The Culture of Life Vs The Culture of Death...

...and it doesn't get any polarizing and starkly different than this:

Here is a man who espouses all the so-called 'virtues' of what is the culture of death...that it is immoral to bring a down syndrome child into this world. This man believes that this child should be destroyed while still clinging to it's mother, in her womb. Heaven help us.

Only weeks beforehand, on the feast of Our Lady's birthday, this man, after a whole lifetime of giving, of loving, of sacrificing for those he loved and for those who came into his life, he makes the ultimate sacrifice in giving his life for his beloved, youngest child...a young man with down syndrome.

Tell me, tell me, which of these two examples, move the heart to tears as only love can?

I believe Pope John Paul II told us why in Evangelium Vitae:

"The Church knows that this Gospel of life, which she has received from her Lord, has a profound and persuasive echo in the heart of every person-believer and non-believer alike-because it marvellously fulfils all the heart's expectations while infinitely surpassing them. Even in the midst of difficulties and uncertainties, every person sincerely open to truth and goodness can, by the light of reason and the hidden action of grace, come to recognize in the natural law written in the heart (cf. Rom 2:14-15) the sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its end, and can affirm the right of every human being to have this primary good respected to the highest degree. Upon the recognition of this right, every human community and the political community itself are founded."

And tell me, which convicts the mind and will, that speaks to our common sense?

Dale Ahlquist talks of one such Apostle of Common Sense (G. K. Chesterton) when quoting from Chesterton's, "Eugenics and Other Evils", and they crystallize what we all know deep down:

"As with so many other things, Chesterton saw exactly what we see. Only he saw it long before it happened. The very title "Eugenics and Other Evils" obviously implies that eugenics is an evil, and one connected to other evils. When Chesterton attacks something that is evil, his attack is always wrapped around a defense of what is good. He is concerned that we have lost sight of what is good. We have even lost sight of what is normal. We have lost our common sense.

What is normal is this: a man and a woman fall in love, get married, and have a family. For thousands of years, men and women have been able to figure this normal thing out for themselves. This basic human freedom was part of the common experience.

The early proponents of eugenics defied this common sense by saying that men and women should not marry for love but, rather, for good breeding. They said people should not risk having children who might be handicapped or ill or weak. In other words, says Chesterton, they should not risk having children who turn out to be John Keats or Robert Louis Stevenson.

In a chilling prophecy of the abortion mentality, Chesterton says that the eugenicists have an attitude toward the unborn child that was in every other age unthinkable: "They seek his life to take it away." They have precisely the wrong idea of the purpose of medicine:

"We call in the doctor to save us from death; and, death being admittedly an evil, he has the right to administer the...most recondite pill which he may think is a cure for all such menaces of death. He has not the right to administer death as the cure for all human ills."

The normal person has always known that preventing the birth of a baby is a highly unnatural act, no matter how it is done. But it is made to sound harmless and even sensible when it is called "eugenic" or when it is called birth control or when it is called reproductive freedom. But anyone who cannot see the real evil behind such terms is what Chesterton calls a "splendid dupe".

"Evil always takes advantage of ambiguity....Evil always wins through the strength of splendid dupes; and there has in all ages been a disastrous alliance between abnormal innocence and abnormal sin."

The only way to explain what happened in Nazi Germany is that evil won through the strength of its splendid dupes: too many people thought they were doing a good thing because they believed a lie. A lie that sounded good because it was called patriotic and was supported by the scientific officialism of the regime. It is also the only way to explain what has happened in this country for the last three decades. Millions of people have believed an incredibly evil lie. A lie that sounds good because it is called "choice". A lie that sounds even better when it has scientific officialism behind it."

Dale Ahlquist finishes quoting Chesterton on eugenics with this:

"The point about eugenics and the other evils that sprang from it is that they propose to eliminate poverty simply by eliminating people. Chesterton's solution is not as simple, but it is the right one. The way to eliminate poor people is to eliminate their poverty, so that they are not poor anymore, but are still people. They deserve enough property and capital and liberty so that they can keep their families and their dignity. They are the image of God, and they must not be broken."

So what triggered the appalling rant from the man who supports the culture of death?

Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin who is John McCain's running mate in the States...a mother of five, whose youngest, Trig, only 4 months old who is down syndrome and who Sarah has referred to as "absolutely perfect".

It irks this man that Sarah found out in her pregnancy that Trig was down syndrome and did nothing about it.

This same woman who is rattling the liberals in the US from one coast to the other, who could be the biggest threat to this culture of death in the future...why? Because she not only talks the talk..she walks the walk..her own life is a testimony to that.

Thank God there are still millions who ARE a testimony to life and love, like Thomas Vander Woude and Sarah Palin.

I also have this to say: It will be this same life-giving love that will spread the truth of, and a passion for the culture of life in the great country of America, because those who espouse the culture of death, walk the walk too..into the valley of death and leave no human legacy behind them, or if they do, probably unlikely to leave them with fruitful, lasting generations.

St Anne, teacher of Mary

As mothers we are entrusted with the most profound responsiblity in the world – the education of our children in the faith and life. We don't go into this task 'unarmed' thank goodness, we are given the graces for that undertaking, by virtue of our sacrament of marriage.

Here is what the Catholic Catechism has to say:

"Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelising their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the 'first heralds' for their children. They should associate them, from their tenderest years, with the life of the Church" (2225, p.537).

Now listen to what G.K. Chesterton says about the sublime role of parent especially one that takes on the whole education of their child in the home:

“I am concerned with pointing out that the passage from private life to public life, while it may be right or wrong, or necessary or unnecessary, or desirable or undesirable, is always of necessity a passage from a greater work to a smaller one, and from a harder work to an easier one. And that is why most of the moderns do wish to pass from the great domestic task to the smaller and easier commercial one.

They would rather provide the liveries of a hundred footmen than be bothered with the love-affairs of one. They would rather take the salutes of a hundred soldiers than try to save the soul of one. They would rather server out income-tax papers or telegraph forms to a hundred men than meals, conversation, and moral support to one. They would rather arrange the educational course in history or geography, or correct the examination papers in algebra or trigonometry, for a hundred children, than struggle with the whole human character of one.

For anyone who makes himself responsible for one small baby, as a whole, will soon find that he is wrestling with gigantic angels and demons.”

Don’t you just love that? “....will soon find that he is wrestling with gigantic angels and demons.” Oh boy, he was right there!

What I like about Chesterton is that he is smack-bang on the mark every time. He cuts through the chaff and gets to the pearl of great price. Many in this world are stumbling around in the chaff and can’t recognize a pearl even if it were dangled in front of them. Sadly many parents are influenced by the so called "fashionable thinkers" of our time who perpetuate the fallacies. Little do they know they are bringing down a culture, a generation and more...

As Christian mothers we DO know what that priceless pearl is – the education of our children. We are honoured to be given this noble task, God in fact, entrusts ALL of this to us. Of course, it is one that requires fortitude, courage and strength on our behalf. It requires that we call out for that grace daily, that grace we were assured of on our wedding day.

St Anne of course is the PERFECT heavenly intercessor for these graces. Just reminding you of what Good St Anne says about her:

“Sublime was her office in instructing this blessed child (Mary) in virtue and holiness”

“How encouraging this is to all parents who make the holy education of their children their principal duty. By this they glorify their Creator, perpetuate His honor on earth and sanctify their own souls. From the hands of the parents God will one day require the souls of their children. Happy will those parents be who can say to the Divine Judge: “Not one of those whom Thou hast given me has been lost through my fault.”

“Realizing, therefore, the great duty she has in rearing her children well, the Catholic mother will daily recommend her children to God and pray especially to St Anne for the gift of imparting to them a good training, the highest and most difficult of arts.”

“The highest and most difficult of arts.” It certainly reflects Chesterton’s words, doesn’t it?

It is for this reason we are in great need of support and mentoring, someone who knows only too well, just what graces we are in need of. St Anne is that saint to whom you can entrust your dearest desires for yourself and your children, knowing she was given the awesome task of and succeeded in, the education of the Mother of God.

There have been many good mothers canonized throughout the history of Christendom and even beautiful, inspiring examples from the Old Testament, all those good mothers are worthy of being called ‘prayer warriors’ for us mothers today. But except for the Blessed Virgin herself, who can incline more, the heart of Jesus towards our pitiful cries when we are ‘wrestling’ with our cherubs?

Think of the times when we chosing a catecetical program for our children and need to make the best decision possible? Who can we turn to? St Anne.

Of the times when we are struggling in setting the best example daily for our children? Who can we turn to? St Anne.

And those times when a child has opened his or her heart to us, maybe even unwittingly and we are needing guidance in how to respond to it? Who can we turn to? St Anne.

And what about those days when we ourselves feel we can no longer perservere in the daily struggle and toil of providing our children with their academic education, we feel we just can’t continue on? Who can we turn to? St Anne.

Who can we call upon in the protection of our children’s souls from all things that are harmful to character and virtue? St Anne, of course!

She has the blessing and good pleasure of her own beloved daughter and Divine Grandson, when we turn to her with confidence and love.

Parents' Prayer to St. Anne

We call upon you, dear St. Anne, for help in bringing up our family in good and godly ways. Teach us to trust God our Father as we rear the precious heritage entrusted to us. May His will prevail in our lives and His providence defend us. These blessings we ask for all families in our neighborhood, our country, and our world. Amen.

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Daily Prayer to St. Anne

Dear St. Anne, you never tire of assisting those who recommend themselves to you. Trusting not in our merits but in your powerful intercession, we request your help through this present day with all its duties and responsibilities, all its situations whether happy or anguishing. And when "tomorrow" becomes today, assist us anew for God's glory and our good. Amen.

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Good St. Anne, you were especially favored by God to be the mother of the most holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Savior. By your power with your most pure daughter and with her divine Son, kindly obtain for us the grace and the favor we now seek....... Please secure for us also forgiveness of our past sins, the strength to perform faithfully our daily duties and the help we need to persevere in the love of Jesus and Mary. Amen.

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