Creation or Evolution - Do we have to choose?

'Let us make man in our own image'

God said, ‘Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth within the vault of heaven.’ And so it was. God created great sea-serpents and every kind of living creature with which the waters teem, and every kind of winged creature. God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas; and let the birds multiply upon the earth.’ Evening came and morning came: the fifth day.

  God said, ‘Let the earth produce every kind of living creature: cattle, reptiles, and every kind of wild beast.’ And so it was. God made every kind of wild beast, every kind of cattle, and every kind of land reptile. God saw that it was good.

  God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth.’

God created man in the image of himself,

in the image of God he created him,

male and female he created them.

God blessed them, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I give you all the seed-bearing plants that are upon the whole earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this shall be your food. To all wild beasts, all birds of heaven and all living reptiles on the earth I give all the foliage of plants for food.’ And so it was. God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good. Evening came and morning came: the sixth day.

  Thus heaven and earth were completed with all their array. On the seventh day, God completed the work he had been doing. He rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on that day he had rested after all his work of creating.

  Such were the origins of heaven and earth when they were created.

Certainly, it is very clear in the Bible that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day.  There is no room for discussion at all, or is there? 

The author of Genesis goes out of his way to divide creation in six easy bites of the apple. But why does he do that?  God is God and He has no limits, so why did He, according to the Bible construct the world piecemeal?  Couldn't have he done it in one fell swoop, you know, snap, everything appears.  No, according to Genesis, it took God six days and then, He rested.  God does not get tired no matter how many universes and worlds He creates but Genesis says that He rested. 

Evangelicals have nothing to hold on to except the Bible. For them, it is written down, that's how it happened, discussion closed. When it comes to creation, the Evangelicals have declared war on science. In the face of overwhelming evidence, they reject the notion of evolution because it is not in the Bible.  Am I going to scold them for this?  Not at all.  There is no reason for them to change their beliefs.  It is perfectly fine to take the creation story as written and use it as the basis of faith.  

On the other hand, what about those of us that believe that a loving God is not hampered by our thoughts on how things should be.  Can we reject out of hand the creation stories in the Bible and travel the road of evolution?  Yes, we can.  I personally find no problem with either scenario.  In each case, the cause of creation is the action of a loving God, a Father to us all.  How he chose to create this world and fill it with wonders and the means of support for all of the creatures is His business and I do not question the methods He chose to apply in reaching the goal He set for Himself. 

This reflection is not the forum to discuss this in detail.  There are many books related to this subject.  I think what I would like you to take away from this reflection is simply that we are here.  It does not matter how we got here because it was God who chose the way and means to get the job done.  We often ask if creation or evolution was the way He chose.  Maybe it was creation AND evolution that fit his plans best.  

They Left It All Behind

Gospel	Luke 5:1-11

They left everything and followed him

Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

  When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signaled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.

  When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.

Some read this passage of Luke and see in it a touching story of the faith that Peter had.  At the beginning of the story, we see nothing of the sort.  Jesus preached for a bit in the boat then he told these professional fishermen to go on out and drop their nets for a catch.  Peter speaks for the whole crew and says sarcastically that because Jesus, a landlubber, told him to do so he would.  He also made sure that Jesus knew that they had fished all night and had only caught water in their nets. If they, who were professional fishermen, who had fished all night and came up with empty nets could not coax a fish out of the water, what did he think that he knew that they didn't?  

So they put out the net just to satisfy this landlubber and prove that they knew best when it came to fishing.  They pulled in the nets and discovered a catch so large that they had to signal for another boat to come out and help them.  They got back to shore and Simon begged Jesus to go away because he was a sinful man. Jesus told him not to be afraid because as of that day they will become fishers of men.  Simon, James, and John left everything and followed Jesus, much to the chagrin of Zebedee who had given up his two sons to the ministry of Jesus.  James and John from that day forward were known as the "Sons of Thunder."

How do you make the leap of faith and give up everything to follow Jesus?  The first step has to be acknowledging the fact that no matter how much you own while you live that someone else will take it over when you die. We do not really own anything that we think we do.  We might have the exclusive use of something, for example, the house on the land mentioned on a deed somewhere. But even this does not follow us to the grave. Everything we have is a gift from God.  God as the owner of same, can take it away whenever He feels like it. 

I guess in the end we all will approach God with nothing, the same way as we entered this world.  Are we ready?

Faith Alone? or Faith and Works?

First reading
Hebrews 13:15-17,20-21

May God turn us all into whatever is acceptable to himself through Jesus Christ

Through Christ, let us offer God an unending sacrifice of praise, a verbal sacrifice that is offered every time we acknowledge his name. Keep doing good works and sharing your resources, for these are sacrifices that please God.

  Obey your leaders and do as they tell you because they must give an account of the way they look after your souls; make this a joy for them to do, and not a grief – you yourselves would be the losers. I pray that the God of peace, who brought our Lord Jesus back from the dead to become the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood that sealed an eternal covenant, may make you ready to do his will in any kind of good action; and turn us all into whatever is acceptable to himself through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen.

Martin Luther, when he started his church, got a lot of things wrong from the very beginning.  First, of course, was the notion of sola scriptura, that absolutely everything to maintain a Christian life is found in the Bible.  This notion cannot be found in the Bible so sola scriptura falls apart on its own.  Second, he said that in his church that you are saved by faith alone. This falls apart as well oddly enough because of what we read in the Bible in various places including the Book of James, which Martin hated and we can see that the concept of faith and works is included in Paul's letter to the Hebrews. 

The letter to the Hebrews is unique among the Pauline letters as it does not begin with the traditional greetings that Paul was known for.  It rather gets straight to the point and it is written in beautiful, almost flawless Greek.  It was written during a time of persecution against this Christian community and was intended to bolster them up and to encourage them to keep the faith and not to degenerate back into Mosaic practices.  It tells the readers how to do this which is "to keep doing good works and sharing your resources." So, works are seen to be co-equal to faith, you have to have both in order to be complete.  This makes perfect sense and it has been taught since the beginning by the Catholic Church. 

So, keep the faith, have faith in Jesus and become His arms and legs on earth and work for Him and through Him.  Your faith will give you courage and strength and your works will give glory to the One that loves you so very much. 

My blog will be moving to World Press soon, but not yet.  I have purchased the domain "JoyfulCatholicLife.com" and some exciting things will be happening late spring and early summer.    The new platform will have facilities that will allow me to invite a larger audience and the ability for readers to easily leave comments and to exchange dialogue.  You will also have the ability to download (FREE) some of my best work.  Finally, there will be a link to my new podcast, which should start in spring 2019.  I am hoping to get my messages out to more people than ever.   For my regular readers, I have to say THANK YOU.

We Are Being Watched

First reading	Hebrews 12:1-4 ©

We should keep running steadily in the race we have started

With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily and keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right of God’s throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition from sinners and then you will not give up for want of courage. In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of death.

Can you feel it?  We are being watched.  Everything we do is seen and we cannot do anything in secret.  Where can we run to?  If we run to the ends of the earth, our place of hiding is in plain sight.  If we tell the mountains, "Cover us!" there too, we are seen. These witnesses to what we do and what we say are not evil but are the Saints of God, the ones that stand before Him who loves us so very much and they do not await our fall but rather cheer for our victory.  Chief among these witnesses is Jesus Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father. It is He and these witnesses who help us stay the course and do what we must do proclaim the kingdom of God in our very bodies even as the martyrs did so long ago and who do so today.  We might not be called to a bloody martyrdom but was are certainly called to offer ourselves up to the Kingdom by following our Lord's example and turning down the offer of peace from a world that only knows the peace of death and has forgotten the peace that surpasses all understanding.  

The saints of God cheer you on as you daily choose to build yourself up in goodness and as you run the race to the prize that we all desire, happiness with our God and the saints in glory!  Young warrior, be brave with a stout heart and run the race with all your might and depend on God the Father to refresh you, God the Son to sustain you, and God the Holy Spirit to inspire you, and the whole company of saints who stand before God to cheer you on.

Love Is Not

1 Corinthians 13:4-13 ©

Three things last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love

Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

  Love does not come to an end. But if there are gifts of prophecy, the time will come when they must fail; or the gift of languages, it will not continue for ever; and knowledge – for this, too, the time will come when it must fail. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect; but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will disappear. When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me. Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.

  In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.

Love sells a lot of soap and it is the cause of wars and divorce and every evil you can imagine.  We should outlaw love or at least what we consider as love to be.  

In some respects, we ask too much of this emotion.  Love as an emotion is love at its most volatile.  Love is what attracts us to others and it is a jealous guardian because it knows that if it fails that the heart will be in pain and be broken and the heart caught up in emotional love is always on guard against pain. When we fall in love, our emotions run high. Should we marry the person, love as emotion will continue for some time.  But then, after an unspecified amount of time this type of love will burn itself out because it is not meant to be a permanent thing. 

 Love is meant to rise above the emotional state and become something that you choose every day.  Emotional love sees perfection and blurs, just a bit, the vision of reality.  Love as a choice allows itself to see imperfection and still love the other person in spite of the fact that he leaves his socks on the floor or she doesn't push the toothpaste from the bottom of the tube.  The everyday sort of love allows us to see the real person and not just an ideal or caricature of them.  It allows us to see inside, and see that they have a heart, they are kind, they are gentle, they are not selfish, in other words, we see our partner more like God see them and the fire of this love is fueled by God as the Holy Spirit as he makes manifest the inner workings of your spouse over time.  This love burns less brightly than the emotional love but it leads to a life of joy with your spouse as you work through life together. 

The danger of trying to cling on to emotional love is that it requires more and more focus on the good and less and less focus on the bad and soon all you can see if one good charism and a thousand bad ones and you think that the fire has gone out of your marriage.  You do not understand that fire has dimmed so that you can see and rejoice in the differences between you and form an even stronger bond by seeing the other person as they are.  

God loves us very much.  He sent His Son to go to the Cross for us.  And He loves us with the love that shows us as we are, and He loves us as we are and He wants us to experience what He does.  Read the passage again. You ARE still in love, aren't you?

The Bible's Teaching Against Abortion

Gospel	Luke 2:22-32 ©

My eyes have seen your salvation

When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord – observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord – and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Now in Jerusalem, there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:

‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace,

just as you promised;

because my eyes have seen the salvation

which you have prepared for all the nations to see,

a light to enlighten the pagans

and the glory of your people Israel.’

I did not write what follows as my meager talents cannot express the case against abortion as well as this article from the Catholic News Agency.  Please read it and let the meaning soak into your soul.  

The Bible's Teaching Against Abortion

Fr. Frank A. Pavone

The Bible clearly teaches that abortion is wrong. This teaching comes across in many ways and for many reasons. Some people point out that the word "abortion" is not in the Bible, and that is true. Nevertheless, the teaching about abortion is there.

The Bible clearly teaches that abortion is wrong. This teaching comes across in many ways and for many reasons. Some people point out that the word "abortion" is not in the Bible, and that is true. Nevertheless, the teaching about abortion is there. This is the case with many teachings. The word "Trinity" is not in the Bible, but the teaching about the Trinity is there. In any case, a person who wants to deny the teaching about abortion would deny it even if the word were there.

Let's look at some of the Biblical reasons why abortion, the deliberate destruction of a child in the womb, is very wrong.

1. The Bible teaches that human life is different from other types of life, because human beings are made in the very image of God.

The accounts of the creation of man and woman in Genesis (Gen. 1:26-31; 2:4-25) tell us this. "God created man in His image; in the divine image He created him; male and female He created them" (Gen. 1:27).

The word "create" is used three times here, emphasizing a special crowning moment in the whole process of God's making the world and everything in it. The man and woman are given "dominion" over everything else in the visible world.

Not even the original sin takes away the image of God in human beings. St. James refers to this image and says that because of it we should not even speak ill of one another. "With (the tongue) we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the image of God . . . This ought not be so, brothers" (James 3:9-10).

The image of God! This is what it means to be human! We are not just a bunch of cells randomly thrown together by some impersonal forces. Rather, we really reflect an eternal God who knew us from before we were made, and purposely called us into being.

At the heart of the abortion tragedy is the question raised in the Psalms: "Lord, what is man that You care for him, mortal man that You keep him in mind? . . . With glory and honor You crowned him, giving him power over the works of Your hands" (Ps. 8:5-7).

There is the key. Not only did God make us, but He values us. The Bible tells us of a God who is madly in love with us, so much so that He became one of us and even died for us while we were still offending Him (see Rom 5:6-8). In the face of all this, can we say that human beings are disposable, like a car that is more trouble that it's worth? "God don't make junk." He doesn't die for junk, either. If you believe the Bible, you have to believe that human life is sacred, more sacred than we have ever imagined!

2. The Bible teaches that children are a blessing.

God commanded our first parents to "Be fertile and multiply" (Gen.1:28). Why? God Himself is fertile. Love always overflows into life. When the first mother brought forth the first child, she exclaimed, "I have brought forth a man with the help of the Lord" (Gen 4:1). The help of the Lord is essential, for He has dominion over human life and is its origin. Parents cooperate with God in bringing forth life. Because this whole process is under God's dominion, it is sinful to interrupt it. The prophet Amos condemns the Ammonites "because they ripped open expectant mothers in Gilead" (Amos 1:13). "Truly children are a gift from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward" (Psalm 127:3).

3. The Bible teaches that the child in the womb is truly a human child, who even has a relationship with the Lord.

The phrase "conceived and bore" is used repeatedly (see Gen. 4:1, 17) and the individual has the same identity before as after birth. "In sin my mother conceived me," the repentant psalmist says in Ps. 51:7. The same word is used for the child before and after birth ("Brephos", that is, "infant" is used in Lk. 1:41 and Lk. 18:15.)

God knows the pre-born child. "You knit me in my mother's womb . . . nor was my frame unknown to you when I was made in secret" (Ps. 139: 13,15). God also helps and calls the pre-born child. "You have been my guide since I was first formed . . . from my mother's womb you are my God" (Ps.22:11-12). "God . . . from my mother's womb had set me apart and called me through his grace" (St. Paul to the Galatians 1:15).

4. Scripture repeatedly condemns the killing of the innocent.

This flows from everything that has been seen so far. God's own finger writes in stone the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," (Ex.20:13, Deut. 5:17) and Christ re-affirms it (Mt. 19:18 — notice that He mentions this commandment first.) The Book of Revelation affirms that murderers cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven (Rev. 22:15).

The killing of children is especially condemned by God through the prophets. In the land God gave his people to occupy, foreign nations had the custom of sacrificing some of their children in fire. God told His people that they were not to share in this sin. They did, however, as Psalm 106 relates: "They mingled with the nations and learned their works . . . They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, desecrating the land with bloodshed" (Ps. 106: 35, 37-38). This sin of child-sacrifice, in fact, is mentioned as one of the major reasons that the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians and the people were taken into exile. "They mutilated their sons and daughters by fire . . . till the Lord, in his great anger against Israel, put them away out of his sight" (2 Kg. 17: 17-18). Not even for "religious freedom" can the killing of children be tolerated.

5. The Bible teaches that God is a God of justice.

An act of justice is an act of intervention for the helpless, an act of defense for those who are too weak to defend themselves. In foretelling the Messiah, Psalm 72 says, "Justice shall flower in his days . . . for he shall rescue the poor man when he cries out and the afflicted when He has no one to help him" (Ps 72:7, 12). Jesus Christ is our justice (1 Cor. 1:30) because He rescued us from sin and death when we had none to help (See Rm 5:6, Eph. 2:4-5).
If God does justice for His people, He expects His people to do justice for one another. "Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful" (Lk. 6:36). "Go and do likewise" (Lk. 10:37). "Do unto others as you would have them do to you" (Mt. 7:12). "Love one another" (Jn. 15:17).

Abortion is the opposite of these teachings. It is a reversal of justice. It is a destruction of the helpless rather than a rescue of them. If God's people do not intervene to save those whose lives are attacked, then the people are not pleasing or worshipping Him.

God says through Isaiah, "Trample my courts no more! Bring no more worthless offerings . . . Your festivals I detest . . . When you spread out your hands, I close my eyes to you; though you pray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean . . . learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow" (Isaiah 1: 13-17).

Indeed, those who worship God but support abortion are falling into the same contradiction as God's people of old, and need to hear the same message.

6. Jesus Christ paid special attention to the poor, the despised, and those whom the rest of society considered insignificant.

He broke down the false barriers that people set up between each other, and instead acknowledged the equal human dignity of every individual, despite what common opinion might say. Hence we see Him reach out to children despite the efforts of the apostles to keep them away (Mt. 19:13-15); to tax-collectors and sinners despite the objections of the Scribes (Mk. 2:16); to the blind despite the warnings of the crowd (Mt. 20:29-34); to a foreign woman despite the utter surprise of the disciples and of the woman herself (Jn 4:9, 27); to Gentiles despite the anger of the Jews (Mt. 21:41-46); and to the lepers, despite their isolation from the rest of society (Lk. 17:11-19).

When it comes to human dignity, Christ erases distinctions. St Paul declares, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave or free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28).

We can likewise say, "There is neither born nor unborn." Using this distinction as a basis for the value of life or the protection one deserves is meaningless and offensive to all that Scripture teaches. The unborn are the segment of our society which is most neglected and discriminated against. Christ Himself surely has a special love for them.

7. Scripture teaches us to love.

St. John says, "This is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another, unlike Cain who belonged to the evil one and slaughtered his brother" (1 Jn. 3:11-12). Love is directly contrasted with slaughter. To take the life of another is to break the command of love. To fail to help those in need and danger is also to fail to love.

Christ teaches this clearly in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:25-37), in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-31), and in many other places. No group of people is in more serious danger than the boys and girls in the womb. "If someone . . . sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in Him?" (1 Jn 3:17).

8. Life is victorious over death.

This is one of Scripture's most basic themes. The victory of life is foretold in the promise that the head of the serpent, through whom death entered the world, would be crushed (see Gen. 3:15).

Isaiah promised, "He will destroy death forever" (Is. 25:8). At the scene of the first murder, the soil "opened its mouth" to swallow Abel's blood. At the scene of the final victory of life, it is death itself that "will be swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? . . . Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 15:54-57).

Abortion is death. Christ came to conquer death, and therefore abortion. "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (Jn.10:10).

The final outcome of the battle for life has already been decided by the Resurrection of Christ. It is up to us to spread that victory to every person. The pro-life movement is moving from the victory Christ won to the fullness of that victory on the last day. "There shall be no more death" (Rev. 21:4). "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20).

Fr. Frank A. Pavone: "The Bible's Teaching Against Abortion." Priests for Life (www.priestsforlife.org)

New York's "Catholic" Governor Commits Mortal Sin in Public and Proud of It.

Pity the poor people above.  They have declared war against God and His Church.  They have no idea of whom they have taken on. 

First reading
Hebrews 10:32-39 ©

We are the sort who keep faithful

Remember all the sufferings that you had to meet after you received the light, in earlier days; sometimes by being yourselves publicly exposed to insults and violence, and sometimes as associates of others who were treated in the same way. For you not only shared in the sufferings of those who were in prison, but you happily accepted being stripped of your belongings, knowing that you owned something that was better and lasting. Be as confident now, then, since the reward is so great. You will need the endurance to do God’s will and gain what he has promised.

Only a little while now, a very little while,

and the one that is coming will have come; he will not delay.

The righteous man will live by faith,

but if he draws back, my soul will take no pleasure in him.

You and I are not the sort of people who draw back, and are lost by it; we are the sort who keep faithful until our souls are saved.

Gospel	Mark 4:26-34 ©

The kingdom of God is a mustard seed growing into the biggest shrub of all

Jesus said to the crowds: ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’

  He also said, ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for it? It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’

  Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it. He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were alone.

Has the first shot been fired in the final battle against the family and has it been fired by a person who claims to be Roman Catholic?  In the State of New York, it is now legal to murder an unborn child right up until the moment of birth.  The Roman Catholic governor was grinning from ear to ear as he signed this law into effect.  The governor shrugged off howls for him to be excommunicated from the Church stating that he has to keep his religion and government views separate. Look at all of the grinning faces there at the table.  Jesus called it right when he said that the world would laugh while we weep.  

The Catholic man or woman can never accept what this schmo has done.  He has publicly gone against the most important teachings of Jesus and His Church, that is life is sacred from its conception until natural death. As a Catholic, I am outraged at the flouting of God's law by this man who claims in his public sound bites that his faith is important to him.  It hardly shows.  Let's net, however, covering the governor in shame, he has done that for all times.  What does this mean to the people in the pew? 

Hostility against Christianity, in general, is on the rise all over the world.  "Progressive people," tell the Church to become more modern, to live in the time that she now exists in.  While plenty of Protestant denominations have caved in to the pressure to allow that which God's law prohibits, the Catholic Church, on the other hand, stands almost alone in insisting on the protection of life and that position is not negotiable and will never change. 

We will see the hostility against our beliefs increase and we have to be ready for it.  It is a storm that is brewing and it will make the atrocities committed by the klan and the know nothing party of days past look like a party.  We have to be ready because it is coming and coming soon.  We must not lose hope for we know that the rewards that we will receive as faithful followers of Jesus will be the direct opposite of what His enemies receive for their crimes. 

What can you do?  Does anyone know your views or are you politically correct and silent?  If you blend in, then you are taking the road of safety as opposed to the road of zeal.  I am not saying that you have to march in protests, although that is a good way to make your stand known.  But you can write letters to your representatives in Washington and let them know that you are a Catholic, you support the sacredness of life, and that you have a vote.  

Folks, we are the largest religion in the United States.  Our numbers should be influencing the law if not downright dictating it. We must do more, we must show our colors and we must have the faith at least that of the mustard seed that our work will make a difference.  This is a junction, a turning point in your life.  You have to choose the way you will take.  Will you continue on the wide easily navigated road or will you take the path that leads to the Cross, a twisty, narrow road that leads to eternal life?  Chose one or the other, do it today.  

May God bless you and send you the grace to empower your spirit to take a stand for life.   Pity those poor people who are grinning from ear to ear as the death warrant of many babies is signed by Cuomo because they do not have any idea of whom they are dealing with!