First Holy Communion

My oldest celebrated her First Holy Communion on Sunday.  Many of our family and friends joined us at the special Mass for our Parish children celebrating the Sacrament. 

As I spoke and prayed with her the night before First Communion,  it touched my heart to realize that she understands the importance and significance of receiving Holy Communion and truly believes that she actually receives Christ in the Eucharist.  Children are so open to faith.  They believe where so many adults question.

Last week, as we said our daily prayers while waiting in the carpool line at school, I listened to her ask God for help in preparing her to receive Him in First Communion.  For her, it wasn't about the dress, veil or outward appearance. She actively focused on the true meaning of the Sacrament.  She found her joy in the excitement of receiving the body and blood of Christ for the first time.  Indeed, after receiving her First Communion, her face radiated with joy.  Everyone could see that it was a special moment.  Added to that moment is the knowledge that she now will be filled with the Holy Spirit every Sunday as she continues to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.

The weeks I spent with her in preparation for these two Sacraments enabled us to develop a special bond.  She allows me to freely share my faith with her and through her I am witness to the beauty of unwavering faith.  She fully understands the Eucharist at her young age in a way I didn't until I reached adulthood. 

My blessings go out to our Parish, Father John, and all the Catechists who aided in her preparation.  They worked beautifully with the parents to ensure our children walked up for Communion fully prepared to receive Christ for the first time.

Thank you Lord for showing me an example of pure faith in my daughter.

You Can't Eat Off My Floors

Last month a friend's Facebook status read: If I had a blog or website about being a working mom, I'd call it, "You can't eat off my floors."

I laughed really hard, because it’s completely true and it captured one of those areas where I often feel inadequate.

My mother kept a cross-stitch sampler on the wall in my childhood home that read, “Dull women have immaculate houses.” So I can't really credit her with raising us to be a "traditional housewife” or any other specific female stereotype. Still, I must have learned from somewhere that “as a Mom,” I’m supposed to keep a clean house and provide my family with healthy meals.

Whatever.

I need a maid.

Heck, I need a housewife or a Mom.

Doesn’t everyone have a floor, especially in the kitchen, that makes you just cringe? How does it get so dirty? I’m never home! That goes double for the carpet. If I’m only home for a few hours every evening, why do I have to vacuum it more than once a month?

The other adult women in my life have “perfect” homes. They can go from “Oh it’s crazy around here” to picked up for company in about an hour.

I need at least two weeks.

With Brenna’s First Communion this Saturday, we’ll be hosting family for the first time in three years. I actually need to request an entire day off from work just to get the house ready for guests.

My sister and sister-in-law love figuring out what color to paint something or how to decorate the walls. Everything matches. No really, it’s darn impressive. My other sister-in-law just moved into a new house and she’s an artist. Enough said? Definitely.

I have a house filled with hand-me-downs, hand-me-overs; there are exactly three pieces of furniture that I bought. (The roll-top desk, my daughter’s dresser, and the entertainment center that the tv doesn’t fit anymore. Wait.. four! We bought an Ikea bookcase for the bedroom.)

Thanks to Lisa and my sister-in-law, with many other family members willing to help paint, my house is slowly developing the potential to look -maybe- decorated. They’ve shared some of their vision, selecting paint colors for the inside of my house. They’ve brought me curtains that look beautiful (how do they know?) and even rearranged furniture. Of course, I really should finish painting the trim in the hallway and remove the blue painters tape before Saturday.

Lately I’d been wondering how do other working moms deal with the mess. And with her one simple FB status, my friend reminded me – sometimes we don’t.

Thank You...

I’ve been waiting to write this for a long time. In our 5th grade CCE class this year we talked about how God is a mystery and that He reveals Himself to us through creation, people, and His Son, Jesus Christ.

I have often marveled at Creation, never having any doubt that the intricacy of life and myriad of breathtaking moments could only come from our Creator. I firmly believe in Jesus Christ, his birth, teachings, persecution, death and Resurrection. And for the last year I have witnessed his mystery & revelation through ordinary, every day people. In their actions, in their prayers, and in their healing.

Over the last three years, I have witnessed three miraculous healings. The first one took me by surprise. I’d received prayer requests before in the past and while I’d say a prayer for that person or family, I didn’t really PRAY WITH FAITH, that is pray with the knowledge and belief that God would answer us.

Then came Lily, a tiny micro-preemie born at an unbelievably early 24 weeks. (How early? She was due in May and born in January.) Our family joined countless others in daily prayer for that crucial first year. Despite facing incredible odds, not only did she survive, but also hit every developmental milestone and is now a perfectly healthy child with no anticipated complications.

The second, whom I have shared with you, is Stellan. Twice I’ve come here asking for prayers and twice they have been answered. Though he almost died before his second—very risky—ablation, the surgery miraculously repaired his condition and now he is a perfectly healthy child with no anticipated complications.

Three months ago I told you about my friend’s son, Spencer. At the first Mass I attended after learning about his accident, I spent every moment putting Spencer into God’s hands and asking for God’s will to be made known to us. The next week brought positive updates, his condition slowly improved, the brain swelling ceased, and he made small signs of cognition. A few weeks later, our Mass responsorial Psalm was one of thanks. Singing these words while thinking of all our answered prayers moved me to tears.

In the presence of the angels, O Lord, may we praise your name.

I will thank you, Lord, with all of my heart, you have heard the words of my mouth. In the presence of the Lord I will bless you, I will adore before your holy temple.

I will thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness and love, beyond all my hopes and dreams. On the day that I called you answered; you gave life to the strength of my soul.

All who live on earth shall give you thanks when they hear the words of your voice. And all shall sing of your ways: “How great is the glory of God.”

Spencer went home yesterday. His family received such a huge outpouring of love and support from their family, friends, local community, and internet community. His survival and recovery is nothing short of a miracle.

We may never fully know God’s will in our lives, but I do believe that He works through people, and through their struggles, Lily, Stellan, and Spencer have touched others and increased awareness about the value of a life.

Nature's Greatest Gift

CatholicVote spent the day celebrating Earth Day by celebrating Nature's Greatest Gift.

 

The goal of their latest ad campaign, “...is to use Earth Day to get Americans to think more deeply about what it means to truly respect the Earth and creation. Prevailing environmental attitudes too often view humans as the enemy of nature. We believe the human person is God’s greatest creation, and the Earth’s greatest resource. Building up a culture of life is the single most important way to build a culture that respects the environment,” said Brian Burch, President of CatholicVote.org Education Fund.

As my daughter told me today, "We Love all of God's Creations."   So this Earth Day, we celebrate not only the Earth, but all of God's creations.

Remembering San Jacinto

Monday I mentioned that April has this odd week of unfortunate events. I love that the “week” ends today - April 21. It used to be a day remembered and celebrated by all Texas schoolchildren as the Battle of San Jacinto.

After the massacres at the Alamo and Goliad, the Texas Army, led by General Sam Houston, began a retreat east across Texas that would be known as the Runaway Scrape. While Houston came into the Harris County area on a northern route, bringing them to Spring Creek (where Lisa & grew up), Santa Anna led his Army on the southern route – crossing the Brazos River at Richmond and burning the town, Harrisburg.


Houston made a fateful decision to turn south, crossing White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou, camping his Army in a small wooded area where the Bayou meets the San Jacinto River. Santa Anna and his 1200 troops lay less than a mile away on the other side of a slight rise.

April 21, at 3:30 p.m., Houston ordered the attack, surprising the Mexicans during their afternoon siesta. Shouting “Remember the Alamo!” and “Remember Goliad!” the 910 Texans soundly defeated the Mexican Army in an 18-minute battle, killing 630 and capturing another 730 men. Only 9 Texans were killed or mortally wounded.

An inscription on the base of the San Jacinto Monument reminds us that: “Measured by its results, San Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the world. The freedom of Texas from Mexico won here led to annexation and to the Mexican War, resulting in the acquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Almost one-third of the present area of the American nation, nearly a million square miles of territory, changed sovereignty."

For a firsthand account of the battle, read the original copy of Sam Houston’s report on the Battle of San Jacinto held at the Texas State Library & Archives.

The battle took place on privately-owned land which was purchased sometime in the 1890s by the State of Texas and opened as a State Park. The San Jacinto Monument, constructed between 1936-1939, is the world’s tallest war memorial and is 15 feet taller than the Washington monument.

I encourage you to take a few minutes out of your day and follow my links to the Archives, Battleground, and Monument to read and learn more about this preeminent day in Texas History.

Choosing to Remember Love

Am I the only person who has wondered why some dates seem to be magnets for unpleasant events? About three years ago, my husband commented that there seem to be an awful lot of events or anniversaries taking place in the days before our wedding anniversary. Off the top of my head...

President Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865 and died the next morning. The unsinkable ship, Titanic, struck an iceberg and sank in the evening/morning hours of April 14/15, 1912. Three years ago on April 16, thirty-three people were killed in a shooting at Virginia Tech. Saturday, April 17 marked the 63rd anniversary of the Texas City Disaster - the worst industrial disaster in U.S. history. Yesterday, residents in San Francisco gathered at Lotta’s Fountain to commemorate the 1906 Earthquake.

Today we observe the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. My husband, raised in Oklahoma City, counts among his friends those who were first responders. They were willing to share some of their personal experience of that day’s particular horrors with us, and we were privileged to accompany them the first time they visited the Memorial Museum.

After hearing their first-hand accounts, what I choose to remember most about that terrible day is not 9:02 a.m., but the hours that followed: an unprecedented community response. The outpouring donations of food and volunteers in support of the police, firefighters, nurses and doctors who worked round the clock in the aftermath was an example to the world of unity, compassion, and love stronger than any evil.

My husband and I were in Oklahoma visiting the Murrah Federal Building site when we received word of the Columbine school shooting on April 20, 1999.

To deal this unique week of events, I often turn a quote from Pope John Paul II’s final letter to the world:

"To humanity which at times seems to be lost and dominated by the power of evil, selfishness, and fear, the risen Lord offers the gift of his love that pardons, reconciles and opens the soul to hope. It is LOVE that converts hearts and brings peace. How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy."

- Pope John Paul II

Life. Living. Love. That is what this whole week should be about. That is what every day should be about.

Representing People, not Party

The 2008 election and subsequent policy changes have awoken the silent majority in ways no one could have predicted. Last year the rise of independent grassroot Tea Parties across the country brought people together – Democrats, Republicans, Independents – in a united front against the unprecedented overreaching intrusion of the federal government.

Conservatives, disgusted with the moderate-left shift taking place within the Republican party, have been grumbling about forming a third party. However, most realize this would only split our vote and dilute our true needs.

Texas State Senator Dan Patrick has had enough of the talk and wants to see action shoring up the Republican party and strengthening the GOP commitment to their founding Conservative Principles. Patrick, owner of a Houston-based radio station KSEV (KVCE in Dallas), was elected to Texas Senate District 7 in 2006 with an overwhelming 69% majority and consistently practices the Conservative values he preaches. For the past ten years he and his talk show hosts have educated and encouraged listeners to become more involved in our state and national political process, from voting to volunteering, to make their voices heard. The station slogan “Radio-Active” serves as a motivational wake-up call.

This week Patrick launched a new organization inviting elected Texas Republicans to be accountable first and foremost to the PEOPLE, not the Party. Too often it appears that our elected officials follow the party line, ignoring the wishes of the voters they represent. Elected officials who desire to sign on with Independent Conservative Republicans of Texas must agree to uphold five core principles.

1. We give our word to stand for conservative principles and to put people before party.


2. We give our word to be fiscally accountable, limit the size of government, and fight for free market principles.


3. We give our word to protect our borders and to support a strong military.


4. We give our word to protect life, support strong family values, and uphold the Judeo-Christian beliefs our nation was founded upon.


5. We give our word to defend the Constitution and protect the sovereign rights of Texas.

Taking a public stand for Independent Conservative Republicans of Texas are 15 Texas Senators, 52 Texas Representatives, and 9 primary winners facing Democrats in the November election.

Sen. Patrick is currently speaking on the national talk-show circuit promoting ICRepublicans.com He spoke to Laura Ingraham on Monday and will appear this weekend on Huckabee. Though the organization started here in Texas, Patrick hopes to ignite groups in other states to embrace the five core ICRepublican goals. He envisons this movement will spreads across the country.

If you believe in these core conservative principles, please contact your Republican state Senator or Congressman and let him/her know of your desire to see a group started in your own state.

Planned Parenthood's Lies about Medical Information to Encourage Abortion

One might expect a person or organization that claims to be pro-choice, would also support an informed choice.  Live Action reveals yet again that Planned Parenthood is Pro-Abortion and not Pro-Choice.  For the second time in 4 months, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is exposed on video lying and providing inaccurate medical information to a pregnant woman, encouraging her to have an abortion.   Let's  not forget that in 2008, they were exposed violating child rape reporting laws, in how they dealt with a 14 year old who presented herself for an abortion.

Rather than supporting women and young girls at a vulnerable and difficult time, Planned Parenthood twists and manipulates the trust placed in them in order to further their profits.  Women seeking their service deserve the truth, about their body, their baby, their health and their options.  We must continue to call for laws requiring full and accurate medical information before an abortion and we must prosecute those who violate these laws.  Businesses like Planned Parenthood should not receive the benefit of the doubt, they should be held in full compliance to the law as well as medical ethics. 

At what point will the American public rise up and demand their tax dollars not be used to give inaccurate and misleading medical information encouraging women to kill their unborn child?  When is enough enough? 

Are you Smarter than the Average Citizen?

The nonprofit, nonpartisan educational Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) released shocking findings on their 4th Annual National Civic Literacy report. This year's study reveals that college students lack knowledge on basic essential elements of American history, government and economics, but are being influenced more by leftward political indoctrination on the most polarizing social issues.

Dr. Richard Blake, co-chair of ISI's National Civic Literacy Board argues,

"... if colleges were adequately teaching their students about America’s history and its institutions, and the same leftward political influences were discovered, then it could be logically concluded that as citizens learned more about their country, this academic enlightenment leads naturally to liberal political enlightenment. But this peculiar combination of collegiate civic ignorance on the one hand, and collegiate liberalism on the other, suggests a wholly different story, one featuring academic neglect at best and political indoctrination at worst."

Specifically, The ISI’s Civic Literacy Research has discovered:

• Only 24% of college graduates knew the origin of the famous phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people;”

• 32% of college graduates do not know which branch of government has the power to declare war;

• Only 36% of college students were familiar with a speech warning the nation of dangerous foreign entanglements;

• 10% of test takers thought the famous phrase “We hold these truths that all men are created equal . . .” comes from The Communist Manifesto, however 46% could properly identify it.  (Still less than half.)

• College makes people more likely to support same-sex marriage and abortion on demand, and less likely support school prayer and the American work ethic;

• A college degree moves a person toward the Democrat/liberal side of the political spectrum, while greater civic knowledge moves a person toward the Republican/conservative pole of the spectrum;

• Only 17% can accurately distinguish free markets from centralized planning;

• College professors are more likely than non-professors to believe that America corrupts otherwise good people, and that the Ten Commandments are irrelevant.

With fewer than 60% of college graduates being able to properly identify on a multiple choice test, the 3 branches of federal government - how do you think you would fair?  No need to wonder, ISI provides a sample 33 question Civics Test for us online.  Their website claims that the average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the test was 49% with college educators scoring 55%., and elected officials scoring a measly 44%.  Are you more knowledgeable than the average citizen, college educator or elected official?   

Take the Quiz.  Don’t forget to share your results with us in the comments…

Does Your Vote Matter?

Today is Election Day in Texas for the Primary Run-Offs and just in case you've ever questioned whether or not your vote actually matters - check out this recent result in the March 2010 Texas primary.

In Congressional District 146 the incumbent, Al Edwards, lost by 11 votes.  And when you say, its' only the primary... the winner of this Democrat primary faces no Republican opponent in November.  So, in this district the primary, decided by 11 votes, was the election. 

Have you voted recently?  Your vote does matter!

Tax Day and Tea Parties

A year ago at this time, Shelly and I were blogging about the first big Tea Parties scheduled for tax day, April 15th. Reading back through our posts, remembering the reasons we stood with thousands of others in our local suburbs for an evening, I find myself filled with trepidation. In the Spring of 2009, we thought federal spending was out of control; that the takeover of power by the federal government was huge; and that our elected officials didn't "get it" and were ignoring us.

What a difference a year makes. Here we are in the Spring of 2010 and in spite of millions of Americans waking up and becoming energized, our reality is much worse than we imagined last year.

• The Obama Administration has increased non-defense discretionary spending by 84 percent in less than two years;
• Unemployment is continuing to rise, currently sitting at 9.7%;
• More people than ever are losing their homes through foreclosure;
• Congress and the Administration pushed through a massive new entitlement program against the will of the American people who rose up and let their voices be heard loud and clear;
• The federal government now has a mandate forcing every American to purchase health insurance or be penalized by the IRS;
• California has over $550 Billion in unfunded public pension liabilities;
• Congressional Budget Office finds the current US fiscal policy "unsustainable";
• Federal Reserve Chairman Bernake warns that Americans may have to accept higher taxes or face cuts in entitlement spending;
• 47% of all Americans pay no federal income tax and the top 10% of earners pay 73% of all federal income tax;
• Unemployment payments in some states has been extended to a record 99 weeks;
• Massive tax increases are on the horizon to pay for the record increased spending, including the possibility of adding the Value Added Tax, in addition to the federal income tax, not instead of it;
• Promised immediate benefits in the Healthcare Bill, such as children with preexisting conditions being covered, did not actually make it in the bill;
• The overwhelming majority of "benefits" in the Healthcare Bill do not start for 4 years, but the tax increases have already started.

Here we are approaching another April 15th with our country in worse financial shape than we were last year, or the year before. The 25 year federal debt projections, based on current levels of spending increases, are staggering - the federal debt at 180% of the GDP.

It is difficult to read the above list and relevant articles and not be overwhelmed by the worsening economic condition of our country. There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon, it is an election year with 1/3 of the US Senate and the entire US Congress at the mercy of the American voters. If you are not registered to vote, find out how to register in your state and do so now. Encourage your friends and family to register. Do not wait until November, as most if not all states have deadlines before the election to register.

Check online to see if there is a Tax Day Tea Party in your area and go. As I blogged last year, it was a wonderful experience for Shelly and I at our respective events. Thousands of patriotic Americans unified in the fight for smaller, more fiscally restrained, responsible government. If you are in the Houston area, there is a massive Tax Day Rally planned for Discovery Green in downtown.

If you need any more encouraging to attend a Tea Party or get involved, The Greater Houston Tea Party has a great Top 10 List of reasons to attend a Tea Party.

For the present, registering to vote, educating yourself on the issues facing our great nation and letting our voices be heard, either individually or with a group such as the Tea Party, are great first steps to taking our country back to a more fiscally responsible time.

Love Life

Our friend Matthew Warner over at Fallible Blogma has put together a touching one minute video to "help people better connect the political issue of abortion to the reality of abortion."  I think he did an excellent job.

God Spoke To Me On Easter Morning

Last week I posted on Facebook that I was trying to decide when to attend Mass. Our church offered a Sunrise Mass at 7 a.m. followed by their regular 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services.

I don’t know whether it’s common in all faiths for people to show up at church only twice a year on Christmas and Easter. I’ve joked that I would rather attend Mass every Sunday than face the overwhelming crowds of people on Easter or Christmas. Don’t misunderstand, I don’t wish they’d stay away!! I welcome them and pray that God speaks to their hearts and plants in them a desire to return to the church regularly in their own time. I just don’t do well in big crowds and the soothing calmness of Mass that speaks to my heart gets a little claustrophobic during the holidays.

To understand the following story, I need to tell you about my husband. Raised in the Methodist Church, he has always been supportive of my Catholic faith. Before we married, I told him that raising our children in the Catholic church was a necessity for me and he readily agreed. Early in our marriage, he attended Mass with me, though his faith was shaken after his mother’s death. It’s taken a long time, but recently he’s been attending Mass with us on occasion.

Despite being up rather late on Saturday, we set the alarm clock for 6 am so we could attend the 7 a.m. Sunrise Mass. When my husband woke me, we realized his clock was running behind and it was really 6:20 a.m.!

I mumbled something about being late, so we should go back to sleep, and we could just go to church at nine.

He said, “It’s too crowded. I won’t go at 9 a.m.”

I mumbled back, “Well, I’ll take the girls and go.”

He got out of bed.

Have you ever heard God speak to you? It's often described as a stillness or a whisper or a stirring deep in your heart.

Easter Sunday God spoke to me.

It sounded like an air horn in my head and it went “BAHHHHHHHHH!!!! WRONG ANSWER.”

Without hesitation, I jumped out of bed and got dressed. Somehow, in the span of twenty-five minutes, my husband not only woke our two daughters, but also talked them into putting on their Easter dresses, convinced them that Easter baskets and egg hunts could wait, and herded us all out the door.

I saw a good number of Sunday 9 a.m. regulars at the 7 a.m. Mass that morning. We were treated to a special surprise: the Teen Choir sang traditional Latin music in beautiful four-part harmony. When they began the Communion song, I startled to realize a string quartet – not present at the beginning of Mass – had joined them. Even Fr. Bob noticed, because he jokingly asked me after Mass, “Was it just me or did a string quartet miraculously appear out of nowhere?”

Later that morning, after the girls received their Easter Baskets and hunted for brightly colored eggs, I asked my husband what made him get out of bed even though we were already so late that I didn’t think we would make it to church.

“I just realized how important it was to me” is all he could say.

The Passion of Christ

When the movie The Passion, arrived in movie theaters six years ago, I did not go to see it. Everyone talked about how actually watching the scourging and crucifixion of Christ changed their life. And I was afraid to embrace it.

My husband purchased the DVD. He watches it alone once a year, during Holy Week. Last year I watched it with him for the first time.

While the suffering of Christ was very real and hard to turn away from, I was stunned to discover that I witnessed the Passion through Mary’s eyes and Mary’s suffering. I identified with her as a mother. Even though I have no sons, I felt her pain – a mother’s pain – watching her child suffer so terribly. I openly wept for her. The pain of knowing our Lord came to us to fulfill this prophecy, to fulfill this purpose, to open the gates of heaven for us and reconcile us with God through sacrifice for OUR sins to the Father, was not as intense as the pain I felt for Mary. As a young girl, she put her faith and trust in God, accepting His purpose for her life to bear a child, to raise this child, knowing who and what He truly was..

How proud she must have been when he began teaching God’s love and word. His first public miracle of turning water into wine was performed at her direct request. She kept him safe from Herod; leaving her native land for Egypt until it was safe to return. She feared for him when he disappeared, only to be found in the Temple.

But this sacrifice. Did she know this suffering would be His calling for us on Earth? To watch him be bound and scourged. To observe his pain, powerless to do anything against it. To want to fight for him, protect him, comfort him. Would any mother be able to only stand and watch His destruction? Was she chosen by God for this motherhood in part because of the incredible strength He gave her? I can only imagine the depth of the faith that carried her through the terrible days before the Resurrection.

"Whatever You Did Not Do for the Least of These"

On yesterday's anniversary of Terri Shiavo's death, I read about a new study that offers promise for patients who diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state.  The New England Journal of Medicine reports that when testing brain-injured patients with a functional MRI, they found 4 of the 23 tested responded to commands and exhibited brain activity in the same areas as healthy control subjects.  One of the four patients was even able to correctly answer questions with his brain activity, even though he could produce no communication with his body. 

This study opens the door for medical professionals and family members to reevaluate how persistent vegetative state patients are diagnosed, treated and valued as human beings.  In 2004, Pope John Paul II argued that health care providers are morally bound to provide food and water to all people living in a persistent vegetative state, directly advocating for Terri Shiavo, who was on no life support other than nourishment.  The next year, the courts, her doctors and her husband succeeded, against the pleas of her family, in withholding all food and water from her until she died almost 2 weeks later.

In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus tells the disciples what to expect at the final judgment, how the Son of Man comes as King and the people of all the nations will be gathered before him and divided into two groups. To one group he will say "I was hungry but you would not feed me, thirsty but you would not give me a drink...   When those condemned answer, "When Lord, did we ever see you hungry or thirsty... and not help you?"  He will reply, "I tell you, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me." Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

How can anyone argue that patients unable to communicate with their body are not among the most vulnerable in our society?  Do we not have a Christian duty to protect and care for them?  The case of Terri Shiavo showed us how far our society has turned from Jesus' message.

Through continued prayer, compassion and medical research we can reach out to those most vulnerable and provide for them as our faith and humanity commands us.