Don't be afraid or discouraged by the HHS mandate. Listen and learn from these women speaking out against religious liberty.

"Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God's own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of the Kingdom of God." 

--Pope St. Leo the Great, as cited in the CATECHISM, par. 1691.

Ok, so I thought it was best to start out with the hope we have.

I'll admit that, earlier this week, I was a discouraged by the way the Senate voted on the Blunt amendment with regard to the current assault on the Catholic Church, and others, regarding the HHS Mandate. I think Kathryn Lopez said it rather succinctly: "The majority of the Senate did not want to protect the First Amendement. Thanks, guys." She reminds: "Elections matter."

I'm not a political pundit, and I may not have all the compelling political arguments about this down pat. But I'm someone who takes our moral obligations as Christians seriously.

I know one thing. Silence is great virtue when it comes to prayer. But not so much when it comes to issues of justice. Better stated, perhaps, we must draw strength from the silence of our prayer and move out from there into the world.

We must meet God in the sanctuary of our conscience, and then live in such a way so as to protect the rights of conscience in the individual, and in our country at large, in terms of our First Amendment right to religious liberty in the Constitution. 

The dignity of the human person demands that we protest this affront to conscience and religious freedom. The law of love demands that we act based on our care for our neighbor.

The world needs your credible witness and mine. Sure, it's scary. But it is necessary. 

This is Lent. We've got the spiritual tools to combat sin and injustice.

• Fasting.
• Prayer.
• Alms.

We've got the social and political tools to defeat this mandate and to be a force for good in our world.

• Speaking up and protesting.
• Signing petitions.
• Voting.

The most important tool is our own voice in our spheres of influence.

You may have heard claims that this is a contraception issue and a women's issue. But it is first and foremost an issue of conscience and religious liberty, an issue dear to women and men of many religious traditions. 

Let's not have people wonder, where are the women who care about this?

Let's make sure we can say: Here. We. Are.

While there are many people across the country speaking out about this. We need the passionate voices of women to be seen and heard, and not just Catholic women.

So I'd like to offer the rest of this post as a roundup of women speaking out on this subject.

As reported on NRO, Helen Alvare and Kim Daniels sent this reply to the Obama administration. And they have a petition going that I encourage women to sign over at WomenSpeakforThemselves.com

Here's the Heritage Foundation's Women Speak Out: Obamacare Tramples Religious Liberty panel:



Here's another good panel -- listen to the audio from the Catholic Information Center's event, partnered with AltCatholicah, Women Challenging the HHS Mandate, with a lively panel of very qualified women from the legal and medical professions discussing this subject matter.


I'm adding my voice here...

You may have already heard this, but Kathryn Lopez and Elizabeth Scalia reviewed the basics of this debate a few weeks back on Among Women. 

I love the hope in that opening video that we have as Catholic Christians. I have always loved that quote from Pope St. Leo. Let me encourage you to strongly consider your role in this struggle.

Pray. Hope. Act.

------
Other women speaking out in related articles:

• Professor Janet Smith, also hear her conversation with Drew Mariano on radio.
• Theologian Pia Di Solenni
• Sr. Mary Ann Walsh
• Marybeth Hicks
• Peggy Noonan
• Elizabeth Scalia
• Emily Stimpson
• Hillary Senour
• Alveda King
• Cathy Ruse
• Kat Fernandez
• Carrie Severino

Earlier posts on this blog about with links to this subject:

• 3.3.12
• 2.11.12
• 2.4.12
• 1.28.12
• 11.6.09

The AW podcast on this subject.

This makes me think...

The Christian faithful are to hold the Most Holy Eucharist in highest honor, taking an active part in the celebration of the most august sacrifice, receiving this sacrament most devoutly and frequently, and worshiping it with the highest adoration. In explaining the doctrine about this sacrament, pastors of souls are to teach the faithful diligently about this obligation.


--- Code of Canon Law - par. 898

Among Women Podcast #55

Among Women #55 talks with Janet Benestad, the Secretariat of Faith Formation and Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Boston.  Together we tackle fears and challenges of becoming evangelizers, growing in the faith, living in a culture that does not always support Christianity, and dealing with being or becoming a Catholic in the face of scandals in the Church.

As we celebrate the Year of the Priest,  Pat shares a segment of The Dialogue from St. Catherine of Siena that describes the priesthood and the reverence we should have toward it... as well as the posture we need to take when priests fail in their mission to be good priests... a timely perspective for the modern age, even tho' it was written in the 14th century!

Good resources for reading are listed, as well as a new website for vocations.

The Marvelous Exchange

On the day of his birth, Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God, the Omnipotent, Omniscient, Almighty, and Ever-Living God foregoes heaven’s throne to enter human existence as a babe in a manger.

Christians have long stood in awe of this, mouth slightly agape yet heart rejoicing, naming this Christmas mystery “The Marvelous Exchange.” 

The prayers of the Liturgy chant: “O marvelous exchange! Man's Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity.”

It is almost beyond human comprehension. And yet, some of the wisest men through the ages have beckoned us to believe it.

St Athanasius, a feisty 4^th century bishop of Alexandria, spent his whole life in and out of exile defending the Incarnation of Christ. He wrote passionately about this marvelous exchange: “For the Son of God became Man so that we might become God.” 

St Thomas Aquinas, the prolific 13^th century “Angelic” doctor of the church, repeated it: "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."

What does this mean for us?

It means that we have grace to become children of God.

How?  St. Paul tells us it is by adoption that we become children of God, thanks to the Incarnation: “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption… God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ “ (Gal 4: 4-6.)

Jesus taught that this is exactly the condition we need to enter his Kingdom:  “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 18:3-4.)

Look at the Magi – wise men of esteem coming before the little infant Jesus born into poverty. The Magi, men of power and influence knelt (knelt!) before him.

During his public ministry, Jesus preached: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (Jn 3:3.)

This was the mystery before Nicodemus, another wise man, and a devout Pharisee in search of the truth about the Savior.  Hearing Jesus’ words, Nicodemus asked an intelligent question: if I’ve already been born, how can I be born again? 

Today we know what Nick was wrestling with – but now we know the gift of our baptism makes us Children of God. We become sons and daughters of God by grace, not by nature… not by natural birth, but by a spiritual rebirth.

Our life is meant to echo this spiritual childhood We’ve got to let ourselves become little in the way that Jesus did. If He entered into humility by becoming a child, so can we by the power of his grace.

The first thing I learn from this is that childhood is good… and that God is approachable.

Once upon a time, we were children who innocently went about our days without any worries… often living in the bliss of the moment. It was a very Eden-like existence up to a point. Eventually we learned that we had to grow up – to be responsible and mature and productive. There is nothing really wrong with that, except that as adults we often forget our original childhood.

Even worse, some people’s memories of childhood – their holy innocence – are marred beyond recognition – stolen from by violence or inhumanity.

Either way, the beauty and bliss of that child-identity – our original core connection – that of being a Child of God can be disjointed, disconnected, or dismembered.

Enter the Christ Child… and the dawn of something mysteriously new. 

Enter the Child who stepped into Time to promise eternity.

That same Child has the power to make children of us all.

Jesus restores what was lost to us in the Garden of Eden: a life with God. Being baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit calls us to the live this day as if One Day we will live with the Blessed Trinity.

If God became a little child, slipping into the bliss of being held in the arms of his loving parents – just what does that tell us?  There is something holy – and necessary – about being a child. We learn to whom we belong and we begin to know peace.

I weep at the miracle and majesty of Christmas captured in the Holy Babe.  I long to let go of my adultish cares and slip into the bliss of being held in the folds of Jesus’ robe.

When I enter that mystery, when I rejoin, reconnect, and remember that Truth, I re-learn to whom I belong and the peace it brings. I sleep in heavenly peace.

Remembering overcomes The Split: remembering overcomes sin – turning “no” into “YES!” – turning separation into connection, communion.

And there is holy fallout from this marvelous exchange: not only do I have the chance to live one day in heaven but I exchange the lie that I must somehow become my own god. For the truth is I am still a Child of God regardless of my age or circumstance. 

This Child lies at my deepest core; my being is yoked to eternity.

And this I know this when I kneel before the Crèche. I experience the marvelous exchange that comes from that Baby gazing up at me.

©2009 Patricia W. Gohn


This article is also posted over at CatholicMom.com

Image credit

It Makes Me Think...

Therefore in the Church, everyone...  is called to holiness, according to the saying of the Apostle: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification"....

The Lord Jesus, the divine Teacher and Model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and everyone of His disciples of every condition. He Himself stands as the author and consumator of this holiness of life: "Be you therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect". Indeed He sent the Holy Spirit upon all men that He might move them inwardly to love God with their whole heart and their whole soul, with all their mind and all their strength and that they might love each other as Christ loves them. The followers of Christ are called by God, not because of their works, but according to His own purpose and grace. They are justified in the Lord Jesus, because in the baptism of faith they truly become sons of God and sharers in the divine nature. In this way they are really made holy. Then too, by God's gift, they must hold on to and complete in their lives this holiness they have received. They are warned by the Apostle to live "as becomes saints", and to put on "as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience", and to possess the fruit of the Spirit in holiness. Since truly we all offend in many things  we all need God's mercies continually and we all must daily pray: "Forgive us our debts".

Thus it is evident to everyone, that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity; by this holiness as such a more human manner of living is promoted in this earthly society. In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ. They must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history.

---Lumen Gentium, paragraph 39-40, (From the Documents of Vatican II).

It Makes Me Think...

Each individual lay[person] must stand before the world as a witness to the resurrection and life of the Lord Jesus and a symbol of the living God. All the laity as a community and each one according to his ability must nourish the world with spiritual fruits. They must diffuse in the world that spirit which animates the poor, the meek, the peace makers-whom the Lord in the Gospel proclaimed as blessed. In a word, "Christians must be to the world what the soul is to the body."


----Lumen Gentium, paragraph 38, (From the Documents of Vatican II).

Anglican Constitution released

In other news, for those keeping track of these things...  the Vatican has released the Anglican constitution.