Rachel Weeps

"A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not." (Matthew 2:18, also Jeremiah 31:15) 

What we are doing to our children is unfathomable...

In Iraq, this report says, children of Christians are killed and displayed as if crucified in order to terrorize and torment the parents and force them to leave the country. What sort of mind a) conceives of such a vicious plan; and b) actually puts it into action? Who could do such a thing to a child?

In China, women are dying along with their unborn babies as abortions are forced on those who are pregnant without the necessary permission. There are plenty of stories of these atrocities from LifeSiteNews. The agony of these women and their families as their children are destroyed is unbearable to consider, yet we must confront it.

In the US, there are certainly many abortions that are coerced if not physically forced (though I believe there are accounts of the latter as well). Many other abortions are consented to by women who have bought the lie that "it's just a blob of cells", but who afterwards discover the truth, or recognize what they knew in their hearts was true, and then suffer the anguish and guilt of knowing they killed their own children.

All of this is horrendous and incomprehensible if you take even a couple of minutes to think it through. If you can't conjure up mental pictures, just do a google search online, and you'll find plenty of evidence of the horrors we are visiting upon our children.

That's not the end of it, though. These examples are all about physical harm - deplorable and disgusting and horrifying, of course. But what about spiritual harm, and even spiritual death? Is society not visiting that harm upon our children as well? Think about sex education at increasingly young ages, for instance. What is accomplished by this? How does it teach our children to think about sex? And now, of course, the homosexual political agenda is thrown into the mix, and we have children thinking about sex and becoming convinced that they are "gay". We have them exposed to contraceptive thinking early on;perhaps even more insidious is the information they are given on  how to prevent disease as well as pregnancy when they are having sex  - which is presented to them as their right and as something they should desire, and should be allowed to experience.

And of course there's homosexual marriage to consider. What does this issue say to our children? What is a marriage? What is a family? If parents are not actively teaching their children the answers to these questions - answers that up till fairly recently were so well-known and accepted that no explanation was needed, because most people were living examples of them - then their children will be indoctrinated into the liberal world view of "anything goes".

All of this exposes our children to spiritual harm, if not death. Their unformed consciences are battered by untruths which, in many cases, their parents are at a loss to combat, perhaps not even knowing what lies their children have been exposed to. And the more the lies and immoral lifestyles are played up in the media, the more numb a child's conscience will become, until finally there is no hope of resuscitation.

Rachel weeps - not just for the physically harmed children, but for the spiritually harmed children, too.

And I suspect Rachel weeps for the contracepted children as well. I know I do. But that's another story.

Like a Roaring Lion

If you don't think religious persecution - especially of Catholics - is on the horizon, think again. In fact, I think it's pretty much already here. We just haven't seen the full force of it yet. Start reading the Roman Martyrology for inspiration!

At Accepting Abundance, Stacy has some comments:

"Rose Marie Belforti is a town clerk in Ledyard, New York who refused to sign a marriage license in August for two women after the state enacted the Marriage Equality Act in July. The two women... don't even live in New York; they own seasonal property in a nearby town and actually live in Florida. One is an attorney and the other is a filmmaker.

"They knew that Rose Marie, a mother of four and a grandmother, had already made it known that she would not sign a same-sex marriage license, but she would arrange for someone else to do it. The two women chose to come to Ledyard, this small farming town where they don't even live and where Rose Marie has been the elected clerk for the past ten years, just to press her on her beliefs. Rose Marie did not back down, but did offer to arrange for someone else to provide a legitimate signature. There are only around seven licenses a year to even sign at all. She has since turned over the responsibility of signing (all those!) marriage licenses to another clerk.

"So in a rational world, everyone should be happy. Right? ...Not so in this case. The two women are suing the town of Ledyard, and the situation has become national news. ... And rather than just "getting married" now as they so wanted to do, the two women have declared they won't stop until they get her to sign the license."

Visit Accepting Abundance to read the rest of Stacy's excellent analysis.

Then consider this story, in which we learn that Muslim students at a CATHOLIC University are upset and say their rights are being trampled? Why? Because the school will not allow them to have a Muslim club, and neither will it give them classrooms just for Muslims - classrooms that don't have that offensive crucifix affixed to the wall.

Oh. My. Goodness. It's a CATHOLIC University! Do ya s'pose a Muslim university would bend over backwards to accommodate the needs/desires/demands of Catholics students? 'Course not.

Make no mistake. This is about persecution of the Catholic Church. It's coming. Sooner than you think. Arm yourself with the Truth, and with faith in God.

Sobrii estote, vigilate. Adversarius vester Diabolus tamquam leo rugiens circuit quaerens quem devoret. Cui resistite fortes fide...

 (1 Peter 5:8-9)

Looking for a Few Good Shepherds

Priests, please take note: the Church in the United States is on the brink of a war for survival we’ve never before experienced. The tragedy is that most Catholics, including most bishops and priests, continue to act as if nothing is amiss. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Look honestly and objectively at all that has happened over the years—some in very recent years—to a nation that was founded on a belief in God. There have been repeated attempts to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance. Though those attempts have failed, apart from the Pledge, references to God are effectively banned in public schools. 

The sanctity of marriage has been abandoned, indeed attacked, by our government. Homosexual unions are now being legally recognized and institutionalize, in direct contradiction of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which is the law of the land.  Homosexuals (less than 3% of the population) are now openly recruited by our military and other institutions of importance.  States have passed legislation mandating that the “gay, lesbian, and transsexual” lifestyle be addressed in our schools, emphasizing the “important contributions” they have made in our society.

Obamacare, in spite of the deceitful claims to the contrary, supports abortion, artificial contraception, and immoral approaches to end of life issues.  The Department of Health and Human Services is requiring Catholic institutions to provide health care coverage for their employees which includes “medical procedures” that are clear violations of Catholic teaching.  Catholic adoption agencies and hospitals are being forced to provide services clearly against the tenants of our religion or go out of business.  The very “social justice” programs so long the focus of the US Catholic hierarchy are now jeopardized because of government-mandated requirements.  Catholic hospitals simply cannot provide abortion or sterilization procedures, nor can Catholic adoption agencies allow homosexual “couples” to adopt and still remain Catholic.  Some such service providers will roll over to immorality and sin and others will simply close their doors.

All of the above leads to the conclusion that, given its current course, this nation is on the road to becoming the Rome of ages past.  And just as Nero fiddled while Rome burned, far too many Catholic clergy remain silent; or, if they address these issues at all, they do so in such a “politically correct” way as to be totally ineffective. The Obama administration clearly recognizes that the Roman Catholic Church is potentially the greatest enemy of the socialist state the administration wishes to establish. Obama has placed in positions of power many “Catholic” politician – Catholic in name only – whose words and votes are consistently in defiance of Catholic teaching.

The fate of the Catholic Church in this country as well as the outcome of God’s final judgment is squarely on the shoulders of Bishops and Priests.  The historic emphasis on social justice to the exclusion of an emphasis on the broader picture of moral behavior has led to an almost complete watering down of Catholic teaching.

Some “Church leaders” have cautioned that addressing these issues head on from the pulpit might jeopardize the Church’s tax exempt status.  Wake up, clergy!  Too many more years of “playing nice” will result in not much Church being left to even worry about taxes.  To those who understand the long-term game plan of the socialists in power, it is clear that we are close to having a choice to make: speak the truth or fail in our responsibilities due solely to concerns about money.

There is clearly a way to forcefully address these issues without placing tax exemption at risk.  Simply do not name names.  It is entirely appropriate and necessary for all bishops and priests to take a forceful stand.  The time to do that is now, not later.  Pastors, when is the last time you addressed any of the following in a homily: Abortion, contraception, euthanasia, homosexual unions, the threats our Church faces at the hands of a regime that is hell bent on destroying the Church?  When, if ever, have you told your parishioners that to support politicians (especially so-called “Catholic” politicians) who advocate in favor of the aforementioned practices is to be a partner in SIN?  When is the last time you discussed from the pulpit the consequences of mortal SIN?

While it has not happened in our Diocese (to my knowledge), there have been recent instances of priests being disciplined by their bishops for defending Church teaching.  The Church has a history of being persecuted, and not all persecution comes from without.  The challenge to each member of the clergy is to decide between acquiescence and martyrdom. There are times when eternal salvation requires the latter. Man up, priests. Good shepherd have never been needed more than they are now.

-- by Jerry Boyd, a Concerned Roman Catholic of the Diocese of Baker