By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The new Republican majority in the House Foreign Affairs committee is targeting the massive funding enjoyed by the United Nations, an organization plagued by corruption that is heavily involved in promoting radical population control and environmental programs around the world.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Despite being the coldest day of the winter thus far, tens of thousands of Americans jammed the streets of Washington yesterday to stand for life with newly elected pro-life lawmakers promising support for life while the nation's president used the occasion to recommit himself to abortion.
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Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
"I am content with weakness, with mistreatment, with distress, with persecutions, and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for when I am powerless, it is then that I am strong."
2 Corinthians 12:10
Dear St. Paul,
I wish I could say that I am content with weakness, mistreatment, distress, persecution, and difficulties, but that is not the case. All too often I complain at the least struggle or trial. Pray for me that I obtain the grace I need to endure all things for the sake of Christ. Help me to see that when I am most powerless, Christ can be all in all of me if I surrender my suffering to Him. May the strength of Christ fill me and may I embrace the cross with valor and conviction. Amen
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Initial reports are claiming at least 31 people have been killed and more than 130 others injured when suspected Islamic suicide bombers blew themselves today up in a crowded arrivals area in Moscow's Domodedovo airport.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The priest whose real life experience is the basis for a new movie about exoricism scheduled for release this Friday, is praising the film for its positive portrayal of the Church and for its witness to the power of faith.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
After a citizen complained to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that the state's Senate was violating the separation of church and state because it sometimes invoked the name of Jesus in their prayers, the legislative body has become the first state legislature in the country to do away with the tradition of praying for blessings upon their work.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
In an address to members of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, the Vatican office that decides annulments, Pope Benedict asked priests to do a better job of screening candidates for marriage and to feel free to decline a nuptial ceremony because "no one can make a claim to the right to a nuptial ceremony."
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 Feast of St. Francis de Sales,
Bishop and Doctor
(1567 - 1622)
"Our business is to love what God would have done. He wills our vocation as it is. Let us love that and not trifle away our time hankering after other people's vocations."
St. Francis de Sales
For Reflection:
How can "hankering after other people's vocations" lead me to be discontented with what God has chosen for me? How does it deprive me of grace? In what ways can it lead me into sin?
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"You are not a saint because you keep the rules and are blameless; you are a saint if you live in the real world, going out and loving the real people God has put into your life."
Sister Wendy Beckett
For Reflection:
According to Sister Wendy, how might I be saint-like today?
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Feast of St. Vincent,
Deacon and Martyr
"Against Christ's army the world arrays a twofold battleline. It offers temptation to lead us astray; it strikes terror into us to break our spirit. At both of these approaches, Christ rushes to our aid, and the Christian is not conquered."
St. Augustine on St. Vincent
For Reflection:
What is the twofold battleline that I am currently engaging? What grace can I name that Christ is bringing me so that I am not conquered?
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