Weekly Quote

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday! I know I sure did! I got to go home for the week! Now, I am back in town and back to work!

Here is the weekly quote:

"The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and to do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to 'the slavery of sin'"

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1733

Question Box Friday: What about abortions in the case of rape?

First, I want to say that rape is an awful crime and my heart and prayers truly go out to every women who has ever been raped. And may God have mercy on the soul of the person who commits this crime.

Secondly, pregnancy from rape is a very rare situation, it is also very difficult. A woman's body is more likely to concieve when she is relaxed, so it is not common for someone who has been rape to become pregnant.

Thirdly, even though it is a rarity it does happen and those women need lots of love, comfort and, most importantly, they need healing. When a woman does get pregnant from rape, they can often times, understandably, equate the baby with its criminal father and see it as something evil or as just a reminder of the rape. Both the mother and her baby are important and need the help others. It is important to help these women grief and heal from the rape and to help them see their baby as a new innocence life. The life of their baby is no less valuable than the life of a child conceived by a loving married couple. All life is valuable no matter what the circumstances.

Fourthly, many women who have given birth to a child concieved in rape have said that it has helped them in their healing process because it has allowed them to see that God can bring good out of evil.

Fifthly, abortion does not solve the problem, but rather it simply adds one injustice onto anoter injustice and causes women more pain and suffering.

Did you know?

Married couple who pray together and practice Natural Family Planning (NFP) as opposed to artificial contraception only have a 3-5% divorce rate.

Information taken from Couple to Couple League in Cincinnati.

Weekly Quote

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will run away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady, enduring suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4: 3-5)

Question Box Friday: How do you deal with sexual feelings?

Everyone has sexual feelings. Sex is a good thing, and God created us to desire it. Feelings in of themselves are not bad or good. It is what we do with them that either becomes something good or something bad. For example, anger is not in and of itself bad, but if we don't take control of it then it can become physically and verbally harmful to others and ourselves. However, if we control our anger, we can use it to fuel us to take positive action against something unjust or evil.

Likewise with sexual feelings. In and of themselves sexual feelings are not bad or good. If you don't take control of them they can harm you and others: STDs, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, emotional and psychological pain, loss of self-respect, low self-esteem, bad reptuattion and possible loss of dreams and goals, etc. However, when you control them it will help you to more deeply bond with your spouse and help you two to create and raise a new life in a stable loving home.

By saying not to sex before marriage, we are growing in self-control, which help us now and in the future as well. When we are tempted to want sex, we can pray for the grace to live chastity. Taking things out of your life, like pornography, that encourages negative sexual feelings are important too.

Food for Thought

"Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy." (CCC 2339)

How can self-discipline can give someone freedom?

Did you know?

In a two year study of more than 13,000 middle and high school girls, only 4% of them who abstained from drugs, drinking and sex were depressed. However, 44% of girls with multiple sexual partners experienced depresssion during the study.

Taken from Theology of the Body for Teens

Weekly Quote

"Chastity is a difficult, long-term matter; one must wait patiently for it to bear fruit, for the happiness of loving kindness which it must bring. But at the same time, chastity is the sure way to happiness."

- Pope John Paul II

Question Box Friday on a Monday: What should you do if your boyfriend/girlfriend is getting carried away and about to go past your boundaries?

Tell them to stop. If he or she continues to push your boundaries, then I would encourage you to break up with that person. If he or she does not respect you and your boundaries, then why are they in a relationship with you? If someone really cares about you, then they will respect your beliefs.

God Given Potiental

I am sadden to hear about the lastest news related to abortions. Certificates for abortions can now be purchased and given out as Christmas gifts. This is a mockery of the true meaning of Christmas which is about the birth of Jesus; about life. This Advent, I pray for the softening of all hearts to the beauty and miracle of life and that each woman who finds herself in a unwanted or unplanned pregnancy would find the strength, courage and faith to say "Yes" to the will of God as Mary did on that day so many years ago. What if Mary had refused God's plan and said "No"? We would all be missing out on the greatest gift ever, our salvation. Men and women participate in the creation of new life, but no life is created without God's participation as well. With the help of men and women, God creates each life for a reason and with a unique purpose. Let us start saying "Yes" to these babies' God given potiental.

It's Never Too Late

While you may still have to deal with some of the physical or emotional consequences of your past sexual activity, it is never too late to start living a chaste life. No one is ever a lost cause. Whether you have already given away the gift of your sexuality once or on several occassions, it is never too late to take it back and re-wrapped it. It is never too late for God's will for your life to be done. Christ is wating for you to come to Him. He is waiting to meet you where you are and bring you into His light. He is waiting to lavish His love and mercy on you. He wants to forgive you and reconcile you to Himself. Allow Him to heal your wounds and strengthen you. Firmly commit yourself to living chastely, seeking the empowerment of Christ and other Christians as you go forth, step by step, into the life God has planned for you!

A Great Opportunity!

Senator Obama: "It's Your America, share your ideas"

Senator Barack Obama is asking the country's opinion about how where he should lead our country. Take this opportunity to share with Senator Obama your vision for our country. Respectfully and truthfully share with him your vision for a culture of life; one where every person born and unborn are protected regardless of size, race, ability or place of residence, and more. Ask him not to pass the Freedom of Choice Act.

Visit: http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision

Weekly Quote

"Rather than be silent, we must instead point out the singular relevance of this teaching of divine Revelation: what St. Paul identified in the culture of the Greco-Roman world prophetically demonstrates its correspondence with what has taken place in Western culture in recent centuries: the exclusion of the Creator - to the point of proclaiming grotesquely that 'God is dead' - has had the consequence, almost as an inevitable punishment, of the spread of an aberrant sexual ideology, with an arrogance unknown to previous times."

- Cardinal Biffi