My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

    As I shared with you in my last article, I had a beautiful, mystical experience during the Healing Mass at our parish on the Feast of the Queenship of Mary last month. Now I want to share more. Something else occurred to me during Holy Mass that morning. I realized that through God's grace, I was able to pray not only for myself (we must always pray for ourselves) and my heartfelt intentions, but by offering God myself, totally, including my free will, I was actually praying for the entire world. I could see, interiorly, that my prayers were accepted by God and He, in turn, graciously turned His Smile upon All of His Children, and the graces were flowing like streams of gold from the heavens. No, we can't see these graces. We'd die of joy if we could. We can't see the good that our prayers do, because we'd suffer from pride if we did. Instead, God works mysteriously, almost "behind the scene" as we would put it today. Yet, He is the Creator, the Giver of Live and the Healer.

    I thought about healing, and then I thought about life, and I became very sad. Here I was, at Mass, and God was there and His love was flowing out upon His children, but not once did anyone pray for aborted babies. This thought was so prevalent that morning that I was once again in tears. I say this for several reasons. We forget so easily that ALL life flows from God. There is no pregnancy anywhere for any reasons that doesn't involve God. God alone creates life, and God alone creates the immortal soul that every child, from the instance of conception has. God gives life to the unborn child in the instance of conception, regardless of the circumstances by which the pregnancy took place. Many times the circumstances of conception are ugly, but that does not make the unborn child ugly. Every child, every "fetus" is God's creation, and that life is worth Our Dear Lord's Crucifixion! That child, unborn, conceived under unwanted or unplanned circumstances has infinite value before God, and our Dear Lord looks upon that soul with Infinite Love, which we cannot understand, but to which we are called.

    I was particularly saddened that morning because here in San Diego, the town knocked itself out yesterday celebrating the birthday of Hua Mei, the name of the panda bear that was born in captivity one year ago. The panda bear cub, now almost as big as her mother, has had better health care than most people have ever known. Through hidden cameras, the world has been invited to watch her from the moment of her birth, through all of the tiny things that took place in the first months of her life, and the world fell in love with a cute, cuddly panda bear.

    I'm not saying that we shouldn't love animals. We should love all of God's creation, for all that He created is good! However, we must have our priorities in order, particularly those of us who have been called by God to be part of His Mystical Body, the Church. What are we thinking when we give a whole day to a panda bear? My goodness, what has happened when a world comes to kneel at the feet of a panda bear high in a eucalyptus tree, snoozing in the sunshine and totally unmoved by the hordes of people that have paraded before her for one year? I am shocked at the totally upside down perception that the world has of itself; when a panda bear has more significance than any child has ever had, when a panda bear gets medical treatment far above what even the wealthiest person can obtain, when a panda bear's mere presence is enough for a town's tourist economy to skyrocket...then we've lost all of our priorities, plain and simple.

    The bells in Balboa Park rang out "Happy Birthday" on August 21st. There were so many people at the zoo that the lines were endless, All were gawking at the panda bear. Nearly everyone that the news cameras showed were bedecked in special outfits bearing the image of this panda bear. This is politically correct, and it is really easy to fall in love with a cute bear cub. However, I protest. Why can't we ring bells when a child is born. Why can't there be bells when a mother miscarries? Why don't we toll the bell in solemn tones when a child dies…when millions of children have already died…and how many thousands upon thousands will die today, tomorrow…and so on.

    Our Bishops in America are so politically sensitive and intimidated by the IRS that their approach to the election is a lesson of speaking much but saying little. On the contrary, we, as Catholics, who know and love their faith, should be sobbing our eyes out at the endless slaughter of the unborn. We don't have to look at pictures of the Holocaust under Hitler to give ourselves a jolt of reality. We are far, far worse than Hitler ever was. We are Hitler's storm troopers today, and the rush to the ovens is now the oven of the womb. Dignity went out of style a long time ago. Personal appearance is all the rage. We've got the technology to alter a baby's genetic makeup so that the baby suits us, and suits the standards of society. What is in today may be out tomorrow, as society bends and sways along the easy, wide path to hell. And to my knowledge, there are very few who stand up to society and say: "ENOUGH!"

    As God so Mercifully sent His healing graces that morning at Mass for all who came to Him, so He is Infinitely receiving back into Himself the souls of the countless unborn babies, whom He has created, not man. Man and woman are to cooperate with God's graces, and to procreate with Him. Oh, but we think we have no obligation to Him. Our obligation is to ourselves…to suit out needs, when it's convenient. We care more about wildlife than about human beings. Look at the outrageousness of PETA. We settle for the easy road of the environmentalists, whose cause they justify by saying that we are destroying the earth upon which we live. On the contrary, if we attended to life as a gift, a true MIRACLE from God, and we stopped abortion, the world upon which we sojourn in this earthly life would be renewed by God Himself, and we would cooperate with His Graces. We are so concerned whether this species or that goes the way of extinction, and we pass over the millions of slaughtered unborn babies because society tells us we must!

    ENOUGH! ENOUGH! Pardon me, but I must say it: Society can go to HELL…for society has chosen HELL. Mind you I wish no one to such a fate, but a system that promotes violation against God's Laws - yes! We, who are born to eternal life, who know that God is the beginning and end of all things, had better get our act together. Do you vote for a candidate by party? Do you vote for the one who just might get Medicare working, or make Social Security benefits worth working your whole life for? Do you vote for the guy who you think is going to make the stock market soar, the economic world soar…do you seek the one who will protect YOUR rights, but shoots down the right of the unborn. Our founding fathers, sinners all, knew more than we do today. They said, "One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!

    Where is the liberty that the unborn have a right to? Where is the justice. No one can speak for them. Few do, and they get shot down by a Supreme Court who, by the way, will one day stand before the SUPREME COURT of God, and have to answer to Him for their rulings here below. It is time to put a stop to our downsliding society. Have you had enough? Are you fed up with being politically correct? Are you guilty of being anxious over what you shall wear, what you shall eat, and what you will have as a roof over your head?

    Trust me, Mike and I know full well what it is to have absolutely no idea whatsoever where the money will come to pay the next bill, where the money will come from to buy groceries, and where the money will come from to keep a roof over our heads, not for ourselves, but for our sons. We've been through it all. For over ten years we have lived as mendicants. We have learned, and relearn every day, to TRUST in GOD for all things, while at the same time working hard to do HIS WILL, and never our own. Believe it or not, since 1988 our Blessed Mother has watched over us, and we are still mendicant. In short, to the world we are poor, but we do not count that as anything. We know we have been purchased by the Blood of Christ, and therefore we do not care about being politically correct, we worry about what God wants of us each and every moment.

    As politically incorrect as we can be, the DAILY CATHOLIC has had no qualms in speaking out forcibly against abortion. We have spoken out against those in politics who have chosen the politically expedient route of pro-abort. They say they are personally against abortion, but a woman has the right to choose. There is that "But" again. More souls go to hell because of their BUT than we realize. We are called to holiness. We are heirs of the Kingdom of God, we are His sons and daughters. Do we conduct ourselves in the manner He expects, or do we sidle up to the world, and garner its praises so we feel good about ourselves?

    I'll leave you with that thought until next week when I'll continue with this thread. You'll have had a week to think and pray on what your role is in God's Master Plan. I pray you'll pray on it and respond according to His Will just as the Blessed Mother did when Gabriel appeared to her at the Annunciation. God is making another "Annunciation" to the world and the world is deaf to Him. Will we be too?

Next issue: (Tuesday, September 26) /B>

September 19, 2000
volume 11, no. 175
SYMPHONY OF SUFFERING

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