Thoughts on the Annunciation

Today the Church celebrates the Annunciation. On this day we commemorate when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to announce that she would conceive a son and He would be the Messiah.

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee.

This morning when I opened my iPod to look up Morning Prayer, I noticed a short essay in my prayer app on the Annunciation. Specifically it was reflecting on whether Mary could have said no. One paragraph in particular struck me:

"When we come to an important decision in our lives, we can easily find our minds clouded by the possible consequences, or, even more, by partial knowledge of them. How can we ever move, when there is so much good and evil whichever way we go? The Annunciation gives us the answer. God's grace will give us the strength to move, even if the fate of the whole world is hanging in the balance. After all, God does not demand that our decisions should be the correct ones (assuming that there even is such a thing), only that they should be rightly made." [Catholic Calendar app for iPod Touch, March 25, 2014] 

This makes me think about how, when faced with a decision, especially between two good things, I can pray about it and never really feel like I get an answer from God. Sometimes I just want God to tell me which I should do. But He won't that's not how he works. Reading the paragraph above makes me realize that I don't always need a clear answer. Very little in life is black and white. There are lots of gray areas. As long as I make decisions in the right way, I will benefit. I might be better for those decisions or I might learn from them. I might find peace or I might be led to make a different decision the next time.

In all, the important point is that decisions are "rightly made." We do this through prayer, seeking appropriate counsel, and evaluating the consequences to both ourselves and others who may also be affected by our decisions. If we so all these things, regardless of what the decision is, we can at least know that we made the decision rightly.

What Every Catholic Should Know: 7 Quick Takes

Today I have a post up over at Catholic Sistas as part of the 7 Quick Takes series. In this installment I list (with the help of the other sistas) 7 things that every Catholic should know.

I tried to keep the list brief and added links and references to the Catechism. In many ways it should be a review or a way to build a bit more knowledge on something you already know as a Catholic. The intent was not to address things that Protestants don't understand about our faith or to provide Catholics with answers to questions from their Protestant friends or family members.

Quite simply, what should you as a Catholic really know? That's the goal of this post.

The list could be a lot longer, but I only had 7 spots. So it is what it is. But that doesn't mean you can't add to the list. Come on over and check out today's 7 Quick Takes post, Catholic Catechesis installment and leave us comments with what else you would add to the list. Add any references too if you can easily find them.

This, hopefully, is a great post to file away somewhere to refer back to when you might need it. Especially with additional comments added on.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Free Will, Pride, and Humility

Last Friday I wrote a post for Catholic Sistas called "Come Holy Spirit, Give us Humility." It is the eighth post in a monthly series we have been doing since December on the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.

I have known that I was going to write this post since last November. I have had lots of different thoughts about it since that time. I prayed about it, I looked for anything I could find on humility during those many months, I looked for examples of humility around me (lots of that to go around between both Pope Emeritus Benedict and Pope Francis), and I tried to let the Holy Spirit lead me to the right words.

There was one thing on my mind a lot that I thought tied into the virtue of humility quite well. But when all was said and done, it didn't make it into the post at all, which was probably for the best. But it's continued to be on my mind so I'm going with it here in this space.

There are people in our world, some of whom are very well-known public figures, who claim to be Catholic even when they hold viewpoints that are contradictory to the Church. In some cases, these people are just poorly catechized. But in more notable cases, it's obvious that poor catechesis is not to blame.

For those who were educated in the faith at some point with the Church's correct teachings on an issue, I've often seen that a person will still hold onto erroneous beliefs simply because they think they have the "free will" to do so. I'm thinking of one person in particular and her very public stand on her supposed faith and the issue of abortion. However, I believe this applies to a lot of people. She is not an anomaly, just one of many very lost and confused souls.

There are many problems here. First a misunderstanding of Free Will. Second, pride. And third, an unwillingness to humble oneself before the Church.

Free Will
I hate when people throw around the idea of free will as meaning that they can do whatever they want. That's not free will. To properly exercise free will, one has to have a well-formed conscience. Without that, you really are just doing whatever you want.

The God-given gift of Free Will is so that we will love God because we want to. He didn't want a bunch of robots on Earth who would love Him for no other reason than He made them that way. No, He wanted us to freely choose to love Him. The problem is that we can also abuse this gift of Free Will. Adam and Eve did and pretty much every human being since then has at one point or another.

Choosing to use Free Will to take a stand contrary to the Church is nothing more than an attack against the Church. When a person claims to be a faithful Catholic and loves the Church, but then claims to hold beliefs contrary to Catholicism based on nothing more than Free Will, there is no love there. This is a downright rejection of God's Church and God Himself.

Pride
I look at this abuse of Free Will and I can't help but think that it is rooted in pride. Pride is not a virtue. It's a vice. It's one thing to be proud of your husband for completing a big project at work or proud of your kid for getting an A in a really difficult class. In those cases and similar ones, we are showing pride in someone else's hard work and dedication. But the kind of pride that we should not be delving into is the kind in which we are looking inward to ourselves only with the belief that we know better than God.

I was one of those who was poorly catechized. Before I was dragged brought more fully into the Church I held contrary beliefs to Holy Mother Church. But I don't think these were rooted in any sort of pride on my part. I was just ill-educated. However, when you know the Truth and specifically go against it, I can't help but wonder what is going on deep down in that person.

They say Free Will gives them the ability to believe what they want. But at the same time they say they are faithful to Catholicism. You can't have it both ways! The only explanation I can come up with is pride. A sense of knowing better than God knows and therefore, thinking that holding contrary beliefs is somehow justified.

Humility
The opposite of pride is humility. To be humble, you often have to put your own desires aside in favor of others. A prideful person can't do that. Pride is focus on self while humility is focus on the other. Let's go a step further.

When I was learning my way back to the Church I had to reconsider some of my viewpoints that were contrary to the faith. There were things I believed that I didn't even realized were against Church teaching. Some of those beliefs were pretty easy to reverse myself on once I understood the Church's position more. Others took me more time. Contraception was one that I really had a hard time understanding. I read a lot and still couldn't quite "get it." Eventually, I had to make a choice. Set aside my objections and accept what the Church taught whether I understood or not *or* walk away from the Church entirely.

I chose the route that kept me in the Church. Essentially, I willingly humbled myself to the Church. I decided that the Church was much older and wiser than I was and the best path was to trust in Her. This took a great deal of humility on my part. The best part is that by doing this I also opened myself to fully embrace the Church's teachings. If I had not been willing to humble myself I'd still be struggling with this teaching and may not be Catholic today because of it.

When a person is unwilling to humble themselves before the rich history and long-standing beliefs of a 2000 year old faith because of their own pride, they will never experience the richness and beauty that is the Catholic faith.

Overall, I feel sorry for those who can't see beyond the pride and error that has put them on a path contrary to the teachings of the faith they claim to profess. To get them to the point where they can be humble before the Church will take a lot of work. They have many hurdles to get through before that is even possible.

Let us pray for all those who are misguided in their understanding of the faith and who are too prideful to see the error of their ways. Let's pray that they will one day be brought to a point where they are willing to be humble before Holy Mother Church. St. Augustine, pray for us. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

[This post is my fourth in a row as part of the "7 post in 7 days" challenge.]

Congrats to our New Priests!

Today in my diocese, three men will be ordained to the priesthood. It is such an exciting time!! I've only been to one ordination and it was amazing. I am not able to attend today's, but it'll be on my mind and I'll certainly offer my prayers for these men and their ministry.

Our diocesan vocations office has been posting some cool pictures on Facebook over the last few months and one of them really struck me when I saw it. It featured one of our soon-to-be priests who is also a member of my parish. It also conveys such a powerful message in such few words. I love it and wanted to share it here.

Isn't it beautiful! I love this message and it is so true. Congrats Fr. Alan and to your newly ordained comrades. May your ministry as priests in service to our Lord and His people be fruitful and fulfilling.

St. Jean Vianney, pray for our priests.

Letter to my Children Regarding their Future

Dear Peter and Ethan,

Source: morgueFile

A couple of days ago your father and I began to teach you both about the awesome privilege we have in this great country of ours to vote for our leaders. We bundled you up, strapped you into your stroller, and walked across the park to cast our vote for several of our leaders. You won't remember this experience, but one day you'll appreciate that we wanted to take you along for this very important event.

It's my belief that this election was one of the most important elections I have ever voted in. In many ways I was voting for your future and the future of all those to come after you. You see, this country has started to lose its way. It's a sad realization and, as your mother, it scares me for what is in store for your future.

One day we'll teach you about the sacredness of human life. As a child you'll grasp this concept and understand it better than many adults. Most children know instinctively that a baby in the womb is a human baby and deserves protection and love, not death. Children are often wiser than adults. Today, in 2012, we have many leaders who don't value the life of unborn children. It is incomprehensible. You'll probably ask me about it one day in your innocent, childlike way and I'll be lost for words to explain it. For there's no way to explain how so many people, who should know better, can think it's okay to commit murder in the womb.

In this week's election our great country re-elected a man who has no qualms about promoting the  killing of unborn children in the womb. Not only that, he believes that federal money should be used to accomplish the goal of making this so-called "service" available to all women. And to top it off, he also thinks this "service" should be available at all hospitals and 100% covered by all insurance companies, including those hospitals and insurance companies founded on Catholic moral principles.

What I want you, my children, to understand is that I love our country. America is a great place to be and we are blessed to have been born here. Billions of people around the world will never know the blessings we have. I want you to grow up to love your country and fight hard to keep her a land of blessings for many. But I also want you to learn that no matter what, you are a Catholic first.

You are a Catholic because we baptized you into the faith. We took a vow to raise you in the Catholic faith and we take that vow seriously. As Catholics our destination is not here on earth, it's the Kingdom of Heaven. We are made to be with Jesus Christ. This means that we may experience suffering and persecution here on earth, even in this country of so many blessings. I fear that the sufferings and persecutions will only increase and that you'll bear the brunt of this more so than I ever will.

As a Catholic it's important for you to understand that you have a right to Freedom of Religion in this country. This means that the government is not supposed to tell you how you can practice your religion. This means that the government is not supposed to tell you that you can't practice your religion. And this means that the government is not supposed to tell you what aspects of your well-formed conscience you need to compromise on. Unfortunately, with the outcome of this election, I fear that the government may be interfering in these matters more and more.

This week's election was a very important one for our nation. Unfortunately this election revealed that this great country is losing its moral fiber. Your father and I and many of our friends will continue to fight for the unborn children that would have been your peers and we'll fight to be able to practice our faith in our daily lives. I don't want you to one day be standing in a country that is falling apart and wonder why we, your parents, didn't do more.

I pray that we'll win our fight and not pass it on to you and future generations. 

May God bless the United States of America.

Source: morgueFile

This post has been linked up at the Catholic Bloggers Network, November round-up.

Writing Elsewhere

I keep forgetting to share here whenever I have a post up on Catholic Sistas.  Sorry!!  But really, what I'd love to see is all my readers adding Catholic Sistas to their blog readers.  And go "like" the Facebook fan page while you're at it.  :-)

So today I have a new post over on the Sistas blog: A Community of Authentic Catholicism.  You should check it out not because I wrote it but because the blog is awesome and after you read my post you must read posts from the other Sistas. They are all much better writers than I.  You can just humor me, but go read them.

In all honesty, I like this post that I wrote.  I do feel the Holy Spirit had a hand in guiding it, as well as several of my fellow Sistas who rightly steered me in the proper direction when I got a bit derailed in the writing process.  But I read it now and I think, wow, those are my words?  Nope, they are not.  The Holy Spirit must have wanted someone to read those words and made sure I got them in the correct order.  Praise God, He works in amazing ways!

Hope you enjoy and continue to visit!!

I have a say ...

The president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, is presuming to speak for all women across America in supporting the HHS Mandate that will require all employers to provide contraceptive, abortion, and sterilization services for free to all employees regardless of religious moral beliefs.  You can see her video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0RXKHg1Wzk

But many of us do not stand with her and do not want her speaking for us.  So we have started a counter-campaign.  We are collecting photos to put together a video in response.  And we need your help!!  Create a sign that says "I have a say ... Cecile Richards does not speak for me!  Here comes the Catholic Church!" (be creative) and take a picture of yourself holding up the sign.**  Be sure the sign is legible.  Here is my picture:

Once you have your picture you can get it to us two ways:
1. Post it on the Facebook page for the Gospel of Life Committee -- Diocese of Owensboro, KY
Or
2. Send it to designsbybirgit{at}me{dot}com and it will be downloaded from there for inclusion in the video.

Here is another sample of photos posted by Designs by Birgit.  Send us photos as soon as possible, the sooner the better.  And have every member of the family participate, you do not have to be a woman to do this.  Thanks!!

More information on "I have a say" at Catholic Sistas.

**Or use this sign: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jQOFjZhCU_lIbIyhYIrqI881Vs7HkrIIzCVqLNUBlKk/edit

Advent Wreath Link-up

Sarah over at Snoring Scholar asked for Advent wreath pictures.  So here's ours:

I took this just before we sat down for dinner on Monday night, as you can see if you look closely at the very bottom of the picture.  Next to the wreath, stuck in the napkin holder is the Magnificat Advent reflections book which, with two small babies around, we almost never get around to reading.

You may also notice that the candles aren't purple.  The day I went out to buy them I forgot to pick some up while I was at our local Catholic book store.  That happens to me a lot when I'm there!  Why?  Because I always run into someone I know, start talking, and then can't remember everything I intended to get.  I remembered later, by which time I was on the opposite side of town running errands.  So I ran into Michael's and burgundy candles were the best I could find.  At least I found a pink one for Guadate Sunday.

By the way, burgundy and pink were our wedding colors!  So it's all good.

I love our Irish wreath with the Celtic crosses on the candle holders and the other Celtic details.  My married name is very German, very different from my maiden name, so now I love incorporating as much Irish stuff into our family as I can.  Around St. Patrick's Day my husband even makes Irish soda bread now using my grandmother's recipe and my Our Lady of Knock rosary now sits on my husband's side of the bed for him to use when we say a rosary at night (which hasn't happened in a loooooooong time!).  Infiltration at it's best!

Happy Advent to everyone!

St. Gianna

I'm taking a break today from 7 Quick Takes in order to tell you about my Thursday evening.  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't go check out other Quick Takes, so head on over to Jen's blog Conversion Diary.



St. Gianna: Catholic, Mom, and Physician

 Yesterday was St. Gianna Beretta Molla's feast day.  She has become one of my favorite saints and I hope she will be a good role model for me as I take on the challenge of balancing a family and a career as well as remaining a faithful Catholic.  So it was a no-brainer when I heard that her relics were going to be in town on her feast day and would be on display following an evening Mass at my parish.  I immediately told my husband that we were going.

The priest who presided at Mass is the chaplain for both the local chapter of the Catholic Medical Association (named for both Sts. Luke and Gianna) and for the infertility support group.  He is also a convert to Catholicism and a former OB/GYN, which has been a blessing for the infertility support group.  There were several of us there from the group and we all sat together.  It was a nice simple Mass.  There were maybe about 30-40 people present including lots of families and children. 

A portrait of St. Gianna was displayed just off to the side of the altar along with two second-class relics: her fetal scope and a pair of her gloves.  There was also a tiny, round container that contained a first-class relic, a few strands of her hair.  This must have been up on the altar because to conclude Mass, the priest did the final blessing and then added an additional sign of the cross over everyone using the first-class relic.

We were then invited to come forward to venerate the relics.  We waited patiently and eventually were able to get up close to the relics and say some prayers.  I prayed specifically for my friends struggling with fertility issues and for all the moms in an online community I am a part of.

The priest that said Mass smiled at me really big when I went up for communion.  I have not seen or talked to him since last summer, when I was still dealing with the loss of Brigit and having my own fertility issues.  So of course that big smile was completely understandable.

While we were waiting to venerate the relics, he approached and asked how far along I was.  I told him, we exchanged a few quick words, and then he moved on.  I had no idea whether he knew from talking to anyone else anything more about my situation.

But once we had our chance to venerate St. Gianna's relics and ask for her intercession with Our Lord, we headed back to the pews to meet up with our friends but paused to speak to the priest who was sitting in the front row.  I told him about my surgery, that we were expecting twins (to which he said he was glad to hear it since he thought I looked a lot bigger than 32 weeks!), and that we have made it much further than originally expected.  He was very excited for us and said he we would continue to be in his prayers.

It was a blessing to be there last night and very much a privilege.

When does life start?

Recently I was looking through some different pro-life pages on Facebook and ran across a discussion about when life begins. Most of the people participating in the discussion agreed that life begins at the moment of conception, when sperm meets egg. This is the view I agree with and it is what the Church teaches as well. If it doesn't begin there, it gets harder to say that any moment after that is when life begins, because it becomes harder to explain what the union of sperm and egg was from their first meeting until that later moment when life is suddenly there. It's completely logical: life has to start at the moment the sperm fertilizes the egg in the falopian tubes; not at the moment of implantation, not after the first trimester, nor at any other moment.

What was really interesting and disturbing to me was when someone brought the idea of when the soul enters that life. The person who brought this up said that she could not believe that God would create a life and give it a soul only to have it die while still in the womb; therefore she thought the soul probably came later. This totally upset me! Where there is a life there is a soul. And yes, sometimes those babies die. I know that first-hand.

Lately, these issues have been much more on my mind and they have caused me to contemplate more on a TV show I saw a while back, maybe a year and a half or more ago. The particular episode of this show was amazingly pro-life in its message and at the same time addresses an issue that many pro-abortion (or pro-choice) people use to support the killing of unborn babies.

The TV show was House, a medical drama about a doctor, Dr. House, who has a drug addiction but is still incredibly intelligent and does medicine his way, taking risks that others won't take while at the same time working with three residents. In the episode that I remember, he has a patient who is mysteriously sick and pregnant. I don't remember all the details, but essentially, Dr. House feels that the baby is actually killing her and she should abort the child. She refuses and insists that there must be a better way. The entire episode he won't call the baby anything but a fetus. The patient even calls him on it. Finally a solution to her problem is found and they have to perform a very risky surgery (it wouldn't be good TV otherwise). During the surgery, for some reason, they have to go into the womb without hurting the baby. And there is this amazing moment when the baby's hand reaches up and Dr. House notices it and things seem to slow down. As he watches this baby's hand reach up, he reaches out and the little baby fingers wrap around his finger. It is totally an amazing moment!

In the end the surgery is successful, the woman lives, and her baby was not harmed. Before she is discharged from the hospital Dr. House comes to see her and during their discussion he mentions "the baby." She notices right away that he has changed his vocabulary from fetus to baby!!

Most of today's media and certainly most of Hollywood is very liberal. To see a show like this that has such a powerful pro-life message is so rare and something we should be advocating for more of.

For anyone interested in more good pro-life entertainment, go see the movie Bella. Also, if you want to know what movies, books, and other forms of entertainment have good Christian messages and what don't, go check out Catholic Media Review, a blog that reviews all sorts of entertainment.

And, spread the word about life!! Life is precious and should be protected from that very first moment.

Saving the Earth: Plant a Seed

Okay, it's not Earth Day (that's in April) but we all know that taking care of our environment is increasingly more important to everyone. Not only that but taking care of our bodies/health is also a top priority for many (and should be for us all).

Do you recycle/reuse as much as possible?

Have you started driving safer to try saving on gas? Which has a bonus of keeping you, your passengers and other drivers around you safe!

Do you think about the energy you use at home? Electricity, running the washing machine, etc.?

Have you considered public transportation? Walking to work? Biking to work? Carpooling?

Do you buy organic? Shop at your local farmer's market? Or do you grow any of your own vegetables?

We are all thinking about ways to keep our bodies healthy, our families healthy, and our environment healthy. Some of us do more than others, but I think everyone I know is doing something or has at least considered doing something. Just knowing that someone has thought about something means a seed has been planted, it might take a while to germinate but it's there. And that's good!!

So I would like to plant a seed with all of you. While you consider what foods you buy, skipping fast food to eat something healthy and homecooked, and buying local produce rather than produce shipped across the country (or from other countries); and while you consider changing lifestyle choices rather than having to start taking medications/drugs for high cholestral or whatever, have you ever given any thought to Natural Family Planning?

There is an awful lot in the news and online about alternative ways of caring for your body rather than using drugs. Some drugs are good, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all forms of medication are bad, but maybe we don't need everything we put into our bodies? I can't see how pumping extra hormones into women's bodies to suppress their natural fertility can be healthy in the long run (and there is lots of research out there to support this).

This week is Natural Family Planning Week. Also, on July 25 is the the 40th anniversary of the encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) (follow the link to find the text of the encyclical and other related documents). This is a week to celebrate natural methods of family planning. I encourage everyone reading this to do some internet searching to find out more. With an open mind you might be surprised at how effective NFP can be and how much better for your health (and your marriage) it can be.

Briefly, for those who have never heard of it, there are several forms of NFP. My husband and I learned the sympto-thermal method through the Couple to Couple League. This method tracks temperatures, mucus signs, and cervix position to tell a couple when they are fertile and when they aren't. In addition the couple must communicate very openly about their mutual fertility and decide on a very regular basis whether they want to add to their family or if they need to postpone. By this method they are working in collaboration with God in creating life.

Other methods include the Billings method, the Creighton Method, and several others.

No drugs, no side effects, 100% natural, 100% effective, and many bonuses besides! It's a beautiful way to live your marriage and completely, 100% pro-life!

So I know this is an incredibly hard thing to understand and I know no one is going to suddenly jump on the NFP train just from reading this post. But I hope to plant a seed and if you are interested (even just for the sake of knowing more) then do a little looking around, do some reading, and let me know if you have questions. I may only be able to point you in the right direction, but I will do what I can.

In addition, I am updating this blog and off to the left side I have added a section for Catholic Blogs/websites. One is an NFP blog with lots of great info. I've only looked at part of it, but I can't wait to sit down and check out more.

As this week in celebration of Natural Family Planning continues and as we get closer to the anniversary of Humanae Vitae I hope to post a bit more about NFP things of interest. Stay tuned!!

Catholic Carnival #181

Go check out the next Catholic Carnival!! It is full of interesting posts from around the Catholic blogosphere. Check it out for some thoughtful insights on life and all things Catholic; it'll make you think, bring tears to your eyes, and laughter to your day.

Check it out here: Catholic Carnival #181

Have a great weekend and enjoy the Carnival!!

Catholics Not Welcome

Apparently the city of San Francisco has condemned the Catholic Church! What?? Condemned the Church?? Yes, that's right. The only article I can find on the topic is from World Net Daily. See the whole article here:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=69693

I was shocked to read that by issuing this resolution the city was asking the Archdiocese to disobey the Vatican!! What in the world is that all about!! Obviously the city government in San Francisco doesn't understand the relationship between the Vatican and its archdioceses.

After reading this article I am amazed that a city thinks it can openly discriminate against an entire religious group based on different moral principles. This is blatant discrimination!

What amazes me is that the liberal people who hate the Church and want to rid San Francisco of it are the same that push for "equal rights" for every other group under the sun, as long as it's not a religious or conservative group. On the other hand, the Catholic Church (and other religious groups, I'm sure) don't "hate" the people who oppose them. The Church prays for all people. The Church wants all people to find love and holiness. Why is that bad?

It comes down to misunderstanding. The Church is misunderstood. In the United States of America a city can not kick a Church out. And a city has no right to tell any organization what it can and can not believe. And what the city of San Francisco has to understand is that the Church is not telling the city what to believe either. The Church is a teacher; it teaches with the hope that others will listen and even if they don't agree will be open to understanding. The Church acts through faith, hope, and charity. Is that such a bad thing that the Church has to be condemned!

Be sure to read the article to the very end. This is not an isolated case. Other things are stirring around the world and it is very scary.

Celebrating Life

I heard something on the radio on the way home from work today that I have to share. It was such an amazing story with a happy ending that will take place with a wonderful celebration of life this Saturday. At the same time we'll be having our own celebration of life!!

On Saturday July 12 at 8:00am we will be attending mass at our home parish with many family and friends as well as members of our church community. During the mass the life of our baby, Casey Marie, will be remembered. Although we never got to see or hold our baby, Casey was still a precious life created by God and given to us for a very short time. We feel blessed to have been in cooperation with God in the creation of a new life for His kingdom. And we're looking forward to this opportunity to celebrate Casey's life.

I heard today that at 8:00am on Saturday morning in Bethleham, PA at the Church of Notre Dame, Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life will be baptizing two babies who were saved from abortion. I was listening to him tell the story about how these mothers chose life instead of abortion and he mentioned that he would be baptising them this Saturday. One of his points in telling the story was to show how effective sidewalk counselors and those who spend time praying outside abortion mills can be in helping to change peoples minds to choose life. One mother changed her mind after talking to one of the sidewalk counselors outside the abortion mill she was about to enter. The other mother took a flier from the counselors outside the abortion clinic, started looking at it after she was inside and once she read the flier she immediately decided she couldn't do this to her child and she got up and walked out.

So on Saturday morning, we'll be remembering the small life of the child we have in heaven and up in Pennsylvania two mothers will be celebrating the baptisms of the babies that they chose life for. It is important to celebrate every life and to recognize that life begins at the moment of conception. Every life is important and this Saturday several of us will be recognizing that fact.

Miscarriage and Baptism

It has been over two months since my husband and I miscarried our first child. I have previously written about our loss and in that previous post listed several topics that I felt called to discuss. One of those topics is the Sacrament of Baptism.

One of the defining aspects of Christianity is our belief in Baptism. Without baptism we can not come to know God and be a part of his kingdom. We hear our Lord Jesus tell us, "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit." (John 3:5). Baptism is an important aspect of all Christian churches. As Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, we believe in the necessity of Baptism for salvation. I know nothing about the theology of Baptism from the numerous Protestant perspectives, so I won't even attempt to go there. I want to focus here on the Catholic perspective.

Catholics (and some Protestant faiths) believe in infant baptism. This isn't my focus here either, but for anyone reading this who is not familiar with why we believe in infant baptism, I'll just mention a few of the reasons why the Catholic church teaches this. First there is the Scripture passage I quoted above. That's the basis for baptism itself. Beyond that there are four things I can point to that defend infant baptism:

From the Gospels: "Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, 'Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.' After he placed his hands on them, he went away." (Matthew 19:13-15; see also the same story in Mark 10:13-16 and Luke 18:15-17). Jesus wanted the children brought to Him and there is no reason to think that He wouldn't want them brought to him now.

The book of Acts chapter 2 is one of my favorite parts of Acts, which is also one of my favorite Scripture books. In this chapter is when the Holy Spirit comes down on the Apostles at Pentacost and when St. Peter gives his first long speech/sermon. After his speech, the people ask what they should do. "Peter [said] to them, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.'" (Acts 2: 38-39). In other parts of Acts there is mention of thousands being baptized at a time after similar conversion moments with Peter or Paul or other disciples. Whenever a large crowd is baptized it is reasonable to assume that women and children were also in the crowd. So children and infants were being baptized from the beginnings of the Church.

The writings of the early church fathers also point to baptism of infants and children. They don't write to defend it, however, because it was a general practice; they didn't need to defend it. These writers in the 2nd century were the disciples of the disciples, only two or three generations away from those who heard the words of Jesus first hand. The little I have read from the early church fathers shows a continuous stream of understanding from very early times with very little, or no, discrepancy between writers (the "tradition" part of Catholic teaching). If you want to know more I highly recommend Stephen Ray's book Crossing the Tiber. He includes a LOT of the early church fathers' writings.

Finally, don't parents make decisions for their children all the time? One thing I have heard from a lot of people about baptism is that they don't want to make that choice for their children, thus the child should be at an age of reasoning to make that decision themselves. I find a lot wrong with this statement. Parents decide their children's bedtimes, schedules, what they eat, where they go, what school they go to, clothes they wear, activities they can and can not participate in and more. They even make them go to church and Sunday School and so forth. I took a logic class in college as part of a philosophy track and I think there are a number of fallacies in this logic. Your religion is one of the most important things you can pass on to your children; it's why you teach them your faith, make them go to church and Sunday School and pray before meals, bed, etc. Thus in the Catholic church, parents understand that through baptism we are making a decision for our children that will be with them the rest of their lives. It's the parental thing to do.

Okay, moving beyond that argument ... I don't want to dwell on it, it's not supposed to be my focus ...

My focus really is the desire to be baptised and what happens if death comes before baptism can take place. Up until now, I have built this piece around Scripture, which is how I prefer to tackle things if I expect that non-Catholics will be reading this. In this case, I want to lay the groundwork through Scripture and from this point on will probably lean more on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

So, the Catholic Church teaches that baptism can happen in three ways: baptism by water, baptism by blood, and baptism by desire. By water is obviously how most of us were baptized. Baptism by blood is through death for the sake of the faith, martyrdom. But what is this baptism by desire? From the Catechism:

The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament. (CCC1258)

and

As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children Come to me, do not hinder them," allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism. (CCC 1261)

These two paragraphs from the Catechism taken together show the hope there is that God's mercy will bring these children into Heaven with Him through the baptism of desire. I'm not always the best at putting into words what seems clear to me, so I apologize if the connections aren't very clear. I read those two paragraphs in the context of the Scripture passages above and others like them and from the other traditions of the Church. I think "context" is very key to this understanding.

It is through reading the Scriptures and from reading the Church's teachings through the Catechism that I can find peace in trusting my child's salvation to God's mercy. I would never presume to know God's mercy, but I have prayed about my deep desire to have God take Casey Marie into heaven with Him. Through his mercy, I know that my desire as a parent to have baptised my child if he/she had lived long enough can be enough to bring about Baptism by desire. It all depends on the mercy of God, and I have great faith in Him and His mercy.

In my prayers I have also prayed for many other children who were lost to miscarriage, both those I know about and all those babies and families I don't know. I have also included all those children lost to abortion. In God's mercy I pray that they are all saints in heaven, praising God with all the angels and saints.

In closing I want to mention a small book my sister-in-law sent me after our miscarriage. It is called An Empty Cradle, A Full Heart: Reflections for mothers and fathers after miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death by Christine O'Keeffe Lafser. The books is comprised of various short reflections accompanied by a Scripture passage and all divided into three sections: reflections for mothers, reflections for fathers, and reflections for both. Near the end of the book one reflection in particular stood out to me and I will share it here along with it's accompanying Scripture passage:

Some people say it is a shame. Others even imply that it would have been better if the baby had never been created. But the short time I had with my child is prescious to me. It is painful now, but I still wouldn't wish it away. I prayed that God would bless us with a baby. Each child is a gift, and I am proud that we cooperated with God in the creation of a new soul for all eternity. Although not with me, my baby lives. (p. 234)

For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. 1 Samuel 1:27

Thank you for reading this. I hope it has brought some food for thought or some comfort to you if you have ever been in a similar situation to mine. May the Lord bless all of you and may He bless all the little children in Heaven and on Earth.

Catholic Carnival 173 is Up!

The next Catholic Carnival is now up!! Go check it out, it looks like a good one.

All the posts are arranged into groups based on the four groups of mysteries of the rosary. Our Carinval hostess also included some links to more info on the rosary.

I've only had a chance to scan through it myself, but it definitely looks like a good read. Go take a look and read other people's reflections and thoughts on various aspects of our faith and how we live our lives as Catholics.

Catholic Carnival #170 is up!

The next edition of the Catholic Carnival is up!! After many months of reading the Carnival I finally decided to participate. Go check out all the wonderful posts from Catholic bloggers from all over the Blogosphere here:

Catholic Carnival 170

Happy reading!

Today's Mass at Yankee Stadium

No, I did not get to attend the Mass, though what an awesome experience that could have been. We did, however, watch it on TV. Those who were able to attend had been sitting in the stadium since 10am this morning. The "popemobile" came in a little after 2pm and the Mass started around 2:30.

Even watching it on TV was an awesome experience! To see the Holy Father enter Yankee Stadium and wave at all the people and to see the thousands of people there all excited to be celebrating Mass with the Pope was astounding. It was so moving watching the people's reactions as the Pope made his way around the stadium and to the sacristy (which I think was one of the dug outs).

At this Mass they also commemorated the 200th anniversary of the Diocese of Baltimore's elevation to an Archdiocese. In addition the 200th anniversary of four other Dioceses in the U.S.: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Bardstown (now Louisville); all four were under the metropolitan of Baltimore at the time, although now all four are archdioceses themselves.

Anyway, During the liturgy of the Word the first reading (from Acts) was in English, the second (from the first letter of Peter) in Spanish, and they chanted the Gospel reading in English. During the Psalm I wasn't paying attention but I think they sung it in a combination of English and Spanish. Later during the Prayers of the Faithful, they had a variety of people come up to give each one and they each read the intention in their own language. I heard English, Spanish, and French for certain. I think there was an African language, some southeast Asian language (I think), and possibly a few others. Again, I think I was not totally paying attention at that point either. Oh, and the Creed was sung in Latin, the universal language of the church.

His Homily was very good. Benedict has addressed the sex scandal in the church from the past few years several times since arriving in the U.S. last week. Actually, he first addressed it enroute to the U.S. He also met with several victims of the scandal while he was here. During his homily he did not bring it up explicitely but he did mention working against scandals in the church, in a general sense. Other than that, one of the first big topics he addressed was protecting the unborn!! He got immediate and enthusiastic applause for that one (presidential candidates take note!). Other than that, he talked a lot about hope, which of course was the main theme of his whole trip: Christ our Hope. Not only that, but as Chris pointed out when the commentor on TV was talking about how much he addresses the issue of Hope ("he's definitely making himself out to be the Pope of Hope"), his most recent encyclical is also on hope. We also laughed at calling Benedict the "Hope Pope!" He addressed young people specifically at one point, talked about vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and about raising children in the faith and parents as strong role models. He also addressed the crowd in Spanish (for which he got more enthusiastic applause). Apparently the Pope is actually more comfortable in Spanish than he is English, which did seem to be the case when he first started speaking in Spanish. I'd like to go find the homily somewhere and read it again, since I'm sure I missed something. I'll be checking the uspapalvisit.com website soon to see if all his talks from this past week are there.

The Eucharistic celebration was very cool. It was so moving to see several couples come forward to present the gifts of bread and wine to the Pope. You could tell that they were overwhelmed by the opportunity they had to be in Pope Benedict's presence. During the actual distribution of communion, the camera focused on the Pope occasionally as he was distributing communion to the faithful and it was so moving. The commentators on the TV even were talking about how at this particular point the Pope is like every other priest, and it was a very humbling experience watching him give the Eucharist to the faithful. Maybe humbling isn't the right word, but hopefully you know what I mean. Oh, and they managed to get communion to all 57,000 people and did it all in about 15-20 minutes!! There were priests everywhere!! Apparently they had done several dress rehearsals for this to make sure they could do it quickly and efficiently while still maintaining the reverence damanded of the Eucharistic celebration.

Although I couldn't be at the Mass in person, it was wonderful to be able to watch it on TV. I was so moved by the whole thing and I started thinking about how cool it would be to attend mass sometime where the Pope was presiding. What an awesome experience it would be. Don't know if I'll ever get that opportunity in my lifetime, but it would be worth it.

Easter Season

The blog has been a bit neglected lately. I've been posting occasionally for the Blue 2.0 stuff at work, but I'm getting behind on that too. Things here have been pretty busy lately: work is crazy, I'm trying to tie up loose ends from a responsibility that I just handed over, and I hired two new people at the same time so I'm occupied with lots of training.

Anyway, just wanted to take a moment to talk about our Easter. For the first time I attended an Easter vigil service. Usually I attend Easter Mass on Easter morning. That mass is a typical mass, just more celebratory because it's Easter. The gospel reading on Sunday morning is usually one of the stories of Peter and the beloved disciple running to find the empty tomb. But the Easter vigil is very different.

Easter vigil mass must start after sunset and it must be over before sunrise on Easter Sunday. I heard someone standing near me right before the vigil started tell someone else that in her parish in Missouri they start the vigil at 4:00am on Sunday morning! Ours started at 8:40pm Saturday night. This Mass begins outside where they light a liturgical fire and the Bishop blesses the Easter candle. It was very cold, but a very neat way to begin. Once the Easter candle was blessed and we started processing behind it into the church we started lighting the candles we all had from the Easter candle. All the lights in the church had been turned off, so our only light was from the candles, it was very cool.

Once everyone was inside and back in their seats the service started. The lights were finally put on again and the readings started. Unlike a typical mass which consists of an Old Testament reading, a Psalm, a New Testament Reading, and a Gospel reading, during the vigil mass we hear seven Old Testament readings! They started in Genesis and moved through Exodus, Isaiah, and Baruch (and something else too, probably). In between each Old Testament reading there was either a sung Psalm or a moment of quiet reflection. After either the Psalm or the reflection there was a prayer and then they went to the next reading. The neat thing was that we read through a huge chunk of salvation history by reading so much of the Old Testament. You really can't fully understand the New Testament and the Gospels without reading the Old Testament.

Once the Old Testament readings were done the Bishop stood and we sang the Gloria. This was a little different. At most masses the Gloria is done at the beginning of Mass (for those who remember this from music history class: it followed the Kyrie in the Ordinary). The weird placement of it in this Mass was because we don't do the Gloria during Lent. Because the Gloria is the praising of the risen Lord, it is skipped during that period of 40 days of solemnity of Lent and brought back joyfully when we celebrate the risen Lord. So, it makes sense at the Vigil Mass to read through the Old Testament and Psalms, and then sing the Gloria before we read from the New Testament. Following the singing of the Gloria we had a reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans and finally the Gospel reading, from Luke I believe, though I can't remember exactly at the moment.

The Gospel reading was interesting to me. After years of only attending Easter Mass on Sunday I hadn't realized that there was a different Gospel reading at the Vigil. We read in the Gospel of the two women going to the tomb, finding it open and the angel tells them to go tell the disciples and tell them that the Risen Christ will see them in Galilee. Then as they are going back to the disciples, they run into Jesus on the road and he speaks to them. I guess I had never read this part of the Gospel before! I didn't think that anyone saw Jesus after he had risen until later. The reading just really struck me a lot more than it usually does.

The Bishop's homily was great too! I don't remember all the details but I do remember this one thing clearly. He spoke about how Easter is the beginning of the 50days of the Easter season leading to Pentecost. Pentecost is considered the birthday of the church. Thus, said the Bishop, if Pentecost is the birthday of the church, then Easter can be considered the conception and the 50 days leading to Pentecost is the gestation! Such a powerful imagine!!

Once the Liturgy of the Word was over we moved into the baptism of new members into the church. It was so cool to be there to see 7 new people enter into the church. The Bishop baptised all of them and then he administered the Sacrament of Confirmation as well. The entire congregation renewed our baptismal vows also. Again we passed around the flame from the Easter candle and renewed our vows holding the light of Christ. This Vigil mass is so beautiful and wonderful in so many ways. The entire life of the church is on display in so many ways!

After that ceremony we moved into the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The seven people who were just received into the church were now able to also receive the Eucharist for the first time! I can't even imagine how powerful and amazing it was for these people to be baptised into the Church, receive the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation, and receive Christ himself in their first Eucharist all in one day!! How incredible!

The Vigil Mass ended about 10 after midnight. Chris and I went home but weren't ready for bed right away. So we had some ice cream together and finally got to bed around 1 or 1:30am. Sunday we slept in and then went to Bardstown for Easter dinner. That was our whole Easter Sunday.

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter!

Catholics Come Home!!

There is a wonderful campaign starting and it looks awesome!! I have seen so much recently about evangelization and it just keeps growing!!

First: my church started a program several years ago called Catholics Returning Home. In the program they take six weeks and discuss various aspects of the church. Unlike RCIA (Rite of Christian Initation for Adults), which is a program for people interested in Catholicism and guides them toward baptism and/or confirmation in the Church, Catholics Returning Home (CRH) is for former Catholics who are interested in taking a second look at the church. Over the six weeks they discuss: stories of faith, Vatican II changes, the Mass and Eucharist, Reconciliation and Sin, and finally, beliefs and "now what?". I have not been involved at all and have no idea what the success rate of the program is. But I would think it would be a success just to get one person back to the Church. It's a great step in the right direction.

Second: a new national campaign!! This is Catholics Come Home. I have seen it mentioned in my church bulletin and monthly newsletter and I recently saw it come up in discussion on a Catholic wedding site I still participate in. Check out the website, it is very cool!! Also, there is a TV campaign. They are piloting the TV commercials in Phoenix, AZ and Lexington, KY. I caught one of the commercials tonight for the first time and it was a great TV spot. Really emphasized the good that the church has done throughout the world for centuries: largest social programs in the world, creation of the written Bible, hospitals, education, the college system. The list goes on and on. The program looks great and I highly encourage everyone to go check it out. If you're a proud Catholic, there is a way to donate to the program, if you have any interest in the Church at all, check out the various stories and information on this site.

I have more on this topic, but I'm going to wait and do a new post. I think my further thoughts warrant a post all their own.