This is God. Today I will be handling all of your problems for you. I do not need your help. So, have a nice day.

I love you. Remember…. If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box.

I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours. Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.

Should you decide to send this to a friend; thank you. You may have touched their life in ways you will never know!

Now, you have a nice day.
God

The Obama administration has officially approved the first instance of taxpayer funded abortions under the new national government-run health care program. This is the kind of abortion funding the pro-life movement warned about when Congress considered the bill.
…
The abortion funding comes despite language in the bill that some pro-abortion Democrats and Obama himself claimed would prevent abortion funding and despite a controversial executive order Obama signed supposedly stopping abortion funding.

Read the rest yourself here.

1. 1/3 lb roma tomatoes (2 or 3 depending on size)
2. 1/3 lb tomatillos, peeled and rinsed (this could vary a good bit by size, 6 or so small to medium)
3. 3 jalapeño peppers
4. 2 Serrano peppers
5. 1/2 cup cilantro leaves (just remove most of the stems).
6. 1 small white onion, rough chopped.
7. 1/4 tsp cumin
8. pinch of Mexican oregano
9. 1 tsp salt
10. 1 cup water
11. 1 additional roma tomato (not broiled)

Preheat the broiler.

Wash then place Place the first 4 ingredients on foil on a cookie sheet.  I prefer to remove the stems of the chilles at this point.  Broil for 5 minutes. Remove the sheet, turn everything over, and broil the other side for 5 minutes.  This will turn the skins a nice brown to black, and provide a lot of tasty flavor. Let the ingredients cool a bit so they are easy to handle.  You can clean the cilantro and remove the stems while they are cooling.

[OPTIONAL] At this point, if you want to make a mild salsa, you slice open the jalapeños and remove the seed and membrane – a quick rinse of the inside helps.  I don’t like to remove the seeds myself, but my wife does (which means I usually end up with two batches).

Place all of the ingredients, into a blender, and blend to the consistency you like.  I let it go for a bit, so that there are not chunks of onion.

Enjoy!

American taxpayers have provided about $1 billion in funding for organizations that promote legal abortion in the US and abroad, according to official statistics furnished by the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO).

This is a mind-blowing, shameful, inexcusable disgrace.

h/t to The Sacred Page

h/t to man with the black hat

Benedictus fructus is Latin for “blessed fruit” (everything sounds more profound in Latin). This blog will be dedicated to exploring and the fruit of the vine and of the earth.  We will be enjoying wine, beer, coffee, chocolate and other products (but especially wine and beer) then sharing our opinions.

All of the items we will be reviewing will share a connection.  Each will be connected in some way to God, the Bible, saints, or the Catholic Church.  The connection may be direct, for example made by monks.  It may be less direct, such as having a saints name. It may even be more subtle such as containing the image of a cathedral on the label.

Check it out when you have a chance. Perhaps you might want to  subscribe to the feed.  I will be reviewing a product once or twice a week, so this will not be a hard core productivity endeavor.  It will be chance to share some of the good things in life that are in some way connected with the best thing in life.  The project is still in the early phases, so any ideas you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at that gate of the temple which is called Beautiful to ask alms of those who entered the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, with John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention upon them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Acts 3:1-10

When I read this recently, so many things struck me. Someone placed this man at the gate everyday. Who? He was set to beg from the people enter the Beautiful Gate – never entering himself. He saw Peter and John about to enter, but he didn’t really see them, because Peter tells him to “Look at us”, and when he did he looked expectantly. Imagine the hopelessness of at a place described as beautiful, where your only act is begging because you cannot even move yourself. In this state he doesn’t even really see the Apostles as persons until they look at him intently in all of his broken humanity and they call to him. It is then that he hopes for some response to his begging. Little does he know that the something they have is more valuable than gold or silver, and more valuable even the gift of walking. They give this man two greater gifts. They give him God – he enters the temple leaping for joy and giving thanks to God. They also give him the gift of witness – by his brokenness and God’s work in his life he becomes a witness to those who recognized him, but never really saw him, and they were amazed.

This passage leaves us with so many questions about our lives.
How do we get where we are broken? Who puts us there? Do we persevere? Do we maintain hope? Do we really see those around us even when we are hurting? Do we ask for what we really need?

Do we intently look at those in need or do we look away? Do we give them what we have? Do we give it in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth? Do we grab them by their right hand and raise them up?

Do we praise God? Do we enter into His house leaping for joy for all he has given us – our brokenness and our healing? Do we witness to Christ so that others might be amazed?

On the left, you have those who scream about the dignity of the person but they forget that there is a rule of law  and that millions of people have broken that law.  Every nation has the right to regulate immigration, and would be immigrants have the duty to respect those laws.  Disagree with this group they call you racist.

I have seen some Catholics on the right rage against their bishops – which is itself a form of injustice. Bishops have a duty to speak on moral issues.  Frankly, the law in Arizona is unjust.  Not because it is “Nazi” or “Communist” (even some bishops don’t get things right), but because it will make the illegal aliens themselves more vulnerable to exploitation.  If they are more afraid to speak to the police, how is justice served?  But the desire to enforce immigration laws – that is not unjust. Unfortunately, some bishops have failed to take a fully Catholic perspective which balances both the need for compassion and justice in its teaching on immigration.

We need to take a step back and look at those involved in the situation and how they need to behave. There are four players in this debate. Each group has failed to meet its obligation which contributes to the immigration problem.

• The US government. The government is required to create and enforce just immigration laws. The current laws are unjust, and just about all would argue that there isn’t much in the way of enforcement.  Right now there is a need for immigrants, and that need is being met by illegal immigrants because the law cannot accommodate the need. That must change.  The law also must be enforced.  For those old enough to remember, we went through this same argument in the 1980′s – but failure to enforce the laws never fixed the problem.  This must change.
• The Mexican government. Part of the problem with illegal immigration is the sorry state of the Mexican government which has fallen down on providing for its people or even of maintaining the rule of law – particularly with increased violence in the illegal drug trade.  Violence spilling into the US from that problem is part of the background of the Arizona law.  Additionally, Mexico benefits from money sent back from the US – so it is vested in this illegal arrangement.  Mexico needs to improve the laws on its side of the border and look out for its citizens.
• The immigrants and would be immigrants.  It is incumbent upon all would be immigrants to respect the culture and law of their adopted country. It is a requirement to obey the law, not an option.  While we must show compassion to those who have chosen to break the law to better their families, we must also recognize that it is in fact against the law.
• US Citizens.  Citizens of the US are among the richest in the world.  We have an obligation to help our neighbors – not merely exploit their cheap labor. This means treating them with dignity and holding our government accountable for the creation of just laws.  This doesn’t mean abandoning the rule of law, but it does mean treating fellow human beings with compassion.  We also must admit that we have a need for the labor illegal aliens provide and create a system where by we can justly fill that need – providing a just wage rather than slave labor wages. Knee jerk reactions that cloak themselves in legal only argument, but fail to recognize the human face on the issue are unworthy of Americans – particularly the Christian variety.  We must be better than that.

The issues here are not as simple as the sloganeers on the right or left would have us believe.  neither a hard heart nor a  soft head does the job.  The balance of a hard head  and soft heart are needed -  justice and compassion must be pursued simultaneously. As US citizens, we must do our part to get the other players to solve the problem in a way that respects the rule of law and the dignity of the person.

Further reading on a reasonable  Catholic response can be found here.

This month, pray the rosary for our priests!

h/t to Dom at Bettnet

Me: “What makes a priest a priest? what does it mean to be a priest in any religion?”

…blank stares and silence… <<I start to think about how to elicit the answer.  Aha, I’ll try this..>>

Me: “What makes a priest different from a minister?”

Student: “A priest is legit”

It is nice to see they are learning something.

They finally got the real answer when I asked them what Old Testament priests did and we connected it to the Mass and Christ’s sacrifice.  But the initial answer was enough to get a chuckle worth sharing.

They removed nuclei from the sperm and egg of affected couples, leaving behind the mitochondria.
The nuclei were put into one of the fertilised eggs left over after other women had IVF treatment.
This egg had its nuclei removed – but retained its healthy mitochondria.
Eighty embryos were created but destroyed after eight days.
Lead researcher Professor Doug Turnbull said: “What we’ve done is like changing the battery on a laptop.”

Is that all? Imagine me thinking it was a bigger deal than that – taking parts of two human beings to create a third “better” human being. Well Doctor Frankenstein Turnbull, I guess it must be alright then.

I think that it perhaps unfair to call him Dr. Frankenstein.  I mean if Dr. Frankenstein were more than a literary figure then he would be rightly insulted.  After all, he only played God with dead bodies.

The kings of the earth rise up,
and the princes conspire together
against the LORD and against his anointed:
“Let us break their fetters
and cast their bonds from us!” (Lectionary)

But guess what just happened.

My biggest client got laid off today. There is nothing like a roller coaster, eh?

Praise God in good times and bad!

Your prayers are definitely appreciated, both for me and my client who was let go.

I was a minor seminarian at the time Cardinal Mahoney was installed, and was there at his installation mass in 1985.  It has been a long 25 years.

I am happy to hear that the Archbishop Gomez is entrusting his work in Los Angeles to Our Lady of Guadalupe. I pray that Our Lady bless him, and this new chapter in Southern California.  May God’s people be built up in faithfulness. I pray too for Cardinal Mahoney, that his retirement come swiftly and that it will be quiet and peaceful.

The Easter Triduum starts this evening with the Mass of the Lord’s supper where we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist, peaks during the Easter Vigil Saturday night, and ends with evening prayers on Easter Sunday. This is the holiest time in the Church Calendar.

I ask your prayers for a friends of ours who will be joining the Church and completing their initiations Saturday.

May the peace of the risen Christ be with all of you and your families.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.  For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (RSVCE)

In light of the current happenings, this one is well worth hearing again and again. Please remember to pray for the Pope, all of our Church leaders and all the faithful who suffer for Christ so that he “may be manifested in our mortal flesh.“

“If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us! But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up.” (NAB)

Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael (called in the Babalonian court Shadrach, Abednego, and Meshach) served Nebuchadnezzar well for many years, but when he ordered that all must worship a golden statue they refused. In the end, the king threatened to (and later did) throw them into a furnace.  The verse above is the statement of their final refusal.
Three things stand out for us:

• They have absolute faith in God that He can save them if He so wills.
• Though they may wish to be saved, they understand that God may not will it.
• It does not matter if they are saved or not, they will not abandon their faith.

There are some in this world who are literally faced with this very challenge – to change their faith to save their lives.  We must pray for our brothers and sisters that they have courage when faced with this challenge. But this passage has a message for those of us who do not face the choice of faith or death, at least physical death.

Less dramatically, but nonetheless real, the faithful in post-modern Western culture are asked to set aside faith and to leave it at home when we enter the public world of business or politics. While there is no threat to life, there are consequences for ignoring these admonitions. Each of us is asked to remain silent or to hold our tongues in an amoral world – or be tossed into a less hot furnace with only social or financial injury.

What these three knew and can teach us is that compromise kills.  I don’t mean compromise in the sense of being cooperative.  I mean compromise in the sense of abandoning ones principles or faith.  When we compromise our faith, it kills our souls and it kills our relationship with Jesus Christ.  What these three teach us is that it is better to die physically or socially or financially than to die spiritually.

When faced with the idols of everyday life, put your faith in God and remain faithful.  God can save us, but we must trust His will at all times and  remain steadfast and faithful without counting the cost.

Standing on My Head: The Myth of Pedophile Priests

• Priestly celibacy is not the issue – married men are more likely to abuse children than unmarried
• Most child abuse takes place within the home.
• All religious groups have pedophile scandals, and the Catholics (while the largest religious group) are at the bottom of the list statistically.
• Child abuse is prevalent in all areas of society: schools, youth organizations, sports, etc.
• Statistically, of all the professions, Christian clergy are least likely to offend. Doctors, Farmers and Teachers are the professions most likely to abuse children–not clergy.
• Among clergy offenders Catholic priests are least likely to offend.
• Catholic cases of pedophilia make more headlines because of anti Catholic prejudice and because the Catholic Church is bigger and more lucractive to sue.
• Pedophilia and Euphebophilia are different problems. The former is sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children. The latter is attraction to teenagers. Most cases branded ‘pedophila’ are actually ‘euphebophila.’
• Most of the cases of euphebophilia are homosexual in nature, however the politically correct do not want this problem to be associated with homosexuality.
• The number of Catholic priests guilty of pedophilia is very small.
• What we now call ‘cover up’ was often done in a different cultural context, when the problem was not fully understood and when all establishment organizations hushed scandals. They did so for what seemed good reasons at the time: protection of the victims and their families, opportunity for rehabilitation of the offender, the avoidance of scandal to others. It is unfair to judge events thirty years ago by today’s standards.
• When lawsuits are looming people smell money. We must be wary of false accusations.
• The accused must be entitled to a fair hearing. The church should insist on hard proof of the abuse, and for the sake of justice, ensure that the innocent are not prosecuted.
• When guilt is established the offender must be punished, not sheltered.
• Distinctions must be made between types of abuse. Some offenses are worse than others. Verbal abuse or corporal punishment during a time when that was acceptable, while lamentable, is not the same as sexual abuse or extreme physical abuse.
• Sexual abuse of an adult, or a sexually experienced older teenager is wrong, and damaging, and should be punished, but it is not the same as the sexual abuse of a younger, innocent child.
• Number of offenses must be considered. One lapse is not of the same seriousness as repeated, persistent and premeditated offenses.

Hallelujah!
Praise the LORD, my soul;
I shall praise the LORD all my life,
sing praise to my God while I live.

Put no trust in princes,
in mere mortals powerless to save.
When they breathe their last, they return to the earth;
that day all their planning comes to nothing. (NAB)

On a day like today, after our “princes” leave us questioning and wondering, we need a verse like this to remind us to always praise God, no matter what.

Our ultimate hope must not be in politician who promises to solve all our problems or those who look like they betrayed the cause of life.  As we have seen, these disappoint.

Trust in God, your salvation rests in Him.  Praise Him at all times.

I am Patrick, a sinner, most uncultivated and least of all the faithful and despised in the eyes of many.

Lord, we pray on this day we remember St. Patrick, help us in our gratitude to you for all the gifts you have given us – especially the gift of faith. Help us to imitate the great humility and perseverance of your servant Patrick. Grant that we may one day be with you and all of your saints in heaven. Amen.