News Updates, 11/7

Billy Graham Won't Advise Obama Because of Strong Pro-Abortion Position
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Respected Christian preacher Billy Graham has been an advisor and spiritual helper to presidents dating back to President Eisenhower. But that relationship with presidents will now come to an end because incoming president Barack Obama takes such a profoundly pro-abortion position.

Lawmakers Who Vote in Favor of Abortion in Uruguay Incur Excommunication
Montevideo, Nov 4, 2008 / 05:07 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Nicolas Cotugno of Montevideo told the Uruguayan daily El Pais that lawmakers who vote in favor of the legalization of abortion incur automatic excommunication, and stressed that “the values of the human being are not subject to vote.”...
[About time!!! Maybe US bishops will get a clue? Only when pigs fly!]

Fr. Thomas Reese [Jesuit Heretic] Confuses Honesty and Betrayal
Talking nonsense and calling it Catholicism has long been a specialty of Father Thomas Reese who said today that a majority of Catholics voted for Obama but if Obama actually supports the Freedom of Choice Act then he will have "betrayed" Catholics, according to Boston.com. What?!
[This clown, masquerading as a priest and now trying to cover for his heresy, supports an agent of Satan who promotes infanticide. Reese has repeatedly confused untold Catholics with his heresy and misleading rhetoric. He should have been dismissed from the clerical state years ago. Perhaps it's time for the Jesuit order to be suppressed? It's become an order of heresy and dissent, opposed to Christ, the Church, and the Pope .]

Planned Parenthood's Christmas Wish List for Obama Includes Forced Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In its first email to supports following pro-abortion presidential candidate Barack Obama's victory Tuesday night, Planned Parenthood announced its Christmas wish list for an Obama administration. Included in the list is a request for funding for a UN agency involved in forced abortions in China...

Archbishop Gregory: Church ready for black Pope
Obama election is "a great step for humanity"
[A "great step for humanity"? Except, of course, for the unborn. Isn't being a bishop beyond Gregory's "pay grade"?]

Michael J. Fox Hopeful Obama Will Soon Fund Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With economics taking center stage during the presidential election and abortion coming in a distant second, stem cell research wasn't on the radar screen. But, now that Barack Obama is the incoming president, actor Michael J. Fox is hopeful that stem cell research will be back on the table.

Washington state legalizes assisted-suicide
Doctors now allowed to prescribe lethal dose of drugs

Three states ban same-sex marriage
California, Florida, and Arizona celebrate passage

Gay marriage-ban protesters arrested in California
Homosexuals take to the streets in protest of passage

Same-Sex "Marriage" Supporters Furious at California Loss: Lawsuits Filed Challenging Proposition 8
Besides the lawsuits, reports of threats aimed at Christian and other religious groups have been pouring in since it became clear that Proposition 8 would pass.

Catholics, Muslims condemn religious terrorism
Vatican forum ends with freedom of conscience statement

Obama made inroads with religious vote
Democrat prevailed with Catholic and Jewish Americans

Study: Catholic colleges have little effect
Students view abortion like general populace

40 Days for Life Leader: Pro-Lifers Must Look Beyond Elections and Focus on Making a Local Impact
Bereit said the life-saving impact of the recent 40 Days for Life effort cannot be attributed to any elected leader or law. "It was the result of people putting their faith into action right where they live," he said.

Archbishop to professor: deliver a pro-life Obama
Denver's Charles Chaput has words for Douglas Kmiec

Obama may have tricky relations with Vatican
Official branded Democrats the 'party of death'


Issues & Politics
____________

Obama’s American Dream: Servitude
“When you choose to serve — whether it’s your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood — you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That’s why it’s called the American dream,” declares Obama on the newly fashioned Office of the President-Elect website.
[Are we seeing Fascism coming to the USA? Maybe it's just a return to slavery?]

Man Arrested for Wearing McCain Shirt at Obama Victory Rally (YouTube)
On November 4, 2008 just hours after the presidential election victory of Barack Hussein Obama, thousands of Philadelphians streamed into the streets to cheer for their champion. Legions of Obama supporters formed iron ranks mostly of joy but when one man dared to have a differing opinion by wearing a McCain/Palin '08 t-shirt police officers threatened him with arrest and eventually did so without just cause.
Watch in horror as Obama kool-aid drinkers chant with joy as a man is arrested for exercising his First Amendment rights.

Day One: Obama faces Cold War threat, a warning from Israel...
The U.S. President-elect faces threats from Russia, Israel and Afghanistan as it emerged his election team's computers were hacked by a 'foreign entity' during the election.

What Happened to the Catholic Vote?
CHICAGO, Illinois, NOV. 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- More than half of U.S. Catholics voted Tuesday for a presidential candidate at odds with the Church's stance on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, despite the urging of more than 50 heads of dioceses to support pro-life candidates.

Rahm Emanuel- Obama's Chief of Staff: The Plan, Compulsory Service for all Americans, ages 18 to 25
We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, All Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service....
[The 'messiah' needs your help...]

The Onion: Obama Win Causes Obsessed Backers To See How Empty Lives Are (YouTube)

Truly Classless! What a piece of work. Who ever heard of "The Office of the President-Elect"?

Fr Corapi: There Is Still a God in Heaven

Another email update:

The American people have now made it abundantly clear who they want to lead them, and the policies and practices that this president-elect has represented for some time, they can now claim as their own. Actions have consequences, and I am sure God has duly noted what our priorities are in the US of A. Economic matters would seem to take precedence over moral matters; money more important than life itself to most people (I guess they don’t consider almost 50,000,000 innocent children murdered by abortion part of life).

Now we shall see what the fruit of such a tree will be. I predict that we won’t have to wait long. In recent months we have seen “corrections” in the stock market, housing market, and banking industries. Now we’ll see if God orchestrates a “correction” in a country and a world that has demonstrated quite clearly that it prefers convenience and wealth to life itself.

Regardless of whatever happens next, remember there is still a God in Heaven and He loves you. He is infinitely merciful—and He is infinitely just as well.

God Bless You.
Fr. John Corapi

Fr Corapi's Website

Obama Expected to Embrace UN and Transnationalism

From C-FAM:

In the new Presidential administration, there will be a sea change in the way the US treats the UN and concepts like global governance and transnationalism. Look for the US to ratify a slew of dicey UN treaties. Look for a rejuvenated UN to begin announcing a gaggle of nasty global conferences. There is trouble ahead.

We report on what we expect from the Obama administration.

Spread the word.

Yours sincerely,
Austin Ruse
President

PS Our UN Petition for the Unborn Child is not up over 130,000! If you have not signed, go to www.c-fam.org and sign it. Then tell all your friends.
_____________

Obama Administration Expected to Expand US Relationship with UN and UN Treaties

Likely Obama Supreme Court Pick’s Globalist Views Alarm Social Conservatives

Gospel for Friday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time

From: Luke 16:1-8

The Unjust Steward

[1] He (Jesus) also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. [2] And he called him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear from you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.' [3] And the steward said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. [4] I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.' [5] So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' [6] He said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' [7] Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' He said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.' [8] The master commended the dishonest steward for his prudence; for the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation that the sons of light.
________________

Commentary:

1-8. The unfaithful steward manages to avoid falling on hard times. Of course, our Lord presumes that we realize the immorality of the man's behavior. What he emphasizes and praises, however, is his shrewdness and effort: he tries to derive maximum material advantages from his former position as steward. In saving our soul and spreading the Kingdom of God, our Lord wants us to apply at least the same ingenuity and effort as people put into their worldly affairs or their attempts to attain some human ideal. The fact that we can count on God's grace does not in any way exempt us from the need to employ all available legitimate human resources even if that means strenuous effort and heroic sacrifice.

"What zeal people put into their earthly affairs: dreaming of honors, striving for riches, bent on sensuality. Men and women, rich and poor, old and middle-aged and young and even children: all of them the same. When you and I put the same zeal into the affairs of our souls, we will have a living and operative faith: and there will be no obstacle that we cannot overcome in our apostolic undertakings" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 317).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Just for Today, November 7

Set thyself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear manfully the cross of thy Lord, crucified for the love of thee.
-Bk. II, ch. xii.
________________

When I was a postulant I found it very hard to per­form certain exterior mortifications customary in our monasteries, but I never gave way to my repugnance. The crucifix in the garth seemed to be looking at me with imploring eyes, begging me to make these sacri­fices.
-The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme).
__________________
For more information, see this post.
Adapted from Just For Today(©1943 Burns & Oates)
Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Phillips, S.T.L.,Censor deputatus
Imprimatur: Edwardus Myers, Vic. Cap.

Thoughts of St Augustine for November 7

WHATEVER that people suffered in the wilder­ness and whatever God gave them, all his scourges and all his gifts, are significant of our experiences in the wilderness of this life, as we walk seeking our country, now receiving to our consolation, now suffering to our probation.
_________________________
Click here for more information.

From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont

Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-November 7

THE holy souls are consoled by the remem­brance of the Passion of Jesus Christ and of the Blessed Sacrament, because through the Passion they are now saved, and through the Communions of the faithful and the Masses celebrated throughout the Church, they have received and receive so many graces. But they are tormented by the thought of having been ungrateful during life for these two great benefits of the love of Jesus Christ.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927

Online Documentary Video - The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles

Spreading the word about this little known but magnificent, miraculous Catholic shrine:

 

A high-quality, hour-long documentary video concerning the Shrine of St. Joseph in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, has been placed online for free viewing:

The Shrine of Saint Joseph: Church of Miracles

The documentary was shot and produced back in 2000, paid for by the Shrine of St. Joseph's Friends, a non-profit lay group that helps to oversee the Shrine's renovations and daily/weekly operations. Permission has been given to make the video available on the Internet, in hopes of furthering public awareness of and interest in this beautiful church. This same video has been aired several times on EWTN.

Please enjoy the video, and feel free to pass the link to friends and family (please do!).

About the Shrine and the video:

In the stillness of its grand and silent Sanctuary, the Shrine of St. Joseph stands as a modern-day witness of faith, perseverance, and commitment. The quiet speaks powerfully to its simple beauty and impressive sense of dignity.

The Shrine of St. Joseph is an extraordinary Catholic shrine in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The majestic and stately appearance of this 19th Century architectural treasure is almost breath taking. The handcrafted wooden statues stand guardians of the historical richness, which is both extraordinary and miraculous.

Since 1864, this church has been the Church of Miracles. A German immigrant, Ignatius Strecker, was healed from terminal illness after he venerated a relic of Peter Claver. This miraculous healing led to the canonization of Peter Claver as a saint of the Catholic Church. Two years later there was another miracle at the church, and then another, and another. How many more miracles have taken place in connection with this church over the past 150 years, no one knows.

Many of this church's supporters say the fact that St. Joseph's is still standing today is a miracle in itself. It has survived declining parish membership, neglect, urban decay, vandalism, and acts of violence within its wall. More than one hundred years after the first miracle, a group of five men began an effort that would ultimately save this church. "The Shrine of St. Joseph: The Church of Miracles" is a moving testimony to the faith and commitment of the Shrine of St. Joseph's Friends to preserve this historic landmark church in a downtown St. Louis neighborhood that is also being rebuilt.

Come visit the Shrine of St. Joseph - you or your entire family can make a modern day pilgrimage that will renew and strengthen your faith for a lifetime.

The Shrine of Saint Joseph
1220 North 11th Street
Saint Louis, Missouri 63106-4614

There is an informative and accurate English-language Wikipedia entry concerning the Shrine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_Saint_Joseph,_St._Louis,_Missouri

The same video linked above is available, in segments, on YouTube:

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 1 of 6

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 2 of 6

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 3 of 6

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 4 of 6

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 5 of 6

The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles - Part 6 of 6

And it is also available on Google Video (lower quality stream):

Google Video - The Shrine of St. Joseph: Church of Miracles

HT to Michael B

News Updates, 11/6

Roseanne Barr: Register Mormon, Catholic Churches, Judaism As PACs
The Mormon and Catholic churches and Jewish synagogues should be forced to register with the IRS as political action committees because they have "crossed the line between church and state" and "hate our country" and want nothing less than the "complete overthrow of the us [sic] government."
[First, all of the MSM should be registered as DNC PACs, shouldn't they?]

Obama may have tricky relations with Vatican
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Two months ago, a Vatican official [Archbishop Raymond L Burke] branded the U.S. Democrats the "party of death" because of its pro-choice stand on abortion. His words failed to sway millions of Catholics who cast their vote for Barack Obama....

With the Help of Catholics…Obama’s Victory
November 5, 2008 (insidecatholic.com) - When the U.S. bishops hold their annual meeting in Baltimore next week, one item on the agenda will be approval of the new Order for the Blessing of the Child in the Womb....It couldn't come at a better time.

What's wrong with Catholic voters? What's wrong with Catholics? by Phil Lawler
Yesterday, according to the exit polls, between 53 and 54% of American Catholic voters cast their ballots for Barack Obama, despite the Democratic candidate's enthusiastic support for unrestricted legal abortion... Why? ... Among Catholic voters who attend Mass weekly, McCain won majority support: 54- 45%. Among those who do not attend weekly Mass, the margin for Obama was an overwhelming 61- 37%. Thus Obama drew his support from inactive Catholics. And unfortunately, most American Catholics are inactive....

Archbishop Chaput to Kmiec: You Wanted Obama, Now Lobby Him on Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Catholic apologists for Barack Obama pulled the wool over voters' eyes with their protests that he would have a pro-life administration and would seek to reduce abortions. Now that Obama has been elected, a top Catholic official is urging the Obama backers to make him make good on his word. During the election, the dueling between Catholic backers and Catholic opponents of Obama reached a fever pitch Groups like Catholics United and Catholics for the Common Good put up web sites, wrote editorials and sent out millions of mailings to voters to make them think pro-abortion candidate Obama would be pro-life president Obama. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver led the charge on the pro-life side against Pepperdine University professor Douglas Kmiec. In a letter to the editor to the web site Public Discourse, Chaput issued told Kmiec he would have to make good on his promises that Obama would reduce abortions and, in a more polite manner, told him to put up or shut up....
[Personally, I would like to see ardent, open, public supporters on Pro-death advocates excommunicated...]

Where is the body of Cardinal John Henry Newman?
Professor probes mystery over missing bones

“Contempt for the will of the people”
Same-sex marriage proponents won’t concede election, ask court to nullify Proposition 8

Mexican bishops condemn 'St. Death' devotion
...and St. Jude is not the patron saint of criminals

California stops gay marriage amid Obama victory
Voters also rejected limits on abortion in South Dakota

Catholic bishops congratulate Obama
Majority of Catholic voters opted for pro-abort president

Vatican: May God help Obama bring peace
Spokesman hopes president-elect will foster dignity

Pope Benedict urges Obama to build just world
Papal telegram delivered through U.S. ambassador

Black Pope could follow Barack Obama's election, says US archbishop
Wilton Daniel Gregory, 60, the Archbishop of Atlanta, said that in the past Pope Benedict XVI had himself suggested that the election of a black pontiff would "send a splendid signal to the world" about the universal Church....

Irish cardinal: Is EU really benefiting the Irish?
Does it mean intrusive bureaucracy, oppressive legislation?

How Obama lured millions of religious voters
Gains came most from Catholics who do not attend Mass

Obama's religious appeal reaches evangelicals
One quarter of them voted for president-elect

Issues & Politics
_____________

Ahmadinejad congratulates Obama, says he expects change
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday congratulated Barak Obama on his election win - the first time an Iranian leader has offered such wishes to a US president-elect since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

An Open Letter to Barack Obama:
Are you a Natural Born Citizen of the U.S.?
Are you legally qualified to hold the Office of President?

Newsweek: Obama, McCain campaigns hacked by ‘foreign entity’
At Obama headquarters, what was originally believed to be a virus planted in a phishing attack turned out to something more ominous. After an investigation, the FBI and Secret Service issued a dire warning:

You have a problem way bigger than what you understand,” an agent told Obama’s team. “You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system.”

Barack Obama Pushes Abortion on Day One With Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Barack Obama didn't wait 24 hours before making his first decision to promote abortion as the President-elect. Obama has offered the White House chief of staff position to pro-abortion Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who has a 0 percent pro-life voting record....

Is Obama the secret son of Malcolm X? (Israeli Insider)
If Barack Hussein Obama II is Malcolm X's biological son and ideological heir, it would uniquely explain the mystery of why he was so generously helped by so many Arab and communist "friends in high places" long before he was a "somebody."

Missouri, the bellwether, backed the loser. What happened?

Putin may return to Kremlin in '09: report

U.S. Treasury teaches 'Islamic Finance 101'
Advisers, scholars to promote controversial Shariah funding

Gospel for Thursday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time

From: Luke 15:1-10

Parable's of God's Mercy

[1] Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him (Jesus). [2] And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

The Lost Sheep

[3] So He told them this parable: [4] "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? [5] And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. [6] And when he comes home he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.' [7] Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

The Lost Coin

[8] "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she lost one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? [9] And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I has lost.' [10] Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
________________________

Commentary:

1-32. Jesus' actions manifest God's mercy: He receives sinners in order to convert them. The scribes and Pharisees, who despised sinners, just cannot understand why Jesus acts like this; they grumble about Him; and Jesus uses the opportunity to tell these Mercy parables. "The Gospel writer who particularly treats of these themes in Christ's teaching is Luke, whose Gospel has earned the title of `the Gospel of mercy'" (John Paul II, "Dives In Misericordia", 3).

In this chapter St. Luke reports three of these parables in which Jesus describes the infinite, fatherly mercy of God and His joy at the conversion of the sinner.

The Gospel teaches that no one is excluded from forgiveness and that sinners can become beloved children of God if they repent and are converted. So much does God desire the conversion of sinners that each of these parables ends with a refrain, as it were, telling of the great joy in Heaven over sinner who repents.

1-2. This is not the first time that publicans and sinners approach Jesus (cf. Matthew 9:10). They are attracted by the directness of the Lord's preaching and by His call to self-giving and love. The Pharisees in general were jealous of His influence over the people (cf. Matthew 26:2-5; John 11:47) a jealousy which can also beset Christians; a severity of outlook which does not accept that, no matter how great his sins may have been, a sinner can change and become a saint; a blindness which prevents a person from recognizing and rejoicing over the good done by others. Our Lord criticized this attitude when He replied to His disciples' complaints about others casting out devils in His name: "Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in My name will be able soon after to speak evil of Me" (Mark 9:39). And St. Paul rejoiced that others proclaimed Christ and even overlooked the fact they did so out of self-interest, provided Christ was preached (cf. Philippians 1:17-18).

5-6. Christian tradition, on the basis of this and other Gospel passages (cf. John 10:11), applies this parable to Christ, the Good Shepherd, who misses and then seeks out the lost sheep: the Word, by becoming man, seeks out mankind, which has strayed through sinning. Here is St. Gregory the Great's commentary: "He put the sheep on His shoulders because, on taking on human nature, He burdened Himself with our sins" ("In Evangelia Homiliae", II, 14).

The Second Vatican Council applies these verses of St. Luke to the way priests should approach their pastoral work: "They should be mindful that by their daily conduct and solicitude they display the reality of a truly priestly and pastoral ministry both to believers and unbelievers alike, to Catholics and non-Catholics; that they are bound to bear witness before all men of the truth and of the life, and as good shepherds seek after those too who, whilst having been baptized in the Catholic Church, have given up the practice of the Sacraments, or even fallen away from the faith" ("Lumen Gentium", 28). However, every member of the faithful should show this same kind of concern--expressed in a fraternal way--towards his brothers and sisters, towards everyone on the road to sanctification and salvation.

7. This does not mean that our Lord does not value the perseverance of the just: He is simply emphasizing the joy of God and the saints over the conversion of a sinner. This is clearly a call to repentance, to never doubt God's readiness to forgive. "Another fall, and what a fall!... Must you give up hope? No. Humble yourself and, through Mary, your Mother, have recourse to the merciful Love of Jesus. A "miserere", and lift up your heart! And now begin again" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 711).

8. This silver coin was a "drachma", of about the same value as a denarius, that is, approximately a day's wage for an agricultural worker (cf. Matthew 20:2).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Just for Today, November 6

Above all things, and in all things, do thou, my soul, rest always in the Lord, for He is the eternal rest of the saints. Because, indeed, my heart cannot truly rest, nor be entirely contented, till it rest in Thee, and rise above all Thy gifts, and all things created.
-Bk. III, ch. xxi.
______________

My will, may all, I do resign
Into Thy hands, which feed
My soul with hidden manna sweet,
Fulfilling all my need.
One look from Thee is my reward,
Thou knowest what is best;
And, safe within Thy arms, my soul
Shall sleep and take her rest.

-Poems.
__________________
For more information, see this post.
Adapted from Just For Today(©1943 Burns & Oates)
Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Phillips, S.T.L.,Censor deputatus
Imprimatur: Edwardus Myers, Vic. Cap.

Thoughts of St Augustine for November 6

HE against whom thou hast declared war is much stronger than thou art....God he is with whom thou art dissatisfied; blush and be dissatisfied with thyself.
_________________________
Click here for more information.

From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont

Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-November 6

ANOTHER great torment of the holy souls arises from not knowing when their pains will cease. They are certain that they will be one day liberated; but the uncertainty of the length of their sufferings torments them severely.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927

An Election Day Vignette - God Helps Us!

Saint Louis Catholic is "subjected to the test" while in line to vote - I'm not certain that I could have kept my mouth shut...

There are forces of evil at work within the Church and outside the Church. And children are the most vulnerable as we should recall when reading this anecdote...The enemies of Christ seem to be everywhere...

News Updates, 11/5

Catholics Go For Obama (Rev. Thomas J. Reese)
Catholic voters ignored the instructions of a group of vocal bishops and delivered 54% of their vote for Barack Obama as president of the United States. These bishops, led by Archbishops Charles Chaput and Raymond Burke, argued that abortion was the most important issue in the election and that no other issues outweighed it. As a result, they argued, Catholics could not vote for a pro-choice candidate....
[Are these Obama "Catholics", in fact, Catholic at all? I think not.]

Not to Vote Pro-Life Is to Participate in the Culture of Death: Archbishop Burke
“A good citizen must support and vote for the candidate who most supports the inalienable dignity of innocent and defenseless life, and the integrity of marriage.”
[Polls indicate that the Catholic vote was split, generally, among both McCain and Obama. It is deplorable and repugnant that any Christian, Catholic or otherwise, would vote for a candidate for the office of president who supports legislation which allows the destruction of innocent human life, the murder of babies in the womb or outside the womb. I am so sickened and saddened that we, as a once God-fearing people, have failed miserably in the sight of Almighty God and his precious little ones by electing leaders who have no regard for life. We now reap what we have sown - especially if 'The One' follows through on his promises to undue the years and years of arduous work over the past 35 years in trying to right a monstrous and wicked wrong. Let us pray for Divine Intervention and mercy and ask our Blessed Mother and all of the Saints to pray for us as well. God suely knows that we need help!]

Bishop Cracks Down on Catholic Charities
Bishop Robert Hermann, in a memo to the Catholic Charities board, said that the organization had been allowed to drift in a direction that began to work contrary to the desires of Archbishop Rigali and Archbishop Burke...James Gunn, a former Catholic Charities board member and critic of the Archdioces said that the social ministry of the church is not nearly as important to them as their far-right conservative Catholic agenda.

Catholic law professor who endorsed Obama invited to speak at St. John’s Seminary
Douglas Kmiec, the Catholic law professor at Pepperdine University whose March endorsement of Barack Obama stunned conservatives, has been invited to give an election post-mortem at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo...titled “Catholics and the 2008 Election: Are We a House Divided?”

American is now officially an Obamanation
Senator from Illinois elected 44th U.S. president

Xavier University ripped for holding Obama rally
Catholic college hosted get-out-the-vote event

American Catholic shifting to Barack Obama
Despite aggressive prolife push by more than 50 bishops

Catholics long sided with presidential winner
Gave Bush edge needed to win Ohio in 2004, Obama in 2008

The disappearing / reappearing Catholic vote
A 20% difference is the threshold for significance

Restaurant owner attacked by Italian priest
Two nuns also join in Wild West-style saloon bar brawl

Catholic priest jailed for child sex offenses
Sentenced on six counts of indecent acts with a minor

Pius XII saw 'miracle of the sun' four times
Handwritten note reveals Pope's experience in 1950

Issues & Politics
______________

From LifeNews.com - Read it and weep:
* Obama Captures Win Over John McCain, Expected to Promote Abortions
* Washington Becomes Second State to Legalize Assisted Suicide in Vote
* Michigan Voters Approve Proposition 2 to Destroy Human Embryos
* California Very Narrowly Opposes Third Try for Parental Notification
* South Dakota Voters Defeat Second Ballot Measure to Ban Abortions
* Colorado Voters Soundly Defeat Personhood Ballot Measure on Abortion
[Time for repentance and reparations?]


Why? Answer: Radical Chic Becomes Obama Kumbaya
Tom Wolfe wrote about this phenomenon in his 1970 bestseller Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers during the early years. Unfortunately the phenomenon Wolfe described grew and became accepted where it then became part of our American culture. That guilt driven phenomenon "radical chic" was welcomed and accepted as much as "global warming caused by man" is being accepted due to the non-stop brainwashing indoctrination at all levels of society...

President - Elect Barack Obama Makes History by Deacon Keith Fournier
What is clear is that Barack Obama will now be my President as well as the President of all those who voted for him. I will pray for him and respect his office. I will also do all that I can to influence him and his administration concerning the truth of this fundamental human right to life. I will also do something else. I will join with others in building a new movement which recognizes the failures of both major political parties and seeks to build a new alliance of Americans. This alliance will insist upon the primacy of the fundamental human right to life - not as a single issue - but as the very framework and foundation of a truly just society....

Fidel Castro Praises Obama on Eve of Election, Joined by Socialist Allies in Other Latin American Countries
Luis Lula, Brazil's socialist President and friend of Castro, has also praised Obama in the days leading to the election, saying that his election would be a "subject of joy in the silent mind of each one of us."
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And on a personal note, please keep in your prayers our Supreme Court Justices, especially Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and particularly, Anthony Kennedy.

Gospel for Wednesday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time

From: Luke 14:25-33

Conditions For Following Jesus

[25] Now great multitudes accompanied Him (Jesus); and He turned and said to them, [26] "If any one comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. [27] Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. [28] For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? [29] Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, [30] saying, `This man began to build, and was not able to finish.' [31] Or what king, going to encounter another king in a war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? [32] And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace. [33] So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple."
_________________________

Commentary:

26. These words of our Lord should not disconcert us. Love for God and for Jesus should have pride of place in our lives and we should keep away from anything which obstructs this love: "In this world let us love everyone," St. Gregory the Great comments, "even though he be our enemy; but let us hate him who opposes us on our way to God, though he be our relative [...]. We should then, love, our neighbor; we should have charity towards all--towards relative and towards strangers--but without separating ourselves from the love of God out of love for them" ("In Evangelia Homiliae", 37, 3). In the last analysis, it is a matter of keeping the proper hierarchy of charity: God must take priority over everything.

This verse must be understood, therefore, in the context of all of our Lord's teachings (cf. Luke 6:27-35). These are "hard words. True, `hate' does not exactly express what Jesus meant. Yet He did put it very strongly, because He doesn't just mean `love less,' as some people interpret it in an attempt to tone down the sentence. The force behind these vigorous words does not lie in their implying a negative or pitiless attitude, for the Jesus who is speaking here is none other than that Jesus who commands us to love others as we love ourselves and who gives up His life for mankind. These words indicate simply that we cannot be half-hearted when it comes to loving God. Christ's words could be translated as `love more, love better', in the sense that a selfish or partial love is not enough: we have to love others with the love of God" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 97). See the notes on Matthew 10:34-37; Luke 2:49.

As the Second Vatican Council explains, Christians "strive to please God rather than men, always ready to abandon everything for Christ" (Vatican II, "Apostolicam Actuositatem, 4).

27. Christ "by suffering for us not only gave us an example so that we might follow in His footsteps, but He also opened up a way. If we follow that way, life and death becomes holy and acquire a new meaning" (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 22).

The way the Christian follows is that of imitating Christ. We can follow Him only if we help Him bear His cross. We all have experience of suffering, and suffering leads to unhappiness unless it is accepted with a Christian outlook. The Cross is not a tragedy: it is God's way of teaching us that through sin we can be sanctified, becoming one with Christ and winning Heaven as a reward. This is why it is so Christian to love pain: "Let us bless pain. Love pain. Sanctify pain....Glorify pain!" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 208).

28-35. Our Lord uses different examples to show that if mere human prudence means that a person should try to work out in advance the risks he may run, with all the more reason should a Christian embrace the cross voluntarily and generously, because there is no other way he can follow Jesus Christ. "`Quia hic homo coepit aedificare et non potuit consummare! He started to build and was unable to finish!' A sad commentary which, if you don't want, need be made about you: for you possess everything necessary to crown the edifice of your sanctification--the grace of God and your own will." ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 324).

33. Earlier our Lord spoke about "hating" one's parents and one's very life; now He equally vigorously requires us to be completely detached from possessions. This verse is a direct application of the two foregoing parables: just as a king is imprudent if he goes to war with an inadequate army, so anyone is foolish who thinks he can follow our Lord without renouncing all his possessions. This renunciation should really bite: our heart has to be unencumbered by anything material if we are able to follow in our Lord's footsteps. The reason is, as He tells us later on, that it is impossible to "serve God and Mammon" (Luke 16:13). Not infrequently our Lord asks a person to practice total, voluntary poverty; and He asks everyone to practice genuine detachment and generosity in the use of material things. If a Christian has to be ready to give up even life itself, with all the more reason should he renounce possessions: If you are a man of God, you will seek to despise riches as intensely as men of the world seek to possess them" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 633). See the note on Luke 12:33-34.

Besides, for a soul to become filled with God it must first be emptied of everything that could be an obstacle to God's indwelling: "The doctrine that the Son of God came to teach was contempt for all things in order to receive as a reward the Spirit of God in himself. For, as long as the soul does not reject all things, it has no capacity to receive the Spirit of God in pure transformation" (St. John of the Cross, "Ascent of Mount Carmel", Book 1, Chapter 5, 2).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Just for Today, November 5

Love is swift, sincere, pious, pleasant, and delightful; strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, cour­ageous, and never seeking itself: for where a man seeks himself, there he falls from love.
-Bk. III, ch. v.
________________

She knew that whilst we are upon this earth prayer may sometimes be wearisome, but that to persevere in it in spite of fatigue, is to unite ourselves to Our Lord in His agony in the garden. To a novice who told her that she was looking forward to her retreat as it would mean a peaceful rest, she said: "So you are going into retreat in order to enjoy a rest? I am going that I may give myself more completely to God. Remember what is said in the Imitation: Where a man seeks himself, there he falls from love."

-Esprit de Sainte Therese.
__________________
For more information, see this post.
Adapted from Just For Today(©1943 Burns & Oates)
Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Phillips, S.T.L.,Censor deputatus
Imprimatur: Edwardus Myers, Vic. Cap.

Thoughts of St Augustine for November 5

Lo, thy soul is at war. What soul and with whom at war? It is thy soul at war with God; a made soul against him by whom it was made. By the mere fact of thy existence and ability to cry out against him, thou art ungrateful.
_________________________
Click here for more information.

From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont

Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-November 5

A PAIN which still more afflicts the holy souls arises from the thought of having, during life, displeased by their sins that God whom they so ardently love. They understand far better than we do the claims God has to our love. Hence, at the thought of having offended him during life, they experience pain which surpasses every other pain.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927

Election Prayer by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

Lord Jesus Christ, You told us to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.

Enlighten the minds of our people [in] America.

May we choose a President of the United States, and other government officials, according to Your Divine Will.

Give our citizens the courage to choose leaders of our nation who respect the sanctity of unborn human life, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of marital relations, the sanctity of the family, and the sanctity of the aging.

Grant us the wisdom to give You, what belongs to You, our God.

If we do this, as a nation, we are confident You will give us an abundance of Your blessings through our elected leaders. Amen.

--------------
Composed by Father John Anthony Hardon, S.J.
Imprimatur: +Rene H. Gracida, Bishop of Corpus Christi, July 7, 1992
Published by Eternal Life in 1992

News Updates, 11/4

Catholic Bishop: Voters Who Support Pro-Abortion Obama Put Salvation at Risk
Kansas City, MO (LifeNews.com) -- In one of the most far-reaching statements about Catholics and the presidential election, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City has urged Catholics not to vote for Barack Obama.

Archbishop Chaput : Senator Obama Most Pro-Abortion Candidate Since Roe v Wade

AP Does Final Disservice to Voters, Hides Barack Obama's Pro-Abortion Stance
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Associated Press has done a final disservice to voters as it has through the presidential elections by hiding Barack Obama's pro-abortion stance....

Michigan Bishop to Voters: Abortion can Only be Outweighed by an Evil Equivalent "in Number and Kind"
Because abortion consists in the murder of about one million unborn children every year, says the bishop, "A Catholic can, in good conscience, vote for a pro-choice candidate only if other issues outweigh this one in number and in kind."

Many have Asked: Is Obama the Anti-Christ - Famed Novelist Michael O'Brien Answers

Hospital Doctor Is Accused Of Giving Lover Abortion Pill Crumbled Into Her Tea

Polite Catholic Barbarians at the Obama Moment
What has troubled me so deeply about the upcoming presidential election is that for the American Catholic voter the November 4 choice really should be a “no-brainer”. We shouldn’t have to think that deeply about our obligation to use our vote to protect the unborn. It shouldn’t be this difficult! Neither party loyalty, nor social issue concerns, nor even a healthy Catholic concern for the common good should ever distract Americans from our most pressing and urgent focus — the abortion holocaust.

Excommunication looms for St Mary's parishioners in Brisbane

USCCB To Probe Aid Directed to ACORN
The CCHD sent $1,037,000 to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) in 2007, including a $40,000 grant to an ACORN affiliate in Las Vegas that was raided last month by the Nevada attorney general's office in a voter-fraud probe.
[One of the reasons I give nothing to this group; this has been known to some or quites some time]

Many asking: Is Obama the Antichrist?
Novelist: 'He is a carrier of a deadly moral virus'

'O'Biden' plays up working-class, Catholic roots
Hopes to reach blue-collar workers in Republican land

Bishop Carlson on abortion and Catholic voters
'Right to life is the right through which all others flow'

First-ever Catholic-Muslim forum to open at Vatican
Three-day gathering opens 'new chapter' in long history

Abortion, the 'silent issue' in the election
Opponents don't feel any less strongly about it

El Paso Catholic bishop's open letter on voting
Church teaches voting is privilege and responsibility

Retired Catholic bishop guilty of sex abuse
Des Moins diocesan review board hands down verdict

Kindergarteners asked to sign 'gay pledge'
Calif. school teacher aimed to discourage harassment


Issues & Politics
_______________

Obama Tells Abbas: I Support Dividing Jerusalem
(IsraelNN.com) Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama privately expressed his support for a new Arab state within Israel's current borders, including eastern Jerusalem, during his meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah this summer.

Justice Souter denies Stay of Election
Justice Souter's Clerk has informed Mr. Berg that Mr. Berg's application for an injunction to stay the November 4th election has been denied...The defendants are required to respond to the Writ of Certiorari by December first, after which Mr. Berg will have an opportunity to respond.

Why I Will Vote for John McCain by Deal W. Hudson

NEW VIDEO of Black Panthers patrolling Philadelphia Polling Place
[Welcome to the Banana Republic of Obama]

Honest and Open Election Hotline
The McCain-Palin campaign launched the Honest and Open Election hotline to help citizens learn the location of their polling place, as well as report any instances of irregularities at the polls, including voter fraud, intimidation, violence and electioneering. The hotline can be accessed via phone at: 866-976-VOTE....

Shocking: Obama's Attack Ad On Himself (YouTube)

All Barack Obama Statements Come With an Expiration Date. All Of Them.
By popular demand, the list of expired Obama statements... Consumers should be aware that promises, pledged, and soul-healing rhetoric are only effective for a limited time; upon expiration they become "just words."

Aunt Zeituni's Protectors - Obama Incapable of Telling the Truth
Senior aides to Sen. Barack Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick were aware that Obama's aunt, Zeituni Onyango, was living in the United States illegally and in a South Boston public-housing project, and were monitoring her at the request of senior Obama campaign officials...

The Terrorist’s Candidate - Who gets Bill Ayers’ campaign cash? Only 'The One'

Makeup of U.S. Supreme Court Hangs in the Balance
A single appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court could decide whether Roe v. Wade remains the law. "This is a historic election," Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, told USA Today. "With the next president having the opportunity to appoint one, two or even more justices," the election could change the law "on the life issue."

Schumer on Fox: Fairness Doctrine ‘fair and balanced’
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday defended the so-called Fairness Doctrine in an interview on Fox News, saying, “I think we should all be fair and balanced, don’t you?”

Toledo Police brace for possible civil unrest
Issued riot gear

Obama Is Soul Of Sophomoric Self-Assurance
After the big gamble on subprime mortgages that led to the current financial crisis, is there going to be an even bigger gamble, by putting the fate of a nation in the hands of a man whose only qualifications are ego and mouth?

Barack Obama: Red Diaper Baby
Barack Obama is a "red diaper baby" who has spent his formative years -- literally from the moment of his birth -- interacting with members and sympathizers of the Communist Party, USA.

Gospel for Nov 4, Memorial: St. Charles Borromeo, bishop

Gospel for Tuesday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time
Old Calendar: St. Charles Borromeo; Sts. Vitalis and Agricola, martyrs

From: Luke 14:15-24

Parable of the Invited Guests

[15] When one of those who sat at table with Him (Jesus) heard this, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God!" [16] But He said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many; [17] and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, `Come; for all is now ready.' [18] But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, `I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused.' [19] And another said, `I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them; I pray you, have me excused.' [20] And another said, `I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' [21] So the servant came and reported this to his master. Then the householder in anger said to his servant, `Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.' [22] And the servant said, `Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' [23] And the master said to the servant, `Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. [24] For I tell you, none of those who were invited shall taste my banquet.'"
_____________________

Commentary:

15. In biblical language the _expression "to eat bread in the Kingdom of God" means sharing in eternal beatitude, of which this great banquet is a symbol (cf. Isaiah 25:6; Matthew 22:1-4).

16-24. If God invites someone to know Him in faith, he should sacrifice any human interest which gets in the way of replying to God's call, no matter how lawful and noble it be. The objections we tend to put for- ward, the duties we appeal to, are really just excuses. This is why the ungrateful invitees are blameworthy.

"Compel people to come in": it is not a matter of forcing anyone's freedom -- God does not want us to love Him under duress--but of helping a person to make right decisions, to shrug off any human respect, to avoid occasions of sin, to do what he can to discover the truth.... A person is "compelled to come in" through prayer, the example of a Christian life, friendship-- in a word, apostolate. "If in order to save an earthly life it is praiseworthy to use force to stop a man from committing suicide, are we not to be allowed use of the same force--holy coercion -- to save the Life (with a capital) of many who are stupidly bent on killing their souls?" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 399)
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Vote Wisely-The Future of Our Country & Our State Is at Stake

Sharing this this note, from Missourians Against Human Cloning:

Tomorrow could be the most important election of our time. I urge you to arm
yourselves with the facts regarding candidates and ballot issues and share those
facts with your friends and family. A few online resources for information on
candidates, judges and statewide ballot issues are:

MAHC Candidate Survey Results (updated)

Family Research Council Presidential Survey

Missouri Family Network

MetroVoice (provides links to other endorsements and
recommendations as well)

While a great deal of information regarding the Presidential candidates has been aired, published and emailed, one significant fact has NOT been widely publicized. You may well know Senator Obama supports human cloning and embryonic stem cell research and advocates using our tax dollars to fund this unethical research but did you realize he does NOT support funding adult stem cell research? He would deny funding to the broad arena of ethical stem cell research which is producing real cures and treatments and waste our tax dollars on destructive and unproductive human cloning (FRC Presidential Survey above).

I realize the Presidential campaign is critically important and garners most of our attention. However, we will also be electing five of our six statewide officials tomorrow. Every one of these offices provides a stark contrast between candidates who oppose human cloning and those who champion unethical human experimentation. The MAHC survey provides a clear key to those who support a true ban on human cloning and those who do not.

Lastly, thanks to all of you who have rolled up your sleeves and joined me in making a difference these last 40 days. We are down to the wire now.

Please make a few more phone calls.
Please send a few more emails.
Please help volunteer to help a campaign tomorrow.

Please, please, please VOTE WISELY!

Just for Today, November 4

Be not solicitous for the shadow of a great name; neither seek to be familiarly acquainted with many, nor to be particularly loved by men. For these things beget distractions and great darkness in the heart.
-Bk. III, ch. xxiv.

Nature rejoices in a multitude of friends and kindred; she glories in the nobility of her stock and descent: she fawns on them that are in power, flatters the rich and applauds such as are like herself.

But grace loves even her enemies, and is not puffed up with having a great many friends, nor has any value for family or birth, unless when joined with greater virtue.
-Bk. III, ch. liv.
_____________

Celine and I found ourselves in the midst of Society people, who made up the bulk of the pilgrimage, but we were not in the least dazzled by their titles. I under­stood the reference in the Imitation to the shadow of a great name, and that greatness is not to be found in a name, but in the soul. Isaias says that: The Lord God shall call his servants by another name (Is. lxv, 15), and we read in the Apocalypse: To him that overcometh I will give a white counter, and in the counter a new name written, which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it
(Apoc. ii, 17). It is only when we reach Heaven that we shall learn what are our titles of nobility, for then shall every man have praise from God (I Cor. iv, 5). He who chose to be poor and unknown on earth for the love of Christ will then be the first, the richest, and the most noble.

-The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme).
__________________
For more information, see this post.
Adapted from Just For Today(©1943 Burns & Oates)
Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Phillips, S.T.L.,Censor deputatus
Imprimatur: Edwardus Myers, Vic. Cap.

Thoughts of St Augustine for November 4

IT is nought to preach the truth if the heart be at variance with the tongue; it is nought to hear the truth if no fruit follow upon the hearing.
_________________________
Click here for more information.

From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont

Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-November 4

ANOTHER pain which tortures these blessed souls is the terrible appearance of the sins for which they are suffering. In this life the deformity of sin is not understood; but in the next it is fully comprehended.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927

An open letter to our fellow Catholics on Election Eve

by Edward Morrissey and Elizabeth “The Anchoress” Scalia

Many of our Catholic friends support Barack Obama in the upcoming election, despite being the most radically pro-abortion presidential candidate in American history. Other Catholics have publicly declared support for Obama as Catholics, arguing that their faith leads them to choose Obama over the pro-life candidate, John McCain. We believe that they have overlooked in their arguments of “social justice” the foundation of our faith and of social justice: the sanctity of human life, and its origin.

It is not our intent to argue legalistically from the Catechism to our brethren. We have both covered that extensively in posts over the last few months. We want to remind our parishioners of the central fact that social justice has to start with the protection of innocent human life, and that our faith does not allow a trade between abortion and other social-justice policies....

HLI: Commending the Bishops

Faithful Catholics in the US have been both stunned and gratified by the recent show of episcopal strength in dealing with the heretical nonsense of “Catholics” in public life who clearly misrepresent the Church’s teaching on vital issues. To date, more than fifty bishops have spoken out about this kind of misconduct or issued guidelines about voting at this critical juncture in our nation’s history. The trend is truly heartening. Let’s pray that it continues! Much more could be done, of course, but I am grateful that more bishops are standing up to strengthen and protect the faith of millions. Many have been longing for this show of valor from our fathers in the faith—and yes, they are our spiritual fathers. When they are strong, we are strong; and when they are weak—the flock is ravaged by wolves....

Nor can we fail to mention the strong pro-life stances of Archbishops Burke (now in Rome) and Chaput (Denver) as well as Bishops Vasa (Baker, OR), Farrell and Vann (Dallas, TX), Martino (Scranton, PA) and Mallooly (Wilmington, DE) who are representatives of a group of other bishops who have made their voices heard forcefully on the Catholic voting issue....

News Updates, 11/3

Cardinal Martini's Jesus Would Never Have Written "Humanae Vitae" (Chiesa)

Poll: Barack Obama Unable to Win Churchgoing Americans Due to Abortion
Barack Obama tried speaking their language and made repeated overtures to active church-going American voters during the election

Opinion: This Catholic Will Vote for Life and for the Children

Obama Can't Fool God Voters-- "Messiah" Draws Less Support Than Kerry
Barack Obama tried to bamboozle religious voters this year with outrageous and dishonest mock "Pro-Life" websites paid for by George Soros

Vatican dragging its feet over Pius XII files?
Jews demand opening of secret archives from wartime

'2,000-year-old Jesus box' may not be a fake
Jerusalem forgery trial nears collapses

Niece of MLK Suports McCain
Dr. Alveda King works with Father Frank Pavone (PFL) in the Gospel of Life Ministry. She personally supports and will vote for McCain-Palin

“Unadulterated scandal”Head of San Francisco Catholic Charities and local priest give money to No on 8 campaign; two Southern California priests donate to ‘Obama for America’

Pope may freeze Pius XII sainthood process
...until historical archives can be opened

Pope says nature is not chaos
Creator's intervention cannot be limited to beginning

Keeping Catholic charities Catholic
Vatican dispatches cardinal to meet with U.S. bishops on proper role of Church’s humanitarian agencies

Mystery surrounds Jesuit priests' killing in Moscow
Russian investigators have suggested murder-suicide

Christians praying for Election Day miracles
Faithful turn to higher power on candidates' behalf

Will Obama win the white Catholic vote?
Surveys by Pew Research suggest 'Roman victory'

Issues & Politics
___________

New Marston Prediction: McCain by 52 Electoral Votes
An elections expert, Paul Marston, is staking his 45-year reputation on a public prediction that McCain-Palin will win. He bases this on an analysis that assumes the major pollsters are ignoring the "PUMA Factor."

Obama Plan Would Hurt Seniors First and Foremost

Let there be no mistake. While a capital gains rate increase would hurt American corporations, and therefore American jobs, by lessening the total amount of money invested in them, the most devastating affect would be on the seniors of our nation. Seniors who have spent a lifetime accumulating some form of savings and seniors who rely on their IRAs as their main source of income would all see their taxes go up under the Obama plan...

Obama camp spies endgame in Oregon
JIMMY CARTER II
[Obama tells Americans no more SUVs or 72 degree homes]

Joe the Plumber was Right!



Bull awaits Obama win in Kogelo village

Barack Obama; The Unauthorized Biography Of A Marxist, Obama’s Factual Family Story

*** Have You Vetted Barack Obama? We Have ***
Ladies, When You Vote Remember: The Song Obama Played the Night He Announced He Would be the Democratic Nominee was "I Got 99 Problems But a Bitch Ain't One"

Former Sec of State on Fox" We are about to elect a Con man called OBAMA (YouTube)
Lawrence Eagleburger , Sec of state under Bush I, said this morning that the US is on the verge of electing a CON MAN, named Barack OBAMA...

Ohio Coal Association Says Obama Remarks Make It Clear: Obama Ticket Not Supportive of Coal
[Obama will do all he can to destroy America and capitalism]

*** Ayers Advises Obama on Regular Basis? in constant contact says source close to Obama candidacy ***
The relationship between the Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate Barack Obama and Bill Ayers...is deeper and closer than currently understood, according to an individual who has had a senior role in the Obama candidacy that has included direct contact with the candidate.

LGF Exclusive: Bill Ayers' 'Prairie Fire' in PDF Form

Osama is Pulling Hard for Barack
(by Michael Scheuer, ran CIA operations against al Qaeda)

Obama Gives McCain the Middle Finger Salute
[Who wipes his face with his middle finger? This demonstrates the chronic immaturity and mental prioblems of this depicable creature. He did the exact same thing to Hillary.]

Judge Dismisses Obama Birth Certificate Challenge
A Connecticut judge dismissed a lawsuit Monday that alleged election fraud and questioned whether Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was qualified to appear on the ballot for Election Day.

2 Forms of Identification *REQUIRED* to Attend Obamapalooza[While no ID/Proof of citizenship needed to run for President]

Obama’s Real Agenda On Coal Now Clear (Wheeling News Register)

Obama: Energy Prices Will Skyrocket Under My Cap and Trade Plan

Few Details Known About Obama’s Three Weeks in Pakistan
As the presidential election campaign draws to a close, unanswered questions about Barack Obama’s three-week visit to Pakistan 27 years ago continue to cause unease in some quarters, but his campaign has revealed few details.

Death to America? Schumer Vows Big Changes on 'Issue After Issue' in Next Senate

Syrian Government Newspapers Back Obama
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Syrian government newspapers are endorsing Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama. “All Arabs prefer Obama over [Republican Presidential candidate John] McCain,” columnist Eid Abu Sika wrote in the Syrian government daily Al-Ba’th.

Say Goodbye to America (The American Thinker)
No matter who wins Tuesday America is going to be a different country.

Arabic paper editorial: "America begins its OBAMA INTIFADA"
The editor of the arabic paper "Al Quds Al Arabi", Abdelbari Atwane, who was also the first journalist to meet Usama Bin Ladin in the 1990s, wrote an enthusiastic editorial today, November 3, 2008. Under the title "The historical Obama Intifada", he writes that "except a major catastrophy, Obama will be elected President of the United States and the American people will launch an historical Intifada."

Obama Promises Supreme Court That Will Destroy Second Amendment
[Lock and Load?]

Reclaiming our country
(the Communist Party USA's veiled endorsement of Obama)

Jerrold Nadler admits Obama is "Not Politically Courageous" YouTube
Representative Nadler (NY-D) on why Obama attended Wright's Church: "This is not going to be complimentary to Senator Obama ..... he didn't have the political courage to make a statement and walk out."

Claire McCaskill Changes B.Hussein Obama's Tax Numbers Again
[She's an Obamabot, this is expected]< Former Ron Paul Senior Aide: Libertarians Must Back McCain/Palin
I now believe, two days before Election Day, that this campaign is just too critical to risk on such a strategy, and if Libertarians won’t put the liberty of our country ahead of our party ambitions, who else in this country will?

Gore Vidal Signs Open Letter to Obama Urging Him Not to Concede Even If He Loses

Obama Channeling Chairman Mao? - "Righteous wind"
From the writings of Chairman Mao:
"The ill wind of opportunism is falling, the righteous wind of socialism is on the rise.By the end of this year the victory of socialism will be greatly assured. Naturally there will be many struggles ahead and we must struggle hard."

Obama Supports Abortion and Black Genocide -YouTube
"Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood's so-called "Negro Project" is alive and well as the most pro-abortion candidate in American history promises to not only protect Roe v. Wade but to use the presidency and his judicial appointments to push an even more radical social agenda."

Obama's plans for the coal industry: “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can,” Obama said. “It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.”

Coal Official Calls Obama Comments 'UNBELIEVABLE'

[Spread the poverty, baby!!!]

Palin kicks Obama/Biden in the face over gutting the coal industry (video)
"Really, media folks: the next time a Presidential candidate casually announces that he's going to slowly strangle the industry that provides us with half of our electrical power, cover it as it happens. Letting us run with it two days before an election is kind of contraindicated, at least from your point of view"...

How The Times followed a trail to find Barack Obama’s aunt

Calls slam Obama in coal country
(Wake up America or we will all be bankrupt)

Another Obama buddy: Beyond audacity
Obama continues to support Penny Pritzker -- the disgraced billionaire hotel heiress who helped sink a major bank that used subprime mortgage machinations -- as she helps fund his crusade. Ms. Pritzker is the finance chairwoman overseeing Obama's fundraising and a "bundler" who has pledged to personally raise between $200,000 and $500,000 for him...

"A Light Will Shine Down, From Somewhere, It Will Alight Upon You, You Will Experience An Epiphany, And You Will Say To Yourself, I Have To Vote For Barack!"

Gospel for Monday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time

Optional Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, religious
Old Calendar: Hubert of Liege

From: Luke 14:12-14

Attitude to the Poor

[12] He (Jesus) said to the man who had invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. [13] But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, [14] and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."
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Commentary:

14. A Christian acts in the world in the same way anyone else does; but his dealings with his colleagues and others should not be based on pursuit of reward or vainglory: the first thing he should seek is God's glory, desiring Heaven as his only reward (cf. Luke 6:32-34).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Just for Today, November 3

Oh, now exceedingly necessary is Thy grace for me, O Lord, to begin that which is good, to go forward with it, and to accomplish it! Without it I can do nothing: but I can do all things in Thee, strengthened by Thy grace.
-Bk. III, ch. lv.
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You told me to feed your lambs, as Our Lord once said to St Peter (she was novice-mistress in all but name). I was astonished, thinking myself incapable, and begged you to feed them yourself, allowing me to be of their number. Giving way to some extent, you named me first amongst them, rather than their mistress.

How is it that my youth and inexperience caused you no anxiety? There are few souls on earth who do not measure God's omnipotence by their own limited ideas. The world will have exceptions everywhere, but denies God the right to make them. It has always been the way of men to assess experience by length of years, for the youthful Psalmist sang: I am very young and despised (Ps. cxviii, 141). But in the same psalm he says: I have had understanding above ancients: because I have sought thy commandments. Thy word is a lamp, and a light to my paths. I am ready and am not troubled.

-The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme).
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For more information, see this post.
Adapted from Just For Today(©1943 Burns & Oates)
Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Phillips, S.T.L.,Censor deputatus
Imprimatur: Edwardus Myers, Vic. Cap.

Thoughts of St Augustine for November 3

THIS river of mortality he passes easily who passes humbly - that is, on foot, taking care not to be swept away by the current of covetousness, or perishable things, taking him for his guide who passed before, and drank of the torrent of the way even unto death.
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Click here for more information.

From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont

Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-November 3

ANOTHER pain which greatly torments the holy souls in Purgatory arises from the remembrance of the time which they have lost, and in which they might have merited so much glory in paradise, and from the con­viction that this loss is now irreparable; for after death the time of merit is at end.
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From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927

He said do no harm...

The author of a letter in the Belleville News Democrat picks up on a phrase uttered by B. Hussein Obama/Soetoro in the 3rd debate:

The Hippocratic Oath, attributed to a 5th century B.C. Greek physician, was referred to by Sen. Barack Obama in the third presidential debate in support of his opposition to legislation designed to protect children who are born alive. Opposing protection of human life, even after abortion has not terminated that life, makes Obama not only the most extreme pro-abortion presidential candidate ever, but also the most extreme ever to serve in Congress, according to Robert George, professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University.

The real irony here is that the original Hippocratic Oath stated: "I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy."

Deletions from Hippocrates' principles, including his interdictions against abortion and euthanasia, have been occurring since the 1960s. The obvious shift in emphasis from serving the sick to claims to benefit "humanity" has an alarming, maybe even tyrannical, ring to it.

Hippocrates would surely be astounded at the distortions of his oath in today's politically correct "ethical" environment, and stunned at the invocation of his oath to defend abortion and infanticide.

Robert E. Hurley M.D.
Alton

Source (with more letters) here.

My Latest Email from Heretics for Obama

'Catholics' United (to Satan) sent out a blast email (see related story here) Saturday:

What are you going to find on your car after Mass tomorrow?

Dear Supporter,

I'm writing to you tonight from suburban Philadelphia, where a team of Catholics United activists [heretics] is helping to protect parishes from attempts to leaflet church parking lots with partisan voting guides and other unapproved election materials.

Unapproved? Apparently these people think that authentically Catholic voters guides are, ipso facto, unapproved or unworthy of approval and they represent a clear and present danger to uninformed Catholics?

The good news is that we are finding it very easy to stop this potentially illegal activity. All we had to do tonight was let parish ushers know what was going on - they immediately asked the leafleters to leave! We're getting reports like this from members elsewhere in the country, in places like Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

We wonder exactly what is illegal with truly Catholic guides? Fr Frank Pavove indicates that this attempt to stifle others may be illegal. He says:

"Please inform those to whom you communicate that they might also want to alert their pastors that a large number of people are ready to file lawsuits against any individual or institution who tries to intimidate or prevent citizens from fostering the electoral process or informing their fellow citizens about the candidates..."

I would have loved to see one of the bozos outside of Church this morning trying to restrict the lawful expression of one's right to speak the truth...But these Obama supporters have as much courage as their earthly leader - zilch!

Please join our effort by keeping watch over your parish parking lot during Mass tomorrow morning. If you see partisan activists placing unapproved literature on your fellow parishioners' cars, tell someone. It's our right and our duty to protect the sacred space of our churches from this sort of electioneering, and to defend parishes from potentially illegal activity.

In Peace,
Chris Korzen
Executive Director

I'm going to write this professed Catholic and see if he can tell me what I should consider 'unapproved' - the literature on my car this money did not back B Hussein Obama so I'm certain that it would fall into that category...

I wonder if "it's our right and our duty to protect the sacred space" of life in the womb - of protecting unborn children from intentional genocide? Certainly not for 'Catholics' United!

I'll let you know if there is a response