Let the Little Ones Come

Being Human...

I was reading an article this morning with my cuppa joe and just had to share it.  Archbishop Chaput has an extraordinary gift for explaining the basic truths of human existence.  He gave a speech a few days ago at the University of Pennsylvannia that is just amazing.  His speech, like all truths, is both simple and profound. 

Youtube isn't all bad...

Happy Birthday

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us!

Our family has a very strong devotion to Blessed Teresa. Her relics are coming to Dallas.  What a gift and incredible blessing to have a chance to venerate the relics of this holy woman who loved so much.

  

St. Gianna, Pray for Us!

I have always felt drawn to St. Gianna Beretta Molla.  I remember the first time I ever saw her picture.  It was sometime in 1994 after the loss of my firstborn baby, Will.  I was back to work but on Wednesdays (my day off), I volunteered at the White Rose Women's Center.  Their office space  had a room downstairs that had been made into a  Blessed Sacrament chapel.  Pictures of various saints, especially those often invoked to help mothers in crisis pregnancies, adorned the walls on both sides.   St. Gianna's picture was displayed prominently on the left side of the wall.  I remember inspecting it closely as I had never heard of her.  At this point in time, she was just Servant of God, but already the pro-life community had adopted her as a powerful patron for the unborn babies and mothers in crisis pregnancy.

Since that day fifteen years ago, many have come to know this most wonderful and powerful intercessor. I personally know two baby "Gianna's."  :)  Both were born to mothers who had difficult pregnancies and St. Gianna was invoked throughout their pregnancies to safeguard their precious babies.

Many may have already read these two books on St. Gianna but I want to personally recommend them as they are inspirational and indicative of the holiness of this Italian mother of four, who lived her life dedicated to God and who sacrificed herself for her child.  The second book, is a compilation of letters of love that she wrote to her husband, Pietro.  They are lovely and apparently this title is out of print as the copies are quite expensive.  I am grateful to have a copy myself already!

Fr. Z posted the most wonderous 2nd miracle of St. Gianna, the one that allowed her to be canonized by the late Pope John Paul II.   I had never heard this story and it touched me deeply.  I wanted to share it with others on this special feast day of St. Gianna.  May she continue to bring more souls to Christ and teach us the value of every human life!

Today, we will read a brief story about St. Gianna, color a picture, and pray our Rosary specifically for the unborn babies who are in danger of abortion.

This is a beautiful prayer penned by the saint herself:

"0 Mary, into your maternal hands I place myself and I abandon myself completely, sure of obtaining whatever I ask of you. I trust in you because you are the sweet Mother, I confide in you because you are the Mother of Jesus. In this trust I place myself, sure of being heard in everything; with this trust in my heart I greet you "my Mother, my trust", I devote myself entirely to you, begging you to remember that I am yours, that I belong to you; keep me and defend me, 0 sweet Mary, and in every instant of my life, present me to your Son, Jesus".

Amen.

Blessed Feast of the Annunciation!

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."

--St. John, 1:14

Definition of Hypocrisy

Read it and weep.  Really.  I cannot figure this man out.  :(

Are you (Es)Sure?

My dad got us a free subscription to Time magazine (he had frequent flyer miles that he would lose if not used, so he transferred them to magazine subscriptions--unfortunately, the pickings were slim and Time was the least offensive magazine).  I haven't read a secular news magazine in a while.  What an eye opener...  

I realized a few things:

1.  I only saw one of the top 10 movies of the year (Wall-E).

2.  I was only aware of one of the top 10 break-ups of the year (Christopher Buckley and the National Review).

3.  I did agree with all the top 10 fashion faux pas of this past year--just WHAT were they thinking?

4.  I didn't know any of the top 10 Green achievements of 2008 (Obama's election was #1).

4.  I wasn't aware of the new "cutting edge" (pardon the pun) permanent form of birth control:  Essure.

Essure is scary.  The appeal of this form of birth control is the ease with which it is achieved--no hospital visit, no long recovery...  It is a fuzzy coil that an OB inserts in each fallopian tube  (in the convenience of his office). These coils begin to rub the lining of  the tubes and eventually cause scar tissue to form, thus permanently blocking the fallopian tubes forever.  The mutilation process takes about three months.  It is permanent and non-reversible.  And like a tubal ligation (which can be reversed some of the time), Essure does not stop a precious baby from being conceived.  The teeny tiny little one  just has nowhere to go and dies before it can make a trip safely through the fallopian tubes to the womb.  What cruelty.  

Lord Have Mercy.  Sometimes I think I would prefer to stay uninformed of the latest "trends" in birth control, fashion, whatever...well, now I can pray.

A thought for the Day

"When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I've often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God -- and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there'll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world -- and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, 'Spare him, because he loved us!'" 

-- the late pro-life hero, Congressman Henry Hyde

Lord Have Mercy.

Vote for the Little Ones

Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:14

The Truth

Thank you, Cardinal Egan.