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O Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, True God, source of life and immortality, Light of Light, who has come into the world to enlighten it; You were pleased to be conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary for the salvation of our souls by the power of Your All Holy Spirit; O Master, Who has come that we might have life more abundantly, we ask You to enlighten the minds and hearts of those blinded to the truth that life begins at conception, and that the unborn are already in the womb adorned with Your image and likeness; enable us to guard, cherish and protect the lives of all those who are unable to care for themselves; for You Yourself are the Bestower of Life, bringing each person from non-being into being; sealing each person with divine and infinite love. Be merciful, O Lord, to those who, through ignorance or willfulness, affront Your divine goodness and providence through the evil act of abortion. May they, and all of us, come to the light of Your Truth and glorify You, the Giver of Life, together with Your Father, and Your All Holy and Life-giving Spirit. AMEN!

from Sanctity of Life

This is a special thread for me as my husband and I adopted our youngest child from a foreign country. They told us she was "born" when the mother attempted to abort her, probably with a hanger or something similar at about 7 1/2 months.

When we first heard of her, she was 3 1/2 and no one would adopt her because she did not speak. She weighed only 19 pounds and wore the clothes of an 18 month old. Her birth circumstances were awesome, she was very preemie and had numerous complications, among them pnuemonia. She was fed with a tube and had to have a complete blood transfusion. All this in the equivalent of a third world society. Her birthmother went AWOL at the hospital after coming in bleeding heavily and delivering this girl. Our pediatrician says it is a miracle that this child survived what she did and especially where she did.

I want to tell you that she is now 7 and a pure delight. She speaks wonderfully, has a great vocabulary, and is doing some early reading. She is doing first grade math. Nothing will stop this child from getting to where she wants to go. She is a dedicated Christian and a favorite of her churchschool teachers. Yesterday I watched her chase one of our goats around the yard, who weighs about 200 pounds, and finally get it back into the pen.

I can never thank God enough for this lovely, delightful, funny, and loving daughter.

Way of the Cross

(Also called Stations of the Cross, Via Crucis, and Via Dolorosa). These names are used to signify either a series of pictures or tableaux representing certain scenes in the Passion of Christ, each corresponding to a particular incident, or the special form of devotion connected with such representations.

Taken in the former sense, the Stations may be of stone, wood, or metal, sculptured or carved, or they may be merely paintings or engravings. Some Stations are valuable works of art, as those, for instance, in Antwerp cathedral, which have been much copied elsewhere. They are usually ranged at intervals around the walls of a church, though sometimes they are to be found in the open air, especially on roads leading to a church or shrine. In monasteries they are often placed in the cloisters. The erection and use of the Stations did not become at all general before the end of the seventeenth century, but they are now to be found in almost every church. Formerly their number varied considerably in different places but fourteen are now prescribed by authority. They are as follows:

Christ condemned to death;
the cross is laid upon him;
His first fall;
He meets His Blessed Mother;
Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross;
Christ's face is wiped by Veronica;
His second fall;
He meets the women of Jerusalem;
His third fall;
He is stripped of His garments;
His crucifixion;
His death on the cross;
His body is taken down from the cross; and
laid in the tomb.

The object of the Stations is to help the faithful to make in spirit, as it were, a pilgrimage to the chief scenes of Christ's sufferings and death, and this has become one of the most popular of Catholic devotions. It is carried out by passing from Station to Station, with certain prayers at each and devout meditation on the various incidents in turn. It is very usual, when the devotion is performed publicly, to sing a stanza of the "Stabat Mater" while passing from one Station to the next.

Were you there when He stood before the judge?

I
JESUS IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH

Priest: We adore you O Christ and we praise you.

All: (Genuflecting) Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Priest: Though harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth: Like a lamb led to the slaughter, or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent... Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away.(Is 53:7, 8)

All: Lord, You stand before Pilate. Divine power before human. Meekness before arrogance, love before fear. Pilate's power seems impressive, bold. But the power of the world is weak, unstable. Pilate vacillates between expediency and truth: "What about your 'king'?" he pleads. "We have no king but Caesar!" the crowd responds. Politics over religion!

Pilate makes the political choice, saying in effect, "I'm opposed to this, but..." He condemns innocent blood. Lord, how often, by our indifference, our apathy, are we counted among today's Pilates, still at it, condemning innocent blood: the preborn, the weak, the starving.

Help us stand as disciples before the world with you... with them.

Were you there when he knelt to take his cross?

II
JESUS TAKES HIS CROSS

Priest: We adore you O Christ and we praise you.

All: (Genuflecting) Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Priest: If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and follow in my steps (Mk 8:34).

All: Your cross is harshly thrown at your feet. Do you, as does the priest at Mass, bend to kiss your altar of sacrifice before taking it on your blood-stained shoulders? As the Father fashioned this cross for you, so have you fashioned one for each of us, your disciples. You have carved each cross with your own hands, and weighed it, that it be not one ounce too heavy for our strength. You have anointed it with consolations, and kissed it, before placing it gently on our shoulders.

Keep before us the words of St Teresa of Avila: "When you embrace the cross you do not feel it. "Teach us, your disciples, to embrace our crosses: our sicknesses, disappointments, failures, family trials, the monotony of life...even to kiss these crosses for love of you.

* In 1995 the U.S. House voted (288-139) to ban partial-birth abortion: This is a Nazi-like procedure whereby a baby is delivered feet first all the way up to his neck. With the head almost protruding from the vaginal opening, an abortionist punctures the back of the baby’s skull with pliers and removes the baby’s brains. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a liberal Democrat from New York (now retired) who backs contraception and abortion, has called the partial-birth abortion “procedure” close to “infanticide.” He does not support it. Nonetheless, in that House vote on Nov. 1, 1995, at least 26 “Catholic” representatives voted in favor of partial-birth abortion. They were:

Rep. Ed Pastor (D
Rep. John Baldacci (D
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D
Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D
Rep. Tom Miller (D
Rep. Edward Markey (D
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D
Rep. Marty Meehan (D
Rep. Pat Schroeder (D
Rep. Bill Luther (D
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D
Rep. Bruce Vento (D
Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D
Rep. William Clay (D
Rep. Lane Evans (D
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D
Rep. Robert Menendez (D
Rep. Peter Viclosly (D
Rep. Frank Pallone (D
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R
Rep. Rick Defazio (D
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D
Rep. William Coyne (D
Rep. Charles Rangel (D
Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D
Rep. Jose Serrano (D

Then, on Dec. 7, 1995, the U.S. Senate voted (54-44) to ban partial-birth abortions. At least eight “Catholic” senators voted against the ban and, thus, in favor of partial-birth abortions. They were:

Sen. Thomas Daschle (D-SD), now Senate Majority Leader
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)
Sen. Thomas Harkin (D-Iowa)
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
Sen. Barbara Milkulski (D-Md.)
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)

The following Catholic senators also have voted in favor of partial-birth abortion:

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.)
Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.)—retired

Based on their votes—and their long-standing public support for abortion and “family planning”—the Catholic congressmen above are objectively guilty of a “moral evil” and have been, objectively, excommunicated from the Catholic Church.