Euthanasia

"You've always been such a..proud, dignified man"

Breaking the silence

 This short film is a reading of a real letter that was written by a young mother to the baby she lost to abortion.
For many women abortion is a shameful grief that they feel they must carry in silence.
Some post abortive women are now committed to offering the kind of support that was not available to them. Slowly, the truth about abortion is being told.
One day abortion will go the way of the slave trade, and our children's children will wonder at our generation's inhumanity.
 How is it possible that we can know about the barbarous inhumanity which abortion inflicts upon our  most vulnerable human beings, then  look away, and imagine ourselves to be humane and civilised?



(ht: Abby Johnson's FB page)

Mary is the Ark of the Covenant? Do you guys ever read your bibles?

 This evening someone left a comment on an old post I put up for the feast of Our lady of the Rosary.
I included a video and added the words too, because I find them beautiful.
My anonymous commenter was shocked by them however.
This is what Anon said:

I am stunned by such heresy. JESUS was the burning bush (I am) - God Himself was the cloud. Do you catholics now believe that Mary is part of the Trinity? That Mary is the savior of Israel? Do you guys ever read your Bibles?
Mary is the Ark of the Covenant??
Why dont you just do away with Jesus altogether - can anyone say pagan??

You know, these challenges are just irresistible to me.
Even though I was getting ready to shut down the 'puter and get to bed, I got a second wind and started tap tapping out what was meant to be a brief response.
Meant to be. Famous last intentions.
Brevity is not my strong point I'm afraid, even past midnight. But this is about as brief as I can manage for a matter which sets my pulse racing like no other ( well, apart from my exceptional progeny of course)
After typing it out I thought maybe I'd put it in a post instead:


Hi Anon.
Sorry to have stunned you.
I hope you are recovering your equilibrium now.
Actually the bible is a catholic book, but you are welcome to borrow it any time you like :-)
And no Anon, Jesus was not the burning bush.
The burning bush was ablaze with God, but the bush itself wasn't God.
It burned with the presence of God, but it was not consumed by the flames.
Mary bore the living God to the world and yet she also was not consumed.

Pregnant with God. Like the bush in Horeb.
Can you see the parallel?
Mary was the living shrine of the Word of God. The Ark of the New Covenant.

This is not a novel heresy, but a very ancient understanding of the scriptures and the role of Mary in salvation history.

No, Catholics do not believe that Mary is
"part of the Holy Trinity" anon.

When David danced before the Ark, was he worshipping the Ark itself?
What did the Ark bear?
The ark bore the word of God made stone.
Mary bore the word of God made flesh.
She bore the living Word. Jesus Christ. God incarnate.
Mary is the " Ark of the New Covenant".

You asked me if "us catholic guys" ever read our bible.
Well now you've gone and bin and thrown down the gauntlet Anony!
It's late so I can't be here all night, but you know I can't resist a challenge, so here's a little catholic scripture lesson to whet your appetite:

Jer 31:31
"The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
   “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel   ...
because they broke my covenant,
   though I was a husband to them"
Lk 1:35
Marys spouse is the Holy Spirit.

2 Sam. 6:7 The ark was so holy and undefiled that the Lord slew Uzzah when he touched it.
Just as the Virgin of Nazareth, Mary, the New Ark, is holy and undefiled.

2 Sam. 6:16
David leaps before the ark of God.
Luke 1:41
John the baptist leaps in the presence of Jesus in Marys womb.

2 Sam. 6:9
David says: "How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?"
Luke 1:43
Elizabeth says: But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

2 Sam. 6:11
The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months
1 Chron. 13:14
The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house for three months
Luke 1:56
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months .

1 Sam 4:11
The ark of God is captured, brought to a foreign land, and later returns (1 Sam 6:13)
Mary is also exiled to a foreign land ( the flight into Egypt) and later returns (Mat 2:14)

"can anyone say pagan?? "

I think most people.
And it's pretty easy to spell too.

I'm just kidding anon. We're not pagan, we're just the original historical christians.
Accept no imitations.

Here's that video again.
Listen this time without prejudice and think about those old testament types, or foreshadowings of Mary, the New Eve, the Ark of the New Covenant.
" The cleft in the rock, which God covers with His hand while His glory passes by"
Maybe then you will even be able to appreciate the words a little.:

A heads up about new posts planned.

I've been thinking that I would like to keep a record of some of my online forum conversations.

Some of them throw up very interesting, or comically ludicrous challenges. But i would quite like to keep them in one place and my blog seems like the best place for that.

I don't want to bore anyone, and obviously there is no obligation to actually read it, but I want to be able to refer back to it myself from time to time.

 Also, it occurs to me that reading through the exchanges may help other readers to think about how to formulate their own responses to similar challenges.

Please don't think that I imagine I have done a marvellous job worth emulating. I don't.

Although I do think the church's teaching is very satisfying to defend because it is so clear and coherent, and I would like to encourage normally timorous readers to be a little bolder in explaining or defending their faith, or the Holy Father .

It has been interesting to see how perceptions of the same conversation differ.

Sometimes I think I am being hilariously LOL funny and I am surprised when others comment that I am rude and arrogant.

I do think that my tone is something I need to watch. But at the same time i don't want my salt to lose it's flavour if you know what i mean.

Anyway, I'm cutting and pasting over the next couple of days and will be putting the exchanges up here, warts and all, for you to read if you like that kind of thing.

 I won't edit to make myself look better, but I will take out some of the extraneous fluff ( mine and other people's) if it gets in the way of the conversation.

Just thought I'd let you know what's in the works.