Petunias are my latest love.  Believe it or not, in my 85 years of gardening I have never had a petunia. They never interested me because they were so omni-present – in every hanging basket on every light pole, on the greens, in the parks.  They thrive and bloom and look lovely but they are everywhere!   However, when I was given some wooden hand-painted flower boxes I decided – well,  petunias might look nice in them.   I looked for petunia seeds in four stores that sell flower seeds. No petunias.  Of course the harder they were to find the more I wanted them.  In desperation I bought a flowering plant for $2.50 and put it in one box.  My daughter-in-law invited me to take some of the young petunia plants that spring up in her yard each spring so I put several of them in the other box.  Only a few weeks later, I had petunias in abundance  blooming in both boxes, mostly purple in one box, mostly red in the other. Read the rest of this entry »

The minute I heard the scuttlebut that McCain’s veep might be Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska,  I hurried to google to see whether she was pro-life.   Behold, she is not only prolife but is the mother of five and she was recently in the news because she refused to consider abortion when she learned her last baby would have Down’s syndrome.   THIS IS SO RIGHT IT CAN’T BE WRONG!   I was jumping up and down (figuratively speaking, of course),  going “Praise God!   Glory Hallelujah!”

SARAH PALIN FACT SHEET


Born Sarah Heath on February 11, 1964,  in Sandpoint Idaho, moved to Alaska as an infant. Her father was an elementary school teacher.

She attended Wasilla High School where she played on the state champion basketball team.  She fishes, hunts, and snowmobiles,  and is a lifetime member of the NRA. Read the rest of this entry »

I first started blogging because I wanted to give tribute to a saintly doctor, Herbert Ratner, M.D. I now give tribute to a saintly priest, Reverend William C. Smith, who died one year ago today.

Father William C. Smith

Born January 11, 1921

Ordained: December 22, l945

Died: August 28, 2007

Father Bill came twice a week to our local abortion mill but also, in between his various surgeries (including a nephrectomy for cancer), he also went regularly to the mills in Bridgeport and Stamford. There he would stand (STAND!) for hours, in all weather, praying for an end to abortion. So dedicated was he that after his death homilist Fr. Towsley commented that they were unable to find a decent pair of shoes for him to wear in his casket!

Father Smith was Catholic and pro-life to the core. In memoriam, on the first anniversary of his death, I would like to honor him by posting online what he wrote about (1) his Catholic faith and (2) about his pro-life convictions.

TENETS AND TRUTHS OF CATHOLICISM AS OLD AS CHRISTIANITY
Reverend William C. Smith
January 12, 1991

When I was first asked to write an article for the religion page, I wondered what I would write about. I decided I’d write about six subjects that non-Catholics may misunderstand. They are (a) the Bible, (b) Biblical interpretation, (c) Sacred tradition, (d) Papal infallibility, (e) Purgatory, and (f) Mary.

Not all readers will agree with what the church holds but I thought it would be of interest if I briefly stated our position.

We hold that the Catholic Church preserved the 73 books of the Bible and in 397 A.D. the Council of Carthage arranged them into one book – the Bible. Until the invention of the printing press (1445), handwritten copies were made in monasteries by candlelight and on parchment. Often there was only one Bible in a town and it was chained so all could read it, as the telephone company chains phone books so all can read them.

The first Bible printed by Gutenberg in 1445 was the Catholic Bible. By 382 St. Jerome had translated the entire Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin (the “Latin Vulgate”). Translations into various languages followed. About 1226 Cardinal Langton of Canterbury developed the chapter divisions. Portions of the Bible have always been read at Mass and private reading and study have always been encouraged.

In America we encourage folks to read the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, etc., but we do not allow for private interpretation of these documents. Similarly, Catholics are encouraged to read the Bible, but we do not believe in private interpretation. We believe Christ left the task of interpretation to his Church when he commissioned Peter and the apostles to “go teach all nations what I have commanded you” and he promised to send the Holy Spirit to “bring to your minds what I have taught you.”

In a similar way the Supreme Court interprets our documents; private interpretation would lead to anarchy.

In Acts 1:3 we read that Christ appeared to his apostles for 40 days after His resurrection and “spoke of the kingdom of God.” Yet the Bible does not record what he said! John 20:30 reads: “Many other signs also Jesus worked which are not written in this book.” 2 Timothy 1:13 reads: “Hold to the form of sound teaching which you have heard from me.”

Christ himself never wrote, nor did some of his apostles. They were sent out to “teach-preach.” The New Testament was written between 51-100 A.D. The church (33 A.D.) was in full operation for about 18 years before one word of the New Testament was written! Sacred Tradition contains the oral teachings of Christ and is a second source of divine Revelation, according to Catholic teaching.

Regarding papal infallibility: It does not mean that the Holy Father is inspired (as were the Gospel writers) nor that he receives a revelation (divine revelation ceased with the death of John, the Evangelist), nor that he is impeccable (cannot sin). It simply means he is protected from theological error when declaring to the whole Catholic world a teaching in faith or morals already contained in divine revelation (Bible and Sacred Tradition). This protection, we believe, is based on Christ’s command to Peter: “feed my lambs, feed my sheep,” plus Christ’s promise to be with the church till the end of time; plus his words: “he who hears you hears Me,” plus his promise to send the Holy Spirit to guide the church “into the way of truth” and to be the “pillar of truth.”

Catholics, of course, believe in Heaven and Hell. We also believe, however, in a place of cleansing called “Purgatory.” The Bible says (Revelation 21:) “Nothing unclean can enter Heaven.” Matthew 12:32 speaks of sins which cannot be forgiven “neither in this world, nor in the world to come.” This implies some sins can be forgiven after death. We believe venial sins (smaller sins) which are not repented in this world can be expiated (cleansed) in Purgatory. Macabees 12:46 reads: “It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins.”

Catholics neither adore nor worship Mary. To do so would be a brazen act of idolatry! We honor her as the mother of Christ. Christ honored her and thus fulfilled His own commandment – “Honor thy father and mother.” He performed his first miracle at her request at Cana. After Joseph’s death he supported her until He was 30 years of age in the home at Nazareth, when He left to begin His three years of public ministry.

If we love and adore Christ, we pay Him respect by honoring His mother. I can never understand people who feel they honor Christ by snubbing his mother, anymore than I honor you (the reader) by snubbing your mother. From the cross he said, “Behold thy mother.” I believe even a church needs a mother! The second Vatican Council has given Mary a new title: “mother of the church.” If Christ is the head of the body, the church, and she is his mother, then she is the mother of the church!–the mother of the head is mother of the members.!

CONCEPTION, ABORTION, AND THE SOUL

In Genesis 1:27 we hear God saying, “let us make man in our own image and likeness.” This image is the soul, not the body, since God is a divine spirit and the soul a human spirit. At conception, God creates a human soul and joins it to the material provided by mother and father. This great act of creation between God and parents is destroyed by abortion. The fetus, at conception, is a person because personhood is in the soul, not the body. Angels, e.g., are angelic persons, yet have no bodies. The body of the conceived fetus grows, not the soul, unless destroyed by abortion.

Conception is like marriage; body and soul are joined by God, and what God has joined, let no man put asunder, until death parts them. Weddings, like conception, are meant to be joyful. Abortions, like divorce, are always sad.

Every year in the U.S.A. we have many divorces. Every year we have millions of abortions. Doctors in abortion clinics put asunder what God has joined. The tiny, incipient, physical life of babies is snuffed out and the soul is sent prematurely into eternity, for the soul (spiritual and immaterial) cannot be killed. Abortionists, for money, push God aside, push his law aside, and say, in so many words, by their foul, murderous action: “I am God – I decide who lives and who dies – for I am Lord of life and death.”

Are we “one nation under God” or a divided nation under the pro-choice, pro-abortion crowd?

~~~

Whenever we parted from Father Smith, either at the abortuary site or at his nursing home, Father would bless us:  Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus, + Pater, + et Filius, + et Spiritus Sanctus.
R. Amen….

At our last visit, three days before he died, instead of his usual blessing Father gave us general absolution. I don’t know if that is according to the rubrics or not, but surely general absolution from a holy dying priest must be a good thing!

Well done, good and faithful servant. We who are left behind thank you. Pray for us.

~~~

And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18

When I put my blouse on this morning my thoughts went back to Atlanta, Georgia, July, 1988. I was in a prison camp with sundry other prolifers, including the renowned Randy Terry and a rather feeble priest whose name I don’t recall. We were allowed to wear our own clothes in the camp but after a few days some of us badly needed a change. A call went out to Christians on the “outside” who brought clothing for us and that’s where my blouse came from. It has served me well.

We called ourselves rescuers although the media and the prison staff called us protesters. We were protesting abortion, yes, but the primary aim was to save the lives of babies scheduled to be killed on the particular morning of the rescue. We were pledged to be passive, to accomplish our goal by putting our bodies between the pregnant Moms and the abortionist. We would sit at the door of the “clinic” until the police carried us off. In the meantime our counselors would talk to the mothers and offer them help to deal with the pregnancies they wanted to end. Over the years when Rescue thrived, thousands of babies’ lives were saved in this way.

There was a time, in the early days of Rescue, when what we did, just sitting down and refusing to move, received a just punishment for a charge such as simple trespass. We did not usually have to deal with more than a few days in jail or a modest fine. FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) and RICO (Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization Act), which were laws passed specifically to protect abortion, seriously upped the cost of resisting abortion. It was the fear of these laws, of years in jail, of thousands of dollars in fines, that stifled the Rescue movement and made killing unborn babies a deed legally protected by the government itself.

According to John Cavanaugh O’Keefe the need to resort to such Draconian laws as FACE and RICO was a clear measure of Rescue’s success. He writes:

FACE posed a question. “You say that zygotic dots and blastular mulberries and embryonic humanettes are your brothers and sisters. I don’t consider dots and mulberries to be members of my family. And you know what? I don’t think you believe that either. But if you want to keep saying that stuff, let’s test your words. You would go to jail for years to protect your little sister. Will you do the same for a slimy fetus?”

Is that “slimy fetus” a being worthy of protection? There is a DVD available called Baby Steps which shows 4-D ultrasound images of babies as they roll, yawn, blink, spin, smile and stretch throughout 16 stages of development from 8 to 34 weeks of pregnancy. It is a real eye-opener. This is obviously neither slime nor blob, but a creature of marvelous complexity. From a scientific standpoint, it is incontrovertible that a human being is formed when the sperm fertilizes the ovum. Everything is there in that tiny package — it has only to grow and develop. That zygotic dot has a full complement of 46 chromosomes and a lifetime supply of human DNA. YOU were once a little package such as that. (Click here for the diary of an unborn child.)

From a Christian point of view there is no question whether the unborn child is a person worthy of protection. Consider that when the the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to bear the Son of God she “went in haste” to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was also pregnant. It was just days after Christ’s conception when they met, yet Elizabeth exclaimed “blessed is the fruit of thy womb” and the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy at the presence of Jesus. The Greek word for the baby in Elizabeth’s womb is brephos, exactly the same word that is used to describe Christ in Luke 2:12: “You will find a babe {brephos} wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” No Christian can read the description in Luke and believe that killing an unborn child is a matter of no import.

There have been totally non-violent prolifers who have spent several years in jail due to the vagaries of the venues where they were arrested. Many others have months of incarceration to their credit. This is called “walking the walk.” Many of us however, have responded to the above question by saying we might go to jail for a few weeks to save a fetus, but not for years.

Richard John Neuhaus (FIRST THINGS, June 1999, pg. 85) writes:

…for more than twenty-five years there have been thousands of people who have stood vigil at America’s abortuaries, who have prayed, counseled, and sometimes gone to jail, in order to prevent the rest of us from averting our eyes from the horror. It is not the only way of being prolife or even of being a prolife activitist, but they are heroes and heroines, and we are all in their debt.

As Operation Rescue languished, it seems to me that the willingness of Christians (and even Catholic prelates) to confront abortion in the streets has increased. It is true, as Francis Schaeffer wrote, that each abortion mill exists with the permission of the Christians in that community. Praying and peaceful picketing are still relatively risk-free and more and more rosaries are being prayed where and when abortions are being done. Father Frank Pavone’s Priests for Life has been doing a masterful job. Among the others who have visibly witnessed to the evil of abortion in the streets the names of Msgr. Phillip Reilly, Bishop Austin Vaughn, Bishop George Lynch, Cardinal Francis George, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Bishop James McHugh, Bishop Paul Loverde, Bishop William Lori, and Father Michael Scanlon come to mind. There are many others.

Proverbs 24:11 still challenges us. “Rescue those who are being taken away to death…If you say, ‘Behold, we did not know this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?”

We cannot say “We did not know this.” The right to kill the unborn is a hot topic in the current elections. I pray (and know) that there will always be Christians who are willing to put their bodies and lives on the line for their unborn brothers and sisters. Jesus was a Rescuer (some translate it Savior) who laid down his life that others might live. There is no more noble calling.

DOUBLESPEAK

I recently came across my Dad’s diary. I knew that one existed, written in pencil in his own hand, and that I had typed it years ago, but I had not read it in many years. Born in Preston, England, he emigrated to the United States and enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 26. I hereby introduce my father, in his own words.

FRANCIS GARDNER HODSON
1891 – 1978

15th Field Artillery,  Second Division

U. S. Army 1917-1918

Among my early recollections was going to Catholic school with sister Janie holding my hand. We had nearer schools but they were not of our belief so we could not use them. Dad had been an altar boy when he was young and we were all very proud of our altar upstairs in the front room till someone put a candle too near the gauze around the altar and it all caught fire.

I would be about seven years old when Dad went to a spiritualist meeting with a friend to expose the medium who was making believe she could see spirits. This he told me later in life. When the meeting was over they went to the medium and told her she ought to be ashamed to stand there and tell such nonsense. The medium assured Dad she could see spirits and told him if he would go home and find a quiet place and pray hard to see something, he too might learn. Dad told me he went home and did as directed and to his great surprise did see the spirit of a young lady. He told himself perhaps I am deluding myself by my intense wish to see, and thought if I can go to the window and look outside to see if things appear normal, and turning around she is still there I will believe and teach. He turned around and the spirit was still there and he believed to the extent he later opened his own church for many years where many mediums would come and give testimony. Read the rest of this entry »

Because I am sure that there are new nursing mothers in this day and age who are just as clueless as I was back in the l940’s, I offer the following for whatever insights it may present.

Before La Leche League came into being, I was a nursing mother. And if that doesn’t sufficiently date me, consider the fact that the babies I was nursing at that time now have nursed their own babies. La Leche League, in the meantime, has grown from two groups to over thousands of groups internationally, and the swing back to breastfeeding is heartening to behold.

Studies have shown that the percentage of nursing mothers among college graduates is higher than among women with less education. It is the well-informed woman who is most aware of the physical and psychological advantages of breastfeeding. It is the smart woman who is in the vanguard of the movement back to breastfeeding.

But the nursing mother is not content to be smart; she wants to look smart! In the “olden days” when I decided to nurse my first baby I thought I was, as the same time, consigning myself to a monotonous succession of button-front or zipper-front dresses. I owned only one such dress, plus a couple of blouses that buttoned, so you can see how much I was prepared to suffer style-wise for the sake of my child. When I ordered the one variety of nursing bra that was offered in the Sears catalog, my nursing wardrobe was complete. Read the rest of this entry »

The radical mastectomy left her worn out, frightened, but most of all it left her deformed. She was still a young woman, nice figure, lovely face. And married. It was the married part that worried her. She knew her husband loved her – but now? Now what? It was time to go home to him and she feared what might be in store. That night she changed in the bathroom and slipped into bed. It felt so good to be home, to be back in his arms. They were gentle and loving. Then, oh then, he unbuttoned her pajama top and lightly traced his finger over the long red scar. He kissed it ever so softly. As the tears ran down her face she relaxed in his love. Accepted! Loved! Still!

Oh, thank you, God!

We all have moments when we feel unlovable. We are too stupid, too ugly, too untalented, too ordinary or not ordinary enough. We long to be accepted – to have the “real me” accepted. But often we are afraid to be known, afraid the “real me” will not past muster. And that makes us afraid to be spontaneous and be true to ourselves. Read the rest of this entry »

The dream lingered in my mind after I awoke, which was unusual in itself. In the dream I had walked along the street gathering firewood until my arms were so full I could carry no more. I lay my bundle down and went on to gather more. When I turned and looked back, the wood had burst into flames and I wondered what had happened.

As I mused on the dream, a verse of scripture came to mind. “And when the day of Pentecost had come they were all in one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:1-4

Suddenly the light broke! My wood had burst into flame because it was gathered in a cord! The Lord is a punster, I thought, and for half a day I chuckled at His whimsy.

It was only a few days later that I was reading an account of some early Pentecostals and was struck by the words:

They went into a small room to pray, because when the sticks are close together the fire can come down.

God speaks to us in so-called coincidences.

The words of a song ran through my mind:

Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together, Lord
With cords that cannot be broken.

There it was again! Bind us together with a cord – in accord.

How important is that accord in the Lord? Before his passion Jesus prayed to his Father that all Christians might be one.

That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they may also be one in us. John 17:21

Jesus still intercedes before the father for our unity with each other and with him. We are to be one with Christ. We are the mystical body of Christ. He is the head and we are all parts of his body, bonded together by the spirit of love, the Holy Spirit of God. We, with him, have a human mother, Mary, and a divine Father. We are to be a family, with all Christians as brothers and sisters, in a closer, more real union than that between blood brothers and sisters.

How distressing it must be to Jesus to see what has happened to the church he built upon the rock of Peter. Where is the unity? How can over 300 denominations, each with its own scriptural interpretations, each acting on its own authority, gladden his heart?

Jesus taught us to pray together with our brothers and sisters to our Father, saying, “Thy will be done.” When we gather together, whether in large groups or small, the sound of our great AMEN to the Father’s will rises like a harmonious chord. Then will the Holy Spirit of God be poured out on us as in the upper room at Pentecost.

Let us pray for unity. Let us strive for unity. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful. Kindle in us the fire of your love

Fill us anew. Let the fire fall!

~~~

The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to mind all that I have said to you. John 14:26

My granddaughter had just come home from the hospital after surgery for a ruptured cyst with considerable bleeding. “Is she pale and wan?” I asked my daughter-in-law.

“What’s wan,” Martha asked.

“Pale,” I said.

“Pale and pale?” said Martha.

Flummoxed, I gathered myself together, and headed for Webster. Apparently I was guilty of using a three-letter word that I couldn’t define!

According to Webster, wan has nothing to do with pale but everything to do with faint and feeble. However, Dictionary.com actually gives the first meaning as pallid, lacking color, and wiktionary gives a first meaning of pale or sickly looking, with a second meaning of dim or faint. All the sources give the etymology as being from the Old English wann, meaning dark.

It seems to me that if wan originally meant dark, it is unlikely that it originally meant pale, and that the more modern meanings proceed from a misperception, like mine above. Who doubts that Dictionary.com and wiktionary are modern constructs? .

You know how it is nowadays. Words mean whatever you want them to mean. Marriage, which used to mean a convenant between a man and a woman is morphing into a union of just about anything or anybody. And lately people are having their wages garnished, as with a spring of parsley, rather than garnisheed. Apparently etymology and history mean nothing. It all boils down to usage, usage, usage.

“Why so pale and wan, fond lover?” How often we parrot things we’ve heard without knowing what we are saying.

Thus was I, who fancy myself a word-person, brought down by a simple three-letter Anglo-Saxon word!

Prithee, I think I feel a bit wan!

SONG

Why so pale and wan, fond lover?
Prithee, why so pale?
Will, when looking well can’t move her,
Looking ill prevail?
Prithee, why so pale?

Why so dull and mute, young sinner?
Prithee, why so mute?
Will, when speaking well can’t win her,
Saying nothing do’t?
Prithee, why so mute?

Quit, quit, for shame; this will not move,
This cannot take her;
If of herself she will not love,
Nothing can make her:
The devil take her!

Sir John Suckling

It seems that I’m going to write about my new teeth. Some may think that I’m telling them more than they really want to know. But I wrote about it when I got my new hearing aid, and hearing aids and false teeth are part and parcel of the process of growing old for many oldsters.

My daughter Mary tells me that she used to think that all old people had dentures until she met a woman in her 80’s who still had her own teeth. She now thinks such a thing is achievable and is determined to take better care of the teeth God gave her. In my case, I recall no dentistry until I was 17 and got a job that offered free dental care! What a blessing! I promptly had them taken care of and when I was in college a fellow student asked me if I had false teeth! At the time I couldn’t imagine why she would ask such a thing. In retrospect I now realize that she probably did not really like her own teeth and therefore paid extra attention to the teeth of others. Mine were white, straight, and even, like false teeth. That was then — 65 years ago. Read the rest of this entry »