Pages

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Why is abortion legal and what is legal abortion leading us to?

Today I hear from teenagers an echo of my own ideas when I first began pro-life work -- Legalized abortion makes no sense.  What about the child's rights?  

Today, a friend sent me an interview by Cardinal Francis Stafford who addresses in part why our country was ripe, in some ways, for legalized abortion:


Yet those upheavals, the cardinal said, trace their origins to certain "viruses" present in American political culture from the very beginning of U.S. history, particularly the understanding of liberty enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and implicit in other founding documents.


The 18th-century Enlightenment taught that liberty was essentially a matter of "choice between various options ... whatever the individual in his or her autonomy makes a decision for," the cardinal said, drawing a contrast with the traditional Christian teaching that freedom is realized only in pursuit of virtue.


The cardinal suggested that a flawed understanding of liberty helps explain why the U.S. government once denied the freedom and dignity of black people and American Indians, treating them as less than fully human, and now fails to defend the right to life of the unborn.

At the same time, in video portions of the same interview, Cardinal Stafford also addresses why abortion specifically became legal in the 1960s and 1970s:


Finally he discusses what the culture of abortion is doing to our society, both in the text interview...


The cardinal said that decades of abortion and contraception have only encouraged male irresponsibility, with the result that ever-fewer American men are willing to give totally of themselves to their wives and children as marriage requires.


Both men and women in the U.S., he said, increasingly view marriage as a "contractual relationship, almost like it's an economic relationship that expects a quid pro quo, rather than a relationship that is rooted in a covenant, that is, a total giving of freedom in total trust of the freedom of the other."


In America's "consumer-oriented society," the cardinal said, children have accordingly come to be seen as "commercialized items," who may be artificially conceived to parents' genetic specifications.



At the same time, he said, a prevalent "technological mindset" that sees others as a means to one's own pleasure or self-fulfillment increasingly perceives children as "objects of fear because they are preventing us from being what we want to be."


Such an attitude is an example of "instrumentalization," a way of thinking powerfully reinforced by abortion, the cardinal said.

... and in the video:



All of this is not to say that abortion is inevitable in our country.  But the issue of abortion in some ways is more radically rooted in our country than we may realize.  We need to work to transform the understanding of freedom, of love, of dignity, in order to see our land transformed into one that joyfully embraces a culture of life and a civilization of love. 

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Super Antonio

Thanks to Marcel LeJeune for sharing this video of Antonio, a young boy who has Cerebral Palsey and who both gives and receives great love at his school.  (You can click "CC" to receive the English subtitles.)

Monday, January 28, 2013

March for Life 2013

It was the 40th annual March for Life this past Friday afternoon in our nation's capital.  When it was all over, I went to Google News to see if it ranked on the main page.  I think I found something from Fox News halfway through the page.  The next day, my brothers, their friend, and I were driving downtown to meet some family and friends at a Smithsonian museum.  One of the roads was closed as a small gathering of people held signs.  We wondered who they were and what they were protesting.  When I came home, I went to Google News.  Top story on the page -- gun control advocates march on Washington.  The headline said there were 1,000 of them.  At the March for Life, estimates say we had at least half a million.


At the rally before the walking began
So, to learn anything about the March for Life, it requires one of three things:
1) Watching it on EWTN
2) Reading Catholic blogs
3) Attending the March yourself. 

I have a spattering of pictures I'll share here too, though during the March, both my camera and my cell phone died, leaving me with no remaining ways to document the journey.  The good news, though, is that there are lots of other places on the web to see better views of the March.  St. Blogustine always has an impressive range of shots from different groups who attend the March.  The Catholic Beat has the local Cincinnati side of things.  Live Action has a photo album from Friday's event.  The Dominican Friars have a great video to document their presence by the Capitol Building.  

Living outside of DC makes the March seem a little more cushy ... a hot breakfast, running water, a short trip to the Metro with a SmartTrip card instead of a long line for a paper fare card .... This year, the Lord had something else in mind.  My husband and I hosted two of my brothers and a friend for the weekend.  We awoke on Friday to learn that the weather was so cold that a pipe outside burst the evening before, leaving us with no running water for the day!  We decided it was some involuntary penance for the March, giving us a little less comfort for the big day, but still a different experience from those who travel overnight on buses, only to begin walking for a few miles in the morning.


A Kenosis reunion!
The five of us arrived on the Mall (not a shopping mall, but a large grassy area surrounding the Washington Monument, just to clarify!) shortly after the rally began.  The tone this year was a bit different, since the passing of Nellie Gray, who organized the past 39 marches.  Jeanne Monaghan (a fellow John Paul II Institute alumna) is the new president of the March.  The rally included a speech by a college student, as well as music from Franciscan University alum Kevin Heider.  

To be honest, I missed much of the rally, because I was talking to the Dominican Friars or running into friends from pro-life work or from Kenosis: Teen Disciples for Love and Life or from my parish.  When 500,000 people gather in one place, it's impossible not to see a familiar face.  

We were hoping to meet up with some of my brothers who took a bus with their youth group for the trip, so we waited for a good 30-45 minutes to even begin marching.  Even if we had wanted to begin, we would have barely moved during that time.  When we finally did begin, even near the end of the throng, we made slow progress.

I think you can see the snow.
Along the way, we saw the University of Cincinnati banner, Aquinas College, the John Paul II Institute, the Diocese of Evansville, St. Edmund Campion Academy in Cincinnati, several Ohioans, and banners from afar for Franciscan University and Ave Maria University.  We passed printed signs, homemade signs, large professional banners and smaller make-shift ones.  We saw high school students, college students, families, senior citizens.  We saw people in wheel chairs and children in strollers.  We saw seminarians and many religious orders of sisters.  We passed people praying the Rosary, singing hymns, chanting pro-life slogans.  

The temperatures were quite cold.  I believe the wind chills were in the teens at times.  And then somewhere in the midst of the signs, the singing, the shuffling -- snow!  Tiny white flakes began dropping all around us, accumulating on coats, in hoods, on hats and gloves.  Gloves were getting wet, and hand warmers became more important.  

Still, everyone pressed on, climbing the hill to the Capitol, passing it to continue on to the Supreme Court building.  I think climbing that hill is possibly my favorite part of the March.  There, the sheer number of people before and behind is more evident.  One walks that hill completely surrounded by so many others who have dedicated their lives, their talents, their time at the service of life.  It's overwhelming and beautiful and refreshing.

The climb ends.  A corner is rounded.  And there is the Supreme Court building.  This year it is under renovations and had a fake "cover" over it to the look like itself.  It's passing those steps year after year that serves as a chilling reminder that forty years ago, lawyers ascended those steps in order to argue for a right to abortion, a right to privacy.  And they descended those steps to await the decision of the Supreme Court.  And those few lawyers, few justices have changed the shape of our country in innumerable ways.  Those steps, that building are significant.  

On the base of the steps, people pray.  The Dominicans sing the Salve Regina.  Silent No More organizes a group of women and men willing to share their stories, bravely holding signs that say, "I regret my abortion."  

On the base of the steps there are also the few "protestors" -- this year, a few college students who held posters.  One poster had a few obscenities and the girl holding it tried not to laugh as she screamed, "It's my choice!"  

It's that place, by the Supreme Court, that shakes us out of our momentary bubble.  We are not alone, true.  But we are also not unopposed.  There are so many people in our world who have been wounded, who don't understand, who think that ending the life of an unborn child will solve their problems, fears, hurts and insecurities.  They need to see a group of people who celebrate life, who protect it and witness to its sanctity.  We need to see that there are people in the world who still need to hear the message, who need to know that life is beautiful, and isn't so much about being a choice, but rather about being a gift to be received gratefully and with joy.  


And that's the March.  The numbers have grown incredibly in the last ten years (more than doubled, I believe).  I've lost count as to how many "record Marches" I have attended.  We come in peaceful protest of injustice.  But it's more than a protest.  It's also a recognition of the dignity and beauty of life, and a plea that we all open our eyes to the wonders the Lord has done for us and given us.  












 As I told a friend who mentioned that abortion must end soon -- I hope that someday, when there is no more March for Life, we will have an annual celebration for life ... on a Saturday ... in the spring or summer.   

[Update: This video from EWTN shows the magnitude of the numbers on Friday.]

Saturday, January 26, 2013

"Happy Anniversary, Baby"

First, it was the disturbing video comparing first time voting to losing one's virginity.  Now, it's disturbing all over again with a 40th anniversary "celebration" of Roe v. Wade that brings all of its sexual overtones, gleeful smiles and unbelievably inappropriate comparison of the anniversary of legalized abortion to a wedding anniversary (or "partner" anniversary ... I mean, all he calls the mystery woman is "baby" over and over again ... and how ironic is that!).

Perhaps you've already seen this video, which was released a few days ago.  And if you haven't, taking a minute and a half to watch it should solidify your pro-life views or reactivate them:


 

Apparently, nothing says, "I love you" like a creepy man insinuating that abortion is some sort of substitute for a unitive and procreative act.  In reality, it destroys both unity and procreation.  But for some reason, Mr. Romantic can show off his rose and his drink as if to say to the women of America, "These forty years allow me to love you, to respect you."

I'll never forget the time I was protesting outside of a pro-abortion gathering in Boston several years ago.  A young man holding a "Keep Abortion Legal" sign was also wearing a small pin on the lapel of his suit.  It said, "I [heart] pro-choice girls."

It was quite telling.  If a man is after sex and personal gratification, immediate gratification, then "hearting" pro-choice girls makes a lot of sense.  Get what you want now.  Get rid of the evidence/problem/burden later.  

But if a man loves, respects, cherishes, then he can sacrifice.  Then he wants to sacrifice.  Then the idea of putting a woman through these sorts of experiences is utterly revolting, unthinkable, not even on the radar screen.  

What's so attractive about Mr. Happy Anniversary Baby celebrating something that has destroyed the lives of millions of women, 55 million babies and, yes, even millions of men?  What's so appealing about a man enjoying a drink to celebrate his run from manhood for the last forty years?  

I hope we can look back at this disgusting moment in abortion history as one of the last moments.  Ironically, something as disturbing as this could work to build a culture of life when people realize what's really behind the pro-"choice" movement.  

Friday, January 25, 2013

Marching for life

We're marching for life today.  Please pray for all in our nation's capital today, standing for life.

It's the 40th anniversary of legalized abortion in our nation.  Msgr. Charles Pope is hoping there is no 50th anniversary, but if there is, he has an incredible dream for what could make it the last March for Life.  Read about it here.

I'll have a report and hopefully pictures of today's event early next week.  

Thursday, January 24, 2013

The buses are coming, the buses are coming!

http://questrak.com/Photo_Montage/LineOfBuses.JPG
There's always a strong sense of anticipation on the day before the March for Life.  Buses are cruising down the highways, people are updating social network sites as to their current whereabouts on the journey to Washington, DC, final plans are being made.  The National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception becomes home, welcoming pilgrims as as they stream into town -- a place for prayer, for a meal, for reunion with pro-lifers from around the nation.  

There might be 500,000 people heading to the Mall area surrounding the Washington Monument tomorrow. It's doubtful that you'll hear of it in the secular media, but the people will be here.  They're coming now.  Some have already arrived.  

Please say a prayer for all who are traveling today and for all who are marching tomorrow.  There will be a lack of sleep, blustery weather, close quarters ... but a strong desire to stand for life and the inherent dignity of each unborn child.  

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The reality of abortion

January 22nd is a difficult day on which to post on a blog about life and love.  This year, in particular, it is the 40th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in the United States of America.  There are more than 50 million babies who have been killed in that time. More than 50 million lives destroyed.

Today I've been thinking of several past experiences.

- Of sidewalk counseling outside of Pittsburgh abortion clinics -- sensitive young girls wearing sweatpants, holding a plastic bag, smoking a cigarette, asking to be left alone.  Some would stop and listen.  Maybe a boyfriend or a mother would stop and listen.  Some would yell.  Some would curse.  Some would go inside. Some would stay in their cars and never come back.  Some would leave the clinic and we would ask, "What can we do to help?"

- Of a 1,300 mile pro-life walk many summers ago, from Maine to DC -- sharing the good news of the culture of life, speaking with women who regretted their past abortions, seeing the joy of a 16-year-old pregnant woman who had been in some ways "adopted" by the pro-life community in her city, watching an ambulance take away a woman from inside of an abortion clinic, meeting people who had never seriously considered what abortion means for all involved.

- Of working at a pregnancy resource center -- answering phone calls from hurting women, running pregnancy tests, watching miraculous ultrasounds, speaking with women who in the news of their pregnancy needed to know that they are not alone.

- Of all of the stories I've heard, the articles I've read, the videos I've watched.  Of all of the lives that have been changed by the devastation of abortion.  Of all the lives that have been beautifully transformed by a choice for life even in difficult moments.  

Today, I've read the sorrowful account of Katrina Fernandez who mourns her abortion and speaks of the power of prayer.

I read Simcha Fisher's excellent piece on why graphic pictures should not be part of the March for Life.

I've come across a British article about the four abortionists in the United States who perform third trimester abortions.  You'd think that in "risking their lives" for this, that they're doing something noble.

But then I came across a new documentary, 3801 Lancaster, that reveals the graphic horrors of Kermit Gosnell's Philadelphia clinic -- third trimester abortions and the absolute lack of nobility involved.

Interestingly, amidst all of this, I also came across, "The Beautiful and Efficient Anatomy of Pregnancy" (on Huffington Post, of all places!).

There's a lot to think about today, to pray about.  It's a day to consider how abortion has changed our world, changed our friends and family, changed us.  It's a day to make a renewed commitment to place our service at the flourishing of a culture of life.  

And if you're looking for a place to start, maybe it's time to consider a drive to DC for this Friday's March for Life.  

Monday, January 21, 2013

A father-daughter dance in the most unlikely place

Thanks to Deacon Greg Kandra for sharing this.  Find out where a father-daughter dance was held for young girls to be with their dads.  It's a touching story.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Quote book


“The Magnificat is followed by silence.  Nothing is said to us about the three months that Mary stayed with her kinswoman Elizabeth.  Yet perhaps we are told the most important thing: that goodness works quietly, the power of love is expressed in the unassuming quietness of daily service.” – Bl. John Paul II

Friday, January 18, 2013

Immense love ... in physics class

Perhaps you've seen this video that has been circulating the Internet for the past few weeks.  I finally took time to watch it this week and had to share it for those of you who have not yet seen it.  

When a high school physics teacher's son has a rare disability, how does this transform him and his students?  

Thursday, January 17, 2013

"The greatest social civil war of our time"


Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse recently took a creative approach in her address to the Rhode Island legislature in their hearings on the redefinition of marriage. Instead of forthrightly pleading her case, she gave a list of predictions she has should they continue down the path of redefinition. There's quite a lot to ponder, including:
For those of you who are in it for the love, I have a few predictions for you too.

Many of us in the marriage movement are survivors of earlier phases of the Sexual Revolution. We found that it didn’t work for us, the hook-ups, divorce, single motherhood, marital infidelity, cohabitation, as well as the contraception and abortion that made it all appear to be possible. Only a few of us were wise enough to see from the beginning that this would end badly. And those who did see it, drew on the wisdom of the ancient Christian churches, churches that take a far longer view of things than most people do.

It would be astonishing if the steps you are contemplating tonight will work any better for you than the earlier stages did for us.

I predict that none of it will make you happy. Not redefining marriage. Not the attempts to smother sex differences and biological connections. Not the further suppression of churches, religious organizations, and faith-filled private citizens. If normalizing homosexual activity were going to make you happy, it would have done so long ago. You would not be so desperate today for affirmation from strangers.

And if any of you come to realize that the Sexual Revolution has been one empty promise after another, we will embrace you. We will welcome you to our ragtag ranks of refugees, defectors and displaced persons from the great social civil war of our time.

Read it all here

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

It's a good time to walk outside ...

I'm thinking 1.2 miles of walking, leisurely ... perhaps for two or three hours.  And I'm thinking of taking this walk with half a million friends next Friday afternoon.  Care to join?

Next Friday, January 25, is the March for Life.  That's just three days after the 40th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in the United States of America.  An entire generation of unborn children has been in jeopardy.  More than 50 million have been killed.  Those who survived live in a culture infused with new "syndromes" -- Post Abortion Syndrome, Survivor Syndrome.  What happens when we are born into a world where we know that we could have been unwanted just as much as the baby who should have been born only seconds after us?  What happens when an enormous number of men and women are walking throughout the world carrying the burden of having aborted a child ... only to feel that they must hide their secret or celebrate it, because to admit that it was painful, that it is regretted, is to say, "There must be something wrong with me.  Abortion is supposed to be the answer to women's freedom."  

  Our culture is turning more and and more individualistic as the "survivors" and the post-abortion men and women interact, each wanting to protect themselves.  The survivors yearn to know that they are good, that they should exist, that life has meaning.  The post-abortion men and women are tormented by the constant reminders of the children they prevented from living.  And together we all grow more inward-focused, failing in generosity and in self-gift.  


If this was the end of the story, it would be a devastating one.  But the truth is that there is healing for those who have experienced abortion.  And the truth is that the survivors of abortion are catching glimpses of the goodness of life and love, even amidst the fragility of these things.  

If life is just about what we see, then there is no hope.  But if we are able to receive the gifts of faith and hope, then we are transformed.  Post-abortive men and women can attend healing programs (like this and this).  Those born after 1973 can see that even if life is not held as sacred or as linked to love in our society, that each person is loved into existence by a God who is Love.

There are those who criticize the nature of the March for Life each January.  Some say it should be silent and somber, commemorating millions of lives lost.  Those who have marched before know that there are drums, bright T-shirts, smiles, singing and youthful energy.  Is this inappropriate?

A rainbow over the Supreme Court building at the end of the 2008 March

While on the one hand, it is necessary, good and fitting to mourn for the millions of babies we will never meet this side of heaven, there is also something about the pro-life cause that can't help but be joyful.  If we really believe that God loved us into existence, if we really begin to comprehend the meaning of life, then the songs and smiles and joyful reunions with friends are not inappropriate.  

To be pro-life is to be against abortion and all means of artificially ending life, yes, but to be pro-life is also to be supportive of life!  And life is linked with love.  And love can't help but find joy.  

When I'm marching for life next Friday afternoon, bundled in multiple layers, I plan to prayerfully remember and mourn for so many lives lost.  I also plan to joyfully celebrate the gift of life.  If it's not a gift and good, then it would not be an evil for the unknown unborn to not be with us.  

Next Friday, I'll be taking a walk outside.  A short distance, but a long adventure.  Where will you be?  It's not too late to plan a trip, pack the car, book a hotel and lend your voice, your feet, your life at the service of life, allowing your own life to witness to the joy of being created unique, unrepeatable and chosen by eternal Love (TOB 15:4).

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

"Man cannot live without love ..."

These words of Bl. John Paul II in his first encyclical kept echoing in my mind as I watched this video about the work of Dirty Vagabond Ministries in Steubenville, Ohio.  When most people hear, "Steubenville," they think of the college, often calling Franciscan University by the name of the town in which it is located.  But Steubenville is a town, a city, a place ... not a college.  Steubenville is a town where the economy's struggles have had a particularly negative impact.  Steubenville is a city where many people are suffering, lonely and living without faith and without love.  

It's a story that plays out in towns and cities throughout the world.  There are people who are forgotten.  People who live through unimaginable experiences.

And the answer to each person, no matter his economic situation, is love.  To know he is wanted and loved. It can look something like this:

Monday, January 14, 2013

The politics of the Oscars

I saw my first film in a theater in a few years (!) a couple of weeks ago.  It was "Les Miserables."  And it was incredible.

But right now, I don't want to write about the incredible story of the redemption of Jean Valjean.  I want to write about the politics of the Academy Awards.  Rather, I'd like to point you in the direction of a great piece by Barbara Nicolosi on this topic.  

If you haven't heard, a somewhat obscure foreign film, "Amour," has received a staggering number of Oscar nominations.  And the climax of the movie is euthanasia ... a murder cloaked in the guise of a loving action of a husband for his wife.

What does this mean about our culture?  What do the Oscars have to do with our country's views of life and love?  

Read Barbara Nicolosi's take here

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Chiara Corbella Petrillo


Many months ago I wrote about Chiara Petrillo, a young Italian wife and mother who died from cancer after forgoing treatment to allow her son to be born. There's very little about Chiara that is currently available in English, so I was pleased to find this article on the FOCUS blog, along with a letter that Chiara and her husband wrote to their son for his first birthday.
We loved your brother and sister --Mary and David-- and we love you knowing that you all are not ours, that you all were not for us. And this is how it should be for everything in life. Everything that you have never belongs to you, because it is a gift that God gives you so that you can make it bear fruit. Never be discouraged, my son. God never takes anything away. And if He takes away, it is because He wants to give you so much more. Thanks to Mary and David, we are even more in love with eternal life and we have stopped fearing death. God has taken from us only in order to give us a heart that is bigger and more open to welcome eternity already in this life.

The beautiful letter is available here.

Friday, January 11, 2013

St. John Paul??


ROME, January 11, 2013 (Zenit.org) - The retired prefect of the Congregation for Bishops says Blessed John Paul II will likely be canonized this year or next.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re offered this prediction during a presentation this week of "Il Papa e il Poeta" (The Pope and the Poet), written by Vatican expert Mimmo Muol.

"If it's not this year it will be next," said the cardinal, explaining that as more than one miracle has been attributed to the Polish Pontiff's intercession, "surely there is at least a valid one for his canonization."

Read the rest of the story here.

A testimony of forgiveness


This is a profound testimony of the forgiveness of one Florida couple for the man who used to be engaged to, and later killed, their daughter. It's the story of the ongoing healing of five people -- the young man, his parents, and the parents of the woman he shot. It's a story of faith, obedience, and radical forgiveness ... and it's in the New York Times.

That night, Andy Grosmaire, Ann’s father, stood beside his daughter’s bed in the intensive-care unit of Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. The room was silent except for the rhythmic whoosh of the ventilator keeping her alive. Ann had some brainstem function, the doctors said, and although her parents, who are practicing Catholics, held out hope, it was clear to Andy that unless God did “wondrous things,” Ann would not survive her injuries. Ann’s mother, Kate, had gone home to try to get some sleep, so Andy was alone in the room, praying fervently over his daughter, “just listening,” he says, “for that first word that may come out.”

Ann’s face was covered in bandages, and she was intubated and unconscious, but Andy felt her say, “Forgive him.” His response was immediate. “No,” he said out loud. “No way. It’s impossible.” But Andy kept hearing his daughter’s voice: “Forgive him. Forgive him.”

Ann, the last of the Grosmaires’ three children, was still living at home, and Conor had become almost a part of their family. He lived at their house for several months when he wasn’t getting along with his own parents, and Andy, a financial regulator for the State of Florida, called in a favor from a friend to get Conor a job. When the police told Kate her daughter had been shot and taken to the hospital, her immediate reaction was to ask if Conor was with her, hoping he could comfort her daughter. The Grosmaires fully expected him to be the father of their grandchildren. Still, when Andy heard his daughter’s instruction, he told her, “You’re asking too much.”

The story is quite lengthy, but it's certainly worth the time. Read it here

Thursday, January 10, 2013

A good old fashioned propaganda poster

The Art of Manliness has some great "propaganda posters" to teach us about cell phone etiquette.

I really like this one:
http://artofmanliness.com/2013/01/08/smartphone-etiquette/

Check them all out here.  It's a message our phone-obsessed culture needs to hear ... and quickly!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Beloved retreat

This weekend, we had the first Kenosis women's retreat (along with a separate men's retreat, "Endure").  "Beloved" was an opportunity for a unique encounter with the Lord.  We spent Friday evening delving into being "Beloved: Daughter."  On Saturday morning, we spent time talking about being "Beloved: Sister."  Then our afternoon and evening was dedicated to the topic of "Beloved: Bride" -- receiving and responding to the love of Jesus Christ the Bridegroom.  Finally, on Sunday morning we spoke about being "Beloved: Mother."  

The aspects of the feminine vocation were explored in light of these four familial roles -- daughter, sister, bride, mother.  We spoke about love, receptivity, vulnerability, generosity and beauty.  

We had a beautiful weekend too -- there were opportunities for Mass, Confession and time in Eucharistic Adoration on Saturday evening.  We had a candlelit dinner, some great "girl time" and small groups who bonded together in the journey of more fully living out our femininity.  

Thank you for your prayers for the weekend.  Please continue to pray for the young ladies who attended -- that they will receive the Lord's love for them and live out the gift of their femininity more fully every day.  

Friday, January 4, 2013

Prayers please

Please pray for the "Beloved" retreat for young ladies and the "Endure" retreat for young men, beginning today until Sunday.  About two dozen students are participating in the weekend.  Please pray for a fruitful retreat for all.  Thank you so much!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Happy new year!

It's been a few days since I last posted -- a mistake I'm not sure if I've made since this blog's inception.  But the Christmas season seemed a fitting time to take a short posting break.  We also have our first Kenosis retreat for young ladies this weekend, and the planning has kept me from writing.

May God bless you abundantly in this new year of 2013!