By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America is preparing to launch a nationwide "social change initiative" that will instruct parents and caregivers on how to teach children about sexuality in order to end the “stigma and shame about sex” in American culture.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
While Americans were busy celebrating Christmas, President Obama's controversial head of Medicare and staunch supporter of rationed health care, Dr. Donald Berwick, quietly created a new Medicare rule that will reward physicians for conducting end-of-life counseling sessions with their patients.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
On the same day the Pope's World Day of Peace message addressed the urgent need for religious tolerance, a car bomb exploded outside a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria Egypt, killing 21 people and injuring 79.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Improving one's relationship with God ranked near the bottom of the list of this year's most common New Year's resolutions, with most promises centering on self-improvement.
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"A person's prayer often keeps step with his moral life. The closer our behavior corresponds to the Divine Will, the easier it is to pray; the more our conduct is out of joint with Divinity, the harder it is to pray."
Fulton J. Sheen
For Reflection:
On a scale of one to ten, with one being "easy" and ten being "most difficult," how would I rate my experience of prayer? In light of Bishop Sheen's quote, is a serious examination of conscience in order?
(Please note the word "often" in Bishop Sheen's quote. Other reasons exist for difficulty in prayer such as distraction or aridity. However, it is always good to examine our conscience as a first prevention against difficulty in prayer time.)
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"When prayer is humble, trusting, and persevering, it obtains for us a more lively faith, a firmer hope, a more ardent charity. Thereby we see how fruitful mental prayer can be; how it draws God strongly toward us that He may give Himself intimately to us and that we may give ourselves to Him."
Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
For Reflection:
Is my prayer "humble, trusting, and persevering?" In which of these three do I most need to grow? What benefits can I expect to receive if I do so? Can I recall a time when I experienced the profound presence of God in prayer? How does this help me to remain steadfast to the resolution I made yesterday regarding my time of prayer?
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"Everything starts from prayer."
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
For Reflection:
What is noticeably different about this statement is that Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta says that everything starts from prayer, not everything starts with prayer. What is the significance of this? What does it say to me? What resolution am I willing to make at the beginning of this new year regarding my prayer life?
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