The Heart of the Issue
It is always essential to go to the heart of the issue through prayer and discernment. Is President Obama’s smoke and mirrors “compromise” on health plan coverage to cover sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion announced on February 10, 2012 going to result in any reduction whatsoever of contraception, sterilizations, and early chemical abortions by their employees? No!
Who will be paying for the “free” contraception and morning after pills? The Church, who else! Nothing is free.
Will the insurance company stock holders take money out of their personal bank accounts or reduce the dividends they take to pay for the “free” contraception, or will they apply the costs in hidden or deceptive ways to the overall premiums still paid for by the Church? I will let the reader answer this one.
Is an unborn, unique, irreplaceable child conceived at the moment of fertilization in the image of God, with an immortal soul and an irreplaceable mission on earth for God and souls, worthy of our every effort and sacrifice to save? Are these children worth any less in our loving Father’s eyes than a born child?
As a metaphor, if my employee, a confused mother, wants to take drastic means to kill her unwanted child (and/or the God-given gift of her fertility) with a pistol shot am I less culpable if instead of “compassionately” handing her a pistol myself and providing her with “free bullets” while respecting her right to “choice”, I hand the pistol to my paid representative to hand to the mother? (But only if she asks for it, of course.) Yes, this is a blunt analogy, but the end result is the same, a dead child, and a wounded mother.
I pray that the Church and the members of Her mystical Body will not capitulate in the least to this ludicrous attempt to present evil as good. I smell the enemy here! Only he could come up with such a preposterous proposition and succeed in many cases to win accolades from so the many confused souls, some even in leadership positions in Catholic institutions. We have a lot of work to accomplish in the Church to provide solid formation to our members who have for so many decades often been left poorly tended. This too is at the core of the problems we are confronting. So many Catholics do not understand or accept the basics of Catholic moral teachings. We have a deep hole to dig ourselves out of, but this can and will be accomplished with Gods’ always available help along with some hard work and courage on the part of not only our bishops, priests, and deacons, but all Catholics.
I think we need to be more cognizant of the absolute certainty that we Catholic Christians have The Way, The Truth, The Life, and all the Power of Jesus. We should use it more confidently. It is telling that when Jesus encountered the enemy (evil spirits) in the Gospel He would never engage in meaningless dialogue knowing that no good would ever come of it. Does the Church need to dialogue and work with and within this world? Yes, but when it comes to fundamental sanctity and dignity of life issues we need to stay focused on the core and make it known that there will be no compromise with the lives and dignity of our beloved brothers and sisters, each another Jesus. We will not negotiate LOVE!
Another deep-seated point is that we are not only in a battle of reason and politics, but more importantly we are in a spiritual battle which must be fought with spiritual means to help change minds and hearts with God’s grace. As Lent approaches we can find added motivation for prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, and may we never lay these most effective weapons down. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!
