Thursday, January 7, 2010

A very inspiring story

Dear friends,
I came across this article on Life Site News. It somewhat reminds me of St. Gianna Molla, a mother who died in childbirth despite her doctor wanting her to abort the child in order to save her. You can read the article here.

God bless. Look for some reflections in the coming weeks (if I have time).

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Tim Tebow Pro-Life Superbowl Ad in the Works?

From Life Site News:
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By Kathleen Gilbert

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, January 4, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Rumors of a pro-life advertisement featuring the story of University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and angling for a Superbowl slot have surfaced following reports of a project in the works at the Evangelical organization Focus on the Family.

While as yet not publicly acknowledged, the Colorado Independent's Rich Tosches reported that the 30-second pro-life spot is expected by insiders at Focus on the Family to highlight the popular quarterback's mother’s refusal to abort Tebow, despite doctor’s advice to the contrary.

After taking drugs to battle amoebic dysentery during a trip to the Philippines in the 1980s, Pam Tebow refused the advice of physicians who suggested she abort Timothy because the drugs may have affected his development. Pam eventually gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby boy.

Tim Tebow, who was homeschooled before becoming a college football star, now frequently draws attention for his outspoken devotion to traditional Christian values. At the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year's day, Tebow's final collegiate game, the player continued a tradition of featuring a Bible passage on his eyeblack: this time, it was Ephesians 2:8-10.

Focus media relations director Gary Schneeberger on December 22 told the Independent, "I decline comment. Let's just say that. I have nothing to say,"

He added: "If there is a Super Bowl commercial from Focus on the Family, I guess you'll just have to wait and see it during the Super Bowl. I can say Tim Tebow does not appear in any Focus on the Family ad." Tosches notes that Schneeberger did not mention Tebow's mother.

The ad would need to be approved by the National Football League and CBS, the network hosting the Superbowl game February 7. Last year, NBC and the NFL chose to nix an advertisement sponsored by the Catholic watchdog group Fidelis, which hailed the success of President Obama despite the difficult circumstances of his early life and featured the message "Life: Imagine the Potential."

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2010 U.S. Stamp Features Pro-Life Heroine Mother Teresa

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By John-Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, January 4, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The late pro-life heroine Mother Teresa is to be featured on a US stamp according to a release by the U.S. postal service. Although in making the announcement Wednesday, the postal service did not mention her pro-life stand, the revered Roman Catholic nun and saint was a fearless pro-lifer, happy to put her fame at the service of the unborn threatened by abortion.

When invited to the White House Prayer Breakfast in 1997 by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, Mother Teresa spoke clearly against abortion. "What is taking place in America is a war against the child," she said. "And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another."

Three years earlier Mother Teresa was quoted in The Wall Street Journal saying, "America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts - a child - as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters."

The Postal Service noted that Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on Aug. 26, 1910, in Skopje in what is now the Republic of Macedonia, Mother Teresa devoted her life to the poor in India, founding an order of nuns to work for the “poorest of the poor.”

President Ronald Reagan presented Mother Teresa with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985. In 1996, President Bill Clinton and the U.S. Congress awarded Mother Teresa honorary US citizenship, an honor which has only been bestowed on five other people. In 1997, Congress awarded Mother Teresa the Congressional Gold Medal for her "outstanding and enduring contributions through humanitarian and charitable activities."

Mother Teresa died in Calcutta on September 5, 1997, and a decade later was beatified by Pope John Paul II, making her “Blessed” Teresa of Calcutta.

Responding to critics who asked who would be willing to care for an unwanted child, Mother Teresa said, "Please don't kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child, and be loved by the child. From our children's home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000 children from abortions. These children have brought such love and joy to their adopting parents, and have grown up so full of love and joy!"

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What a beautiful piece. How great is it that the postal service is dedicating a stamp in honor of Mother Teresa?

Praise be God in all things.

Happy New Year

Dear friends in Christ,

Today marks the first post of the new year for me, a blog I started in 2008 after I left seminary. I had it as a hobby of mine, and I still use it as a hobby. I don't make money off of it, but I try to use it for one purpose: proclaiming the Kingdom of God, and fighting for a culture of life, here in the United States and abroad.

Life is inherently a good thing, and anything that seeks to take life is something that is inherently bad. This involves abortion, contraception, as well as euthanasia and the death penalty. I try on this blog to really put my best foot forward, in a world of bad news. I will continue to report the news, and I will continue to offer reflections on various Christian themes. If this blog brings one person closer to Christ and His Church, then this blog is well worth it.

Happy New Year. May you consecrate this year to Mary, and may she protect and guide you, all the days of your life. God bless.