Saturday, October 4, 2014

The Difference Between Light and Darkness




When the Virgin Mary learned of her cousin Elizabeth's pregnancy and rushed to her, she was already carrying Jesus in her womb.

  And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: [42] And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. [43] And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? [44] For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. [45] And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord. Douay-Rheims Luke 1:41-45

Several things are learned in those scripture words.  We must understand that Elizabeth is crying out words which the Lord has put to her to say.  Mary's salutation would have been the first and only thing communicated to her, thus calling Mary the "mother of my Lord" could only have been by divine intervention.   Secondly, her baby, still in the womb, "leaped for joy."  Only a human person can feel joy.  Thus it shows that babies in the womb are indeed individual persons and are loved as such by their Lord and creator.

The Catholic teaching concerning Mary is most unique in that since the fall of Adam and Eve, she is the only human conceived without the stain of original sin.  Original sin can be described in an analogy of a rich estate.  The family members and their descendants are entitled to live on the estate because it is theirs.  However, on the sad day when the family loses the estate and they no longer own it, the descendants cannot go back, no matter how deserving; it simply is not theirs anymore.  Original sin is the penalty on all humankind for the sin of Adam and Eve.  The gates of heaven were closed to all of us.  Christ Jesus was always, is and always will be the second person of the Holy Trinity, God.  Jesus is the part of God who created the universe and everything in it including each and every human being, individually.   Mary did not conceive Him, He conceived her.  Thus it was through His will that she was cleansed of original sin before she was born.

And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. [47] And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour[48] Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed[49] Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. [50] And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.  Douay-Rheims Luke 1:47-50

This is why she calls Him her Savior.  God had a marvelous, mysterious plan for Mary.  He, Himself would take the physical condition of a zygote, grow and develop a human body within Mary's womb, and be born of her as an infant.  Jesus, who has the power to create or destroy anything, who knows every human being ever born and who will ever be born, who commands a legion of angels, innumerable, has willed Himself to enter the world not crashing through the clouds on a mighty fire breathing steed, throwing lightning in every direction and shouting for honor and adoration in a thunderous voice, but as a new born human infant.

We now know, by twenty-first century technology, that a mother carries in her body, for the rest of her life, the DNA of each child she carried.  We also know that every woman carries in her from her own time in her mother's womb, every egg that has the potential of fertilization and development.  Thus it is true that from her earliest stages of development in her mother's womb, Saint Anne, Mary was already carrying the egg which would be the body of Jesus and that for the rest of her existence she would carry His DNA in her bloodstream.  This is one of many reasons God preserved her from original sin at birth.  This is why one of her names is The Immaculate Conception.

, The Catholic teaching is that Saint John the Baptist was conceived with original sin but was born without the stain of it.  Remember the Jewish leaders asking him by who's authority he baptized?  He did not answer their question directly because they would not have understood it.  He was baptizing by the authority of Jesus, as taught to him by Jesus, when Jesus spiritually baptized him womb to womb the moment his mother heard Mary's salutation.  That is why John the Baptist leaped for joy in his mother's womb. Thus we have a spiritual communication to an unborn infant from his God, another unborn infant.




Now let us venture into the darkness.  Abortionist Lisa Harris describes an unforeseen and emotional experience she had while dismembering an eighteen week old fetus while she herself was carrying an eighteen week old fetus in her womb.


With my first pass of the forceps, I grasped an extremity and began to pull it down. I could see a small foot hanging from the teeth of my forceps. With a quick tug, I separated the leg.
Precisely at that moment, I felt a kick – a fluttery “thump, thump” in my own uterus. It was one of the first times I felt fetal movement.
There was a leg and foot in my forceps, and a “thump, thump” in my abdomen. Instantly, tears were streaming from my eyes – without me – meaning my conscious brain – even being aware of what was going on. 

The perverse similarity of her experience to the story of Mary and Elizabeth struck me.  I am convinced that Ms. Harris's baby leaped with horror as it spiritually understood that the other baby was just murdered.  Ms. Harris and her child were so closely bonded as she cradled it in her womb and nourished it with her own body, that the grief and sorrow of such a great crime poured over from that infant through her heart and out of her eyes in a stream of tears.  One could try to explain it to her, but like the Jewish leaders of Saint John the Baptist's time, she wouldn't understand it or believe it.

All of the sins of the flesh are most grave and cry out for vengeance however, killing a baby in the womb is the most depraved of them all.  Christ was there.  Christ, unlike us, was divinely aware of Himself and His condition while He was in the womb.  He loves each and every one of those babies more tenderly and personally before birth as we love our children after birth.  We can only think of the "baby" abstractly before they are born because with our physical limitations of experiencing things with our five physical senses, we do not know them until we can see them and hold them.  Christ already knows them better than we ever will.

As for poor Lisa Harris, pray for her!  Pray to our good Lord that she sees the horror she is committing.  Pray that she comes face to face with her guilt so that she may avail herself of Christ's infinite mercy to the truly repentant sinner.


Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Our Precious Fourth and Fifth Ammendments



Shaneen Allen, the Pennsylvania lady who was arrested in New Jersey for the possession of a handgun, made a big mistake.  I do not blame her for making it because our education system, which is charged with teaching our maturing citizens about government and our rights in the civil arena, failed her and us.  Her mistake was not about driving into New Jersey with her gun, that action is protected by the Second Amendment, though the authorities of New Jersey don't recognize that and will inflict harm if you do.  Her mistake was telling the police about it.  Being stopped for a traffic violation does not require her to tell the police anything about her business, where she is going or what she has in her car.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.  Fourth Amendment - United States Constitution

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.  Fifth Amendment - United States Constitution

The only business at hand during a traffic stop relates to operating a motor vehicle; things like the charged violation to traffic laws, registration of the car, driver's license, insurance, etc.  The officer does not have the authority to search your car in a quest to find other violations not related to his reason to stop you.  If he asks you for permission to search your car, your answer should always be a firm and polite, "No".  Ms. Allen erred by volunteering to the officer the fact that she had that gun in her car.  In her naive attempt to be a co-operative, model citizen she brought the crushing weight of the New Jersey criminal system down upon her head.

Again, you do not need to take this red neck’s word about it.  Watch this You Tube video posted by a law professor.  The video is over 45 minutes long, but it may be some of the most valuable time you spend.



If you watched the video, I hope you heard the first thing the police detective said.  He made the huge point that in other countries, countries without the enumerated rights spelled out in our Fourth and Fifth Amendments, the police are bound by almost no rules and can immediately get "physical" as they attempt to wring a confession from you.  What he didn't say but is true, in other countries the police can kick in your door and hunt for evidence of a crime.  God bless America!  God bless our Constitution. 

John Filippidis of Florida was driving southbound on I-95 and had just entered Maryland, a very aggressive gun restricting state.  Mr. Filippidis was pulled over by a Maryland Transportation Authority Police Officer.  The officer was abrupt and took Mr. Filippidis behind the police cruiser and instantly stated, "You own a gun! Where is it?"  If you learned anything from the above video it would be that Mr. Filippidis should not have answered that question one way or another.  The officer turned his intimidation tactics to Mrs. Filippidis and demanded to know where the gun was.  She said she didn't know but stated that "it may be in the glove box..."  BOOM! That was enough for the officer to pull the entire family out of the car and have it thoroughly searched (ransacked).  They found no gun.  They were pulled over because the Maryland officer discovered through a linked database system that Mr. Filippidis held a concealed carry permit in Florida.  If that poor family had followed the sound advice of never talking to the police, that officer would have had no choice but to let them pass.

If you are pulled over, be polite but answer no questions.