Over at the National Catholic Register Today

Today I'm writing about five things we can do to minister to those who mourn. The subject kept popping up on my Facebook feed and in real life.

Now is the Time to Start the Big Push

My dad would say that whenever I complained about how much I had to do.   Today, I woke up discouraged.  I have a list of things to do that is fifteen plus items long. It is full of hard to do tedious errands that will require thought, care and time.

Instead, I am writing.  

This is the last week of Lent.  It is time to take stock.   Even if you haven't done anything or have blown Lent, forgotten your resolutions, now is the time to start the big push.

You can make this Lent the beginning of a deeper faith life if you do  any of the following.  This week.  It's not a formula.  It's a call.  It's the means by which God acts.  You look at the list.  Something in it tugs.   Follow that tug.  Don't be afraid. It is the Holy Spirit, trying to bring you deeper and deeper in.  

1) Go to the stations of the cross.  Let your mind dwell on the why of it.

2) Go to confession.  Masstimes.org is a great place to find one nearby. Or call, make an appointment.

3) Go to Holy Thursday mass.  Yes. It's long.  It's worth it.

4) Fast on Good Friday.

5) Pray the rosary.

6) Go to adoration, spend an hour.  There is a church near you that holds 24-7 adoration.  Find it.

7) Read the scripture readings for the week or listen to them via podcast.  Laudate is a great app if you have a smart phone and want to listen in the car.

8) Perform one of the Corporal Acts of Mercy:
         a) Feed the hungry
         b) Give drink to the thirsty
         c) Shelter the Homeless
         d) Visit the sick
         e) Visit the Prisoners
         f) Bury the Dead.
Pope Francis is an exceptional example of someone trying with all he has to do the acts of mercy almost every day.

9) Perform one of the Spiritual Acts of Mercy:
         a) Counseling the Doubtful
         b) Instructing the Ignorant
         c) Admonishing the Sinner
         d) Comforting the Sorrowful
         e) Forgiving Injuries
         f) bearing wrongs patiently
         g) Praying for the deceased.

10) Invite someone who does not go to mass, to come with you.

11) Offer a mass for someone.

12) Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet..

13) Go to the Church at 3 o'clock on Friday.

14) Pray the Prayer of Abandonment every day this week.

15) Give alms.

    I finished writing the list and realized, I'd created a possible to do list of more than 15 things, all of which take time, but which are in no way tedious.   Oddly enough, adding that extra thing to the list, made it feel lighter.  

So pick one.  Then, tackle the rest of whatever you have to do.  As you might surmise, blogging will very likely be light this week, owing to Holy Week, but now is the time to start the big push.
 

Repeating My Call to Others

There's a new Planned Parenthood video, even more telling than the last.  But I posted my piece on Saturday (a low traffic day normally) and in light of this new expose, it's even more important that these people receive our earnest prayers.

Dr. Mary Gatter, Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Medical Directors' Council President wants a Lamborghini.  All I can think is, "But for Wales."   So I'm relinking to my Saturday piece, Prayers and Fasting in hopes of getting more people to publicly adopt a specific abortionist they will pray and fast for over the course of the next year.

It is not shocking that people sell other people for money, or parts for money.  We do this as a culture without thinking about it.  We sell human eggs, we sell sperm.  We sell wombs.  We sell porn (selling the outside while destroying the inside).  What we don't do is sell pieces...of people.  Except here, we do.  Why?  Because they've convinced themselves, these children are not people.

Once we stop seeing people as people (unborn), they become property, which can be bought and sold for lucre, and the more, the better.

Someone adopt this woman in their prayers, because a flashy car won't fill her anymore than the fine meal filled Dr. Deborah Nucatola in the prior video.

Don't think it can happen?  Check out Abby Johnson's And Then There Were None.  Abortion preys on the weakest, it enslaves those who perform it, to a constant need to bring others to the same dark place.  It's a hope we have to hold, if we would call ourselves Christians, that mercy and forgiveness are available for the asking.

It's easy to hold her in contempt. It's easy to rage at the evil.  But there is nothing more human than knowing the reality, "We are broken." and nothing closer to the divine, than to either ask for mercy, or give it.  We cannot absolve her of her sins, but we must pray she seeks forgiveness.  That is the only charitable response to what we now know, and we have an obligation now to this woman in particular, and those like her, because now, we know.  She is a lost sheep, a lost sister of Christ.  We want all of our brothers and sisters at the table.

Pray hard.