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	<title>AirMaria.com &#187; Politics</title>
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	<description>Bringing the Immaculate to the World</description>
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	<category>Christianity</category>
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	<itunes:summary>Bringing the Immaculate to the World</itunes:summary>
	<itunes:keywords>Christian, Catholic, AirMaria.com, Franciscan, Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, F.I., FFI, Friars</itunes:keywords>
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	<itunes:author>AirMaria.com</itunes:author>
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		<itunes:name>AirMaria.com</itunes:name>
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		<item>
		<title>Ten Years Later: Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them O Lord</title>
		<link>http://airmaria.com/2011/09/11/ten-years-later-eternal-rest-grant-unto-them-o-lord/</link>
		<comments>http://airmaria.com/2011/09/11/ten-years-later-eternal-rest-grant-unto-them-o-lord/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 11 Sep 2011 12:46:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>apostolate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World Review]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airmaria.com/?p=21655</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At 8:46 a.m., five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center&#8217;s North Tower (1 WTC) and at 9:03 a.m. another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower (2 WTC). There were a total of 2,996 deaths, including the 19 hijackers and 2,977 victims. The victims that day [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://airmaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Twin-Towers.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-21656" title="Twin Towers" src="http://airmaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Twin-Towers-1024x690.jpg" alt="" width="430" height="291" /></a></p>
<p>At 8:46 a.m., five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center&#8217;s North Tower (1 WTC) and at 9:03 a.m. another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower (2 WTC). There were a total of 2,996 deaths, including the 19 hijackers and 2,977 victims. The victims that day included one Franciscan Priest, while he was performing his priestly duties on the injured and dead.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Living your Faith in the Public Square</title>
		<link>http://airmaria.com/2011/08/25/living-your-faith-in-the-public-square/</link>
		<comments>http://airmaria.com/2011/08/25/living-your-faith-in-the-public-square/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:00:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JosephMary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ave Maria Meditations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Catholic Action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Catholic Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Franciscan Things]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JosephMary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religious Liberty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saints]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Archbishop Chaput]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[St. Louis]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airmaria.com/?p=20786</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ave Maria Meditations Today is the Feast of the Patron of the Third Order of St. Francis, St. Louis the King.  He lived his faith with conviction and publicly.  Here is a meditation on this topic  from a modern Franciscan who is presently the Archbishop of Denver and soon to be the Archbishop of Philadelphia: [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Ave Maria Meditations</p>
<p><img class="alignleft" src="http://www.st-louis.org/images/louisweb.jpg" alt="" width="149" height="197" /></p>
<p>Today is the Feast of the Patron of the Third Order of St. Francis, St. Louis the King.  He lived his faith with conviction and publicly.  Here is a meditation on this topic  from a modern Franciscan who is presently the Archbishop of Denver and soon to be the Archbishop of Philadelphia:</p>
<p align="justify">
<p align="justify">&#8220;Speak in the light&#8221;</p>
<p align="justify">
<p>Cardinal Henri de Lubac: once wrote that &#8220;It is not true &#8230; that man cannot organize the world without God. What is true is that, without God, [man] can ultimately only organize it against man. Exclusive humanism is inhuman humanism &#8230; &#8221;</p>
<p>Living within the truth means<span id="more-20786"></span> living according to Jesus Christ and God&#8217;s Word in Sacred Scripture. It means proclaiming the truth of the Christian Gospel, not only by our words but by our example. It means living everyday and every moment from the unshakeable conviction that God lives, and that his love is the motive force of human history and the engine of every authentic human life. It means believing that the truths of the Creed are worth suffering and dying for. Living within the truth also means telling the truth and calling things by their right names. And that means exposing the lies by which some men try to force others to live.</p>
<p>The world urgently needs a re-awakening of the Church in our actions and in our public and private witness &#8230; We need really to believe what we say we believe. Then we need to prove it by the witness of our lives. We need to be so convinced of the truths of the Creed that we are on fire to live by these truths, to love by these truths, and to defend these truths, even to the point of our own discomfort and suffering.</p>
<p>We are ambassadors of the living God to a world that is on the verge of forgetting Him. Our work is to make God real; to be the face of his love; to propose once more to the men and women of our day, the dialogue of salvation…The form of the Church, and the form of every Christian life, is the form of the cross. Our lives must become a liturgy, a self-offering that embodies the love of God and the renewal of the world &#8230; Let us preach Jesus Christ with all the energy of our lives. And let us support each other &#8211; whatever the cost &#8211; so that when we make our accounting to the Lord, we will be numbered among the faithful and courageous, and not the cowardly or the evasive, or those who compromised until there was nothing left of their convictions or those who were silent when they should have spoken the right word at the right time.</p>
<p>Archbishop Charles Chaput OFM Cap, Archbishop of Denver.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>St. Thomas More: Franciscan Saint and Martyr</title>
		<link>http://airmaria.com/2011/06/22/20023/</link>
		<comments>http://airmaria.com/2011/06/22/20023/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JosephMary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ave Maria Meditations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Catholic Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Devotional]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Franciscan Things]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JosephMary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pope John Paul II]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religious Liberty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saints]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spiritual Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Franciscan saints]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Martyrs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[st thomas more]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airmaria.com/?p=20023</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ave Maria Meditations THE KING&#8217;S GOOD SERVANT BUT GOD&#8217;S FIRST&#8230; St. Thomas More, a Franciscan Tertiary, has been named the patron for lawyers and politicians.  This holy and wholly Catholic man was a husband and father in addition to being a lawyer and became Lord Chancellor of England so much was he respected and regarded [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;">Ave Maria Meditations</p>
<p><img class="alignleft" src="http://www.allenhall.org.uk/images/tour/chapel005.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="343" /></p>
<p><strong>THE KING&#8217;S GOOD SERVANT BUT GOD&#8217;S FIRST&#8230;</strong></p>
<p>St. Thomas More, a Franciscan Tertiary, has been named the patron for lawyers and politicians.  This holy and wholly Catholic man was a husband and father in addition to being a lawyer and became Lord Chancellor of England so much was he respected and regarded in his own time. He was beheaded in witness of the Truths of the Faith in 1535.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Blessed Pope John Paul II would write of him: </span><strong>“Precisely because<span id="more-20023"></span> of the witness which he bore, even at the price of his life, to the primacy of truth over power, Saint Thomas More is venerated as an imperishable example of moral integrity. And even outside the Church, particularly among those with responsibility for the destinies of peoples, he is acknowledged as a source of inspiration for a political system which has as its supreme goal the service of the human person.”</strong> </span></p>
<p>Sir Thomas More would not compromise on two tenets of the Catholic faith: the primacy of the papacy and the dignity of marriage.  When imprisoned before his martyrdom, he would write. The following are just a few quotes from these writings, particularly from a book called “A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation”:</p>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><span style="color: #800000; font-size: small;"><em>Now those without patience can have no reward for their pain, but when pain is patiently taken for God’s sake, and the sufferer’s will is conformed to God’s pleasure, God regards the sufferer in proportion to the pain. But never have I found any place in Scripture where Our Lord promised a wealthy person, even if that person did thank God for his gifts, any reward in heaven for having taken his ease and pleasure here. (&#8220;We do not </em>go to heaven in featherbeds”)…<em>in Scripture much commends tribulation as a more profitable circumstance than wealth and prosperity.</em></span></strong></span></div>
<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #800000;"><em><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">We shall consider tribulation a gracious gift from God, a gift that He specially gives His special friends…if God does not send it, people need to seek out and put upon themselves by penance, a thing that helps purge our past sins; a think that preserves us from sins that we would otherwise commit; a thing that causes us to attach less importance to the world; a thin that incites us to draw closer to God; a thing that greatly diminishes our pains in purgatory; a thing that greatly increases our final reward in Heaven…if we reflect on these things and remember them well, we shall not murmur or complain in a time of tribulation. Instead we shall first of all take our pain patiently and see it as something of worth.  And then we shall realize that God has sent if for our own good and so be moved to thank God for it.  As a consequence, our grace shall increase and God shall give us the comfort of realizing that He is, in the midst of our trouble, always close.</span></span></em></span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #800000;"><em><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">I find, then, that one great part f the terror of the nights is the fault of faintheartedness: that fearful and feeble disposition, that is, which causes some people to be afraid where there is no need to be afraid. The fault of faintheartedness first causes people in tribulation to become impatient.  The fault of faintheartedness, or a timed spirit, also often prevents people from doing many good things which, if they acquired a strong spirit by trusting in God’s help, they would be well able to do. The devil, however not only puts them in a state of cowardice but also makes them take it as humility to think themselves unfit for an incapable of many a good thing that God has given them the opportunity and has made them well suited to do. Such folks need to lift up their hearts and call upon God.  All this fear comes by scheming of the devil.</span></span></em></span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">St. Thomas More, pray for us!  Help us to never compromise on the Truths of the faith, no matter the cost.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8220;They will persecute you&#8230;&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://airmaria.com/2011/03/28/they-will-persecute-you/</link>
		<comments>http://airmaria.com/2011/03/28/they-will-persecute-you/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:00:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JosephMary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Anti-Catholicism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ave Maria Meditations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JosephMary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Priesthood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spiritual Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fr. Walter Ciszek]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[persecution]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airmaria.com/?p=18264</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ave Maria Meditations No, I was not helpless or worthless or useless in that prison. I was not terribly humiliated because I was rejected as a priest. These men around me were suffering, they needed help. They needed someone to listen to them with sympathy, someone to comfort them, someone to give them courage to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center">Ave Maria Meditations</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><img class="alignnone" src="http://www.ignatius.com/Content/Site107/ProductImages/WGIR-M.jpg" alt="" width="114" height="160" /></p>
<p>No, I was not helpless or worthless or useless in that prison. I was not terribly humiliated because I was rejected as a priest. These men around me were suffering, they needed help. They needed someone to listen to them with sympathy, someone to comfort them, someone to give them courage to carry on. They needed someone who was not feeling sorry for himself but who could truly share in their sorrow. They needed someone who was not looking for consolation but who could console. They needed someone who was not looking for respect and admi­ration because of what he was but someone who could show them love and respect even if spurned and rejected himself.</p>
<p>As Christ had set the example for me, so could I be to them an example of Christian charity and concern. If nothing else, if they insisted upon shunning me, I could at least pray for them and offer up for them to the Father of us all the suffering and anguish that their rejection of me as a priest caused me. Christ had prayed for his persecutors, &#8220;Father, forgive them.&#8221; If I could do nothing else at this moment in the prison at Perm, I could do that.<span id="more-18264"></span></p>
<p>God does not ask the impossible of any man. He was not asking more of me, really, than he asks of every man, every Christian, each day of his life. He was asking only that I learn to see these suffering men around me, these circumstances in the prison at Perm, as sent from his hand and ordained by his providence. He was asking me to do something, as another Christ; to forget about self and feeling sorry for myself, and to act in the situation after the exam­ple of Christ himself &#8230; That was all he was asking of me or expecting of me &#8230; I had to learn to believe that, no matter what the circumstances, and to act accordingly &#8211; with complete trust and confidence in his will, his wisdom, and his grace.</p>
<p>Fr. Walter Ciszek, SJ</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Vatican denounces the “intransigent religious intolerance” of the Chinese Government</title>
		<link>http://airmaria.com/2010/12/20/vatican-denounces-the-%e2%80%9cintransigent-religious-intolerance%e2%80%9d-of-the-chinese-government/</link>
		<comments>http://airmaria.com/2010/12/20/vatican-denounces-the-%e2%80%9cintransigent-religious-intolerance%e2%80%9d-of-the-chinese-government/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:04:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>apostolate</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Anti-Catholicism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[From the Web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pope Benedict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Catholic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dialogue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religious Freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vatican]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airmaria.com/?p=16837</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[December 17, 2010. The Vatican has accused China of oppressing religious freedom and says that attempts to control the conscience of its citizens and interfere in the internal affairs of the Catholic Church does no credit to Beijing. In a strongly worded statement, the Vatican said their attitude is a sign of fear, weakness and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/C8PJjHr3Rm8?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/C8PJjHr3Rm8?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br />
December 17, 2010. The Vatican has accused China of oppressing religious freedom and says that attempts to control the conscience of its citizens and interfere in the internal affairs of the Catholic Church does no credit to Beijing. In a strongly worded statement, the Vatican said  their attitude is a sign of fear, weakness and intransigent intolerance. The report also states that Beijing has “unilaterally damaged the climate of trust and dialogue” that had developed between the Vatican and the government.</p>
<p>via <a href="http://www.romereports.com/palio/Vatican-denounces-the-intransigent-religious-intolerance-of-the-Chinese-Government-english-3256.html">Vatican denounces the “intransigent religious intolerance” of the Chinese Government</a>.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>A Bishop&#8217;s Prayer for the 40 Days for Life</title>
		<link>http://airmaria.com/2010/09/24/a-bishops-prayer-for-the-40-days-for-life/</link>
		<comments>http://airmaria.com/2010/09/24/a-bishops-prayer-for-the-40-days-for-life/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Sep 2010 19:00:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JosephMary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ave Maria Meditations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Devotional]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JosephMary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prayer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pro-Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spiritual Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vote Pro-Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[one minute meditation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airmaria.com/?p=14799</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One Minute Meditation Daily Prayer for 40 Days for Life Fall Campaign: Heavenly Father, we praise you and give you thanks for all your wonderful blessings. You are the Source and Fountain of Life. We acknowledge you as Lord, not only of individuals but of countries and governments as well. Awaken in every heart reverence [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center">One Minute Meditation</p>
<p><img class="alignnone" src="http://www.40daysforlife.com/images/arms_pic.jpg" alt="" width="455" height="151" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center"><strong>Daily Prayer for 40 Days for Life Fall Campaign:</strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Heavenly Father, we praise you and give you thanks for all your wonderful blessings. You are the Source and Fountain of Life. We acknowledge you as Lord, not only of individuals but of countries and governments as well. Awaken in every heart reverence for the work of your hands. All human life is sacred from the first moment of conception to natural death for it is created in your image and likeness. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Jesus, the firstborn of all creation, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Have mercy on us, on our families and our country. Accept our prayers and fasting in atonement for the tragic sin of abortion in the world, especially in our country. By the merits of your precious blood, shed for our redemption, instill in all hearts a profound respect for life and bring about an end to abortion, euthanasia, and every other assault on innocent human life. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Come, Holy Spirit, strengthen us and give us courage to work tirelessly to promote a true Culture of Life, whether in season or out of season &#8211; a culture that recognizes the dignity and sanctity of every person. Raise up men and women to serve in public office who will work tirelessly for the protection of all human life. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Blessed Mary, Mother of God, and our Mother, you bore the Author of Life in your womb, by your intercession may our hearts be conformed to yours so that we might accept, nurture, and cherish all human life. Sacred heart of Jesus, pierced for love of our love, we trust in your mercy and goodness. Amen. </em></strong></p>
<p>Written by Bishop James D. Conley, Auxiliary Bishop of Denver</p>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small"> </span></div>
<p><span style="font-size: x-small"> </p>
<p></span></p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Combatting the Greatest Evil of our Times: the 40 Days for Life Campaign</title>
		<link>http://airmaria.com/2010/09/21/combatting-the-greatest-evil-of-our-times-the-40-days-for-life-campaign/</link>
		<comments>http://airmaria.com/2010/09/21/combatting-the-greatest-evil-of-our-times-the-40-days-for-life-campaign/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:00:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JosephMary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ave Maria Meditations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Catholic Action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JosephMary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pro-Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spiritual Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vote Pro-Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[40 Days for Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abortion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fr Euteneuer]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://airmaria.com/?p=14342</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Please join in the prayer effort during these 40 days: September 22nd-October 31st.  For more information see www.40daysforlife.com A Chilean saint, Fr. Alberto Hurtado (d. 1952), often repeated the saying of the famous French priest, Lacordaire, in speaking of the pathway to holiness: “It is proper for the noblest hearts to discover the most urgent [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center">Please join in the prayer effort during these 40 days: September 22nd-October 31st.  For more information see <a href="http://www.40daysforlife.com">www.40daysforlife.com</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.40daysforlife.com/images/spring10riverside4sm.jpg" alt="" width="232" height="183" /></p>
<p>A Chilean saint, Fr. Alberto Hurtado (d. 1952), often repeated the saying of the famous French priest, Lacordaire, in speaking of the pathway to holiness<strong>: “It is proper for the noblest hearts to discover the most urgent need of their epoch and to consecrate themselves to it.&#8221;</strong> Saints always have their feet on the ground and their minds on God or at least trying to discern the Will of God for the transformation of their societies. In this perspective there is little doubt that many of those who strive for holiness today will consecrate themselves to the most urgent need of our epoch: namely, putting an end to the wholesale slaughter of the innocents by modern day Herods and Pharaohs. It is to this end that this little book is written. This manual is meant to shake people up and call them to the battle to save lives and souls. The day is far gone and the need has grown increasingly urgent.</p>
<p>Modern American society and, by extension, the rest of the world that is influenced by American politics and culture, is be­ systematically dismantled before our very eyes by a spiritual e of evil that is not recognized as such. If the devil were to appear to the children of this age as he truly is, in all his ugli­ness and horror, he would be roundly rejected. So, of course he doesn’t<em> </em>appear as he truly is. This clever being, it is said, &#8220;disguises himself as an angel of light&#8221;(2 Cor 11:14)3 and has found count­less illusory costumes in which to conduct his evil, all the while maintaining an appearance of political correctness and accept­ability in polite society. Real Christians don&#8217;t fall for his deceit, though. We have eyes to see the truth because we are followers of the Truth, and it&#8217;s time to &#8220;consecrate&#8221; ourselves to the Truth in a new and bold way. <span id="more-14342"></span></p>
<p>The idea that the devil is &#8220;prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour&#8221; (1 Pt 5:8) is not new, but most people are uncomfortable with the idea that the devil could be operating so freely in <em>their </em>world. Yet, those of us who have battled the mono­lith of abortion at close quarters have more than an intuition that abortion has a preternatural strength behind it and that it clouds the minds of men and women with a truly demonic perversion of values. The killing of babies as a form of sacrifice to demons has been roundly condemned by God and His Church from the time of the prophets to the present, but sometimes even the ex­ternal face of the dirty business of child sacrifice shows a consis­tency from one generation to the next. For example, the newly ­dedicated Planned Parenthood killing center in Houston, Texas (2010) has an architectural design that looks uncannily like an Aztec pyramid, where the practice of human sacrifices took place for generations. The existence of demons transcends human time, so it is not surprising that the forms of their idolatrous worship should look fairly similar in different cultures and times.</p>
<p>It is a theme of the spiritual life that when an evil is practiced clandestinely for a long period of time, eventually it sheds its in­visible covering and vaunts itself in its hideous garb. Furthermore, God in His Mercy has programmed reality in this way to expose the nefarious spiritual forces of the underworld for the eyes of all to see. Those who do not reject demons on the basis of faith may then reject them when they see with their own eyes the horrible works of their spiritual hands.</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Immense Evil Needs Immense Good to Combat </span></strong><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">It</span></strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>A spiritual evil like abortion needs a spiritual force of good to break its power and drive it out of this world. The abortion in­dustry is not just powerful in worldly terms, nor is it just to be understood in its human dimensions. No human being or group of humans on their own can commit such immense atrocities against the human race without a diabolical intelligence and malice giving it power. The scope of the killing, the fervor of abortion&#8217;s missionaries of death and the seductive for~e of its ideology transcend the human intellect and will.</p>
<p>Erik Holmberg, in his 1988 documentary, <span style="text-decoration: underline">M</span><em>assacre of Innocence, </em>very aptly details the effects of this evil in our world. Hee titles a section of his film, &#8220;The Effects of Child Sacrifice,&#8221; and lists six frightening results of such unfettered evil in our world. Abortion, he says,</p>
<p><strong>1.</strong><strong>   </strong><strong>Destroys human life; </strong></p>
<p><strong>2.</strong><strong>   </strong><strong>Breaks God&#8217;s commandments and thereby puts the nation under a curse; </strong></p>
<p><strong>3.</strong><strong>   </strong><strong>Opens the door for and empowers demonic spirits; </strong></p>
<p><strong>4.</strong><strong>   </strong><strong>Binds the practitioners to the demonic spirits (in a blood covenant); </strong></p>
<p><strong>5.</strong><strong>   </strong><strong>Locks women into perpetual travail and sorrow; and </strong></p>
<p><strong>6.</strong><strong>   </strong><strong>Releases powers of deception and witchcraft over people, especially women. </strong></p>
<p>Holmberg has summarized in a nutshell the nature of the evil that not only causes such destruction in itself but spills over into society in unforeseen and unintended ways. </p>
<p>When all is said and done, it is only the united Christian church, expressed most completely in the authority of the Catholic Church, that has the spiritual resources to <em>end </em>the cul­ture of death; a work which it could accomplish <em>overnight </em>if it were to ever fully &#8220;consecrate itself&#8221; to the mission of driving out the demon of child sacrifice from our land. It is painfully evident to any objective observer that the Church has not yet fully taken up this mission. In fact, the lack of unity of Catholics in this country is largely responsible for the prolongation and inten­sification of the culture of death since the 70s. When Catholic bishops publicly contradict each other on the appropriateness of the nation&#8217;s Abortionist-in-Chief receiving an honorary degree at a prestigious Catholic university; when 54% of so-called Catholics vote for the most pro-abortion President and elect the most radical Congress in American history; when Catholic doc­tors prescribe abortifacient birth control, and Catholic hospitals look the other way with a wink and a nod at sterilization and abortion referrals from within their walls; when Catholic women pour into killing centers at the same rate as the pagan genera­tion we are immersed in; when alleged Catholic politicians and public figures use their high-profile positions to aid and abet the prevailing evils or our day-the Church has clearly become part of the problem instead of being the solution to these evils. The Church at all levels, from the bishops to the people, has clearly failed to under­stand the demonic nature of the industry that practices its evil right down the street from many Catholic churches. It has also failed to marshal the spiritual resources at its disposal to stop it.<em> </em><em> </em></p>
<p>To this cause, the Church must revitalize its essential iden­tity as Church Militant. All believers in Jesus Christ must be on guard and prays in the <em>spiritual Garden of Gethsemane </em>in which every child in this land is conceived. Unlike our Master who freely chose to suffer before them, babies have no choice about whether they will be allowed to be born or not, and that Garden of Decision (&#8220;choice&#8221;) could be followed by a remorse­less Golgotha administered by the devil and his minions, at any point during all nine months of pregnancy. Unless the disciples of Christ truly awake from their slumber and unite in opposition to the heinous crime, the collective guilt of this industry will fall upon us all as a people, and Jesus will say to us, like He said to the weeping women of Jerusalem on His Way to Calvary, &#8220;Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. Catholics will not be held accountable if they fail to stop such an immense evil, but we will receive a withering judgment if we live amidst the evil and do nothing about it. The Medieval poet, Dante Alleghieri (1265-1321), is supposed to have said that <strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline">&#8220;the hottest places of hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality,”</span></em> </strong> </p>
<p>Even though the battle is difficult, we must nevertheless re­member the words of St. Paul that, &#8220;Despite the increase of sin, grace has far surpassed it.&#8221; Our Hope in Christ tells us that what we look forward to is an abortion-free society at some point in the future. We are not so naive as to believe that we could elimi­nate abortion from the world entirely. That would be tantamount to eliminating sin from men&#8217;s hearts, but man&#8217;s heart of darkness is  the one thing that has shown itself to be a constant reality throughout all human history. Sin and the works of the devil will be brought to an end on the day when Christ our King returns &#8220;to judge both the living and the dead and the world by fire,&#8221; as has been traditionally said of Him. Our hope is not in an end to sin in the world of space and time, but in an end to the evil of abortion as an institution and as an acceptable &#8220;choice&#8221; for men and women anywhere. To this end, Christ will use the hearts that are ready to pray and the hands that are ready to work, and He will, through His Church Militant, drive out the evil of abortion from our midst. </p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">The Church&#8217;s Spiritual Warfare Against Abortion</span></strong><span style="text-decoration: underline"> </span><em> </em></p>
<p>The pro-life movement has an immense amount of resource material on issues and activities related to the effort to restore legal protection to the unborn child, but the present work is not meant to be an analysis of the pro-life issues <em>per se. </em>It is rather a spiritual commentary about the abortion industry and its evil spawn, the culture of death. Nor does it intend to analyze pro­-life issues from a moral point of view, except indirectly. That is all done effectively in other places and by more capable minds. Here I examine the spiritual power that the Church can marshal in the defense of the most innocent of God&#8217;s children, the unborn-and their mothers-from abortion. I will also relate this effort to the need to repulse other demonic attacks against the sacred institutions of marriage and the family. </p>
<p>Let us never forget how powerful Christian spiritual strength is when marshaled against the institutionalized power of the devil. I distinctly remember praying a private prayer of exorcism at an abortion mill one day when a very angry woman drove into the parking lot and cursed me while she stomped defiantly into the clinic. I and the sidewalk counselors just continued our prayer, only to see this same woman almost run out of the killing center some short while later with a smile on her face! We wondered what happened. With tears in her eyes, she apologized for her behavior and was particularly sad that she had spoken such vulgar words against a priest. She said that she was very pleased that we had stayed to pray for her and remarked that she could feel the prayer literally &#8220;penetrating the walls of the clinic&#8221; that day! In fact she said that the prayer also penetrated her heart. She felt as if God had come into her heart. Soon afterward she went across the street to the pregnancy care center and was choosing a name for her baby to whom she ultimately gave birth. The prayer softened heart, but more importantly, it drove away whatever spirit of anger, fear or hatred that was coercing her that day. </p>
<p>May the Lord Jesus enlighten all who read these pages and the holy angels equip us &#8220;against the principalities and power­&#8221;, the rulers of this world of darkness&#8221; (Gal 6:12) in the battle for babies, souls and, indeed, our very civilization. </p>
<p>Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer   ( from the Introduction to his book <em>Demonic Abortion</em>)</p>
<p> <span> </span></p>
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		<title>Get a Life!</title>
		<link>http://airmaria.com/2010/08/08/get-a-life/</link>
		<comments>http://airmaria.com/2010/08/08/get-a-life/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:48:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JosephMary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ave Maria Meditations]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[GET A LIFE!  &#8220;Get a life!&#8221;  An angry shout from a passing care reached our ears.  And again, a little later, came the same cry from another car: &#8220;Get a life!&#8221; Irony of ironies. For this is exactly what we hope to do: get a life (saved). Now &#8220;Get a life!&#8221; is certainly not the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>GET A LIFE!</strong> </p>
<p>&#8220;Get a life!&#8221;  An angry shout from a passing care reached our ears.  And again, a little later, came the same cry from another car: &#8220;Get a life!&#8221;</p>
<p>Irony of ironies.</p>
<p>For this is exactly what we hope to do: get a life (saved).</p>
<p>Now &#8220;Get a life!&#8221; is certainly not the worst thing that someone hears as they pray in front of a Planned Parenthood or abortion mill.  Much worse remarks are flung at us. Yet I am struck by this irony.  Can it be that they do not realize that these places deal in <em>death</em>?  Some have said we are &#8216;blocking freedom&#8217;. Freedom from what?  Is freedom the same as liberty?  Can we have liberty without life?  Isn&#8217;t life the first right of an American?  Is there a difference between freedom and license?  Does anyone know this?</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not your body&#8221;, is hollered at us. No, it is not. Nor is it the body of the woman that is being sacrificed on the altar of abortion.  It is not her body either.  She may well, in most cases, have had a choice prior to this moment. But now there should be no &#8220;choice&#8221; which is a word perverted to mean abortion.<span id="more-14041"></span></p>
<p>&#8220;Reproductive Health&#8221; is the innocuous term used to cover up the abomination of abortion.  Some even claim a religious veil on this intrinsic evil with some clergy and others promoting the decimation of peoples.  Or there are the countless others who remain silent or &#8220;neutral&#8221; in the face of the greatest evil of our age.  They might say, &#8220;I am personally opposed, but&#8230;&#8221; ; they look the other way while millions of unborn children die.</p>
<p>Get a life!  Yes, I have a life. But the child dismembered in the abortion clinic will not &#8220;get a life&#8221;. The mother will go on doing whatever she is doing but the little soul is returned to God before drawing breath. And the mother&#8217;s soul dies.  Get a life!  The life of God in the souls of those who promote, provide, and procure abortion dies.  For them we pray that reconciliation and repentance be found.</p>
<p>Get a life!  God is the Author of life.  It is the devil who deals in death. Demonic is the institution that deals death.  The devil, that <em>&#8220;liar and the father of lies&#8230;a murderer from the beginning&#8221;</em> as Jesus states in the 8th chapter of the Gospel of St. John, is the one behind &#8220;reproductive choice&#8221;.  Ultimately it must be realized that <em>&#8220;we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness&#8221; (Eph 6:12). </em> This is a spiritual battle.  We must call on our spiritual weapons to fight it.  This combat is one done on our knees. The legal system will not bring about the changes needed in hearts and souls. We beg the Author of Life for the graces needed to touch hearts and souls to embrace life, to &#8220;get a life&#8221;.</p>
<p>Sr. Joseph-Mary Maximilian FTI</p>
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		<title>Video &#8211; Miscellanea #50: 300,000 PLUS MARCH FOR LIFE 2010</title>
		<link>http://airmaria.com/2010/01/30/video-miscellanea-50-300000-plus-march-for-life-2010/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:48:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>apostolate</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Miscellanea #50 &#8211; Up Capital Hill ( 04min) &#62;&#62;&#62; Play Ave Maria! Organizer Nellie Gray told the press that the numbers of marchers this year far exceeded last year, which was estimated at well over 300,000.  That sentiment was echoed by many long-time March for Life participants. LifeSiteNews.com Ave Maria! +++]]></description>
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</span><span class="entry"><strong> Miscellanea #50 &#8211; Up Capital Hill (<strong><img src="http://airmaria.com/img/video.gif" alt="" /> </strong>04min) &gt;&gt;&gt; <a title="Click to play Video #0050" href="http://airmaria.com/?sn=50&amp;vp=10090&amp;prefx=shrtv&amp;plyrnb=1&amp;ttl=Miscellanea"><span style="color: #36769c;">Play</span></a></strong></span></td>
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<p>Ave Maria!</p>
<p>Organizer Nellie Gray told the press that the numbers of marchers this year far exceeded last year, which was estimated at well over 300,000.  That sentiment was echoed by many long-time March for Life participants. LifeSiteNews.com</p>
<p>Ave Maria!</p>
<p>+++</p>
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		<title>The Attack is at the Other End of Life too</title>
		<link>http://airmaria.com/2010/01/22/the-attack-is-at-the-other-end-of-life-too/</link>
		<comments>http://airmaria.com/2010/01/22/the-attack-is-at-the-other-end-of-life-too/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:03:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JosephMary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ave Maria Meditations]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Ave Maria Meditations A community that gets rid of someone—a community that is allowed to, and can, and wants to get rid of someone when he no longer is able to run around as the same attractive or useful member—has thoroughly misunderstood itself. Fr. Alfred Delp S.J.&#8217;s Timeless Message Against Euthanasia (November 2, 1941) We [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>Ave Maria Meditations</div>
<div><strong>A community that gets rid of someone—a community that is allowed to, and can, and wants to get rid of someone when he no longer is able to run around as the same attractive or useful member—has thoroughly misunderstood itself.</strong></div>
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<div><strong>Fr. Alfred Delp S.J.&#8217;s Timeless Message Against Euthanasia </strong>(November 2, 1941)</p>
<p>We celebrate All Souls&#8217; Day, and the  meaning of that day is the spiritual companionship of human beings and all  humanity to each other, all the way beyond the stars. It is not a camaraderie,  however, that simply shields man, and acquiesces to everything and permits  things to happen. Rather it is a camaraderie among those doing penance and  reparation, and having the desire to help one other to attain salvation and  perfection.</p>
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<div>And we celebrated All Saints&#8217; Day, whose meaning expressed  the goal, the interior purpose of man &#8230; As I was reading the Gospel for All  Saints&#8217; Day and reading the eight repetitions: &#8220;<em>Beati estis</em>,  blessed are you when&#8230;&#8221; (Mt. 5:3ff – Sermon on the Mount, Gospel for the Feast  of All Saints), I asked the question: What is meant by this word &#8220;blessed&#8221;? What  is meant by this happiness that is promised to people here? &#8230; <em>Beati  estis</em> – eight times we proclaimed those words to mankind for All Saints&#8217; Day.</p>
<p>This past week I went to see a film here in Munich, a film  that, day after day, for weeks now, has been giving people a sermon about human  happiness, too. In this film, too, there is much talk of happiness and  redemption and the meaning of existence&#8230;I am talking about the film, <em>I  Accuse</em>.  Many of you will have heard of it. It has do with a happy family  life: two people made for each other; an intimate life together; growing  together from one success to the next. A happy life and happy atmosphere and  happy hearts. And then like a bolt from the blue in the midst of this, comes the  wife&#8217;s illness, the incurable, progressive paralysis. First of all, the couple&#8217;s  rebellious reaction and their attempt, by any means possible, to defeat this  demon. However, they reach the limits of their strength, and then comes just the  right solution: To &#8220;let her go&#8221;. You cannot do this to a person, cannot let her  suffer like that, so you—let her go. This human being dies before bearing out  the term of her suffering.</p>
<p>That, too, is a message about happy people.  Here, too, a &#8220;<em>beatus</em>&#8221; is expressed, a <em>beatus, </em>not as a promise,  but as an end in itself: Man should be happy and make others happy. When he can  no longer do this, then life begins to lose its meaning; and what is meaningless  is basically untenable and unjustifiable, and it dies.</p>
<div><span id="more-9812"></span></div>
<p>We have to  inwardly confront these things from our viewpoint of the value of human life,  and of the eight repetitions of <em>&#8220;beati&#8221;</em>. This has to do with the ultimate  foundations. This really concerns the ultimate attitudes and decisions and, with  them, there is no such thing as an interim solution. <em>&#8220;I Accuse!&#8221;</em> This  film accuses an order of life that &#8220;forces&#8221; people to go on living and—through  every pore—it accuses a God who lets something like this happen.</p>
<p>What do  we have to say to these proposals, from our holy mountain, from the viewpoint of  our holy message? The details of the film are not so important to us; lots of  films are shown that are trash. But here, there is an intention and an attitude  behind it. And this whole attitude is, first of all, deception. Deception is the  prerequisite, the space, in which the monstrous illness breaks in. This  cultivated happiness, people wandering from one joyous moment to the next&#8230;  Actors can play it, but look and see if life is really like that. The deception  that you should spot in the background is the idea that without the monstrous  illness, this life would always be on the way to this seductive total happiness  here in this world.</p>
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<div>That is the first deception, and with it, the prerequisite itself is wrong  on which the whole discussion is based. And the second deception is the manner  and method in which – pardon the expression – a soothing appeal is made to the  tear ducts of the audience, so that sympathy removes the strength to seriously  question these things. That is the second deception. The third deception is the  endless discussion of love and letting go, the eternal termination of all  difficulties and precepts and everything lasting, for the benefit of – indeed,  for the benefit of whom? Basically, for the benefit of the more comfortable  solution&#8230;</p>
<p>A community that gets rid of someone—a community that is  allowed to, and can, and wants to get rid of someone when he no longer is able  to run around as the same attractive or useful member—has thoroughly  misunderstood itself. Even if all of a person&#8217;s organs have given out, and he no  longer can speak for himself, he nevertheless remains a human being. Moreover,  to those who live around him, he remains an ongoing appeal to their inner  nobility, to their inner capacity to love, and to their sacrificial strength.  Take away people&#8217;s capacity to care for their sick and to heal them, and you  make the human being into a predator, an egotistical predator that really only  thinks of his own nice existence.</p>
<p>The arguments in the film go like  this: &#8220;This woman is no longer the same as the beautiful wife whom I loved.&#8221; And  from the wife&#8217;s side: &#8220;My husband cannot love me anymore if I am ill and ugly;  tired and wasting away.&#8221; What kind of a marriage vow was it that applied only to  sparkling eyes and beautiful cheeks, but did not apply to the loneliness, to the  distress, to standing together all the way to the finish! Some like to call  these arguments &#8220;the greater love&#8221;: Rather, it would be the greater cowardice  that pulled back here. Pulled back to escape from the responsibility, from the  innermost attitude of commitment to another human being. It is escape. It takes  away from man the last chance of his existence.</p>
<p>W. Corsari has written a  book, <em>The Man without a Uniform</em>,  which tackles the same problems: Doctor  or human being? Is it permissible for a doctor to &#8220;let someone go&#8221; someone by  killing them? The doctor does it and is ruined by it. One patient escapes him.  After fifteen years, he meets her again, crippled, ruined, sclerotic. &#8220;Well,&#8221; he  asks her, &#8220;would you have wanted to die, at that time?&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes, perhaps,  at that time. But not today. Not anymore. What these fifteen years of conscious  suffering have revealed to me about inner values, and what I have learned to  understand and to comprehend, that makes up for everything else.&#8221;</p>
<p>Because  one is fleeing from what is hard, one takes away a human being&#8217;s last chance of  maturing, of persevering, of proving himself. That is why the whole thing is not  only a lie and an escape. It is a rebellion. It is an outrage. It is an  encroachment on rights that must stand inviolable if the entire cosmos is not to  fall apart. It is an outrage against the <em>Kyrios</em>, the one and only Lord of  life. Where God, the Lord, has not set aside the right to existence, that right  stands inviolably under His love, under His fidelity, and under His punishment.  A nation that lets a human being die, even a human being in the most extreme  situation, will die itself. It is an outrage against the human being who,  through his birth and his existence alone, already has rights that no one can  take from him, and that no one can touch without disgracing humanity, and  disgracing himself, and despising himself.</p>
<p>That is the view of life from  our holy mountain. When we hear &#8220;<em>beati estis</em>, blessed are you&#8221;, then it  is always connected to a promise, to a trial: When you hunger and thirst&#8230;When  you suffer persecution&#8230;When you persevere&#8230;When you remain in [God's]  order&#8230;When you stay faithful&#8230;When you carry on with life as it stands,  rather than wanting to remodel it out of personal right, and personal might, and  personal authority &#8230; As His own image and likeness, God released man into life  and promised: &#8220;Your reward will be great and glorious in Heaven&#8221;</p>
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<div>Father Delp was known for challenging his parishioners with words that also  could be a call to our own consciences today. Father Delp&#8217;s listeners knew well  the events to which he referred.Those who worried about his safety were right –  he would be with them only three years before his arrest and eventual martyrdom.  They would remember him as a &#8220;voice calling in the wilderness&#8221;, a &#8220;prophet&#8221;  whose message was timeless</div>
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<p><span style="font-family: Times-New-Roman;font-size: x-small"><span style="font-size: small"><a href="http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2009/adelp_euthanasia_may09.asp">http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2009/adelp_euthanasia_may09.asp</a> </span><br />
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