whenever we are at war the news broadcasters
give us all of the news about the war, often including pictures. We are horrified by the casualties of our
soldiers, as we should be. If you look
at the statistics of war in comparison to abortion, you can start to realize
the horrors that are there. In 18 years
of war in Afghanistan we lost about 2,216 soldiers. That equals the number of deaths in about one
day of abortions in the United States, and 30 minutes worth worldwide. In the 14 years of the Vietnam War we lost
about 58,000 soldiers. It takes only
about one month of US abortions to reach the same number, and one half day
worldwide.
The number of babies that are killed before they are given
the chance to be born is staggering. I
can’t help but to think of that loss to our society. How many geniuses did we kill? How many musical virtuosos did we kill? How many researchers that could help us rid
the world of cancer and disease and hunger did we kill? We will never know because they are gone. Every life, whether it be from a developed
country like the USA, or a developing country, is important. Every unborn baby, whether wanted or unwanted
by his or her parents, is a gift from God who deserves the chance to become the
person that God calls them to be.
Society has the responsibility of protecting its weakest members and
helping them to reach their potential.
We, as a human family, have to protect the unborn and have to help them
grow. Our Declaration of Independence so
rightly says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The first of the listed unalienable right is
LIFE. The government must protect this
right given to us from God.
Unfortunately our government, and many others, has turned
away from being held responsible for preserving the right of Life. They have turned instead to preserving the
right to choice and convenience. This is
not what God intended. The most
important gift given to us is our Life.
The scriptures are so clear about our God being a God of Life and how
precious life is, even in the womb. God
tells us in scripture, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before
you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Yet today in many abortions we reach up in to
that sacred life giving womb and tear apart our own babies limb by limb and
crush their heads to kill them, all because they are an inconvenience. This is a barbaric slaughter often
instituted by those who are called to be protectors. What kind of society do we have where we
allow this, and often encourage this?
As a Catholic deacon, I personally have come in to contact
with several women who have had abortions.
Their life circumstances seemed to dictate to them at the time that they
had to have the abortion. Sadly, even
many years or decades after the abortion they are very troubled by what they
did. The abortion not only killed their
child, but it also put a very dark hole within them that is hard to climb out
of. I really feel for these women. I have also counseled several men who had
this same dark hole because their baby had been aborted by the mother. Some of them were part of the decision and
some of them fought the decision. Either
way, they were troubled for many years by the abortion.
We as a society need to protect the unborn. We need to pass laws that prohibit
abortion. We also need to find ways to
make changes to the life circumstances that cause a mother to even consider an
abortion. We also need to set up
programs to help women raise their children, especially when they live in
poverty. There is no doubt that this is
a costly and difficult thing to do, but it is well worth the cost and the
difficulty. Our society can only
benefit from doing this. We can benefit
from seeing the sacredness of Life and the sacredness of helping children grow
in to what God calls them to be.
I need to add one more factor that leads towards the high
abortion rates. In the USA we have a
very powerful entity called Planned Parenthood.
They have considerable political power and have even been embraced by one
of our major political parties. They
have many wealthy friends and many influential friends in Hollywood and in the
major networks and publications. They
promote abortion. Their 2019 report
(years 2017-2018) shows that abortion is their core mission. Planned Parenthood performed 332,757
abortions during the reported year, the most the abortion giant has reported
since 2011-2012. In contrast,
non-abortion services have declined. The
report also showed record-high numbers in national office and affiliate
financial income for 2018.
Almost
$1.9 billion in net assets, up from $1.6 billion in 2017.
$563.8
million in taxpayer funding, up from $543.7 billion in 2017.
$1.67
billion in total revenue, up from $1.46 billion in 2017.
Almost
$245 million in excess of revenue over expenses, more than double the
$98.5 million reported in 2017.
$630.8
million in private contributions (including grants, individual
contributors, bequests, and corporate contributors), up from $532.7
million in 2017.
In spite of increased income and $245 million dollars in
excess of revenue over expenses, they keep getting our taxpayer money.
The founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was a
racist who wanted “the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual
extinction, of defective stock”. She said,
“We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro
population…” ( Letter to Dr. Clarence J. Gamble, December 10, 1939,
p. 2). They are doing a great job of
that. Even though blacks make up about
12 percent of our population, 36 percent of PP abortions are from black women. In NYC this jumps to over 46 per cent. If you want to learn more about Margaret
Sanger, look up “Margaret Sanger Quotes” on google.com. For obvious reasons, Planned Parenthood likes
to distance themselves from their founder.
Pope John Paul II referred to us as being in a “Culture of
Death”. Our sobering statistics tell us
that he was correct. We, no matter what
our religion, should see Life as an important gift to be preserved and
cherished. This means saying no to
abortion but it also means saying yes to social programs that help families to
become the best they can be. It also
means saying no to Euthanasia. Life is
important and precious from conception to Natural Death. We in the United States should work on promoting
Life here, but we also must work on promoting it worldwide. We need to develop a “Culture of Life” and
get rid of this hidden slaughter that plagues our world.
WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe
In Part 1 of this three part series, we dealt with some of
the women of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and how God used them in
building up His Kingdom. In Part 2 we
looked at some of the women of the New Testament. This third part will look at some of our
women Saints and how God used their strength and courage to continue to build
up His Kingdom. As was the case in both
Parts 1 and 2, this is by no means a complete list, but includes some that I
personally feel should be mentioned.
Part 3 – Powerful Women Saints:
1. St. Helena: Saint Helena was born in to a poor and simple
Roman family in Asia Minor in the mid 200’s.
Somehow she married in to a higher class Roman family when she married
Constantius Chlorus. In 274 she gave
birth to Constantine and in 292 her husband, Constantius became co-regent of
the West. Shortly after that, her
husband divorced her to marry the Emperor’s step daughter. When her husband died in 308, her son
Constantine became Emperor and moved her in to a place of prominence in the
Roman government. She became an Empress.
Constantine’s conversion to Christianity greatly influenced
his mother and she became a good Christian.
Constantine asked his mother to find Christian relics and so in 328 she
traveled to the Holy Lands. Through
contact with the local bishops there she was able to locate many Christian
relics and Holy Places. When she located
the Holy places, she had large Churches built over them. She often replaced earlier Christian
structures. In the year 130 the current
Roman Emperor built a Temple to Venus over the site of Jesus’ crucifixion in
order to keep Christians from worshiping there.
Helena tore down that temple and did excavations to find the original
location. In doing so she uncovered the
three crosses that the early Christians venerated. Not knowing which cross was the one Jesus
died on, she had a woman who was near death brought to all three. When she touched the first cross, nothing happened. The same occurred on the second cross. When she touched the third cross the woman
was miraculously and immediately healed.
She found the true cross of Jesus.
Helena had a large Church, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built
over that place. She had large columns
brought in from Rome that can still be seen to this day. Helena also had churches built over the other
Holy places including the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of
the Ascension on the Mount of Olives.
Many of the Holy Places we visit today had churches built there by St.
Helena. She brought back to Rome many
relics, including the True Cross. Not
only did she do this, but she is noted for helping the poor and the
destitute. She was a devout servant of
God and true Christian who helped spread the Good News throughout the world. She was a woman born in to a poor family who
rose to be Empress of the Roman Empire.
She also, through a lot of hard work, re-discovered the Holy places of
the Holy Lands. Because she built large
Churches over these, we can still visit these Holy places today.
2. St. Monica: Saint Monica is known most for her
persevering in prayer. For thirty years
she prayed for her wayward son, Augustine to leave his wicked lifestyle and to
become a Christian. Not only did he
become a Christian, he became one of the greatest Saints ever known. Monica was born in 331 in Tagaste (modern
day Algeria). When she was young she was
married off to a Roman pagan, Patricius.
Her husband had a violent temper.
To make things even worse, his mother lived with them and she too had a
violent temper. This caused a great deal
of stress to Monica. Monica was a good
Christian but her husband would not allow their three children to be
baptized. For years she prayed for her
husband and her mother in law to become Christian. Finally about one year before her husband’s
death, both became Christian. Two of
Monica’s children, Perpetua and Navigius entered the religious life, but
Augustine preferred a life of drinking and laziness. Monica sent Augustine off to school in
Carthage. There he became a Manichaean,
a non-Christian religion that saw things as light or darkness. When Augustine shared this with Monica she
became so upset at him that she kicked him out of the house. Sometime later, Monica had a vision that led
her to reconcile with Augustine. She
continued to pray for his conversion but Augustine seemed to enjoy the drinking
and loose life more. Monica did not give
up praying for him or trying to convince him.
She followed him to Rome and then Milan where she found the Bishop
Ambrose. St. Ambrose helped her in
convincing Augustine of the trueness of Christianity. Finally, after many years of prayers,
Augustine became a Christian. He was
baptized in the Church of St. John the Baptist in Milan. After his baptism he and Monica planned to
travel together to Africa to draw more people to Christ. She died before that could be realized. St. Augustine shares that when Monica was
close to death she told him, “Son, nothing in this world now affords me
delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still
here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.” Her perseverance had won for the Church one
of the greatest and brightest Saints it has ever known.
3. St. Adelaide of
Burgundy: St. Adelaide was born a
princess in 931 in Burgundy in Italy. Even
though she was a princess, she had a difficult life. Her father died when she was only six. When she was only 15 or 16 she was married to
Lothair, the King of Italy. Her life as
a queen was difficult too. She became a
widow at the age of 18 and her Kingdom was taken over by Berengar of Ivrea and
she was thrown in to prison. Berengar
wanted to have her marry his son, but Adelaide wanted nothing to do with
that. She suffered greatly in prison but
knew that she had to escape. Somehow she
found the strength to escape and when heading north to Germany she found the
Emperor Otho I who the Pope had sent to rescue her. He soon became her second husband and
together they were able to recapture the Kingdom of Italy that she had
lost. Pope John XII crowned them both rulers
of the Holy Roman Empire in 952. In 973
she became widowed again and her son Otto II became regent. At this point in her life Adelaide spent most
of her time in building many monasteries and churches and helping the
poor. This kind heartened and brave
woman is the patron of people with second marriages and widows.
4. St. Clare of
Assisi and 5. St. Agnes of Assisi: St. Clare was born in 1194 to a very wealthy
Italian Count. She was known as a very
beautiful girl. As a young girl Clare
dedicated herself to prayer. When she
was 18 years old she heard St. Francis of Assisi preach and went up to him
asking that he help her to grow closer to God and to become more Christ
like. On Palm Sunday in 1212 she left
her family and went to the chapel of Porziuncula to meet St. Francis. At that chapel her hair was cut off and she
was given a plain robe and veil and sent to the Benedictine nuns of San Paulo
for formation as a nun. Her father was
furious and tried to get her to return home but she refused. She told him that she would have no other
husband than Jesus Christ. She desired
solitude to be with Jesus. In order to
give her even more solitude, Francis moved her to the Benedictine nuns of San
Paulo monastery.
St. Clare had a sister named Catarina. Catarina also wanted a life with Christ and
solitude that she could not find at home.
She joined St. Clare at this new monastery. The two sisters remained there until a home
could be built for them next to the church at San Damiano near Assisi. This made their father even angrier and he
sent a contingent to bring her back home by force. Because of the prayers of St. Clare, miracles
occurred that made it impossible to do that.
When a sword was drawn to strike Catarina, miraculously the man’s arm
went limp and he couldn’t wield the sword.
Then they tried to pick up Catarina (now called Agnes because Francis
named her that due to her being gentle as a lamb) she miraculously became too
heavy for the men to pick up. They then
gave up and left. Francis immediately
welcomed her in and she too was put in to formation.
When the home at San Damiano was completed, both St. Clare
and St. Agnes went there. There they
lived a simple life eating no meat, wearing no shoes and lived in a poor
house. They maintained silence most of
the time. Their lives consisted of
prayer and manual labor. Soon other
women from Assisi joined them there and they lived according to rules of St.
Francis forming the Second Order and were known as Poor Clares but officially
were the “Order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano.” St. Francis initially was their director. In 1216 he made St. Clare the abbess. Later, in 1219 St. Francis made St. Agnes an
abbess and sent her to Monticello near Florence.
We have some of the letters that the two sisters sent to
each other. They reflect their love for
each other, for Jesus, for the Poor Clares and St. Francis. It should be noted that Clare and Agnes had
to stand up to the current Church leaders who wanted to impose upon them the
rule of St. Benedict. They stood their
ground and followed St. Francis’ rule.
They also had to stand up against Muslim invaders. In 1240 Muslims were invading the whole area
around Assisi. St. Clare, although quite
sick, prayed hard to repel them and took the Eucharist and with the sisters
behind her commanded them to go away.
Miraculously they obeyed. St.
Clare knew that the power of prayer and the Eucharist could stand up to these
invaders.
Clare had drawn up a rule for her sisters and in 1253 Pope
Innocent IV declared Clare’s rule would serve as the governing rule for Clare’s
Order of Poor Ladies. Two days later
Clare died, with Agnes at her side. She
was declared a Saint two years later.
St. Agnes died three months after St. Clare. These two women went from riches to rags,
but helped to change the face of the Church.
6. St. Joan of
Arc: Joan of Arc was born in 1412 to a
poor farming family. From her earliest
childhood she loved God and was often seen in prayer. She also loved the poor. Around the age of 13 she started hearing
voices accompanied by flashes of light.
Gradually she recognized figures who she described as Michael the
Archangel, St. Margaret, St. Catherine and other Saints and angels. These voices seemed to be leading her to go
to the aid of the King, At first she
doubted these voices, but in May 1428, when she was 16 years old, she knew that
they were real and that she had to do what they said. They directed her to King Charles’ military
commander Robert Baudricourt. He was
quite rude to her and said to the cousin who accompanied her: “Take her
home to her father and give her a good whipping.” The war continued on and King Charles and his
supporters thought that defeat was imminent.
The voices continued to persuade Joan to go but she resisted saying, “I
am a poor girl; I do not know how to ride or fight.” The voices only
reiterated: “It is God who commands it.” At that, she decided that she must go. She went back to Baudricourt who remained
skeptical. However, her perseverance and
her descriptions of battles that were later confirmed caused him to send her to
the King. Joan went to see the king
dressed in male clothes. This was
probably to protect her from the soldiers along the way.
When Joan came in to the King’s presence, something
interesting happened. The King was
wearing a disguise to test her and was among many other men. Immediately, without ever having met the King
before, she went to him and saluted him. The King’s inner court thought Joan was crazy
and advised the King to have nothing to do with her. However, the voices revealed to Joan a secret
that only the King knew about (probably concerning his birth) and when she told
him he started to believe in her mission.
However, to be sure, he had her undergo a trial headed by bishops,
doctors and theologians. Joan’s faith, simplicity and honesty convinced the
trial committee that she was indeed of sound mind and faith and recommended
that she be allowed to continue with further examination of her actions. She returned to King Charles who gave her a
sword as she prepared a campaign for fighting.
However the voices told her to have the King get a sword that was buried
behind the altar in a nearby Church.
That sword was found exactly where the voices said. She also had the King make up a shield with
the name of Jesus and Mary on it as well as a picture of the Father and angels. Interestingly the King received a report,
before the battle saying “that she would save Orléans and would compel the
English to raise the siege, that she herself in a battle before Orléans would
be wounded by a shaft but would not die of it, and that the King, in the course
of the coming summer, would be crowned at Reims, together with other things
which the King keeps secret.”
Before leading the battle, Joan told the King of England to
give up. Of course, he didn’t and battle
ensued. Joan led the battle and even
though many of her commanders scoffed at her and didn’t always do what she
said, the battle was won. Joan was
wounded by an arrow in the battles just as the letter said that was written 8
days prior to the campaign. King Charles
was also crowned at Reims and the English left, as the letter said. In a battle about a year later, Joan was
captured by a follower of John of Luxemburg.
He then sold her to the English for a large amount of money. They couldn’t kill her for winning against
them, so they decided to try her as a witch.
The Bishop of Beauvais was an unscrupulous and ambitious man who was a
tool of the English. The examination
trial seemed quite unfair but Joan continued to show her love of God. She was finally found to be a witch and
heretic and was burned. Her ashes were
thrown in to the Seine River. Twenty
four years later a revision of the trial was made. The appellate court and the Pope found that
injustice was made by the first examination and that it was declared
illegal. Her beatification cause was
begun in 1869 and she was declared a Saint in 1920. This very young holy woman listened to God no
matter what it cost her. She fought
harder that most men could and never gave up, no matter how badly she was
treated.
7. St. Elizabeth Ann
Seaton: Elizabeth Ann Seton was the
first native born American to become a Saint.
She was born just two years before the American Revolution to a wealthy
New York City family. The family was
Episcopalian. Elizabeth was a bright
girl and prolific reader. She especially
found comfort in the reading the bible.
In 1794 she married a wealthy businessman, William Seton. The first couple of years of their marriage
were wonderful but when William’s father
died the couple had to take in William’s seven younger half brothers and
sisters. They also had to take over
running the father’s import business.
William’s health started to fail as did his business. He had to declare bankruptcy. His health was deteriorating so bad that they
felt that a move to Italy would help.
William had business friends there that they stayed with.
Unfortunately William died of tuberculosis while in
Italy. Elizabeth was very moved by the
Catholic faith of the family that she lived with in Italy. She found that their love of the Eucharist
helped her to better understand the true presence of Jesus. Also, since Elizabeth’s mother had died when
she was young, their devotion to Mary helped satisfy her need for a mother. Elizabeth converted to Catholicism and headed
back to the United States. Since she was
a widow with many children to feed, she opened a school to help support
them. The first school was all
Protestants and when the parents had heard that Elizabeth had converted to
Catholicism, they withdrew their children from school. Fortunately, Elizabeth met a priest who
encouraged her to open up a school for Catholic children in Emmetsburg,
Maryland. This is seen as the beginning
of Catholic education in the United States.
Shortly after opening the school, Elizabeth founded an order of Catholic
women to help in educating poor children.
This was the first congregation of religious sisters to be formed in the
United States. They are known as the
Sisters of Charity and have grown tremendously throughout the United States,
Canada and the Philippines.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was a hard working woman who
suffered from the deaths of many loved ones.
Her faith continued to allow her to make a tremendous change to the
Catholic faith in the United States. Pope
Paul VI canonized Mother Seton on September 14, 1975, in a ceremony in St.
Peter’s Square. In his words,
“Elizabeth Ann Seton is a saint. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is an American.
All of us say this with special joy, and with the intention of honoring the
land and the nation from which she sprang forth as the first flower in the
calendar of the saints. Elizabeth Ann Seton was wholly American! Rejoice for
your glorious daughter. Be proud of her. And know how to preserve her fruitful
heritage.” NOTE: if you would like to hear about how Elizabeth
Ann Seton personally changed my family go to:
http://deaconmarty.com/saint-elizabeth-ann-seton-and-how-she-personally-brought-a-miracle-to-my-family-by-deacon-marty-mcindoe/
8. St. Marianne
Cope: St. Marianne was born in Germany
in 1838 but spent most of her life in Hawaii ministering to lepers. She is often known as Saint Marianne of
Moloka’i. One year after she was born
her family moved to the United States.
She attended a Catholic parish school until the eighth grade when her
father became an invalid and she had to leave school to go to work and help support
her family. When her father died, and
her siblings became mature she quit her factory job and became a novitiate of
the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis based in Syracuse, New
York. She became a teacher and later
principal of a school that helped immigrant children. She also helped in setting up the first two
Catholic hospitals in central New York.
In 1883 she became the Superior General of her Congregation. Shortly after, she received a letter from King
Kalakaua of Hawaii asking for aid in treating leper patients who were isolated
on the island of Moloka’i. The King had
already been declined by more than 50 other religious institutes. St. Marianne went with six sisters arriving on
November 8,1883. She originally managed
a hospital on the island of O’ahu, where victims of leprosy were sent for
triage. The next year, Mother Marianne
helped establish the Malulani hospital on the island of Maui. The government had appointed an administrator
for the hospital on O’ahu when Mother Marianne left. However, she heard news of his abuse and
returned to O’ahu and demanded that the government fire him. They did and put her in charge. Mother Marianne continued to help the leper
patients, including clergy who had contracted the disease. She continued working, even when she was in a
wheel chair. Miraculously, the disease
never came to her.
9. St, Katherine
Drexel: St. Katherine is the second
native born American to become a Saint.
She was born in 1858 to a wealthy banker. Her mother died shortly after her birth but
her father remarried and Katherine grew up in a home that was both financially
and spiritually endowed. She received a
private education and travelled throughout the United States and Europe. The family was very devout in their faith and
an excellent example to Katherine. Her
father prayed 30 minutes each evening and on weekends they opened their home to
help care for the poor. After seeing her
step-mother suffer with cancer for three years, Katherine’s life took a
significant turn. She developed a
passionate love for God and for neighbor.
She especially felt called to help black and native Americans.
Katherine’s father passed away about a year after his wife’s
death. He had a substantial estate of
over 15 million dollars and he gave a
considerable amount to charities and left the rest to his three daughters. The daughters worked together to try to help
Indian missions. In 1887 they had an
audience with Pope Leo XIII and asked that missionaries be sent to the
Indians. Pope Leo XIII looked directly
at Katherine and asked her to be a missionary.
When she arrived home she met with her spiritual advisor and decided to
give her life, and her money, to God as a nun and missionary. She started a religious order called “Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians
and Colored” and spent the rest of her life serving blacks and native
Americans. She worked hard to found
schools throughout the west to educate Native Americans. She even founded Xavier University in New
Orleans, the first Catholic University in the United States for
African-Americans. She spent her fortune
on the blacks and Native Americans. She
also gave fully of herself in helping them until she finally had a serious
heart attack at the age of 77. She lived
until the age of 96 praying for her missions and writing. By the time of her death, she had more than
500 Sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country and she established
50 missions for Native Americans in 16 different states. This one woman changed the face of America
for the better.
10. Servant of God
Dorothy Day: Although she isn’t a Saint
yet, she is on her way. Dorothy Day is a
great example of a woman who was a sinner, but turned toward being a
Saint. Her love of the poor, and her
love of God make her an outstanding woman of God’s power. Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan calls her “a Saint
for our times”. Dorothy Day started out
being someone quite outside the Catholic faith.
She described herself as having an attraction to the radical life
among anarchists, socialists and
communists. She was arrested on many
occasions and spent time in jail. She
drank heavily and had an abortion and had an illegitimate child. This isn’t what usually makes up a Saints
life. However, all of these ups and
downs helped her to think seriously about where she was headed. The heartache that her abortion caused her
helped her to become staunchly pro-life.
She was very moved by Francis Thompson’s “Hound of Heaven” and its
description of the relentless pursuit of God towards man. One day she found herself in the back of
Saint Joseph’s Church on Sixth Avenue in New York City and found solace in
watching the mass.
Dorothy had a daughter with a man that she lived with. She said that the birth of her daughter
connected her to the beauty of the Divine in a deeply personal way. She wrote, “The final object of this love and
gratitude is God” She was moved to
worship with others and even though the man she loved rejected religion she had
her daughter baptized Catholic. About
six months later she too was baptized. This
ended her common law marriage. About
five years later, Peter Maurin, a French immigrant taught her about Catholic
radicalism. Together they founded the
Catholic Worker Movement in 1933 and began publishing the Catholic Worker to
promote their radical Catholic vision to oppose Communism. They also opened a “House of Hospitality” to
welcome everyone, especially the poor.
They focused on helping the poor.
Dorothy Day said, “The mystery of the poor is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do for them
you do for Him. It is the only way of
knowing and believing in our love”.
Dorothy Day was noted for seeing the beauty of God in everything and
every person. She truly was a Saint for our times.
11. St. Faustina
Kowalska: St. Faustina was born in 1905
to a very poor but quite religious family.
She was the third of ten children.
When she was seven years old she attended an Eucharistic Adoration and
immediately felt the call to become a nun.
When she finished her schooling at the age of 16 she wanted to enter a
convent, but her parents wouldn’t allow her to.
Instead she cleaned houses to help support the family. In 1924 she saw her first vision of Jesus who
told her to go to Warsaw and join a convent.
She immediately packed her bags and left. When in Warsaw she tried to enter several
convents but was rejected because of her looks and her poverty. Finally the Mother Superior of the Congregation
of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy told her she could enter if she could pay
for her own habit. St. Faustina worked
cleaning houses and finally had enough to pay for the habit. She entered the convent in 1926 at 20 years
old. She worked primarily as a cook and
traveled to several of the convents. In
1931 she was visited by Jesus who told her that He was the “King of Divine
Mercy”. He asked her to become an
apostle and secretary of God’s Mercy.
She said that she would. Jesus
also instructed her to have painted an image of her vision of him. Since she didn’t paint she had to have a
painter paint it based upon her description.
She was never fully happy with the way the painting came out.
Sister Faustina told her fellow sisters about her visions
but they weren’t initially receptive to her.
She took some harassment because of them. Sister Faustina told the priest spiritual
advisor of her visions and calling. He
had her evaluated by a psychiatrist who found her in perfect mental health. Eventually this priest saw the truth of her
visions and the Divine Mercy apostolate and he was the first to preach about it
at mass. Fortunately Sister Faustina
kept a diary that is still in existence today and makes for a great read. Even though her health kept failing, she
continued to do all that she could to spread the devotion to the Divine
Mercy. Unfortunately, due to several
mistakes in translations and printings, some of her writings were seemed
objectionable to the Church and the Divine Mercy apostolate was quieted for
many years. In 1965, Archbishop of
Krakow, Karol Wojtyla (later Pope John Paul II) took an interest in the Divine
Mercy and opened up an investigation into Sister Faustina and her writings and
apostolate. The Church formally
approved the apostolate and began procedures for her canonization. The apostolate of Divine Mercy spread and Sr.
Faustina was made a Saint in 2000 and a Feast day for the Divine Mercy became
part of the Church calendar. This poor
and sick little woman was chosen by God to become an Apostle of the Divine
Mercy.
12. Sr. Gianna
Beretta Molla: St. Gianna was born in
Italy in 1922. She was the tenth of
thirteen children in her family. As a
young child Gianna loved her faith and loved learning about it. She saw the need for prayer and she enjoyed
life for all that it was. In 1942 Gianna
began studying to be a medical doctor. She
was a great student and a great practitioner of her faith. In college she
joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and worked with the elderly and the
needy. In 1949 she received her medical
and surgical degree and within two years specialized in pediatrics at Milan
Hospital. She felt a very strong calling
to mothers, babies, the elderly and the poor.
She became involved with Catholic Action and considered her practice of
medicine a mission. She wanted to join
her brother, who was a priest, in Brazil by tending to the health of the poor
women there. Unfortunately, her health
prevented her from doing so. IN 1954,
Gianna met Pietro Molla, an engineer who worked in her office. They were married the following year. Gianna considered marriage a precious gift
and vocation. She considered her
marriage a gift from God and planned dedicated herself to “forming a truly
Christian family.” Gianna wrote to
Pietro, “Love is the most beautiful sentiment that the Lord has put into
the soul of men and women.”
She gave birth to her first child, Pierluigi in 1956. Her second child, Maria was born in
1957. She had the third baby, Laura in
1959. She loved being a mother and wife
and worked hard to keep her family going along with her practice. In 1961 Gianna became pregnant again with her
fourth child. Unfortunately near the end
of her second month she had intense pain in her abdomen and they discovered
that she had a tumor as well as the baby in her uterus. The doctors recommended that she choose from
three possibilities; One, an abortion
that would save her life and allow subsequent pregnancies, but take the life of
the baby. The second was a hysterectomy
which would save her life but take the life of her baby and not allow any
further pregnancies. The third option was
to take out the tumor which would save the life of her baby but might result in
further complications for her. She chose
the third option which saved the baby’s life but put hers in danger. She told the surgeons that her baby’s life
must be saved at all costs, even if it cost her own life. She said that her comfort was in having the
baby and in her prayers and in putting her faith in to action. They did what she asked. She had the operation which removed the tumor
but allowed the baby to continue to grow.
Gianna continued her pregnancy but with many complications. Her faith gave her the strength to continue
on as a mother and as a doctor. Gianna
told the doctors that they must save the life of her baby even if it meant she
died. She kept insisting, “save the baby”. On April 21, 1962, Gianna Emanuela Molla was successfully
delivered by Caesarean section. One week
later Gianna, the mother, died from septic peritonitis.
Gianna was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994,
and officially canonized as a saint on May 16, 2004. Her husband and their
children, including Gianna Emanuela, attended her canonization ceremony, making
this the first time a husband witnessed his wife’s canonization. Pope John Paul II said that Gianna was “a
simple, but more than ever, significant messenger of divine love.” The first pro-life Catholic health center in
New York, the Gianna Center, was named after her. In today’s world where abortion is rampant
and often mothers have abortions because the timing is inconvenient, the story
of Gianna and her love for life and for her children stands out as a beacon of
light.
CONCLUSION: God gave
mankind a precious gift when he created us male and female, in His image. Each sex brings its own flavor towards
helping God in the building up of the Kingdom.
Too often the male has been seen as the strong sex, but looking back at
how God has used women in the Scriptures and as Saints, we can’t help but to
see how strong women are. We are all
called by God to help build up his Kingdom.
Let us answer that call with a resounding, “be it done to me according
to thy will”. Men and women work
together in building God’s Kingdom.
After all, we are His children and brother and sister to each
other. There is so much work to do. We must do it together and celebrate what God
can accomplish through our strengths and our weaknesses. With God all things are possible.
WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe
In Genesis we read, “When God created human beings, he made them in the likeness of God; he created them male and female.” Even though we call God “Our Father”, and Jesus was a man, I believe that the true likeness of God cannot be seen by just looking at the masculine; nor can it be seen by just looking at the feminine. To truly see the image of God we must look at both the masculine nature and the feminine nature of humankind. Throughout the scriptures there are plenty of examples of both but there does seem to be preponderance of the masculine. Too often the women of scripture are in the background and don’t get the attention that they deserve. This is probably due to social and cultural partiality. I want to bring to the reader’s attention some of the women of Scripture that show God’s power at work. Since there are so many, this article will be in three parts. One, the women of the Hebrew Scriptures; Two, the women of the New Testament; and Three, women Saints of the Church.
PART I – POWERFUL WOMEN OF THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
EVE: In the creation
account, Eve is seen as the mother of the living. She is also seen as Adam’s companion and
helper. In Christian traditions, Eve is
the one who led Adam astray by sharing the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge with
him. When God confronts Adam about his
disobedience he blames not only Eve for his transgression but also blames God
for giving him Eve. Eve in turn blames
the serpent for tempting her to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. While it is easy to think of Eve as being
weak because of this, we must remember that Eve had to be a strong woman. She, according to the Genesis account, was
the first mother. She had no one else to
be an example of what motherhood was all about.
She had no mother to show her how to take care of her children. She had no other women friends to help
support her. In the Genesis account she
was the only mother. It is in her that
humanity receives life. The Church
traditionally recognizes Eve as a Saint, along with Adam and celebrates their
feast day on December 24th.
SARAH: Sarah was the
wife of Abraham and is the first woman mentioned in scripture after Eve. She had to be a strong woman to accompany
Abraham on his long journey to the Promised Land. She also was a woman with a good sense of
humor. When God told Abraham that he and
Sarah would bare a son, even though they were a century old, Sarah
laughed. However, she also was a woman
of faith because she took God at His Word.
The letter to the Hebrews tells us that, “By faith even Sarah herself
received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she
considered Him faithful who had promised.”
Can you imagine how much strength she would have to have to bring up
children at her age?
SHIPHRAH AND PUAH:
These two women were Hebrew mid-wives in Egypt who were ordered by
Pharaoh to kill the newborn Jewish boys when they were born. Pharaoh felt that the Jewish people were
getting too strong and too powerful so he ordered the midwives to kill the baby
boys. Shiphrah and Puah knew the sanctity of life
and did not do this and lied to Pharaoh about it. They knew that their stand on life could cost
them their own life, but they were strong enough to follow their conscience. They are a great example to us of people who
hold life sacred and of people who can stand up to an evil government through
civil disobedience. Because of them,
many Jewish lives were saved, including Moses.
SOBEKNEFRU: Was the
daughter of the Pharaoh who had ordered the Hebrew children killed. She is the woman who found the baby Moses
floating in a basket. She had the
strength and courage to go against her father and raise Moses as her own
child. Fortunately, she used Moses real
mother, Jochebed as the nursemaid.
Jochebed must have had a lot of strength and love for her son Moses to
disobey Pharaoh and keep her son alive.
MAHLAH, NOAH, HOGLAH, MILCAH AND TIRZAH – THE FIVE DAUGHTER
OF ZELOPHEHAD: Zelophehad was a
descendent of Joseph who left Egypt with Moses and died in the wilderness. He had five daughters and no sons. Under the Jewish law only sons could inherit
the property of their father. The five
daughters of Zelophehad went to Moses and Eleazar and petitioned them to change
the law. Through divine intervention, God
told Moses to give the land to the daughters and to change the law so that if
there were no male offspring, the estate could go to the daughters who would
rightfully own it. Because of the vision
and persistence of these women, Jewish law was changed forever. They had the strength to stand up against the
established leaders and fight for equality.
God honored their fight.
TAMAR: Tamar was
married to Judah’s son, Er. Er was a
wicked man and died and Judah asked his other son Onan to provide offspring for
Tamar (a Levirate union) so that the family line would continue. Onan slept with Tamar but because he didn’t
want her to have a child, he kept “spilling his seed on the ground”. Onan was more interested in a larger share
of Judah’s estate, than continuing the Family line. Tamar knew that it was necessary for the
family line to continue so she disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with
her father-in-law, Judah. He did not
recognize her. From that Union she
brought forth twin sons to continue the family line. The one son, Perez is an ancestor of Jesus. Even though Tamar’s action seems odd in today’s
world, Tamar received a great deal of respect from Judah for the bold thing
that she did. Not only was she strong
and bold to do this, but she was very bright to come up with a way to prove
that Judah was the father (read Genesis 38).
Because of her strength and cunning, the Davidic line continued on.
RAHAB: Rahab, who is
listed in the genealogy of Jesus, is a most unlikely person to be an
ancestor. First of all, she was not a
Jew but was a pagan Canaanite. Secondly,
she was a prostitute. Rahab lived in the
city of Jericho and when the Jewish people were ready to attack that city
Joshua sent in some spies. Rahab, was
quite intelligent, perceptive and well informed. She recognized the two Jewish spies and told
them that she had heard of their God and how He had set His people free from
the Egyptians. She told the spies that
all of the Canaanites were fearful of the Jews and their God. She even spoke a phrase of faith by saying, “For
the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below”. She told the spies that if they could spare
her and her family, she would help them.
Rahab went against her king and and her country and religion and she hid
the spies in her home. Because of this,
they were able to obtain tactical information.
The Jews conquered the city and spared Rahab and her family. Rahab later married a Jewish man and
continued the Davidic line to Jesus.
RUTH: During the time
of the Judges rule of Israel, there was a famine in the land. Elimelech and his wife Naomi left their home
in Bethlehem with their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion to go to the land of the
Moabites and escape the famine. They
were there several years and Elimelech died.
Both sons had married Moabite women.
Mahlon married Ruth and Chilion married Orpha. After about ten years both sons died and
Naomi decided to go back to her homeland.
She told both widowed daughters in laws to return to their families and
to remarry. Orpha did return to her
family, but Ruth decided to stay with Naomi and go back to Bethlehem. Ruth said to Naomi, “For wherever you go, I
will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and
your God my God.” Ruth went with Naomi
to Bethlehem. It must have been very
difficult for Ruth to leave her homeland and her family and to travel to an
unknown land. Her relationship to Naomi
and the witness of faith that Naomi provided gave her the strength to do go to
Bethlehem. There Ruth supported herself
and Naomi by gleaning in the fields of a man named Boaz. Boaz had heard of Ruth’s loyalty to her
mother in law and saw her great kindness.
He also saw her as a hard working woman.
Boaz was a close relative of Naomi’s deceased husband Elimelech. He bought the land that Elimelech had owned
and married Naomi. Together they had a
son named Obed and a grandson named Jesse who would be the father of King David.
HULDAH: Most of the
time when we think of Prophets, we think that they are all men. In the book of Kings, there is one female
Prophet named who was most important to the Jewish heritage. She was one of seven women prophets (Sarah,
Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail and Esther) mentioned in scripture. The scriptures tell us that Hidlah was a prophet
who the priests and royal officials would often consult. She could tell them of their fates and the
fates of surrounding nations. She spoke
stern commands to the leaders and was seen as someone who could determine if
writings were from God or not. When they
were rebuilding Solomon’s temple, a script was found and brought to Huldah to
determine if it was God’s Word. Huldah
declared that it was God’s Word and that the temple and people would suffer because
they had failed to follow it. She told
King Josiah that because of his repentance he would be spared. Her prophecies about destruction came
true. Huldah was a woman who could stand
up to anyone, commoner or king. She was
well respected for her gifts of discernment and was a woman who helped turn the
people back to God through repentance.
We can see that God chose these women, and many more
besides, to help continue the Line of David and to help bring people to
Him. Even in the Middle East several
thousand years ago, when women were seen as subservient to men, God used their
strength and their cunning and their faith to help build his Kingdom. This concludes Part I on the Hebrew
Scriptures (Old Testament). In a few
days we will take a look at Part II, Women of the New Testament.
Ever since we started hearing about the film on how Abby
Johnson left the abortion industry, my wife and I have been talking about
seeing it. I wasn’t completely positive what the theatre release was going to
be for the film, but over the last week, my wife kept seeing that it was going
to be in a theatre close to our home. At the beginning of the week, we decided
to go see the film on Thursday night. Not knowing what to expect, we entered
the theatre, watched the previews, and then, as the film began…our senses
were shocked.
Without giving away too much of the film, one of the first
scenes in the movie is a pivotal scene. It’s a scene that stays in your mind
throughout the film, and it rocks you again as the storyline of the film
catches back up with that scene. As I reflect on what we witnessed last night,
I can see very clearly the scene and still feel the raw emotions that came
pouring forth from my eyes and my heart. The last time I had tears in my eyes
in the film this much was when I watched the Passion of the Christ.
Tears poured from my eyes and down my cheeks for nearly ¾ of this film.
I found this film difficult at times to watch, but also
realized that it must be seen by as many people as possible on both sides of
this debated subject. The film is truly a testimony of love, mercy and
forgiveness. Although I could put into words exactly what I mean by those three
points, it would be better if you went and saw the film yourself. I can tell
you that my wife and I held hands nearly the entire film, especially in the
scenes that are truly hard to endure. Thoughts of my unborn child growing in my
wife’s womb flooded my mind different times in the film and I often looked over
at my wife and her bump/belly.
As a Catholic man, who is now a husband, and soon-to-be
father, one point that kept coming back to me (and my wife and I talked about
it in the car on the way home) was the unshakable support and love that Abby’s
husband gave to her, even loving her and marrying her when they had opposing
views on Abortion. I personally know Doug, and although I don’t know him
incredibly well, what I do know of him was reflected in this film perfectly. He
is the unshakable foundation of his family and rock that always has Abby’s
back.
I highly encourage
you to see the film this weekend. Opening weekends and the first week for
films are important because it will determine if the film will remain in the
theaters on a long-term basis. If you have children that are 17 years of age
and under and you are hesitant to bring them to this film, let me say that the
“R-Rating” this film was given is a farce. I have seen more graphic images in
PG-13 films than what is in this one. Furthermore, there are more graphic
images of aborted babies online than in this film.
If you have the means to do so, I would also encourage you
to support 40 Days For Life and Abby’s
organization, And Then There Were None.
Get involved with your local Pro-Life activities and pray, pray, pray for end
to Abortion.
