Jesus answered: ‘Will you lay down your life for me?’ - John 13:38
Support the Holy Father and pray with him!
"Young people in particular, I appeal to you: bear witness to your faith through the digital world!"-Pope Benedict XVIPray for Pope Benedict's prayer intentions for this month. Find out more
here.
Commercial break for this really awesome new technology
It's a defining moment in a parent's life: Seeing their unborn child's image on an ultrasound for the first time. Now pregnant women could have the chance to hold a life-size model of their unborn baby.
The startling new medical technology is the result of a Royal College of Art design student's PhD.
'I don’t know whether I am looking at science or I am looking at art', commented an external examiner reviewing the student's PhD viva.
Continue reading and see more pictures here.
One common thread of thinking among Christians is that science is discovering what God has already done. And I think each day, God is so great that He lets us take a closer look at His creations, revealing to us a mere hint of His majesty. Some people in favor of legalization of abortion try to whitewash it by claiming that the baby is only a blob of tissue . But once again, God uses science to give us a chance to take a second look and really see that this little one is not just a blob of tissue or a lump of cells.
Dear readers,
I hope to share this 2 pieces of news which I have come across today when reading the papers.
1.
'Reject abortion support'
Pray for the direction US is taking on this matter and may Obama see the light
2.
Franciscan nuns die in car crash
Pray for the souls of the Franciscan nuns. It's a terrible tragedy.
Excerpt:
I believe that Senator Obama, whatever his other talents, is the most committed ''abortion-rights'' presidential candidate of either major party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973. Despite what Prof. Kmiec suggests, the party platform Senator Obama runs on this year is not only aggressively ''pro-choice;'' it has also removed any suggestion that killing an unborn child might be a regrettable thing. On the question of homicide against the unborn child - and let's remember that the great Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer explicitly called abortion ''murder'' - the Democratic platform that emerged from Denver in August 2008 is clearly anti-life.
Prof. Kmiec argues that there are defensible motives to support Senator Obama. Speaking for myself, I do not know any proportionate reason that could outweigh more than 40 million unborn children killed by abortion and the many millions of women deeply wounded by the loss and regret abortion creates.
...
The truth is that for some Catholics, the abortion issue has never been a comfortable cause. It's embarrassing. It's not the kind of social justice they like to talk about. It interferes with their natural political alliances. And because the homicides involved in abortion are ''little murders'' - the kind of private, legally protected murders that kill conveniently unseen lives - it's easy to look the other way.
...
The abortion conflict has never simply been about repealing Roe v. Wade. And the many pro-lifers I know live a much deeper kind of discipleship than ''single issue'' politics. But they do understand that the cornerstone of Catholic social teaching is protecting human life from conception to natural death. They do understand that every other human right depends on the right to life. They did not and do not and will not give up - and they won't be lied to.
So I think that people who claim that the abortion struggle is ''lost'' as a matter of law, or that supporting an outspoken defender of legal abortion is somehow ''prolife,'' are not just wrong; they're betraying the witness of every person who continues the work of defending the unborn child. And I hope they know how to explain that, because someday they'll be required to.
I have wanted to see Bella ever since I read about it in the AmericanPapist blog. But because it was an independent film, it was not released widely to the international audience. Yesterday, I finally managed to watch the movie.
Bella is beautiful. I mean that in every way possible. It is a touching story of two hurt, guilt-stricken people who, in one day, manage to heal each other's wounds. Eduardo Verastegui plays Jose, a soccer star-turned-chef who works in his older brother's restaurant, and Nina, a struggling young woman who recently found out that she is pregnant.
Tammy Blanchard's performance of Nina was perfectly spot-on. Beautiful, and yet haunted with grief; independent and yet vulnerable. She is pregnant and the father of the child wants her to "take care of it." When she shows up late for work for the second day in a row, Jose's brother fires her. She is completely broke and has no family to support her. All in all, her world is crumbling and she can only watch helplessly as the whole deck of cards collapses. She considers aborting her child because she is not ready, and she doesn't want to bring a child into this world without any love to surround it.
But then enters Jose, who is flawlessly played by Eduardo Verastegui. He himself carries a heavy guilt. As penance, he has shunned his former ways and now lives as a nondescript guy. But even with all of his inner self-recriminations, he reaches out to Nina and helps her in her time of need. He doesn't tell her a lot of things. Instead, he shows her that there is hope. He brings her to his family and shows her that there can be joy if she allows things to run their natural course. Most of all, he was willing to act. To actually do something instead of just spouting words.
I think what I love most about this movie is that it handles the issue of abortion masterfully. It doesn't simply gloss over the issue, but instead shows how painful the decision is for women who consider it. Their anguish, their fears are real. The film is not preachy. Jose never directly tells Nina what she is supposed to do. But he shows her that there are other options. And he doesn't stop there. In the end, he actually gives her the option.
The point of Bella is simply this. Life is beautiful; it must be preserved at all cost. There are many options to help deal with unwanted pregnancies, but the killing of an innocent life can NEVER be one of them.
