Medieval Helpdesk

This may be one of those that everyone has already seen, so I'm posting it here rather than forwarding to everyone on my email list ;) I had not seen it until this morning and I thought it was hilarious!




H/t Joy

Joy and Hope in the Midst of Persecution

Fantastic post by Johnnette Benkovic at Women of Grace. H/t Janet.

Facing the Challenge

by J Benkovic

There is no question that as Catholics living in the culture of our day, we are facing unprecedented challenges. I could write a whole series of blogs about those challenges, but my guess is you know many of them already. Recently, for example, our apostolate was unable to lease space because of a usage clause that prohibited religious purposes.

Not long ago we featured on our program, Father Joseph Esper, author of the book, Spiritual Dangers of the 21st Century . In this book, he identified the stages of persecution as follows:

Stage 1 The group is stereotyped.

Stage 2 The group is marginalized

Stage 3 The group is villified.

Stage 4 The group is criminalized.

Stage 5 Outright persecution ensues.

Father Esper stated that researchers tell us Christians are hovering between Stage 3 and Stage 4. Some would argue, however, that Catholics are hovering between Stages 4 and 5. With the demise of the federal government’s “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” policy on September 20, 2011, the continued legislative push for gay marriages to be recognized across state lines, the Obama administration’s hammering to overturn the conscience clause, Catholics are in the cross-hairs.

So much so, that Francis Cardinal George (Archdiocese of Chicago) stated, “I expect to die in my bed, my successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr.” Some wonder if his statement is more prophesy than prediction.

The question, therefore, ought not to be, “Are we facing challenges?” but rather, “How do we meet the challenges we are facing?” I think the answer to this question can be summed up as follows:

1. Admit where we are. George Weigel in an address at St. Patrick’s Church, London, entitled “Benedict XVI and the Future of the West,” said this: “A decisive moment has been reached in the history of the Catholic Church; the catechetical-devotional Catholicism of the counter-reformation is giving way to what may be called Evangelical Catholicism.” He reminded listeners that the Church itself is mission and always about the business of pointing to Jesus Christ as the answer. We must realize that, as laity, we are called to mission activity.

2. Prepare ourselves for the struggle. Many would read this as a call to stockpile food, create safety bunkers, and head for the hills. While such strategies may have value, we must remember that ultimately the battle is not with “flesh and blood,” but with “powers and principalities” (Eph 6:12). As St. Paul instructs in Ephesians, we need to equip ourselves with the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of justice, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the sword of the Word of God, and the boots of zeal to propagate the Gospel. We do this through our time of personal prayer, attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, receiving the Sacraments, and striving to live a virtuous life. Maintaining holy friendships and participating in activities that fortify and strengthen our resolve increase our ability to meet the challenges that confront us.

3. Do not give in to fear, discouragement, or anxiety. These three tactics are the most frequently tried strategies of the evil one. He seeks to disarm us, paralyze us, and overtake us through them. When they tempt you, see them for what they are and call upon the name of Jesus. Quoting Scripture is invaluable in these moments. Of course, this presupposes that you have several good passages committed to memory (Tip: Start with “one-liners” and then move on to more complex passages. A good beginning are these words of Jesus, “Get thee behind me, Satan;” and St. John’s words,”Stronger is he who is in me than he who is in the world.”).

4. Read the lives of the saints, especially the martyr saints. These holy men and women show us that “nothing is impossible with God,” even giving the ultimate witness. Ask them to intercede for you as you seek to live your life as a witness of the truth in this our day and time. Their lives also give us keen insight and inspiration regarding the realities of trial, persecution, and travail.

5. Know that God is with you. Jesus tells us He will never abandon us. And He won’t . The Holy Spirit dwells with the soul that is in the state of grace and provides every spiritual blessing in the heavens we need to live out our call and mission. In addition, the peace that surpasses understanding wraps us in the certainty of God’s presence and love. He never calls us to a task or a mission without giving us the grace we need to meet it. He is our Father and our provider.

6. Be joyful. There is a certain joy that accompanies struggle and challenge. It is the joy in knowing that when our sufferings are united to the Cross of Jesus, we share in the merit accomplished through that Cross. Such is the Father’s will and pleasure. We find something else in that Cross as well: power. The Cross of Christ is the very Power of God (1 Cor.1:18). So, when the cross is presented to you, rejoice! God’s own power can be yours!

These words of St. Pio of Pietrelcina give us good advice:

Being subjected to a trial is not under a soul’s control at all, and no one can directly do anything to be subjected to a trial; it depends exclusively on God’s will. I advise you to remain peaceful and not to be the least bit concerned about what will happen. Everything will be resolved to the glory of God and the sanctification of your soul.

…Give infinite freedom to the action of divine grace in you, and let it always serve to be for his glory and for the salvation of your soul and the souls of others. Never forget that heavenly favors are granted not only for your sanctification but also for the sanctification of others. (To Raffaelina Cerase, Feb. 23, 1915, taken from Padre Pio’s Spiritual Direction for Every Day)

Subsidiarity in Action

My daughter was quizzing me from a set of Brainquest cards the other day (it's nice to know I'm so good at 5th grade questions). One of the questions was something like "This organization improves conditions for employees in the workplace." And the answer on the card was "labor union".

So we had a little discussion about labor unions and how they were very important and are still, except that they have been corrupted by power and seem to have lost their mission. In addition, we discussed how labor unions actually give a great deal of money to anti Catholic organizations, such as abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. Our children know what Planned Parenthood is because they have prayed for an end to abortion in front of a local Planned Parenthood clinic as part of a local 40 Days for Life campaign. Anyway, after the discussion went back and forth for awhile, my daughter said, "Oh, I wish I wouldn't have asked that question!" Clearly, she had enough, but it was a good discussion to have with her.

Anyway, in talking to a friend (H/t Suzanne) about this, she told me about Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII's encyclical on Capital and Labor. I have it bookmarked, but have not had a chance to read it yet. She also told me about the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, which is named for Lord Acton, who said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power absolutely." The Acton Institute looks like a helpful place to sort through all the news reports regarding the Pontifical Council for Peace and Justice call for a central World Bank. Many of these news reports say the Vatican is calling for this, when in actuality it is not the Vatican itself, but the Pontifical Council.

So thus, this post about subsidiarity. But as the mother of 5 young children, I cannot write as much as I would like about this subject (lucky for you, especially if you have already made it this far into this post). If you are interested in learning more, I would recommend The Acton Institute, and with all the labor disputes that seem to be occurring around the globe, it would be good to read Rerum Novarum as well.

I thought when soccer ended, there would be more time to write posts here, but, alas, it is not so. Michael has started crawling!! It looks like he may be an artist (when he is not sailing of course) as he loves paper and has a blue face this morning after finding our 3 year old's marker.

So, I leave you with the principal of subsidiarity in our house right now: "Whoever is closest to Michael is responsible for making sure there is nothing around him to put in his mouth." We are in zone defense right now, that is the only way to survive.

Wisconsin Personhood Amendment

For my Wisconsin readers:

From Prolife Wisconsin, h/t Badger Catholic:

On Wednesday State Representative Andre Jacque (R-Green Bay) began circulating for co-sponsorship the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment, legislation that would amend the Wisconsin Constitution to apply personhood rights to preborn children at all stages of development. Click here to read the amendment language, and click here to view PLW’s legislative memo.

From a pro-life perspective, the Wisconsin Constitution contains a glaring error at its outset. In specifying the beneficiaries of its human rights, our state constitution leaves out the preborn. It applies rights to only those people who are “born.”

Representative Jacque is proposing a minimal but absolutely essential correction, a personhood amendment, to make the Wisconsin Constitution cover all people, every person, at any stage of development. The amendment seeks to extend the inalienable right to life found in the Wisconsin Constitution to all preborn children from the beginning of their lives.

Should Roe v. Wade be overturned someday and the abortion issue remanded to the states, an activist Wisconsin Supreme Court could use the word “born” in our current state constitution to deny the right to life of the preborn by interpreting an independent right to abortion in that document. In so doing, the court could nullify any present or future pro-life laws in our state. The changing makeup of the Wisconsin Legislature could also jeopardize any pro-life laws in our state. Every two years our state election process determines the majority party in Madison. Legal protection of the preborn should not (and must not) be contingent upon which party controls the state legislature. The right to life should not be subject to the whims of a politicized supreme court or an ever-changing legislature.

The introduction of the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment is a watershed moment in the history of the pro-life movement in our state. It seeks to end abortion in Wisconsin, not to regulate or restrict it. We have been working toward the introduction of such an amendment for the last five years, and we thank Representative Jacque for demonstrating the courage of his convictions in finally making it a reality.

The personhood amendment will face stiff opposition from the pro-abortion industry. Shockingly, the strongest opposition to the bill at this point is coming from Wisconsin Right to Life (WRL). In February WRL published a position paper vowing to oppose any effort to grant Wisconsin’s pre-born babies full constitutional rights as persons, labeling such efforts a “threat to [the] protection of Wisconsin unborn children.” They worked hard to ensure a personhood amendment was never introduced. Having failed in that effort, they are now calling every state legislator demanding that they not sign on to the bill. WRL admits that their legal reasoning for opposing a state personhood amendment is speculative. WRL offers no case law to back up their asserted problems, admitting that they are only “probable”. Pro-Life Wisconsin, on the other hand, offers recent Wisconsin case law clearly demonstrating that the proposed amendment is not a risk to our current, pre-Roe abortion law (Section 940.04, Wisconsin Statutes) by “implied repeal” or otherwise. Click here for PLW’s legal analysis rebutting their misguided objections.

The pro-life movement is founded on the bedrock principle that all human beings, at all stages of their development, deserve full protection under the law. Why oppose proactive people of good will endeavoring to provide full and lasting legal protection for preborn children? Pro-Life Wisconsin remains committed to constitutionally protecting Wisconsin’s preborn children, regardless of opposition from the abortion industry or from within the right to life movement.

Click here to find out how you can help!

Faithful Lay Catholics in El Paso

I am originally from El Paso, TX, so this is of great interest to me. Please pray for my family living in El Paso.

This is just too cool.....

Rachel Balducci, over at Testosterhome posted a picture of an image viewed out the window of her parents home "as a result of shading and reflection off of the window" as seen from their window (from a commenter). It looks like the Immaculate Heart of Mary! Absolutely amazing!

While we are at it, does anyone know the artist of the picture below? Maybe I should already know this, but I don't! Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you :) Also, do you know if there is a corresponding image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that goes along with this image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary?

Mercies in Disguise

Practicing Patience

Last week humility :)

So, I was planning to write a beautiful, insight-filled post on the virtues of prudence and courage and how we need one with the other, especially as it applies to standing up for our Catholic beliefs in an increasingly secular world. Really, just go read Archbishop Chaput, he's all over it.

But, instead, I have the definition of torture:

Sitting in a closed van with a restless 3 year old that cannot sit still or sit quietly, a crying baby, and a 5 year old boy that has to go to the bathroom while waiting for piano lessons for the older two to finish. There was the option of watching a DVD, but I was trying to save gas and... oh.... well.... another long story having to do with leaving the van running too long and batteries dying and piano teachers being late to pick up their own children....

I thought that it would be a great time to sit and finally finish writing those thank yous. What used to take an afternoon to finish, now takes weeks, wait scratch that, months to complete. Guess I'll have to finish those thank yous another time. It was not prudent to think that this was a good time to write thank you notes. I guess the courage part comes in sitting that long in a van with a restless 3 year old, a 5 year old with an incontinent bladder, and a baby that doesn't like the sun in his eyes.

This. is. so. much. fun!

next up: magnanimity and confidence as we go to play in the park next week instead of waiting in the van.

What'd You Do?

Sigh

I really want to write a spiritual post. I want, no desire, a beautiful homeschool filled family day with smiles and learning and good food and such. Some kind of sign that yes, I am exactly where God wants me to be on this beautiful blustery First Friday Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. But instead, this is what I have (warning, from Tommy Boy):



Why? Well, because it was what came to mind on my way home from a delightful First Friday Mass with the kids (just us, hubby was at work) and play time for the kids in the gym afterwards. We brought a few treats, and on our way out of the Church, DD1 was carrying the bag with leftover coffee cake in it with explicit instructions from me on how to hold it so that the aluminum tray wouldn't bend in half and the napkins and plates wouldn't fall out. I opened the van doors for her while wrestling with DS3 in my arms and trying to kick DS2 off of hanging on the diaper bag because he was hurting my shoulder (automatic doors are so cool).

But alas, I forgot that it was windy out. Since we haven't been too faithful about keeping the van clean, everything blew out of the van and the kids (bless their little souls) went running all over the parking lot and Church grounds chasing little socks and papers and cups and burp cloths. Right about that time, I noticed DD1 had given DD2 the bag of left over coffee cake. DD2 did not get the memo about how to hold the bag and tray, so I literally leaped over to her (while still wrestling with DS3) to help her, and I managed to let the bag open just enough for all the cute little paper plates I picked out at the grocery store fall out and go flying all over the parking lot and Church grounds. DS3 is squealing in delight at this point; who knows, maybe he'll be a sailor since he seems to like the wind so much (by this time, the blanket that I had so carefully covered him with was nowhere to be seen).

So what does all this have to do with Tommy Boy? Well, when I finally did get to my door to get in and start the van, I opened the door and it practically blew off and all I could think of was that scene from Tommy Boy when Chris Farley tells David Spade, "What'd you do?" when the door falls off. I was laughing out loud all the way home, and the kids kept saying, "Mom, what's so funny?"

There's more. So much more. But the day is young, and I am going to try to retrieve what I can of it. Have a blessed Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary today, and if you think of it say a little prayer for us today, we need it.

This made me laugh

HT Marion