Saturday, July 18, 2015

Prayer and Fasting

I was going to write a humor piece today about the next two week hiatus I intended to have. 


But unless you've been under a rock, if you're part of the Catholic blogsophere, (and I am), you've no doubt seen or read about the interview.  It breaks your heart to think people could discuss either the procedure or the procurement so casually over a salad and wine.   Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood apologized for the "tone" of the discussion, (note, not the content).     

I saw comboxes filled with justifiable horror, and some things which were far less justifiable, condemnations.   Yes, these people kill the innocent for money.  They do so for a living, it's what they do.   As the old joke goes... We’ve already established that. Now we’re just haggling over the price.

We will not convert Cecile Richards via this expose, or the senior director of medical services for all of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Deborah Nucatola or anyone else, even given the ick factor of harvesting human organs from unborn children willfully discarded and destroyed.   These are people who must live with themselves and to my understanding, there are only three ways they could manage to get through the day and consider themselves moral agents.  

1) They view abortion as a good, not an evil.  Because they view it as a good, as a service they provide to the needy; those who oppose it must be willfully blind to the suffering and fear of the women seeking an abortion. Whether because of their faith or ignorance of the reality of said women seeking abortion, those who oppose abortion do not understand the true service provided.  Ergo, their opinions don't matter, and can be dismissed.  

2) They view abortion as a necessary evil, for the greater good.  The end justifies the means, with the goal being a good. (Independence, freedom from pregnancy). Anyone who doesn't, is imposing their morality and again can be dismissed.   

3) They view having an abortion as a neutral act, having no morality save that ascribed by the person considering it.  As such, they think abortion is something that needs to be destigmatized because it's a hard reality, and having the bonus of morality makes the hard reality worse.  

If we're going to win the hearts of people who think we have nothing they need to hear, it will take more than exposes and votes and threats of fire and brimstone.  It will take serious love, prayer and fasting.  

As incredible as it may seem, for God's mercy and love is beyond ours, that woman sitting discussing her skills at crushing the top and the bottom, like Dr. Kermit Gossnel, and all other advocates who profit from, and push for the continued killing of the innocent, are our brothers and sisters in Christ.   They are Saul before his trip to Damascus.    They are the slave trader before he began his conversion and eventually penned "Amazing Grace."  So I have a proposal for all readers/pro-life advocates/Catholic bloggers out there that made it this far.   

Adopt an abortionist, director of a Planned Parenthood, or a politician who advocates for the procedure for the next year.   Come up with a doable prayer and fast you can perform on behalf of that person.  

Why?     
"Some demons can only be driven out by prayer and fasting" (Matthew 17:21).

My suggestion is to take one person who is a public face advocating/supporting this grave evil be done to and by human beings.  I'd prefer to have two people adopt each person. Your prayers and fasting are up to you.  Make it a doable thing, like a Hail Mary a day for the person in question, and a nickle a day for a local Crisis Pregnancy center or a rosary a week, anything you wish, but state the person you wish to claim.     

I've chosen Cecile Richards because she is the public face of Planned Parenthood, and I don't think discussion at this point is possible.  If we were to sit down at a dinner, and I were to talk about the innate dignity of every human from point one, it would not be heard.  If I were to talk about the crime which cries out to God, slaughtering the innocent, it would not be heard.  She has come to hold what she does is a good.  

My husband has choses Dr. Deborah Nucatola, the woman in the video.  We hope others will join in this project for the next year. 

Imagine an army of Pauls from the army of Sauls.  

1) Cecile Richards
2) Dr. Deborah Nucatola
3) Dr. Kermit Gossnel
4) Dr. Leroy Carhart (Local, does late term abortions).
5) Any member of the Pro-Choice Caucus: 
Federal Caucus MemberBlumenauer, EarlD-h03Portland
Federal Caucus MemberBrownley, JuliaD-h26Thousand Oaks
Federal Caucus MemberCapuano, Michael E.D-h07Randolph
Federal Caucus MemberCohen, Steve I.D-h09Memphis
Co-ChairDeGette, Diana L.D-h01Denver
Federal Caucus MemberDoggett, Lloyd A.D-h35San Antonio
Federal Caucus MemberEllison, Keith M.DFL-h05Minneapolis
Federal Caucus MemberEngel, Eliot L.D-h16Bronx
Federal Caucus MemberFarr, SamD-h20Santa Cruz
Federal Caucus MemberFrankel, Lois J.D-h22Boca Raton
Federal Caucus MemberGrayson, Alan M.D-h09Orlando
Federal Caucus MemberGreen, GeneD-h29Houston
Federal Caucus MemberGrijalva, Raul M.D-h03Avondale
Federal Caucus MemberHonda, MikeD-h17Newark
Federal Caucus MemberHuffman, Jared W.D-h02Ukiah
Federal Caucus MemberKildee, Dan T.D-h05Flint
Federal Caucus MemberLee, Barbara J.D-h13San Leandro
Federal Caucus MemberLoebsack, Dave W.D-h02Davenport
Federal Caucus MemberLowey, Nita M.D-h17New City
Federal Caucus MemberLujan Grisham, MichelleD-h01Albuquerque
Federal Caucus MemberMcDermott, Jim A.D-h07Seattle
Federal Caucus MemberNadler, Jerrold L.D-h10New York
Federal Caucus MemberPallone, Frank J.D-h06New Brunswick
Federal Caucus MemberPocan, MarkD-h02Beloit
Federal Caucus MemberQuigley, MikeD-h05Chicago
Federal Caucus MemberScott, David A.D-h13Smyrna
Federal Caucus MemberSinema, KyrstenD-h09Phoenix
Co-ChairSlaughter, Louise M.D-h25Rochester
Federal Caucus MemberTitus, Dina C.D-h01Las Vegas
Federal Caucus MemberTsongas, Niki S.D-h03Fitchburg
Federal Caucus MemberVeasey, Marc A.D-h33Fort Worth
5) Hillary Clinton (she's the forerunner but I'm not singling her out other than for that reason).
6) Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg --She's been outspoken on this issue, but any and all of the justices need our prayers on this issue.
7) Prayers are always valid, so pray for the soul of George Tiller --murdered abortionist.
8) Pray for the unknown fathers who have no capacity to protect their children from death.
9) Pray for the nurses and assistants who perform these actions.
10) President Obama and those of his administration that share this view of the unborn as mistakes, punishments, and disposable.
11) Republicans for Choice --I'd list the members but the site ironically does not give any names.
12) Catholics for Choice.   They are denying part of Catholic social justice teaching and moral teaching, by advocating dissent on this issue.
13) There are more but that's for anyone who wishes to discern.   The goal is to adopt a person, make it personal to you, for whom you will pray as a friend prays for a friend, someone who we hope we either get the privilege of welcoming into Heaven, or the honor of being welcomed by.  

We know as Catholics, we will be asked one day, how many did you bring?  Did you turn your one, two or ten talents into more, or bury them?   Our lives are one giant project to invite everybody.

Let's get to work.

2 comments:

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

I'm in! I will donate a case of diapers each month to crisis pregnancy center and pray for Mr. Honda as he is most local to me.

Anonymous said...

I'll pray for an unknown nurse. If you have a name, feel free to forward it to me. Good idea, Sherry.

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