By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
In an address to members of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, the Vatican office that decides annulments, Pope Benedict asked priests to do a better job of screening candidates for marriage and to feel free to decline a nuptial ceremony because “no one can make a claim to the right to a nuptial ceremony.”
 Feast of St. Francis de Sales,
Bishop and Doctor
(1567 – 1622)
“Our business is to love what God would have done. He wills our vocation as it is. Let us love that and not trifle away our time hankering after other people’s vocations.”
St. Francis de Sales
For Reflection:
How can “hankering after other people’s vocations” lead me to be discontented with what God has chosen for me? How does it deprive me of grace? In what ways can it lead me into sin?
“You are not a saint because you keep the rules and are blameless; you are a saint if you live in the real world, going out and loving the real people God has put into your life.”
Sister Wendy Beckett
For Reflection:
According to Sister Wendy, how might I be saint-like today?
Feast of St. Vincent,
Deacon and Martyr
“Against Christ’s army the world arrays a twofold battleline. It offers temptation to lead us astray; it strikes terror into us to break our spirit. At both of these approaches, Christ rushes to our aid, and the Christian is not conquered.”
St. Augustine on St. Vincent
For Reflection:
What is the twofold battleline that I am currently engaging? What grace can I name that Christ is bringing me so that I am not conquered?
These are certainly unprecedented times. One only need to watch the evening news to see that the world seems to be quickly spiraling out of control. That is why the March for Life is an event of such great hope. It is the powerful witness of hundreds of thousands of pro-life individuals from varying faith backgrounds marching together to give a voice to the voiceless unborn children and their parents who have been wounded by abortion.
Those who March are the white (as opposed to red) martyrs of this generation. Though they may not be called to shed their blood, they are called to walk in a spirit of self-sacrifice and like the martyrs, draw upon the virtue of fortitude. It is fortitude which propels the soul to act in spite of fear or discomfort. It is fortitude that gives the soldier the strength to enter into the battle. It is fortitude which enables one to lay down their life for a friend. As St. Therese of Lisieux reminds us: it doesn’t’ matter if we have courage – as long as we act like we do.
So on this January 22nd, which marks the 38th anniversary of the March for Life and the devastating Roe vs. Wade decision, we call upon God to bestow upon those who will march, a double portion of His strength and fortitude. We are in solidarity with you, our dear brothers and sisters in Christ and are grateful for the hope that you bring into this very fallen world.
“O Lord God of hosts, You said in your Gospel , ‘I am not come to bring peace but the sword’; provide me with desire to fight for Your glory, but I beseech You, strengthen my courage. Then with holy King David I can exclaim: ‘You alone are my shield, O God; it is You who prepare my hands for war.’
“O my Jesus, I will fight for You as long as I live, and love will be my sword. My weakness should never discourage me; when in the morning I feel no courage or strength for the practice of virtue, I must look upon this state as a grace, for You teach me that it is the very moment to put the axe to the root of the tree, counting only on Your help.”
“What merit would there be in fighting only when I feel courage? What does it matter even if I have none, provide that I act as if I had? ” (St. Therese of Lisieaux quote from Divine Intimacy, page 839)
Addition resources:
Preparing for the March for Life by CatholicVote.org.
March for Life official website and schedule of events
EWTN March for Life programming
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
An elementary school teacher at Markham Elementary School in Oakland, California has been suspended indefinitely after a pair of second-graders stripped and two others performed oral sex in class while the teacher looked on.
A French couple involved in a worldwide cult known as the Ramtha School of Enlightenment are being sought in South Africa for the shooting death of a policeman.
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The release of a grand jury report on the West Philadelphia abortion clinic that was dubbed a “shop of horrors” by investigators reveals that Pennsylvania’s Department of Health (DOH) deliberately chose not to enforce laws that require much higher safety standards in the state’s abortion clinics.
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Rather than engage in peaceful dialogue about ways to stem the rising tide of anti-Christian violence in Egypt, that country’s highest Islamic authority, al-Azhar, announced yesterday that it is freezing all dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church over what it considers to be the Pope’s repeated “insults toward Islam.”
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The Bezpala Brown Gallery of Toronto is set to unveil a new exhibit that includes a bullet-ridden portrait of Pope Benedict XVI as part of a line-up of some of modern history’s most evil men.
