Oh rats,

no black bean soup today! Doesn't Panera Bread know it's Lent and people might want yummy Black Bean soup today! So, I settled for a tuna fish sandwich on honey wheat. What did you have today?

It's Friday and Lent

Remember, time for fish or veggies! No meat! I'm saying this to remind myself as much as you. Right now, I am leaning towards Black Bean soup from Panera Bread Co.

Lent is here (Feb 2009)

Lent is here and I am ill prepared. I figure my biggest offerings will be secular music, fictional reading materials, and limiting my non-work related time on the computer to one hour each day. I pray that I will use my newly created spare time wisely and in a spiritual manner.

Given the craziness in my family these past few months, I hope I can give these items up and unite myself more fully with Christ. As we suffer on this earth, it is nothing so giving up the little frills that distance us from Christ shouldn't matter that much. Unfortunately, due to our fallen nature, they tend to matter more than we want them to.

Prayers Needed

Today, my uncle Lee will be removed from the ventilator he has been on since late Friday afternoon. Please pray for his soul, his family (immediate and extended), and for family cohesiveness during this time of trial and testing. This is a time when our family will be tested deeply. The fractures that exist in a primarily Jehovah's Witness family where my uncle did not believe in God, one of my cousins and one aunt are non denominational Christians, and I am Catholic will be tested due to the religious differences and our sinful nature since the fall of Adam and Eve. Although I do not believe in the use of ventilators when a person cannot make it, I pray this time has given his soul a chance to find the peace he did not have on this earth. I cannot put into words the hurt that exists and simply pray, Kyrie Eleison Me, Lord have mercy on me. Most especially, Lord have mercy on my uncle and our family. May the hurt and division heal instead of dividing us.

Kevorkian -- Dr. Death -- and his thoughts

If what this man says doesn't turn your stomach and remind you of Hitler, I don't know what will. Thankfully, he isn't the leader of national!

In a 1986 edition of Medicine and Law, Kevorkian asserted:

The so-called Nuremberg Code and all its derivatives completely ignore the extraordinary opportunities for terminal experimentation on humans facing imminent and inevitable death...[including] the extraction of medical benefit from the process of judicial execution from those dying of irremediable illness or trauma and from suicide mandated by inflexible religious or philosophical principles or by irrevocable personal choice. Other potential subjects include comatose, brain dead, or totally incapacitated individuals as well as live fetuses in or out of the womb.

“Dr. Guillotine’s Example,” in which he asserted:

Of course, capital punishment has always been rationalized as being “retribution” — allowing the condemned to “pay” with their lives. What nonsense! Payment means transfer of value. With execution there is no such thing; there is only total loss — and, of course, vengeance.

That no longer need be true. The fortuitous convergence of lethal injection and of our incredible success with organ transplantation promises to validate at least the erstwhile repayment. Many of the more than 1,200 men and women now crowding our states’ death rows are eager to suffer more meaningful death by donating vital organs to dying patients…Here finally, we have the opportunity to extract true payment — literal transfer of life from the condemned to the dying.

One thing we must realize here is that is he is not referring to the removal of organs after a person's execution. Here, he is referring to the removal organs while the condemned person is under anesthesia. What will sto this man from slowly killing off everyone he views as unwanted given the fact he goes on to list the types of "suicides" that should exist including "Suicide by proxy".

“Optional assisted suicide,” which he explained included “individuals, sometimes in good physical and mental health, who choose to be killed by another”:

The compelling factors may be physical (end stage of incurable disease, crippling deformity, or severe trauma), mental (intense anxiety or psychic torture inflicted by self or others), or doxastic (religious or philosophical tenets or inflexible personal convictions). Also in this group would be the forebears of Christianity in ancient Rome, whose “choice” to be killed by hungry lions in the Coliseum was preferable to the alternative “choice” of renouncing their faith (spiritual death).

“Obligatory Suicide,” a category comprised of “those irrevocably condemned to kill themselves,” such as “the Japanese ritual of hara-kiri” required by “a devout Shintoist guilty of intolerable sin [to] gain access to the next life.”

“Optional Suicide,” which differed from optional assisted suicide in that these would-be obitiatric subjects “are in no way afflicted by illness but who have arbitrarily and irrevocably decided that they must die.”

“Suicide by Proxy,” encompassing “the killing by the decision and action of another, of fetuses, infants, minor children, and every human being incapable of giving direct and informed consent.”

And what is his reason? Here's the kicker, it isn't to put anyone out of their misery as they above should already prove, but here it is in his own words.

I feel it is only decent and fair to explain my ultimate aim….It is not simply to help suffering and doomed persons kill themselves—that is merely the first step, an early distasteful professional obligation (now called medicide) that nobody in his or her right mind could savor. [W]hat I find most satisfying is the prospect of making possible the performance of invaluable experiments or other beneficial medical acts under conditions that this first unpleasant step can help establish—in a word obitiatry.

Source

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

"I'm listening out of the corner of my ear."

Yes, you heard me right. So, I hope this gives you a good laugh and maybe a bit of food for thought.

Have a great day.





Picture Source

How has the Holy Spirit touched your life?

In today's world, God often seems to be a distant figure although Christ promises us that he would send us the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete or comforter. So, I ask you how has God or if you prefer, the Holy Spirit, touched your life?

As we ponder this question, we should look at those hidden gifts that are often over looked since they are such a quiet part of our lives. Often, we hear of the "charismatic" gifts such as healing, but there are quieter gifts we need to forget such as the strength to heroically live in a modernist world, peace during adversity or illness, the ability to comfort those in need, and the gifts to teach and lead. All graces are given to us are meant to strengthen the Church and our families as St. Paul reminds us. Gifts should not divide the community or be the primary focus of our faith, because blessed are those who believe without seeing.

Given this, how do we blend the heavy focus on healings and prophecy found in certain circles with the need to believe without seeing? Christ feeds us milk when we are babes and moves us to "hard" food as we grow through a phase, often known as the "Dark Night”, which is devoid of consolations and forces us to rely on faith instead of emotions. Do we pray for consolations or do we accept the Dark Nights given to us though the daily struggles we face?

Political Headlines

A South Dakota law that has been the source of ongoing litigation became effective July 18, 2008 mandating physicians inform pregnant women contemplating abortion:

they are "terminating the life of a whole separate, unique living human being."

she is willingly putting herself at a higher risk of suicide and depression and that in choosing to end the life of her child she is terminating an 'existing relationship' that is protected by the US constitution and that her "existing constitutional rights with regards to that relationship will be terminated." Source

Find out who will not be our next VP while I breathe a sign of relief although I still believe Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are the best of the job given modern trend.

h/t: Southern Appeal

The Dark Knight: A Modern Political and Church Commentary?

A recent posting at Obsidian Wings has left me wondering if maybe, just maybe I will go see The Dark Knight although lately I tend to avoid the movies due to content issues, because I enjoy movies that make me think about political or religious issues. I will reference several comments that really spoke to me.

One of the larger intellectual questions the film asks is whether humans can be the final arbiter of their own power. In other words, should I (or anyone) be entrusted to decide which laws I can ignore for the sake of the greater good?

Obviously, these questions relate quite directly to our own war on terror. But they also extend well beyond the national security context. The questions raised there cover everything from epistemology to the theological divide between Catholics and Protestants.

But once the legitimacy threshold is crossed, it’s hard to see how Jokers won’t eventually arise. After all, if we can break the law to beat terrorists, why can’t we break the law if we’re convinced (really firmly convinced in our heads) that electing Democrats or Republicans will destroy the country?

Beware link to post on Obsidian Wings contains spoilers.
h/t: Southern Appeal
Source:The Dark Knight Movie Poster

Jubilee Year of St. Paul: July 28, 2008 to July 29, 2009

At the First Solemn Vespers of the Solemnity of Holy Apostles Peter and Paul 2007, Pope Benedict XVI announced the upcoming Pauline year and that it is to be characterized by ecumenism.

I am catching up a bit as I did not cover the original announcement, but I figure this is an important issue as the Jubilee Year just began. During this Jubilee, our Holy Father has made a plentary indulgence available to all of the faithful. I'll cover this in a different post.

Icon Source: St.Paul the Apostle Orthodox Church