a gospel meditation - say what?

One of the things we talked about in bible study recently was the parable of the talents. In this parable, the master gives three men each different amounts of talents, according to each's ability, for safe keeping.   When he comes back, the two with the most talents have invested them and gotten back more in returen. The one with the least buried his and has the same amount. The master is happy with the first two men and angry at the third man.

I liken this parable to the quote "We are all called to be saints." Now I think that like many great quotes, this one is used much too often. It is probably used so often because it speaks to many hearts. It reminds gently that in each situation we are going though, we must choose the saintly road.

I think it goes wonderfully with this gospel because it also shows how each of us is given our "talents" according to our abilities. While each of us are called to be a saint, that sainthood is different for every single person out there. Some people may be called to motherhood, to discipling their children to the Lord. Others may be called to move to a different country and give their love to those who have no one.    And yet another person may be called to be an amazing boss to a huge company.

Our society has a weird way of judging these accomplishments. We put a golden halo on the one who moves away to a foreign country to live the missionary life, and say that the stay at home mom has it easy. We say the man at the top of that company has accomplished the american dream. But, if all of these people are doing the Lord's will, then are they not all living out the sainthood they have been called to? No matter how big or small the things God calls you to are in the eyes of society, if they are His will,  they are huge. What if the missionary is not using his full abilities to serve the Lord, while the mom is. What is she is using every last ounce of energy she has to raise her children up in the Lord. Who is living up to the sainthood God has called them to?

In his parable, Jesus goes on to say that, "Everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

It sounds rather harsh doesn't it? But, after reading it and contemplating it for awhile, I really think that it is fair. God wants for each of us to be a saint. To those who use all the graces the Lord has given them,  to live to their full saintly potential, only more graces can be given. Through living out a life dedicated to Christ, one can only become closer to Him. But, for those who have not used the talents God has given them, even if they are smaller than other peoples in the eyes of society, nothing more can be given. After this life, in judgement, what little they has will be taken away.

I think this might be one of my favorite gospels.

Pro-Life

I am Pro-Life. Coming into a setting that is not primarily Catholic has been interesting to say the least. I don't know when it happened, but I am not afraid anymore to tell other people my opinions. I know that by being a fairly conservative Catholic, there are some issues in which my view are not mainstream. One of these is abortion. Not just abortion, but death penalty, euthanasia; I am Pro-Life. Life begins at conception, and should not end until every reasonable type of care has been given. Now there are always "what ifs." But, these are the exceptions, these are the situations that take a lot of prayer and conversation with God. What is reasonable care in the matter of the dying elderly? Well I don't know, only God and the people in that particular situation can.

But, back to the point of this post. In English, we have been writing a lot of papers. Along with my discovery of not being scared to voice my opinion, I have also realized that I can write a book on a topic that I am passionate about. The first few papers we wrote were ok. I wrote them and they got great grades, but I didn't enjoy writing them. The last paper we wrote was an argumentative paper on any current topic we wanted to choose. Being the very opinionated person I am, I chose abortion. One day we had to tell the person we sat by what our topic was going to be, and explain it to them. The girl I told just sat and stared at me with her mouth literally wide open.

That just made me smile on the inside. Even more reason to write the paper. I'm pretty proud of it. So, drum roll please....here it is:

“A Person’s A Person No Matter How Small” 


There are millions of people who have impacted our world and made it the place it is today. While every person has a part in this process, some are more influential than others. Think of Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., President Barrack Obama, and Steve Jobs. All of these people have had or continue to have a major impact on the world they lived in.

I’m going to present you with a scenario. I won’t tell you to close your eyes, because we all know that most people spend this time worrying about whether everyone else is doing it, and peeking to make sure they don’t look stupid. But, I will ask you to think for a minute about this world I am going to describe to you. Think of a world where African Americans had not been given equal rights, of a world where Barrack Obama would never have been able to become president. Think of a world without Einstein’s laws of Physics, which are the basis of so much of our knowledge about the world today. Think of a world without iPhones, and Macs, and all the other innovations by Apple. It is hard isn’t it, to imagine a place like that. The truth is, that we will never know what it could be like—what the world would be today if these people had not influenced it.

You can’t deny that each person in this world leaves a mark. Each person is invaluable, and affects those around them. They then affect another person and so on, until a mark has been made. But what happens when not everyone gets a chance to make his or her mark?

Steve Jobs was born to two Graduate Students from the University of Wisconsin during a time that didn’t know personal computers or cell phones (Steve Jobs). His parents, not being married or in a position to raise a child, gave their son up for adoption. Because of the choice his birthmother made, Jobs was given his chance to make an impact on the world, and make an impact he did. I doubt there is a single American who does not own or know somebody who owns an Apple product. But what if Jobs had been one of the estimated 50 million babies aborted every year (The Truth About Abortion Q & A)? Where would we be today?

One third of the most recent generation has been killed by abortion. If you have nine good friends, there were three more that you never got to meet. Imagine the potential of all these people. Perhaps one of them would have found the cure to cancer, or brought peace to the world. Perhaps one of them would have invented a hovering car that wouldn’t have to be driven. As crazy as that last one may sound, it could have happened, but we will never know because these people never got to experience the most basic right of every human--life.

Our nation, when it was founded, acknowledged this basic right to life for every person. It is written in The Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Abortion is a violation of the most basic human right acknowledged in this document that our nation takes so much pride in.

Abortion is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as: “The termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the fetus or embryo as induced expulsion of a human fetus.” From the moment of conception, until week 4, the baby is considered an embryo. At the very moment every baby is conceived, he or she has the DNA Blueprint of the man or woman he or she will grow to be. The baby’s eye color, hair color, and gender are all decided. Between one and four weeks of development, the baby’s spinal cord, brain, hair, and skin begin to form. These are the beginnings of the baby's sight, smell, and touch. The heart and circulatory systems also rapidly form; the baby, at this point, has the basis for the systems that will carry it through life. The baby’s heart begins to beat at just 18 days (Facts of Fetal Development). Ninety-nine percent of abortions occur before 21 weeks of life (Abortion Statistics). Well before this time, the baby’s heart pumps blood in a separate circulatory system than his or her mother, the baby has all of his or her body parts, the baby can suck his or her thumb, and the baby’s brain waves can be recorded (Facts of Fetal Development). A human being is defined as, “having forms or attributes of a human or being susceptible to or representative of the sympathies and frailties of human nature (Merriam Webster).” It is clear after looking at the development of an unborn child, that just like you and me, a baby from conception onward has the attributes of a human.

The Declaration of Independence gives every human a right to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Life is what distinguishes a living being from a dead being; it is a state of being characterized by metabolism and growth (Merriam Webster). At conception, an embryo is characterized by an ability of growth. Conceived with a blueprint for the person he or she will grow to be, there is no arguing that the embryo is not characterized by an ability to become just like you and me. According to the dictionary’s definition of life, an embryo has just that, the quality of life. Therefore, since it is representative of the qualities of a human being, it is human. Life begins at conception; there can be no doubt!

Many people say that an unborn baby is not a child; but this ignores the reasoning above. On the contrary, it is obvious that an embryo from the day of conception onward is a human being. In the days of the Holocaust, Hitler told Germans that the Jewish people were not human. Because of their belief in his teachings, whether they were right or wrong, over 11 million people were killed (Holocaust – Non-Jewish Holocaust Victims – Teachers Guide). We look back at those events today and wonder what was going though the Germans’ minds, how could they allow such atrocities to occur? We teach our children about the Holocaust in their history classes, so that they can learn from the world’s past mistakes. We teach them a holocaust of that sort must be avoided at all costs.

Today, a look at the numbers tells us that every year 1.2 million babies are killed by abortion. Take that and multiply it by the many years abortions have been performed and you get a number much greater than 11 million. Today, we are participating in our own Holocaust, a Holocaust of unborn children. What are our children’s children going to think of us when they read about the holocaust that is taking place in our society today? Why do we blindly believe the people that tell us these children are not human?

According to the Declaration of Independence, every human is given the right to life. But what about the rights of the mother, she is a human being too; she is older and obviously has the right to make decisions for herself. A mother murdering her infant is considered a heinous crime, so why is a mother killing the child in her womb, a being even more dependent on her for it’s life, to be tolerated. If the child is not a human being, then perhaps there is no question as to whether or not abortion is the mother’s decision. But, as I have proved above, the embryo is a human from the moment of conception. Therefore the embryo has all the same rights as you and me. The United States of America has a duty to protect these rights equally.

Both the infant and the embryo are human. In certain situations, the government recognizes the killing of another person, such as in self-defense, not as a crime, but as a necessary action to preserve life. It is the same in the matter of abortion. If the indirect consequence of a life saving procedure for a mother is the abortion of a child, then the greater good is to save the mother. But, if the intent of the procedure is to kill the child, it is murder. It does not matter the method that a mother kills her infant; murder should be murder in the eyes of our society, no matter how it is done.

Dr. Seuss says, “A person is a person no matter how small” (Horton Hears a Who). There is no denying that from the moment our parents conceived us, we contained within us the blueprint of who we are today. Imagine that your parents had aborted you; what would the lives of those you have effected be like? Each of the 1.2 million babies aborted every year in the US could be fully-grown and developed members of society, just like you and me. They start the same way you did. How can we allow a woman to deny the right to life to someone who is just like all of us? If it were your best friend that someone was trying to kill, would you sit back and just watch it happen? Your best friend and the embryo that is about to be aborted as you read this are of the exact same essence. They are human beings; they both have the ability to metabolize and grow, they both deserve to live. They are undeniably human. The Declaration of Independence guarantees all humans a right to life. What is to become of our country if we continue to ignore the most basic right our nation was founded on?

Pray For

So one of the blogs I read is written by a woman who founded 147 Million Orphans, an organization based in Nashville! That aims to help orphans and adoptive families. Just recently, they posted about, what is in my opinion an awesome idea, their new initiative. Here it is:

SO WE AT 147 ARE ASKING YOU TO COME ALONG SIDE OF US AND HELP US TO ASK OTHERS TO PRAY DOWN THE NUMBER AT 1:47 PM ... where ever you are just stop and lift up orphans to the FATHER - pray for friend's adoptions, pray for the orphan who is hungry, pray the for the orphan that is sick, pray for the families sitting on the fence about adoption, pray for orphan/adoption ministries, pray for those serving orphans, ... WHATEVER GOD LAYS ON YOUR HEART ABOUT THE FATHERLESS - pray pray pray !!!
put in on your calendar, make it an appt. on your phone, write it on your hand, put a sticky note on your mirror or do them all ... LET'S ALL STAND TOGETHER, WATCH OUR FAITH GROW AND THE NUMBER GO DOWN !!! - to read the rest of the article click here

I would be so grateful if you all would join in. I find that setting my phone alarm works the best...

I've found out lately jut how much prayer matters. It is what grows our relationship with God; it is like the phone calls and texts we send out friends. Without these little efforts to get to know our fellow humans, we would not have friendship. Without our effort to know God through prayer, we cannot have a relationship with him.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. - John 14: 13-14

Praying as a community is one of the greatest things about being in the network of Christians all over the world. Let's life up these children and families to the Lord and ask him to make radical waves. To make radical changes.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours - Matthew 11:24