By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
An alternative to the contentious health care reforms currently circulating on the Hill is being deliberately held up in Committee by House leadership. This alternative will allow individuals to choose their health insurance, provide insurance for the poor and high-risk individuals (those with pre-existing conditions), allow insurance to be sold across state lines and set limits on the kind of medical liability suits that have been driving up health care costs.
After a four year investigation, an Australian coroner ruled that participation in an intense four-day self-help program designed to take people on a "journey to the core of the human spirit" led to the suicide of a 34 year-old woman.
The past two days mark the feasts of two great saints of the Church, a mother and a son, whose lives give testimony to a sure-fired method of evangelizing those we love.
St. Monica (August 27) is the mother of St. Augustine (August 28), though Augustine was no saint when Monica began her earnest intercession. At that time he was a pagan and a member of the heretical Manichean sect. He was known to be a carouser who lived with a woman to whom he had fathered a child. A brilliant mind, he was "devoted" to his views and his lifestyle, and had no intention of converting to the Catholic faith.
St. Monica was distraught about her son's dissolute ways and decided to do something about it. She prayed. And in the end, her prayers won the soul of her son.
What was it that made St. Monica's prayers so effective? I think five strategies are primarily responsible. Perhaps you can implement them as you seek to evangelize those you love.
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