You have to wonder if everyone has these best of intentions. I mean, if you look at it, I'm sure Obamacare started with the best of intentions, just as Romneycare did and No Child Left Behind. Just as the New Deal did. Helping people. But you know, that''s not the point of our government. And the very organizations that exist in our country solely for the purpose of helping people are being hurt by our government's over-reach. I think Obama, with his background in community organizing would have made an excellent philanthropist. But he's not. He's our President. And the ways in which I see him disregard the Constitutional structure that our Founding Documents put into place is disheartening to say the least. He is systematically dismantling the same Constitution he was sworn to protect.
But its Lent. It's a time in the Church when we're supposed to be looking more at the sacrifices we can make to make lives more blessed around us. Rice bowls, sacrificial giving, tithing and alms giving. All of this is increased, or asked to be increased, in this rich time of dryness in the Church. How can the Church promote a spirit of giving and goodness, and then reject the government's following suit? Is it a double standard. I really have to look deep within myself and wonder if, as a Catholic, I'm not developing a Messiah complex and insisting that I have to be a Catholic control freak. Salvation can only be found in the Catholic Church. But what about health care? Faith and actions, they meet at the Cross.
Contraception is not birth control. I appreciate the few cases of women that "need" birth control to hide their symptoms for their reproductive ailments. Yes, I use my words carefully, for really that's what birth control does. Taking birth control to help regulate the pain associated with endomitriosis is like taking aspirin to regulate the headaches that come with a brain tumor. Artificial birth control does nothing to confront the real issue, to attack the disease. There are treatments, holistic medical treatments that can help a woman in the long run. Sadly, most women are on artificial birth control for so long that by the time they recognize these other treatments exist it is too late for these same treatments to be effective. Women get duped and buy into the birth control lie, and they pay the price of years of pain when they might have had healing. Even when its not intended to regulate births, the lie of birth control is being sold to desperate women nonetheless.
Politics has gotten brutal. The name calling, the lack of respect to both men and women out there is terrible. Friends have turned against friends, family members attack one another in the name of "being politically opposed". Where is Christ in all of this mess? Where is the love of Christ shown in the way we treat one another in the political arena? Where are the ways in which we build one another up, where we leave one another in 'the peace of Christ'? I can't believe the dishonesty and the brutal attacks on people from both sides. It's shameful:(
If I had all the money in the world, I would help people. But if I had all the money in the world, I know I couldn't help those people who just don't want to be helped. I think often, when dealing with a liberal minded person, of those dwarves in the last battle, the epic end of the Chronicles of Narnia series. They made it into Aslan's country, and yet they could not see the splendor of the truth that is around them. All they could do was look in on the circle they had created during the battle, and continue to comment and be negative about their situation. I sympathize with the Left in this regard. How often have I been here in my Faith journey? Seeing only the bleak points of life instead of the majesty that is this world that God created for us. How do I reach these people? Even through my own scrim of pain and intolerance. How do I show them that life is beautiful and should be loved and accepted as a gift from our Creator? Does my attitude make them want to live more or less in the light of Truth, in the light of God?
Lord, thank you for making me have no money that is solely my own. Thank you for my poverty and my inability to control anything financial. I see so much now within myself that I need to fix. That I need to heal before I can become responsible for the many gifts you have waiting for me. Lord, if I had all the money in the world, it would still be as nothing compared to the help, and the life, that you could lead all people too. May I stop and wonder more often what I might do to help your kingdom here on earth. Here in my own little way.
My son and I finished our first Fr. Lovasik book "My Day with Jesus" today with this prayer:
Jesus is my God
Jesus, my Friend,
Son of the Eternal Father,
make me His obedient child.Son of Mary,
make me love her as my Mother.
My Master, teach me.
Prince of Peace, give me peace.
My Shepherd, guide and care for me.
My Bread of Life, feed my soul.
The true Way, lead me.
Eternal Truth, I believe in You.
Life of the saints, live in me.
My Judge pardon me.
My King, rule me.
My Hope, strengthen me.
My Redeemer, save me.
My Helper, protect me.
My Model, make me like You.
My only Joy, take me to You.
St. Frances of Rome, pray for us!
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