My Pro-Life Life

The only comment I wish to make is that these drugs -- abortion in general -- should be entirely illegal to begin with. Getting medical care while taking high-risk medication is not the biggest issue with taking an abortifacient, considering that a child is being killed. But at least it helps unmask that the FDA isn't concerned about women's health in the first place.  From Alliance Defending Freedom: Alliance Defending Freedom is representing four national medical associations, their members, and four individual doctors against the FDA for unlawfully removing crucial safety standards for pregnant women who use the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. Over the past eight years, the agency has removed nearly all of its originally required safety standards that ensured women and girls had ongoing medical care while taking these high-risk drugs. These safeguards included an initial in-person visit to screen for ectopic pregnancies and other serious conditions, and a follow...

         Today is the feast of Ss. Cosmas and Damian, twin brothers and physicians from Arabia who were martyred during the persecution of Diocletian. A number of readings have recently presented themselves which make for good reflection in light of these saints' chosen profession.      First, from Divine Intimacy , part of the meditation on the beatitude, "Blessed are the merciful". What is medicine if not a work of mercy?  "I have inhaled the fragrance of Your mercy and I come to You to be strengthened by it. Blessed is the man who, following Your example, has a heart filled with compassion for the unfortunate. Blessed is he who is merciful and quick to help those who are in need, he who remembers that it is more blessed to give than to receive, who is quick to forgive and slow to anger, who never takes revenge, but in all circumstances considers the needs of others as though they were his own. O Lord, pour into my soul the dew of Your merc...

 To open a private walk-in clinic, I estimate that $1,000,000 should be enough to get us going. The comercial property I want to buy in Nashville is $715,000; the rest should be enough to equip the place for day 1. I could really use some big donors to keep it going, though. Maybe I should explain what I'm talking about ...  My dream for not too long has been to open a clinic for the poor and underserved. It has developed to wanting an on-site clinic in Nashville, with a mobile clinic to go out east to Appalachia. This is partly something my brother has suggested, and also stems from my (extreme) dissatisfaction with the way the American healthcare system is run, from a nurse's point of view.  I want a clinic like the old medical offices: patient comes in, sees the doctor, gets treatment, and pays the doctor. The End. No insurance, no billing codes, no Medicare. Doctors could charge what they would. Doctors like St. Giuseppe Moscati could charge nothing to those who could...

  14 th Sunday C 2022 Thanks to a good friend, we have a new angel statue in the back. It was made, like the large  crucifix we obtained during lent, by the Daprato company in Chicago, started by Italian  immigrants in 1860.   When revolution exploded in the late 1960’s, statues like these were hauled out of many of our churches and replaced with cheap felt banners and similar items that failed to raise hearts and  minds to heaven. The Daprato company nearly went out of business at this time, and many if not  most of the molds for its statues were lost or destroyed. So, our new angel and new crucifix are  not replications, but rather old originals, having detail and craftsmanship not found in modern  pieces.  It is essential for right worship to have crucifixes that reveal the sufferings of Christ. Gazing  upon them we tell ourselves, along with St Paul, “May I never boast except in the cross of our  Lord Jesus Christ.”  S...

From Fr. Z (https://wdtprs.com/2021/09/this-is-the-sort-of-person-whom-the-house-voted-that-its-okay-to-kill-up-to-birth/): Bl. Hermann of Reichenau (1054) Born with cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida, he was placed in a Benedictine monastery at seven. A genius in astronomy, theology, poetry, math, music, Arabic, Greek, and Latin, he composed the Salve Regina and Alma Redemptoris Mater.

I don't think I'm alone in this, but I don't know where my comrades are. Who else out there wants to do this and can't: A lot of nurses (and doctors too, I imagine) are idealists when they start school (perhaps some are like me and go to school because they're idealists), idealists when they graduate, idealists when they interview and take their first job... And jaded after two weeks in the field. They want to be really good nurses, to really take care of their patients, but get swamped by the system, which makes them spend ninety-five percent of their shift passing meds, being behind, and sitting at the nurses station an hour after that shift is over (not having had a lunch break), hitting keys so that something acceptable is in the patient chart, just good enough so they can log off and go home. Ask me how I know.  All we want to do is take care of sick people, not fulfil Medicare requirements. We're exhausted and frustrated over mandates that come from people...

     The Institute of Christ the King  is, for the sixth year in a row, organizing a pilgrimage to the March for Life in Washington, D.C. God willing, I will be there this year!       For the second year in a row, the Institute is fundraising to offset the cost of the pilgrimage with the Candle for Life campaign ( HERE ). For a donation of $25 or more, a pilgrim will carry your prayer intentions and a lighted candle at the March in January.      The Institute relies heavily on donations to make this trip possible; please help their pilgrims take a stand for life!   

My school's pin for practical nursing graduates      On Wednesday, August 26th, I officially graduated from nursing school. On the Monday prior, we had a private pinning ceremony. While searching for the text of the Nightingale Pledge, I came across the Wikipedia article on the pinning ceremony , which has some information I wanted to share.      Pinning is the official induction into the "brotherhood or sisterhood of nurses". Its earliest history dates from the 12th century during the crusades, when "monks initiated into the Knights Hospitaller that cared for injured and ill Crusaders were given a Maltese Cross". After the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria, and the tradition further evolved from there.      At our ceremony, after each of us received our pin, we recited the Nightingale Pledge. It is so beautiful! Here is the version we recited (apparently a combination of the original and the ...

     "You shall not kill!" Reminds us Our Lord in the Gospel.      For the past fifty years, a culture of death, violence, hatred and destruction has triumphed around us. Since the laws authorizing contraception and abortion. Since hedonism and utilitarianism replaced God and morality.      In 1979 (40 years ago), when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, declared: "The greatest destroyer of peace today is the crime against the innocent unborn child. If a mother can kill her own child, in her own womb, what keeps you and me from killing each other? (...) But today we are killing millions of unborn children. And we don't say anything."      How our society, which proclaims with such insistence Human Rights (this new Decalogue of the modern world), how did men come to let flout the most fundamental right: the right of every human being to life? How is it that modern man, always talking about "...

From Fr. John Hollowell back in 2012. Amen.

Given by Fr. Kevin Drew of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, February 16th, 2020.      Do you remember last January I preached about Briana the cow? The nightly news last January 22, (the date in 1973 when abortion was legalized) ran a story of how the pregnant Briana made a daring escape off a truck just minutes before it arrived at the slaughterhouse. A beaming anchorwoman reported how Briana and her new baby were safe in an animal shelter, as if it was some kind of home for unwed pregnant cows.  This was what you call a feel-good story; a refreshing respite from all the bad news that makes up most of a nightly newscast. Of course, the story was not based on any kind of reality. For as I preached, Briana the cow didn’t jump off the truck to escape the slaughterhouse. For Briana had no clue she was going to the slaughterhouse. Because she’s a cow.  When you entered church to...

Transcript (which I got from Fr. Z with his emphases, who got it from Lifesite News):      Thank you very much and thank you, Jeanne. It is my profound honor to be the  first president in history to attend the March for Life . [applause] We are here for a very simple reason: to defend the right of every child, born and unborn, to fulfill their  God-given potential . [applause]      For 47 years, Americans of all backgrounds have traveled from across the country to stand for life.      And today as President of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you. [applause]      I want to welcome tens of thousands – this is a tremendous turnout – tens of thousands of high school and college students who took long bus rides to be here in our nation’s capital. And to make you feel even better, there are tens of thousands of people outside that we passed on the way in. If anybody would like to give up their spot, we...

     This isn't my usual kind of music, but I love this song, the credit song from Unplanned . The lyrics are below. I'm looking at a masterpiece, I'm staring at work of art, I'm listening to a symphony In every beat of your tiny heart. You used to be a choice to make, But now I think you've chosen me, 'Cause I see ten fingers, ten toes, Two eyes, and I know this is meant to be. O, I don't believe in accidents. Miracles, they don't just happen by chance. As long as my God holds the world in His hands I know that there's no such thing as unplanned. Broken turns to beautiful, I see it right before my eyes, And every single breath you breathe Is destiny Love has brought to life. I thought it was my story's end, But now the future's all I see. Instead of asking who you might have been I'm wondering who you're gonna be. O, I don't believe in accidents... Every life des...

     I saw Unplanned for the first time last night. It's not a movie to make you comfortable, and I loved it. The acting is just a bit cheesy at some points, but don't let that keep you from seeing it, or distract you while watching it.     Prior to seeing Unplanned , I had seen Changing Sides , a documentary about Abby Johnson's conversion. It is excellent, as well, and increased my enjoyment of Unplanned . Changing Sides  is available from Ignatius Press, or on Formed.org  ($10 a month for a subscription, unless you're a member of a parish with a subscription, in which case it's free).      Watch it, please.

I was impressed by these paragraphs from my pharmacology textbook:      Pregnant and breast-feeding women may have both chronic diseases and acute problems that require drug therapy. In pregnancy the drug is really going to two people, so how the drug may affect the growing fetus is a consideration. The benefit of any drug to a pregnant patient must be carefully weighted against the possible (or potential) risk to the fetus. It is important for pregnant women to avoid as many drugs as possible, especially those drugs with teratogenic  potential (i.e., likely to cause malformations or damage in the embryo or fetus).       [...]      Factors such as what drug the mother takes, how much is taken, and the age of the fetus when the drug is taken are related to different types of malformations. Taking a drug during the first 2 weeks after conception (before implantation) results in an all-or-nothing affect. The ovum either dies of e...

Given by Fr. Kevin Drew of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri: On November 14 th , 1940, five-hundred and fifteen small twin-engine German bombers dropped 500 tons of explosive on the industrial city of Coventry, England. Two thirds of the city were damaged. There was such a high level of destruction that the German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels later coined the term “coventried” when describing similar destruction in other enemy towns. “Coventried.”  The Coventry Cathedral, a soaring beautiful gothic cathedral built in the 14 th century was fire- bombed and destroyed that night in 1940. The next month, on Christmas the BBC ended a radio program by having people sing in the bombed-out ruins of the cathedral. The broadcast made popular once again an old lullaby with sad lyrics and a haunting melody known as the Coventry Carol. It was written back in the 1500’s as part of a nativity play, when England was still Catholic; before the tyrant King Henry VIII confi...