David Ancell / Saturday, April 02, 2005 / Comments(0)
Eternal rest, grant to Pope John Paul II, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.
In case you didn’t see it, Pope John Paul II has been called back home. He died at 9:37 PM his time (1:37 PM in Memphis). After all the unbelievable recoveries he has made, I wondered if he might make one more. However, it appears that Our Lord was ready to bring him back home. Once, in the face of questions of resignation, he reminded us that Christ never got off the cross. The Holy Father has, thanks be to God, remained true to his word.
Honestly, I don’t know whether to pray for him or to him. It’s hard to believe he is gone. Although he is the third pope of my lifetime (Paul VI was pope when I was born; then John Paul I was there briefly), he is really the only Holy Father I have ever known. He was there when I became Catholic. He was there as I began to really study the faith later on. I can’t imagine the Church without him.
I remember my first few years as Catholic. I kind of bought into the line that he was a bitter old man who was opposed to progress. Only later as I began to study the teaching of the Church and read some of his writings did I find that this was not true. The man had a true love for each one of us under his care. His message was not of condemnation but of hope. I was saddened by those who wrote him off because of things like being against contraception without looking into it to see if he might actually be right. In time, I saw that he (and not really he, but Christ and his Church) really is right about that and much else. He was no ivory tower man. He knew well the state of this world. He strove to make a difference for Our Lord.
I think this from Catholic Exchange will describe well how many of us who love the Church are now thinking and feeling. Goodbye for now, Holy Father. I will never forget you. Please pray for me, and all of us here. May all of us saddended by your death share the joy that you are now safely home. May we all be able to join you there one day.
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David Ancell / Friday, April 01, 2005 / Comments(0)
I have been watching to see what is going on, and I haven’t seen any confirmed news on the Holy Father. Even Catholic World News, hardly an agency looking forward to his demise, seems to think that this is his final struggle. He’s turned around and surprised us many times before, but we all know he can’t live forever. We must continue to pray for him, whatever God’s plan may be for the moment, as he leads the Church in the same way that Christ did – by suffering.
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David Ancell / Friday, April 01, 2005 / Comments(0)
Please pray for the Holy Father. He is in critical condition now after having suffered from heart failure. Maybe God will let him pull through again. He’s surprized us before.
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David Ancell / Thursday, March 31, 2005 / Comments(0)
By now, you probably have already seen or read that Terri Schiavo passed away this morning. She was subjected to a form of killing that would not survive the courts were it applied to a notorious criminal. She was tried and executed only for being disabled and unable to speak for herself. She was murdered at the hands of the one who had promised to love and cherish her all the days of her life, with the help of a lawyer and judges who displayed horrific judicial arrogance (Hello, our legislature sure does have the right to pass new laws if what comes out in the courts is unsatisfactory.).
This is a sad chapter in American history. This goes beyond the Nancy Cruzan case. At least in the Cruzan case, the family agreed upon her wishes. In this case, they didn’t, and the judges all presumed in favor of death. They did this despite the fact that Michael Schiavo was actively living in an objective state of adultery. This shows that the Culture of Death has really taken root.
However, the battle is not over. We know that somehow, God wins. Let us just hope that it is by our repentance, not our destruction that he wins. Let this be the wake-up call for a need for judicial reform. The last thing we need is a nation ruled by judges and lawyers. We must restore needed checks and balances on judicial power. The courts have been arrogating to themselves more and more power over the years. This must stop.
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David Ancell / Tuesday, March 29, 2005 / Comments(0)
I just tried to go to the web page for Terri Schiavo only to find that it has exceeded its bandwidth. Apparently, this is getting a lot of attention. I just hope something is done fast to stop this murder. There can’t be much time left.
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David Ancell / Monday, March 28, 2005 / Comments(0)
Finally, the news broke last night that Terri Schiavo was allowed to receive Communion. In fact, it appears that the orders to cremate her without autopsy upon death have also been rescinded. However, I am still praying that somehow she be allowed to live.
I could not help but be indignant when the news report that I read (but won’t link to) kept referring to the Precious Blood as “wine.” It’s not wine. It’s the Precious Blood that was shed for your salvation. Get a clue!
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David Ancell / Sunday, March 27, 2005 / Comments(0)
While I, and I hope a lot of you, have a really good Easter planned, let us not forget the continued suffering of Terri Schiavo. Now, Michael Schiavo is even denying her Viaticum. I hope the Schindler’s win this one, but so far the Florida courts haven’t been too accomodating. Besides, if she could swallow the Communion, then their false, and therefore unjust, judgment would be exposed. While I don’t know their hearts to know their true motives, it’s hard for me to imagine that this isn’t at least in the back of their minds.
On another note, it looks like someone has already attempted to resort to violence. The Schindlers have requested that people remain civil, but some dude put a bounty on the head of Michael Schiavo and an unnamed judge. Look dude, we can’t defend life by making death threats. It just won’t work. The only thing that you are going to accomplish is to discredit the cause. The final judgment is God’s job, and he will do it. Barring repentance, which will become more difficult as they continue to dirty their hands more and more with Terri’s blood, God’s judgment will be on the judges, lawyers, and other parties to this murder. We need not take it into our own hands. God may be desparately trying to give them a chance to repent, and if we interfere, we have even more than their blood on our hands.
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David Ancell / Sunday, March 27, 2005 / Comments(0)
I just wanted to break from the other posts that I’ve been writing to say Happy Easter to all of my readers. I attended the vigil last night and saw about 25 people, most of whom I know from having worked with them in RCIA, enter the Church. This was an outstanding class that we had this year, and I’m glad to see that they are now with us. Although you often hear of people leaving the Church, it has been said, and I believe, that the real quality conversion are in the inward direction.
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David Ancell / Thursday, March 24, 2005 / Comments(0)
Today, as I sit waiting for time to go to Holy Thursday Mass, I am reminded of something from the Bible Timeline Seminar that I participate in. We just finished the book of Joshua at our last session. If you have read it, you’ll no doubt remember that many cities were under the ban. The Isrealites were ordered to destroy everyone and everything.
Many modern people, including a couple that I have read from, insist that God didn’t really tell the Isrealites to do this. However, Jeff Cavins shows us how God gave these people several generations to repent of their evil. Even when they saw how God helped the Isrealites, they were still too stubborn to repent. Their wickedness had gotten so great that God finally had to say”enough.”
Cavins reminded us that we are in danger of this here. We allow unborn babies to be murdered in the womb. Now, our judicial system is condemning an innocent woman to death by starvation and dehydration. Make no mistake! On Judgment Day, there will be no hiding behind the U.S. Constitution or any other law.
How long will the Lord put up with us? The time may come for us and our nation. A few years ago, you would never have heard me talk like this. Now, somehow I think that this may well be the reality that we must face.
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David Ancell / Wednesday, March 23, 2005 / Comments(0)
In other news today, somehow I have been suckered in to letting them was one of my feet at Holy Thursday Mass tomorrow. Because of this, I have decided to refrain from bathing all week. Just kidding! Honestly, I think the whole thing is a silly ritual that need not be reenacted in the middle of any Mass. I fail to see the point of it.
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