Many interesting stories in the world today...

As we prepare for the Lenten season to begin tomorrow (in which I have a Day of Recollection and therefore will not be posting tomorrow) I thought it'd be good to look at some of the current events affecting the Church and the Culture of Life. For each of these topics, I will simply point out the issue and give a link to the article from which I obtained this information. I would really enjoy comments or your take on any of these issues. I have blogged on each of them numerous times, but I am always interested in knowing how my readers feel. Please feel free to comment anonymously and rest assured that, unless you post something obscene or vulgar (which I will remove from the comments section), I respect and value your opinion, no matter what it may be.

I'll begin with the Supreme Court ruling this morning against abortion clinics who tried to use federal extortion and racketeering laws as a means to block pro-life groups from gathering at abortion clinics (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,186278,00.html).

Another abortion-related story is the call to pray for the abortionists who perform the abortions (http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=1&art_id=32034). Fr. Frank Pavone, a good friend of mine, is the Founding Director of Priests For Life and he is calling for a Day of Invitation for Abortion Providers in which they are invited to repent and seek the healing grace of God.

Cardinal-designate Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave a homily at the North American College (the seminary for for theology students from North America) discussing the difficulty of a priest openly professing himself as homosexual and yet trying to represent Christ (http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0601153.htm).

Lastly, as we begin the Lenten season tomorrow with Ash Wednesday, the central them is simplicity. We are asked to have simplicity in our activities (ie. no huge wild parties and usually no weddings during the season), simplicity in our eating both in the number of meals and in our consumption of meat and even simplicity in the celebration of Mass. Music, the use of incense, elaborate processions, etc. that often accompany Mass are set aside during Lent. Pope Benedict gave a short address after last Sunday's Angelus blessing in which he briefly spoke about how to live Lent (http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=85113). It is a good, short, address that I encourage you to read and that I hope helps to put you in the right spirit for Lent. Until next time...Happy Mardi Gras and a blessed beginning to the Lenten season. God bless.

posted by: crossman at 11:42 | link | comments |