Cloistered Communities

They pray for us, let's pray for them!

Fight FOCA

Interested in learning more about what we can do stop FOCA? (the "Freedom of Choice" Act President-Elect Obama has pledged to sign once he enters office that will open to doors to abortion in all stages and remove further rights for the unborn)
Visit www.fightfoca.com to learn more and sign the petition to help stop this horrid legislation.

Just in time for Christmas

New ads appearing on buses in D.C., just in time for Christmas. Holy cow.

Asia's Gender Imbalance

Here's an alarming article about the gender imbalance in Asia. The attack upon women is being made manifest more and more.

Interesting Site

Slogans for this website www.abortionchangesyou.com have been appearing in trains in New York City for a while now and the response has been amazing. Many people have written to the site and shared their story. If you or someone you know might benefit from visiting the site, click the link above. It's heartening to see more and more people coming out and bringing their truth to the Light.

Panda Ponderings...

This is random but if you haven't seen the movie, "Kung Fu Panda" you might find it interesting.
I am usually not a big fan of animated movies but I really like the story of this one as I think many of us can relate to "Po" a big, fat panda with big dreams but much fear inside.

Po dreams of becoming a brave Kung Fu warrior but because all he sees are his faults and failings, he spends his days working in his dad's noodle shop, all the while languishing for something more. Something happens one day that changes his life (I won't tell you the whole story in case you haven't seen it) but Po has to look within himself and see what is really inside.

I think a lot of us are like that, we look at ourselves with all our limitations, faults, struggles and failings and we say, "me? become a saint? that's impossible." So we spend our days hoping for something more but never daring to give our lives completely over to God and His divine plan for us. We keep looking for some "secret ingredient" that will make us loveable, "perfect", more talented, etc. And we say, "if only I could..." or "if only that hadn't happened to me I would...".

We don't realize that all we have to do is be open to God and give ourselves to Him and He will lead us along this path. We don't realize that we are already loveable because Love Himself created us in Love and for Love. We don't realize that God's plans for us are far beyond our wildest dreams and more than we could ever hope for. We don't have to compare ourselves to other people or compete with them. We just need to go within and find the Trinity who dwells within us all.

"Nothing is impossible with God." Nothing! Now, that's Good News!

Cool Video

You might like this one-

From SOLT Priest Fr. Tony Anderson

Blessings and greetings from the northern border of Mexico.

Thank you, first of all, for reading my recent emails and watching those pro-life videos that were clear and sometimes gruesome.

At first glance, it seems that America made an irremediable blunder on Tuesday. At first glance it seems that many folks voted their pocketbook. The financial crisis dominated the minds of the electorate. Sarah Palin’s Western accent tragically obfuscated her universal values. In short, we are all going to hell in a hand basket – at first glance.

Thomas Jefferson said that for a democracy to function, the voting populace needs to be virtuous. If an American ignores abortion, Iraq, Iran, ecology, education and the host of questions that need to be factored in to decide how to vote, and he simply votes for the candidate who will do him the most good economically, then that American is not being virtuous. Politics is about the common good. Who voted Tuesday for the common good with a well-informed conscience did a virtuous thing.

So are you depressed at the outcome of the election? Disappointed with folks in your own parish who voted for the man who was backed by the abortion lobby in his presidential run? Are you angry?

Don’t be. Let us decide to trust God.

Who knows what good He plans to draw from what was a patent national blunder? We cannot read the mind of God or predict how this turn of events is part of his Providence.

We can, however, see the glass half full:

1. We have, in the United States of America, our first black president! Not long ago, to our shame, we had African slaves in this country. Now we have an African for a president! Racism be gone! We currently have abortion in our country, to our shame. Let us pray that a few years from now abortion become a dark chapter in our history – and a chapter just as closed as slavery is.

2. Not only is Obama an African-American, he is an African whose grandmother lives in Africa! Maybe God wants that continent to be filled with hope through Obama’s win. Maybe God wants strong ties between our country and Africa with all its human richness. Maybe God wants Obama to step out and help the victims of the genocide in Darfur?

3. Miraculously, miraculously, miraculously on Tuesday in the great State of California, the voters changed the State Constitution to preserve the sanctity of the family and define it as “one woman and one man.” In France, on the other hand, there have been strides made recently to widen the definition of marriage to include three-partner marriages. In California, Florida and Arizona on this November 4, clear-thinking citizens chose to defend the family as a God-given reality and not an infinitely malleable putty. With these three States, there are now 30 States that have amended their constitutions to protect the family and children from the radical homosexual agenda.

4. The Democrats do have a better immigration policy than the Republicans. Our documented and undocumented Mexican brothers and sisters may suffer less prejudice having a Democrat in the White House. This Democrat also happens to belong to a racial minority. Perhaps having a black man in the White House will help calm the fear and misunderstanding that breeds prejudice against the Mexican people in the United States.

5. President-elect Barack Hussein Obama was raised in Indonesia, one of the places in the world where Islam has a history of being fundamentalist and violent. Perhaps his contact with fundamentalist Islam will make him a better president in a world where violent Islam is going to challenge him and us. Perhaps Barack Hussein Obama’s very name will open doors in the Middle-east. Let us pray for wisdom for him: neither foolish capitulation nor foolish bellicosity.

6. We still live in a country where there is a rule of law and checks and balances. My father, a retired judge, opines that although the Freedom of Choice Act that Senator Obama promises to sign as his first presidential act does indeed threaten to wipe out all abortion restrictions in state and federal law, it may soon be found unconstitutional in the courts.

7. We have some gracious and noble losers in Senator McCain and George Bush that speak well of this civilization.

8. And the final good news on the second day after the election: Jesus is still Lord! The tomb is still empty! Love is still more powerful than hatred. Prayer is still more powerful than abortionist knives. Satan is still a mere creature. God is still all-powerful!

We prayed a novena before the election. Let us continue to be patriotic Christians. Pray for wisdom and strength for our president-elect. God give Barack Obama wisdom and strength. Amen.

Yours with Our Lady in the Most Holy Trinity,
Padre Antonio

Election Musings....

Well, as we all know, the United States of America has elected a new President. Here is what some people in the Church are saying about it:

Pope's message to President-Elect Obama

Certain Bishops from around the country

Other Catholic leaders

I was listening yesterday to Catholic talk radio and people were calling in, lamenting the election results and feeling frustrated and down, considering that the US just elected an open and ardent pro-abortion president and few people seem to really notice or care. And though the hosts of the show validated the feelings of these callers, they made a couple of good points that I would like to share with you (not that you asked, it's just my unsolicited advice!)

First of all, the hosts were saying that change begins within ourselves. All of the exterior conflict we see in the world is just a manifestation of the conflict within the heart of individuals. Yes, we complain about a lack of peace and death in our world, and rightfully so, however, how many of us look within ourselves and our own families and address the lack of peace and 'death' so to speak? Are we open to see the ways that we are not pro-life? Do we make concessions for ourselves for our anger, resentment, coldness and grudges we have? Because these things certainly do not bring life to ourselves, others and our country.

Another thing the hosts were saying is that God respects our free-will. So often we pray for things and we make Novenas with good intentions but perhaps we are not open to the will of God, for we think our way is the best way. And of course we should pray for what we believe is good, true and beautiful but in the end we must say the same words that Jesus said if we really want to authentically pray, "Lord, not my will but Yours be done." God's ways are so far above our ways that in His mercy He allows certain things to happen, things that seem to be horrible from our perspective, so that greater outcomes can be made manifest. God always ordains things with salvation in mind and all of know that many times we do not turn to God until we hit rock bottom or are really suffering, humans are curious like that.

In the end, God is in control of the universe, no president is. We are all just mortals. God is sovereign and is above all and loves all and He knows why He does what He does and His motives are always love. Would that we were motivated by such purity.

I also found this explanation of Samson, from the Old Testament, fascinating. As we all know, the famous story of Samson and Delilah revolves around a sacred young man who makes a terrible mistake, he gives away his secret and is destroyed by a manipulative woman. However, I was listening to someone explain it and I'll paraphrase it here. Maybe you have heard this before.

Samson's hair symbolized his fidelity to God. Samson's folly of telling Delilah about this secret promptly resulted in her shaving his head. When she did this, Samson's power was gone because he had been unfaithful to God. He tried to escape from the Philistines but they captured him, gouged out his eyes and led him away in chains.

This is an important lesson for us (and, no, it's not about your hair!). When we are unfaithful to God, we become blind (eyes gouged out) and enslaved (led away in chains). We can see this in ourselves, if we really look, and we can see a collective blindness and slavery also in the US. We have pushed God out of our schools and our government, we abort our helpless unborn children (this year the deathtoll from abortion will reach 50 MILLION since the passing of Roe vs. Wade), and we have turned our backs on morality. No wonder we have so many problems.

But all is not lost. Samson's hair began to grow back as soon as it was shaved, which is a sign that he repented of being unfaithful to God. We, too, can convert and repent. But we can't wait for others to do this, we must start first, here and now, within ourselves. We repent and strive for conversion everyday and this small act changes the world. No man is an island, there is no such thing as a private sin.

So if we are dissatisifed with the state of the world, let us not lament, complain and move away. Let's get involved. Let's stand up and promote the sacredness of life, let's frequent the sacraments and offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us, let's become who we were born to be, let's become saints. Let's change the world, one soul at a time, and let it begin with me.