Created In His Presence for LIFE!

Last night, I had the priviledge of attending a Mass in memorial of Fr. Ben's recently deceased sister. For whatever reason, I felt and increased awareness and yearning to be a part of the holiness of the Mass. My spirit and emotions were more open than usual. I felt an incredibly strong desire thtoughout the Mass to not just listen to it, but to immerse myself fully in it. This feeling only increased as the Liturgy went on. When it came time for the receipt of the Eucharist, I was so overwhelmed with the desire to experience Christ that I could barely contain the emotion. After I consumed both the Body and the Blood, I returned to my kneeler and was immediately consumed by a feeling of warmth and love, so strong that I began to cry. My heart began to speak louder than my head, and I found myself silently saying over and over, "Thank you Jesus, I do not deserve Your presence inside me. Thank You for forgiving me, for Your grace. Thank You for loving me." When the table had been cleaned and the Eucharist returned to the Tabernacle, I still felt so tightly held in His arms that I did not want to proceed with the Closing Blessings and Hymn.

 

I have never had a response like that to the Mass. I've only felt that strongly in His presence at the FOP's we occasionally attend at another Parish in our Diocese. The priest there, after exposing Christ, will physically bring Him to each of us, and when He nears me, I can feel the presence of Christ so strongly that everything else fades out and I sit there just immersed in His love and grace for as long as I can.

 

After I got home, I was reflecting on the night's experience and wondering how and why it was that I was blessed to feel His presence so strongly at just a Mass. It occurred to me that maybe it was because it wasn't just a Mass. It was a Mass of Rememberance, a celebration and memorial of the life of a sister in Christ. A member of our Catholic family, a member of our human family. We had all come together not just for the purpose of celebrating the Mass, but also for the purpose of celebrating a LIFE. In that moment, all the believers gathered in our Church were demonstrating the ultimate celebration of the sanctity of life. We were wholly and purely revelling in the beauty, the mystery, the gift, that we are given at conception to be created in the image of God, and to be placed on this earth to celebrate His glory, to exemplify His love, to share the gift of forgiveness and eternal spiritual life with all those we come into contact with.

 

Because I'm me, my train of thoughts naturally proceeded to comparing the midset I experienced at Mass last night with the current mindset of many people in the world, and especially those leaders in our country. True Catholic believers and members of the ProLife movement celebrate life as more than just being pushed out of a woman's body, should SHE choose to allow our birth. We celebrate life as the perfect mystery that it is, all inclusive. We do not dismiss portions of the mystery for reasons of convenience or denial of responsibility. We are created in the image of a perfect God, and we are conceived for His purpose, for His glory and honor. Our lives are all significant, all special, all holy. We are created for a reason, in the beauty and majesty of the All-Loving One True God.

 

Many will say that to deny a woman the choice to use monthly birth control, morning after pills, or abortion, is to deny her the right to control her own body. They will use all kinds of lies, distorting the truth in ways beyond comprehension, to push this agenda. But at the end of the day, the truth is still the truth. A life is a life, and has the inherint right to live, from the moment of natural conception to the moment of natural death. Women are blessed with the greatest gift possible, to harbor and shelter new lives until they are ready to live outside the protection of the womb. The choices presented by the Abortion Industry (or ProChoice, call it what you will, they are one and the same) are completely and totally false! Please listen to me when I say this: We are being lied to, it is obvious to anyone who is willing to look past the surface, and these lies are costing MILLIONS of lives each year!  

The following is a fightening example and should serve as a terrible reminder of how protecting of the sanctity of ALL life is viewed as a personal decision rather than the moral obligation that it is:
A man in a position of great power and widespread influence, Barack Obama, was recently quoted as saying, "You can't deny women their basic rights and pretend it's about your 'religious freedom'. If you don't like birth control, don't use it. Religious freedom doesn't mean you can force others to live by your own beliefs."

It's absolutely accurate to say that "You can't deny women their basic rights and pretend it's about your 'religious freedom.'" However, to accuse the ProLife movement, specifically the Catholic Church, of doing this is absolutely inaccurate.
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It's been proven that the Pro'Choice' industry often does not put the health of women as it's priority and many of their 'Doctors' actually go to lengths that compromise the woman's health, whereas the ProLife movement exists specifically TO maintain the health of ALL people, from natural conception to death. The ProLife movement, and specifically the Catholic Church, does NOT deny women their basic rights. We ensure basic rights for both the women and the children - the basic right to LIFE.

The fact of the matter is that life begins at conception. Birth control does not prevent conception, it prevents implantation. A woman's right to choose begins when she chooses whether to perform the act that leads to conception, not after it is realized that a child has been conceived and the decision of whether their life is convenient or not, wanted or not, is being weighed.

The 'issues' of birth control are not religious issues. They are LIFE issues. Period. To intertwine the two, to create false illusions and shadows by creating a mindset that conception is a health issue by using mis-information and distorting the truth, is a sin against both God and our fellow human beings.