"Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary,
for the Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world."
St. Pio of Pieltracina
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
What Would Abe Think?
A couple of weeks ago, Planned Parenthood in Springfield, Illinois announced that they would begin offering medication abortions through the distribution of RU-486. The spokesman for Planned Parenthood said they are “thrilled with this expansion of services.”
This news, and especially that quote, had a different effect on me. Rather than feeling “thrilled,” I felt positively chilled. Here we are in the city that gave America the President responsible for the end of slavery. I can’t help but wonder, what would Abraham Lincoln think of the arrival of elective abortion here in his adopted home town? To get at an idea, I browsed around on the web to find out what Lincoln had to say about slavery, the great moral issue of his day. Here are a few quotes I found:
"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy."
"This declared indifference, but, as I must think, covert real zeal for the spread of slavery, I cannot but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world-enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites-causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty-criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest."
Okay, so Lincoln was opposed to slavery. That’s pretty much a given. So what? What does slavery have to do with abortion?
To me, the parallels are obvious and many. The most important, as far as I’m concerned, is the issue of “people as property.” Here’s an example. Remember Scott Peterson? The guy who was convicted of not one, but two, homicides when he killed his pregnant wife? That’s right. He was charged with and convicted of killing an unborn child. But how is that possible? Millions of unborn children are killed every day in this country under the cover of the law. How can this killing be considered criminal? Because under the law, the unborn baby is the property of the mother. And this mother, Laci Peterson, chose to confer personhood on her child, Connor. So, his death was murder. Millions of other mothers choose not to confer personhood on their unborn babies, so those deaths are legal. Kind of like slave owners who could choose whether to grant freedom or not to their property – their slaves. Just as I decide what to do with that mattress in my basement that nobody uses anymore. Keep it? Sell it? Give it away? Dump it in the trash? My property, my choice. For more examples of the parallels between the two, see this chart.
So, what would Abe think? Without the ability to commune with the dead (and no desire to acquire it), I can only speculate. But I think it’s safe to conclude that Abraham Lincoln would not be an advocate for legalized abortion. I believe that he would find legalized abortion to be a “monstrous injustice.” And I believe that he would find this incarnation of the “people as property” mindset to be a sad outcome after the bloodshed of the Civil War that was waged under his command to eliminate this injustice forever from America.
But what can we do, right here in Springfield, in light of this news from Planned Parenthood? Here at The Lepanto Effect, we believe that the first line of attack is to seek to do God’s Will according to our states in life, to fast, and to pray - especially the Rosary. We believe that Our Lady can change the course of this battle just as she did at Lepanto. We are outmanned and outgunned to be sure. But we have a most powerful weapon at our disposal – the Holy Rosary. If you already pray the Rosary regularly, we encourage you to keep it up. If you haven’t prayed the Rosary for years - or ever - now is a good time to start. Here's a good place to help you get started. It’s a simple prayer of unimaginable depth. And it comes with promises from Our Lady, who is the Mother of God and our Mother. She will not disappoint her children.
And Abe Lincoln can give us some guidance here as well. He said, “To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men." So, show your courage by exercising your Constitutional rights to assemble, to speak out, and to protest this attack on the women and children of Springfield. Let’s stand up for Life in Springfield. It’s what Abe, and our Mother, would want us to do.
This news, and especially that quote, had a different effect on me. Rather than feeling “thrilled,” I felt positively chilled. Here we are in the city that gave America the President responsible for the end of slavery. I can’t help but wonder, what would Abraham Lincoln think of the arrival of elective abortion here in his adopted home town? To get at an idea, I browsed around on the web to find out what Lincoln had to say about slavery, the great moral issue of his day. Here are a few quotes I found:
"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy."
"This declared indifference, but, as I must think, covert real zeal for the spread of slavery, I cannot but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world-enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites-causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty-criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest."
Okay, so Lincoln was opposed to slavery. That’s pretty much a given. So what? What does slavery have to do with abortion?
To me, the parallels are obvious and many. The most important, as far as I’m concerned, is the issue of “people as property.” Here’s an example. Remember Scott Peterson? The guy who was convicted of not one, but two, homicides when he killed his pregnant wife? That’s right. He was charged with and convicted of killing an unborn child. But how is that possible? Millions of unborn children are killed every day in this country under the cover of the law. How can this killing be considered criminal? Because under the law, the unborn baby is the property of the mother. And this mother, Laci Peterson, chose to confer personhood on her child, Connor. So, his death was murder. Millions of other mothers choose not to confer personhood on their unborn babies, so those deaths are legal. Kind of like slave owners who could choose whether to grant freedom or not to their property – their slaves. Just as I decide what to do with that mattress in my basement that nobody uses anymore. Keep it? Sell it? Give it away? Dump it in the trash? My property, my choice. For more examples of the parallels between the two, see this chart.
So, what would Abe think? Without the ability to commune with the dead (and no desire to acquire it), I can only speculate. But I think it’s safe to conclude that Abraham Lincoln would not be an advocate for legalized abortion. I believe that he would find legalized abortion to be a “monstrous injustice.” And I believe that he would find this incarnation of the “people as property” mindset to be a sad outcome after the bloodshed of the Civil War that was waged under his command to eliminate this injustice forever from America.
But what can we do, right here in Springfield, in light of this news from Planned Parenthood? Here at The Lepanto Effect, we believe that the first line of attack is to seek to do God’s Will according to our states in life, to fast, and to pray - especially the Rosary. We believe that Our Lady can change the course of this battle just as she did at Lepanto. We are outmanned and outgunned to be sure. But we have a most powerful weapon at our disposal – the Holy Rosary. If you already pray the Rosary regularly, we encourage you to keep it up. If you haven’t prayed the Rosary for years - or ever - now is a good time to start. Here's a good place to help you get started. It’s a simple prayer of unimaginable depth. And it comes with promises from Our Lady, who is the Mother of God and our Mother. She will not disappoint her children.
And Abe Lincoln can give us some guidance here as well. He said, “To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men." So, show your courage by exercising your Constitutional rights to assemble, to speak out, and to protest this attack on the women and children of Springfield. Let’s stand up for Life in Springfield. It’s what Abe, and our Mother, would want us to do.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Welcome to The Lepanto Effect
We are Catholic wives and mothers who believe that the Holy Rosary has the power to change the course of history, as demonstrated in the Battle of Lepanto. We have come together to help each other and all who read this blog to grow in holiness and in complete and total trust in God as we seek to transform the culture and claim it for Christ. We have a special love for the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of God and our own Mother and ask her intercession in all we do. We welcome comments and questions from our readers and hope that you will share your own stories of how your faith in Jesus Christ, your devotion to Mary, and praying the Holy Rosary have borne fruit in your life and the lives of your loved ones.
We welcome all Christians, as well as people of other faiths and no faith at all, to participate in this project. At the same time, we remind you that this blog is run by Catholic women and ask you to contribute in a spirit of charity, mutual respect, and common decency. We reserve the right to ban any person whose contributions violate these principles. We are excited to see what the Holy Spirit has planned for us and ask for your prayers as we seek to do His Holy Will.
We welcome all Christians, as well as people of other faiths and no faith at all, to participate in this project. At the same time, we remind you that this blog is run by Catholic women and ask you to contribute in a spirit of charity, mutual respect, and common decency. We reserve the right to ban any person whose contributions violate these principles. We are excited to see what the Holy Spirit has planned for us and ask for your prayers as we seek to do His Holy Will.
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