Tribulation Times
READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/october.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101
Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr
October 9, 2009
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Psa 128:1-4) Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of thy house. Thy children as olive plants, round about thy table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.
IN THE NEWS: Pill inventor gave women protection but lost his religion
WEBLINK: One More Soul (OMS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the truth about the blessings of children and the harms of contraception.
ST. LOUIS REVIEW: Bishop says mentality of sterility is harmful
The call to know, love and serve God is a call to fruitfulness, "the essence and expression of every vocation," Bishop James V. Johnston said at a workshop Jan. 26 of the annual assembly of the Missouri Catholic Conference.
The bishop of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau said "all love tends toward an incarnation that requires the daily cultivation of the soul of our souls in holiness. It is a call that we must respond to anew each day to God's question, 'Where are you?'"
Image by fanfan2145 via Flickr
Family life today is in crisis because it is formed in a mentality of sterility, he said. "And we might even say the sacrament of this attitude is contraception within marriage."
Family life, and by extension the culture and the Church, "will only be renewed when the 'domestic church' rediscovers its call to fruitfulness at every level," he noted.
After his talk, Bishop Johnston answered questions from several people. He said marriage is a hard life because things happen that are unexpected. A vision of marriage helps overcome these challenges, he said.
"This is at the heart of the meaning of life. This is the key to saving marriage. It is how the Church can save the world — we start with the family."
True love, the bishop said, is freely given, total and without conditions, faithful to the end and fruitful. "Jesus reveals that and reveals it on the cross."
In many dioceses, he said, the number of sacramental marriages is decreasing even as the number of Catholics increase.
To embrace a Christian vocation, he said, means that one must first be a disciple. Marriage and family is "where one learns the discipleship of Christ and learns to say yes to God."
CARDINAL JUSTIN F. RIGALI: Since the advent of widespread contraception and abortion, a cultural hostility to children has grown. They are often depicted as costly encumbrances who interfere with a carefree adult life. No fewer than six recent books are dedicated to defending the childless-by-choice lifestyle – for selfish reasons, or to counter "overpopulation," a thoroughly discredited myth. In fact, if married couples were to have more children, Medicare and Social Security would not be hurtling toward bankruptcy. Since 1955, because of fewer children and longer life spans, the number of workers has declined relative to the number of beneficiaries, from 8.6 to only 3.1 workers paying benefits to support each beneficiary. Without substantially more young people to enter the work force as young adults, in 25 years, there will be only 2.1 workers supporting each beneficiary. Eliminating our young does not so
Children who suffer from cerebral palsy in wait for lunch at Disabled Children Center. Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Children, and those who are dependent on us due to disability or age, offer us the opportunity to grow in patience, kindness, and love. They teach us that life is a shared gift, not an encumbrance. At the end of life, we will be judged on love alone. Meanwhile, in the midst of so many challenges to life, we look to "Christ Jesus our hope" (1 Timothy 1:1), who offers to all the world a share in his victory over death.
CATHOLIC ONLINE: Contraception: At Odds with Truth
Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 23- "On mad pride and unclean, blasphemous thought"
17. Do not be self-confident until you hear the final sentence passed upon yourself, bearing in mind the guest who got as far as joining the marriage feast, and then was bound hand and foot and cast out into the outer darkness (Matt 22:13).Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com
