The Saturday Sketch

I am sure as many of you know, Pope Benedict the XVI is in the United States right now, so I thought this would be a good picture to use. I also thought I would post a little part of his homily, because I found it very beautiful and inspiring. It is really what I have been trying to talk about and promote here on this blog, so here it is:
"In this morning’s second reading, Saint Paul reminds us that spiritual unity – the unity which reconciles and enriches diversity – has its origin and supreme model in the life of the triune God. As a communion of pure love and infinite freedom, the Blessed Trinity constantly brings forth new life in the work of creation and redemption. The Church, as “a people made one by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Spirit” (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4), is called to proclaim the gift of life, to serve life, and to promote a culture of life...The proclamation of life, life in abundance, must be the heart of the new evangelization. For true life – our salvation – can only be found in the reconciliation, freedom and love which are God’s gracious gift. This is the message of hope we are called to proclaim and embody in a world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often seem to choke the fragile growth of grace in people’s hearts. Saint Irenaeus, with great insight, understood that the command which Moses enjoined upon the people of Israel: “Choose life!” (Dt 30:19) was the ultimate reason for our obedience to all God’s commandments (cf. Adv. Haer. IV, 16, 2-5). Perhaps we have lost sight of this: in a society where the Church seems legalistic and “institutional” to many people, our most urgent challenge is to communicate the joy born of faith and the experience of God’s love. "

The Fight for Life

January 22 was the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, also just last weekend was the walk for life in San Francisco, so I want to write something about the fight for life.
I felt inspired about this whole issue because just last night I read the World magazine, whose main subject was on life and the increase in pro-life success. Fighting against abortion has always been something really important to me. The worst thing about it though, is that it must be a battle, the very fact that people would question the "humaness" or life of an unborn child. Every time I think about abortion, it just makes me want to cry, cry and cry. The fact that America is a murderer and at this very moment the life of a baby is being taken away, the very respect for life that the Constitution demands from America, is undermined every single minute of every day. America is like another Hitler, responsible for the death of millions of innocent children. We live in the claws of death, our entire mindset is a culture of death. Not only has abortion killed so many, it has also promoted the idea that children are a problem and that we must rid ourselves of that hindrance to our happiness. Then we ask ourselves, if children are something that are more of a burden than a joy , and because of that we justify murdering them, it would also mean that because the old, sick, and mentally ill, are also more of a bother than a joy, that we will one day rationalize "terminating" them for an increase in "joy," a peaceful end to their suffering lives, and a better population and effect as a whole? Look at Terri Schiavo, it is already happening.
Despite the amount of blood on America's hands, there is hope. People can't be blind forever. In Hollywood even, they are realizing that there is more to the abortion debate than just the right to "choose," that we are tampering with life and with the future population of America. There are and have been in Hollywood, multiple movies about women keeping their unwanted pregnancies, and choosing alternative options such as adoption. Some of them include: Bella, Knocked Up, Noelle, and in theaters now, Juno. Juno seems to be especially hopeful, seeing as a 16 yo girl decides to keep her baby after she finds out that it has fingernails. It portrays pro-lifers in a good light, and shows adoption as being the better, braver choice. I am planning to see it soon, because I want to support the making of pro-life movies. Not only is the movie industry becoming more pro-life, but so is the internet :) any person can go on youtube and hear the beating of a 7 week old baby. Nobody can deny life in the womb after that. ( I wanted to add the video but it wasn't cooperating.) Also in the World magazine it was showing the States that are funding a lot of money for alternative pregnancy centers. Texas, Pennsylvania, and Missouri are up in the millions. Ron Paul is also very inspiring, with his solid determination to do something about abortion and not just fantasize about the idea of being pro-life, as do so many other candidates. In fact he was the only Presidential candidate to go to the big walk for life, and talk about how, without a doubt, life begins at conception. 20 US states have said that if Roe v. Wade were to be reversed they would immediately ban abortion. The fight for life is not completely in vain. I pray every day that soon America will regain a respect for life, and that this culture of death will become a culture of life.

~ Jules