Remembering the Holy Innocents

DRAWING NEAR TO CHRIST

By: Eric Metaxas
BreakPoint

The gifts are packed away; the kitchen’s finally cleaned up. Maybe you’re relieved Christmas is over. But is it?

We Americans really outdo ourselves celebrating Christmas, often starting the day after Thanksgiving and sometimes before. We not only “out do,” we often overdo, glutting ourselves to the point where getting past Christmas becomes a relief.

With all the hubbub and celebrating, one aspect of this holiday that often gets lost is the season of Christmas, which begins (not ends) on Christmas Day and runs for twelve days until January 5. This season is usually only observed among liturgical churches, but it contains some powerful spiritual reminders that the rest of us might want to recover.

One of these is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, traditionally celebrated on December 28. Starting in the fifth century, the church set aside this day to remember the babes of Bethlehem slaughtered by King Herod.

As you recall, Herod was jealous of the newborn King and asked the traveling Magi to report back when they found him. When he finally realized that the Wise Men were not returning, Herod flew into a rage and had all the boys two years and under in Bethlehem killed, fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Loud weeping and lamentation over the murder of innocent children doesn’t exactly fit the “peace on earth, goodwill toward men” narrative we prefer to highlight. But like it or not, it’s as much a part of Christmas as singing angels, wondering shepherds and a rough manger filled with hay.

Perhaps we can be forgiven, given what’s going on in our own world today. Haven’t we had enough of this lately, with students being gunned down in Sandy Hook and children beheaded by ISIS terrorists? We also struggle with the knowledge that millions of young souls are trafficked for sex and labor each year, and we must face the fact that more than 50 million babies have been killed in the womb in America since 1973.

Yet these tragedies are precisely why it’s worth remembering those martyred children in Bethlehem so long ago. The message of Christmas rings true each year precisely because of all the sin, death and darkness we see around us. Christ came into a world beset by sin and enslaved to death. On the cross, he became intimately sensitized to each bloody, brutal sin we ever committed and will commit. The innocent blood shed at Christmas prefigured Jesus’ innocent blood shed on the cross as the fulfillment of His rescue mission on earth.

continue reading at http://www.breakpoint.org/

All life matters: Jahi McMath’s journey

Jahi McMath is ALIVE.

By Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate

The very first column I filed in 2014 exposed the plight of a beautiful young girl, the same age as my daughter, whom medical experts declared “brain dead” after a routine tonsillectomy gone wrong. Are you ready for the rest of the story?

Doctors told Jahi’s mom, Nailah Winkfield, that her child’s organs would “shut down” and her brain would “liquefy” if kept on life support. Hostile hospital administrators in Oakland moved to pull the plug on Jahi. Medical officials callously referred to Jahi as “dead, dead, dead” and dismissed the child as a “body.” Smug critics mocked and hounded the family to give up and let go. Jahi’s life, they concluded, was worthless.

But the experts and naysayers were wrong.

As Winkfield recently described in an open letter to supporters, “Jahi is physically stable. All of her organs are fully functional [and] her skin is flawless.” After inspecting her latest medical records, two respected neurologists testified in sworn declarations that she is not brain dead. Video released by her family shows her moving her arm and foot on command. A recent MRIshowed severe brain damage, “but it also shows brain structure and blood flow,” Winkfield noted.

“I was told previously that it would be liquefied or have holes in it because it had been without blood flow and oxygen for 9 months,” she recounted. “That is not the case with my daughter. Every person is different and every person heals differently.”

One year after callous and overconfident members of the medical and media establishments wrote Jahi’s life off, the now 14-year-old girl is surrounded by the love and care of her mom, dedicated medical professionals, and vigilant advocates for life.

continue reading at http://michellemalkin.com/

Judge says Abortion Makes Incest Acceptable

by Nancy Flanders
Live Action News

It stands to reason that if abortion is viewed as morally and legally correct, other immoral acts will become socially acceptable as well. Now, according to a judge in Australia, incest is one of those acts.

During the trial of a brother charged with raping his younger sister, Judge Garry Neilson said that incest may no longer be morally unacceptable because the only reason it is criminal is due to the potential for abnormalities in any conceived children. Neilson said that thanks to contraception and abortion, there is no longer that risk.

The man on trial had raped his sister beginning when she was as young as 10 or 11 and pleaded guilty to that. However, he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him for the incest that occurred after the sister turned 18.

“A jury might find nothing untoward in the advance of a brother towards his sister once she had sexually matured, had sexual relationships with other men and was now ‘available’, not having [a] sexual partner,” the judge said. “If this was the 1950s and you had a jury of 12 men there, which is what you’d invariably have, they would say it’s unnatural for a man to be interested in another man or a man being interested in a boy. Those things have gone.”

continue reading at http://liveactionnews.org


Nancy Flanders is a work at home mom who writes about parenting, special needs children, and the right to life. She is the lucky mother of three spirited little girls, one who has cystic fibrosis, and she spends any free moment she can find fundraising for a cure for CF. You can read her personal blog atwww.ChronicAdmissions.com.

Pro-abortion Reverend Calls Pro-lifers “Wolves” and “False Prophets” in Christmas Greeting

by Susan Michelle
Live Action News

The Reverend Harry Knox insists that pro-lifers are the wolves in sheep’s clothing Jesus warned about, and that we bear false witness.

The not very reverent Rev. Knox heads up the largest faith-based pro-abortion organization in the nation, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC). Churches like the United Methodists, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian USA, and Episcopals, as well as a host of more well-known liberal churches, are the composite of this campaign for death in the name of the One who came to bring us life. The RCRC is a shame to the reality of Christianity as it manipulates the truth of the faith.

continue reading at http://liveactionnews.org

Susan Michelle was born in Bethlehem to an unwed mother and rescued by Catholic nuns who took her to an orphanage in Bethlehem, which still helps single moms and rescues babies. Today she's an outspoken advocate for LIFE and speaks and writes about pro-life issues nationwide.

Why Predators Love Planned Parenthood

by Cynthia Millen
Catholic Stand

While a recent Planned Parenthood study notes that the highest rate of unintended pregnancies occurs between young teen girls and adult males at least six years older, the organization is only concerned that these teens have unfettered access to contraceptives and abortions, without parental notification. Where is their concern for the harm suffered by these girls who, by their own admission, were coaxed “involuntarily” to have sex, and who, as studies have proven, suffer much higher rates of STD’s, cervical cancer, and infertility?
The Guttmacher Testimony

In 1994, an Alan Guttmacher Institute study entitled “Sex and America’s Teenagers” indicated that 6 out of 10 girls who had sexual intercourse by the age of 15 had partners who were at least six years older, and had pregnancy rates three times that of other girls. Two years later, the Urban Institute cited a study in which “three quarters of females who had sexual intercourse before age 14 reported having had sex involuntarily” (“The Fathers of Teen Mothers”, Washington Times, April 9, 1996).

More recently, a 2006 study published by the same Guttmacher Institute supported those earlier studies, and also indicated that “one in four first sexual relationships between females aged 16 and younger, and partners five or more years older were classified as nonvoluntary.” The study also reiterated the earlier findings that young teens who have sexual partners at least four years older have a much higher pregnancy rates — three times greater — primarily because “female teenagers fear more negative reactions from older partners if they bring up using a condom.” (Manlove, J., Terry-Humen, E., and Ikramullah E. [2006], Young Teenagers and Older Sexual Partners: Correlates and Consequences for Males and Females).

Furthermore, in a 2008 Guttmacher study, it was found that teens who had sex with a partner four or more years older “were [two times] more likely to acquire an STD as young adults.” (Ryan, S., Franzetta, K., Manlove, J., and Schelar, E. [March 2008], Older Sexual Partners During Adolescence: Links to Reproductive Health Outcomes in Young Adulthood) Those same teens also suffered much higher rates of pelvic inflammatory disease, pregnancy complications, infertility, and cervical cancer. (Ibid.)

As common sense would dictate, and based upon all of the adverse physical and psychological results of early teenage sexual activity with older partners, the authors of the Guttmacher studies strongly argued for sexual abstinence for these teens.

continue reading at http://catholicstand.com

About the Author

After marrying her husband, Jim Roberts, in 1980, Cynthia Millen graduated from law school and practiced in Ohio for a short while. Excited about having a large family, Jim and Cindy were blessed more quickly than expected with the birth of five children in four years (two set of twins). Her love for reading and writing grew into the publication of several children's books (under the name C. M. Millen), poems and short stories (including a 2014 Tuscany prize winner). Millen earned her Masters in Literature from Trinity College, Dublin, and relishes the teaching (and learning) of reading, writing, and grammar with middle school students at Christ the King School in Toledo, Ohio. Most of all, she treasures attending Mass there with wonderful parishioners and truly marvelous priests.

Merry Christmas from Voices for the Unborn

 Jesus

The reason we celebrate Christmas.

"Glory to God in the highest, and

on earth peace, good will toward men."

           Luke 2:14

Wishing you good tidings of great joy!

May you have a blessed Christmas.

With love and blessings from all of us at Voices for the Unborn

Father Frank's Christmas Message

From Father Frank Pavone, National Director
Priests for Life


There was no room for them in the inn. This should make us wonder, because the birth of Christ was foreseen and planned by God from all eternity. Hundreds of years before it happened, the prophets announced he would be born of a virgin (Is. 7:14) and that Bethlehem would be his birthplace (Micah 5:2). Many other details of his life and death were also foretold. How, then, could God have forgotten to make room for his only Son? Moreover, the child born at Christmas owns the inn, and Bethlehem, and the world, and the whole universe.

Obviously, God did this on purpose. There was no room in the inn, because this demonstrates that the child comes as a Savior, to reconcile a world that is at enmity with God and has rejected him. The lack of room in the inn symbolizes the lack of room we make for him in our hearts. Today he does not seek an inn; he seeks room in our own hearts and lives.

To welcome the Divine Child today is to welcome all that he will do and teach. We welcome the one who will preach the Sermon on the Mount, instruct us by parables, and establish his Church. In welcoming the baby in the manger, we welcome the Lord at the table giving the Eucharist, and we welcome the Lamb on the cross.

We welcome all he welcomes, and are to make room for all he loves, especially the most unwanted, marginalized, burdensome, or inconvenient. If we welcome the baby Jesus, we welcome every baby and we welcome his teaching that every life is sacred, and we live accordingly.


 

Unto us a Child is born‏

A Christmas Message from Americans United for Life

From Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., President & CEO
Americans United for Life

Christmas is a time when, together with millions of people around, we pause to reflect on the power of one life. More than any other holiday, Christmas teaches us the value of life. Part of the beauty of the Christmas story is the underlying humility – God sent His son to be born in a manger. He could have come as a conquering king, with all the trappings. But instead God chose to teach us that one life – no matter how humble the beginnings – can change the world.

Isaiah says something profound in predicting the impact of this one life unto US a child is born. His words reflect a truth that while a child may come into a family by marriage, by birth or by adoption, a child is a gift to us all, as the ripple effect of a life well lived changes all who are touched by him or her.

In preparing for Christmas, we probably all make lists as we consider and plan for giving gifts to the people we love. My son James has done some of the work for me and made his own list that runs a full page of his own wish list! It made me smile to see his anticipation. His perspective on Christmas gifts, of course, is different than mine. When we are children we are usually still focused on getting. As we get older those lists start to take on the significance of being a chronicle, an inventory of those who are integral to our very existence—those who bring meaning to our days; who laugh with us, and share our sorrows.

Our Christmas lists are not really about stuff to buy, but people to honor. The list is Life. The list is people we love.

Do you ever wonder who we are missing?

Since Roe v. Wade became law in 1973, more than 57 million of our children are gone. They are a lost generation of friends, teachers, doctors, neighbors, co-workers, inventors, musicians, spouses, family and fellow travelers.

My life would not have been the same without the wonderful memories of days spent enjoying the simple pleasures of just being together with my family and friends. My hope is that in the New Year, we at Americans United for Life, together with you, will be able to work to ensure that more people find the courage and support to take a chance on a wonderful life.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

And from AUL, we wish you a very happy New Year.

Americans United for Life (AUL) is the legal architect of the pro-life movement. We are accumulating victories, building momentum, and advancing a culture of life in America. Our vision is a nation in which everyone is welcomed in life and protected in law. The first national pro-life organization in America, AUL has been committed to defending human life since 1971.

SIDEWALK CHRONICLES: THE LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS ERRAND

by Reverend Katherine Marple
KeepLifeLegal

THAT LAST MINUTE ERRAND….the one thing left to do, the one thing to find time for: THE CHRISTMAS ABORTION.

Sound too incredible to be true? Think again. People climb all over each other to get to that one gift AND still make time to kill an unwanted, unplanned, innocent baby. At Christmastime.

And in case you wondered, we see this every Christmas on the sidewalk; women all over the country are hurrying to get their ‘Christmas’ abortion, that last minute detail taken care of before the holiday. And just now I saw an update from another state that says a “local Sheriff has brought a young lady here threatening bodily harm and arrest”…for a Christmas abortion.

continue reading at http://keeplifelegal.com

Pro-abortionists See 2014 as “A Terrible Year for Reproductive Rights"

By Dave Andrusko
National Right to Life News Today

Let’s take a few minutes to see why pro-abortion militant Armanda Marcotte believes “It’s Been a Terrible Year for Reproductive Rights.”

But we’re going to take her conclusion first because it’s the kind of question-begging argument that pro-abortionists specialize in. And then we will end where Marcotte began.

Pro-lifers and those who have no particular stake in the abortion issue have passed a great number of laws going back to 2011 that require that abortion clinics upgrade their physical plant (and therefore the safety of women); that they use the FDA recommended protocol for chemical abortions; that abortionists have admitting privileges at a local hospital so when there are the inevitable complications they can go with the woman to the hospital—to name just three.

continue reading at http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/