Belated Halloween, Cats, Cowboys and the election.

This picture is living proof that miracles happen.

Bob has not been the biggest pet lover of all time. Until Mr. Tumnus. They are officially partners now. Bob is as surprised as anyone. God sent us the perfect cat for him, as well as the rest of us, but we needed less convincing.

  I thought the costume we chose for him was quite a coincidence after watching this:

Now, as promised, my thoughts on the election.

I have lived through these presidents: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama. I have never seen a president so protected by the media, so immune to consequences (such as, for one, promising "transparency"and cooking up closed door Friday night deals completely disassociated from government process and the will of the American people.) (Obamacare.) (HHS mandate). On and on. He and VP Biden can literally say anything and never have to answer for it. The degree to which the media circles the wagons is astounding. He has behaved in ways I have never seen from a president, even Bill Clinton. 

Mitt Romney. He was not the candidate I wanted to see get the nomination. But now that he is, and I have heard him and learned more about him, here are the things I am encouraged about.

1. He knows what he is doing. 

2. He is a leader.

3. He loves our country and will see to it we are better protected and defended.

4. He has respect for people. Women, the military, people of all creeds. The irony that he is accused of being an out of touch elite while criticized for raising relief for Sandy victims, juxtaposed to the presidents' words and photo op with Gov. Christie that didn't translate to actual relief, are typical. What an infuriating four years it has been.

5. And this is not number five in importance. Life. The chilling coldness regarding human life made cavalier and discussed in a convoluted way during this administration should be waving 60 million red flags in the faces of all that work, pray and fight for the unborn. The most visible leader in the free world being  A-O-Kay with abortion on demand, partial birth abortion and with babies that survive botched abortions being left to die should be a hugely telling sign to Americans that if he is not willing to protect the most fundamental right to those most vulnerable little lives; what other atrocities, pray tell, do you think he will be willing to stand by for? I think what happened in Benghazi is illustrative of one of those things. And the fact that SO many Americans are being bulldozed on this by a few liberal elites (yep, I said it!) on this issue makes it particularly sickening. EVERY year at the March for Life in DC, more and more people show up. Last year, the number topped a quarter of a million. 350, 000. It was a rainy, muddy, cold day and that many people from all over the globe showed up. Do you think the media reported it accurately? Course not. the seven protesters got some coverage though.

6. He is a gentleman. His VP is not a buffoon. He doesn't talk down to or about America. He is not on a power trip. He has humility. He donated a large portion of his income to charity. He never took as salary as Governor of Massachusetts. He can work with both parties. He has experience governing.

7.The biggest reason I am imploring a vote for Romney is this. Our children and their children. I want to see future generations enjoy the greatest parts of living as Americans. The freedoms, the wholesome values, the opportunities. The ability to worship freely and live by our beliefs. The simple right to LIVE and be born. I will likely not be here in 30-40 years, so it is not for myself that I am fighting. I want to see the generations growing up now be able to live in our great country as it was meant to be.

I still ask God to recognize that there are many. many faithful that have not taken this country for granted, or the blessings He has given us here. Not all would spit in His eye and reject the life He gives.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Be encouraged!

A nice woman approached me at the vigil I posted here last, and gave me a card with this paragraph on it. She had seen me going around snapping pictures, and for whatever reason, felt she needed to share this with me.

It is nice to receive encouragement.

I was watching this video-




--and Mr. D'Souza shared an Indian saying at about 13:25--"After crossing the mountains -- more mountains." He was talking about how it is easy for conservatives to grow weary.

Galatians 6:9 says this-

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

In my very humble opinion, Barack Obama would not be president today if people had not "given up" to the media blitz for Obama, if the faithful Christians of America had done their own homework, rather than letting themselves be led by headlines and weak pastoral statements about "conscience" fromt he American Bishops. (for those of us who are Catholic). There are plenty now who are taking a much clearer stance.

"You need to think and pray very carefully about your vote, because a vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy."-Bishop Thomas Paprocki

 Now, folks, we have no excuse. Let's not be lazy. Don't simply " hope for the best." Don't be taken in by the Obama-Media. Don't let polls discourage you. Consider that there may be some who would try to dishearten conservative voters with smears against Gov. Romney. I think he will do well in the debates, but even if he doesn't, or (this is likely) that you and I think he does well, but the media proclaims him as losing--don't be swayed. Remember your children and grandchildren, who may have to live under whatever the Unconcerned-about-Reelection-Obama dishes out. (shudder.)

Unborn babies cannot do anything unless we rise up to help them. Re-electing this man is tantamount to a death sentence for untold numbers of the unborn. It is an invitation to an even more rapid decline of the values that helped shape America. Before anyone feels the need to react to these statements, no, I don't expect abortions to stop on a dime on January 22, 2013. Or that Roe v Wade will overturn immediately. But I DO know that Obamacare will go, which will spark businesses and restore religious freedom to those opposed to the mandate. Oh, and relieve many American doctors. Maybe even the March for Life on January 25, 2013, will actually be acknowledged. Maybe even the number topping a quarter of a million marchers will even be reported accurately. Hey, a girl can dream!

"It is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion." -- Pope Benedict XVI



Glenn beck held a telephone conference on Tuesday night (Sept. 25), explicitly for Catholics. He urged us to get on our knees for our country. There is a recording of the half-hour call on the net somewhere, but I couldn't remember where I saw it, and couldn't locate it today. I usually am kind of freaked out by him, but I am glad I tuned in.


So, friends, I encourage you! Do not give up! Let's fight the good fight every day, wherever our footsteps take us. Everything belongs to God. Let's live in the times we are born, as people that recognize that and are willing to live as His children, acknowledging Him in all we do and say.

~God Bless You~

+JMJ+

Kelly

a strong message

 I appreciate his common sense clarity.

I do not hate you

I feel I must say this, or suffer the consequences in some form, whether it be an ulcer or the regret of being silent when I should not be.

Being a Catholic, Conservative, and (usually) Republican in Philadelphia is not a comfortable thing. But being maligned, misrepresented, and (to give benefit of the doubt where applicable), misunderstood, has been tough. I have lost some dear friends. Now, I am not whining, because I understand that to do one's best to follow Christ is to at times incur all of those things. But as the Presidential campaign heats up, and the verbal bombs are lobbed from one camp to another, I want to say a few things.

Bashing the Catholics and conservatives has become a pop culture badge of honor. It's so hip to slap labels on us. Depending on their origin, it goes from unintelligent,  "shiny objects" (DWS), to, racists, bigots, greedy wealth-hoarders, or war mongers. And don't forget hate-filled.

While I could very easily counter every one of those un-thought out labels, what I mainly want to clarify is this.

 I am your fellow human being.  

I may not agree with you on everything.

 I may not completely understand you.  

    But I do not hate you.

The political movers and shakers, mainly on the left, have found a few buzz words that are very effective and have plied them freely via every media vehicle available. It was so effective that even some people, in 2008, who identified themselves as Catholics or conservatives or what have you, suddenly felt that not to vote for Barack Obama was to embody all those labels, especially the H word.

I think that to fundamentally disagree with someone should not mean giving up your voice entirely in favor of dodging the difficult discussions. 

Sadly, some real hateful speech flies pretty freely in our direction. It is accepted and  popular now. I could, again, name names and specifics, but I am choosing not to go there right now. It's all a matter of record.

Disagreement     ≠        Hate

 


I have the responsibility to speak the truth at all times, with humility, and in love. As I had to explain to one of my daughters the other day, truly loving someone means NEVER lying to them to smooth things over. ALL my kids know that I love them to the ends of the earth and back again. For example, I will not lie and say that unmarried cohabitation is really okay. I will share my own heartbreak and failures at having tried that. But I will keep right on loving them if they make that choice. I will love their boyfriends/girlfriends. I will take them shopping, laugh, cry, joke, and be here for them.  There is no hate in the equation.

There is fear that some choices can lead in a direction that could possibly drag them ultimately to hell. I will work at living, loving, and praying them away from that end. I lay awake last night praying this:

Listen, I am not the author of Truth or the Universe. I am bound to love and serve the Savior who loves and saved me.  But He loved and died for the whole world. He does not hate anyone.

There are many, many great people, some great thinkers of history, who have died for love of Christ. I submit to any that would brush off all believers with easy, lazy reasoning, to do some objective research. Read the Early Church Fathers, who lived with Jesus or those that knew Him. Pray and ask God to help you really understand. Don't be so immersed in the pop culture, make-it-up-as-they-go-along, media icons. Don't do what we are so oft accused of -- following blindly. Think and reason for yourself, and let Him reveal Himself to you.

Demonizing people of faith, as frail and flawed as we may be, is no way to go about moving "forward" in this country.

I will support Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan because I believe they will do better for ALL of us. Do I endorse every single thing they promote? No! And I will take every opportunity to communicate that, if hopefully, they win the election. 

I will not apologize for my beliefs. But if you, dear reader, believe that I would hate you for yours, you would be wrong.  I have lived and experienced the following verse.

"For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little."  

Luke 7:47 

God Bless you~

+JMJ+

Kelly

We are Here, We are Here, We are Here!

 Our country is descending into tyranny.


There are two elements that stand out.

1. The spiritual.
The day Barack Obama was elected, I said to my husband that I believe now all Christian believers' faith is going to be tested. One choice is to go along, get along, and compromise ourselves into something that cannot be recognized as Christian. Some are doing that. Catholics for Choice comes to mind here. The other is to become firmly rooted. To learn, know and live out our faith, and if things keep going in a direction pointed directly in opposition to God and to freedom and liberty, then believers will stand out in more and more relief against the backdrop. Our call to be salt and light will be the rubber hitting the road. I didn't really want to be right about that, but in the wake of yesterday's Supreme Court ruling, I feel it all the more, times ten. We will be sifted like wheat, believers. We will either cling to God and His way, or we will not.

2. The Natural.

For all people of faith, and for all others that want to live in a free America , we must get out of bed, literally and figuratively. Wake up and see that America as we have known her is slipping away.  We have to fight for ourselves and for our children and grandchildren. We have to be an example of fortitude. And above all -- because this is the only way we can make our voice heard -- on Tuesday, November 6, we ALL get up and go vote. Every last one of us. The media would have us believe we are a small, fanatical segment of the population, like one of the *Whos in Whoville,  too small to be heard. We are not, in reality, that small, but the principle applies. To every  *JoJo out there -- if we all speak on November 6, it will be a resounding WE ARE HERE!, shouted to this administration. We must encourage every single person that their vote matters. I live in a city that is heavily democratic. But I know that my vote still matters! I live in a city where Black Panthers stood in front of a polling place with billy clubs to intimidate those that would not be likely to vote for Barack Obama. So guess what folks--that means OUR votes are worth suppressing. (a little aside -- those Black Panthers got off scot- free because a certain attorney general did not think it necessary to prosecute them.) (oh, and in my city, dems are boiling mad that people will have to show a valid ID to vote. Speaks volumes.)

You get the point.  Vote. And get everyone you know to do the same.

 *references, to those not familiar, are from Horton Hears a Who, a very prophetic story, full of spiritual truths.

the rest of the analogy is also quite apropos-

 "Rot, rot, rot rot! It's a plot, plot, plot, plot!
We’re the Wickersham Brothers. We're on to your plot.
Pretending to talk to Whos who are not.
It's a deep dyed evil political plot.
Pretending your talking to Whos who are not.

We’re the Wickersham Brothers. We’re vigilant spotters.
Hotshot spotters of rotters and plotters.
And we’re going to save our sons and our daughters -from you.
You’re a dastardly, gastardly, shnastardly schnook,
and you’re trying to brainwash our brains -with this gobbledygook!

(spoken) We know what you’re up to, pal.
You’re trying to shatter our morale.
You’re trying to stir up discontent...
(sung) And seize the reins of government.

You’re trying to throw sand in our eyes;
You're trying to kill free enterprise;
And raise the cost of figs and dates;
and wreck our compound interest rates.
And shut our schools, and steal our jewels,
And even change our football rules;
Take away our garden tools,
and lock us up in ves-ti-bules!
...But for-tu-nate-ly, we're no fools.

We’re the Wickersham brothers. We know your type!
And we're putting a stop to this trickulous tripe
We’re the Wickersham brothers; we're squashing your plot.
There'll be no more talking to Whos... who are not!

There'll be no more talking to Whos who are not!
There'll be no more talking to Whos who are not!
There'll be no more talking to Whos...
-no more talking to Whos... who are not!"

Change, Obedience, and Humility

 

           Our country, at this moment in history, is becoming a place I hardly recognize. America, almost by definition, is a place where a person has been free to pursue his own course, speak his mind, and above all, believe what he has come to believe as truth, whether it be to embrace a religion or not, or to be somewhere on the continuum between the two. Now, if one is not of the popular mindset, which leans away from anything traditional, God-centered, or remotely suggestive of the idea that we as humans are not the origin and center of all that is wise and good; we are ridiculed and even attacked at every turn. The scandal within the Catholic Church is held up as a reason to negate all that God has done in establishing her. I wonder, where is the scathing denunciation and pile-on lawsuits for, say, the public school? Where abuse happens in exponential quantities in comparison to the Church.

     Now the Obama Administration is legislating how we can live out our faith. Those arguments I hear in defense are so incredibly hollow, off point, and downright bitter, I am wondering who really believes all that. I have heard that it is okay to mandate religious based institutions and groups to fund the latest package of "womens services", directly, if self insured, or indirectly, through their OWN tax dollars (after all, no government money is anything but), because, "98% of Catholics practice birth control." 1. what a load of you know what THAT stat is. (Read the debunking of that here). 2. oh, so that makes it A-Ok to tread all over religious conscience, and 3. it does not address any of the other mandates, abortion or Plan B. And if I hear the term, "services" for women one more time, I may throw up. I can tell you that those "services" are indeed DIS- services to women, "assisting" them only in becoming ever less valued. Power over life and death does not belong to us, fellow women, not to men either, but only God. Remember dear Archangel Lucifer and what happened to him?

  The idea that humility is weakness is entirely backwards. It is more heroic, more taxing, more thoughtful and yes, intelligent (yeah, I said it!) to maintain oneself in humility than to go blasting about proclaiming how powerful we are over this, that and the other. No person has power over the will of God and the turning of the earth. Thank God! By the same token, it is through humility that we can actually see ourselves for who we really were created to be. And how incredibly loved by God we are even when we do not love Him back or appreciate His infinite patience, mercy and kindness toward us. To be submissive, obedient and humble before God is to indeed help ourselves realize all that not only is lacking, (because that is all our condition), but to see the good in ourselves as well. Just acknowledging that we did not originate the good, is not weakness. It is a way to tap into the life of the Trinity through sanctifying grace and realize that we as women and all people, have the power to effect change on earth that will actually lead to real freedom instead of the suffocating arm of government forcing its will upon us. God knows His rule is absolute, and yet, He never forces. He only loves. And to love means to tell the truth. To be humble means to realize the truth about ourselves; not to  put ourselves down and not to lift ourselves up, but to know the place in our God's heart that we dwell in, and to respond to that love and therefore live in His power, which transcends all earthly ones.

As I stated in the opening paragraph, this country is supposed to be, the last time I checked, a place where we are free to walk our own faith journey unencumbered. To not have our government prying open our heads to insert its own agenda. To not be so insecure that it needs to micromanage us into submission. God doesn't do that even to unbelievers. If a person wants to make a choice not to believe, they are free to do so. God is ultimately more pro-choice than the so-called pro-choicers. (who only respect your choice if it lines up with theirs). He just offers that little side benefit we like to call Eternal Life. If we will put our own agenda aside for one millisecond and find out what He is really about, He is right there to welcome us with open arms and willing to mend our broken hearts.

I for one, plan to cultivate whatever task He gives me to share His life with whomever He gives me. And if America no longer wants to allow that, then, I guess she will be having a problem with me.

God's Blessings and Peace

~Kelly

+JMJ+

Additional note taken from article cited above--a further comment by its author-
Scott, for clarity's sake: I'm not Catholic. I am a Christian and an analytic philosopher. I don't like cant and lies. This administration and their fellow travelers traffic heavily in cant and lies. Heavily exaggerated statistics are part of that program. As a purely secular friend said to me, in almost these exact words, "One reason that this is important is because the underlying message is that the Catholic views are not simply wrong but _crazy_, that they do not describe an achievable way of life." I think that was shrewd. Whether one agrees or not with the Roman Catholic Church's position re. contraception, the current liberal meme is that it is _insane_, that no one _could_ live according to those principles. The idea is to demonize social conservatives generally, with the Catholic Church serving as a kind of proxy for "everything sexual and social liberals hate." Both for that reason and for the sake of accuracy, debunking exaggerated statistics as I was attempting to do in the main post is relevant.






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