Feast of the Holy Innocentsand Modern Massacre of Innocents

Navez,  Massacre of the Innocents

Today the Church celebrates the memory of the Holy Innocents. King Herod feared the birth of the new "king of the Jews" so he "ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi" (Matt 2:16).

Rather than focus on the theological implications of the feast day (others have done a great job of that already), I'd like to propose we use this day to reflect on the modern massacre of the innocents - abortion.

Modern Massacre of Innocents
Over 40 Million innocent babies have been killed in the United States since 1973 when Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in this country. These numbers do not even reflect the U.S. government's efforts to export abortion to other countries. In January 2009, President Obama overturned the Mexico City policy which had prohibited U.S. funding of international groups that provided abortions. The Obama administration has implemented a systematic, anti-life agenda which it continues to pursue including the HHS Mandate that requires employers who  provide healthcare to employees now must include coverage for contraception, sterilization and abortifacients in the healthcare plans they offer.

Our Lady of Guadalupe
It's not enough to just say we are pro-life, we have to act. First, we must pray. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of unborn children. We should ask for her intercession and offer up Holy Hours before the Blessed Sacrament for an end to abortion. Furthermore, we can ask our parishes to make sure that pro-life prayers are incorporated into the Prayers of the Faithful.

Humanae Vitae
Next, we need to get formed and informed. We need to form our consciences in conformity with the teachings of Christ handed down by the Church. This begins by learning what the Church teaches on these matters of life. Two very good resources are Humanae Vitae and the Catechism.

Taking Action
It's not enough for us to form our consciences, we need to act on them. In this recent presidential election too many people, Catholics included, voted with their pocket books and left their consciences at home. In addition to voting with our consciences we should support the efforts of organizations like 40 Days for Life, Priests for Life, Rachel's Vineyard and Pro Life Across America.

Culture of Life
We need to attack the culture of death with a culture of authentic love. We don't pass judgement, we provide compassion. We don't reject, we comfort. We don't take, we give. We don't lie, we share the Truth.

PRAYER

God of power and mercy,
you blessed the Americas at Tepeyac
with the presence of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe.
May her prayers help all men and women
to accept each other as brothers and sisters.
Through your justice present in our hearts
may your peace reign in the world.
O Lady of Guadalupe, pray for the Church in America
and walk with us in the third millennium of faith.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.

On Human Being

The subject of knowledge is that-which-is, i.e. being.

By FRATER BOVIOUS

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(CARROLLTON, Cradle of Civilization) -  During the current 40 days for Life event taking place at the time of this writing, it is useful to consider some terms that relate to the issue of abortion. Early marketing statements by those making money by performing abortions were to the effect of "It's just a blob of tissue," by which the true nature of an embryo was either directly denied, or at least hidden.

Let us evaluate the term "human being". The latter part of the term "human being" is the term "being". The quality of being is simply that something exists. Rocks exist, as do trees and dogs. Humans exist. Countries exists, as do events such as 40 days for Life, or had existence such as WWII from the time it started until the time it terminated. Embryos and pregnancies obviously exist, if not there would be nothing to terminate. One does not terminate the non-existent.

A human being is many things - old or young, fat or thin, sick or healthy, blue eyed, brown eyed or some other eyed; but all these things listed are qualities that inhere in individual humans - in and of themselves they do not define "human". Dogs can also be old, young, sick, healthy, etc. So can trees and vegetables. Let us for the sake of clarity replace the term "being" with "existent". You can discern a human existent by saying what it is. You can also discern a human existent by saying what it is not. For example, a human is not a tree, even though both exist. A human is decidedly not a unicorn, not the least reason of which is that humans exist and unicorns do not. But notice in the above: non-essential qualities of human existence cannot be used to judge whether a given human actually exists.

Scientifically speaking, what differentiates a human existent from a dog or cat existent or an oak tree existent is its genome. The human genome has been famously mapped - and all the ways that a human existent is not some other kind of existent are now cataloged. It is now a matter of demonstrated fact that the full human genome is present at the precise moment of conception. That existent which possesses the full human genome is by definition human.

An embryo is therefore a human being in that it exists and in that it is human, and nothing other. This is not a matter of opinion, it is true.

The position of the pro-choice camp can now be simply stated: The convenience or desire of one human being trumps the existence of another human being. That the latter part of this proposition refers to a completely helpless and dependent human being should give one pause. For, the position of pro-choice is a simple corollary of another proposition: Might makes right.

FB