Today's Inspirational Quote:
"A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil;
but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and
small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from
drying out completely."
-- Pam Brown
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Posted: 26 Jun 2009 09:00 PM PDT
Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24 / 2 Cor 8:7,9,13-15 / Mk 5:21-43
…no destructive drug among them…? What happened? What was God’s intention if there had been no domain of the netherworld on earth?
We get the answer later in this reading from Wisdom: by the envy of the devil, death entered the world…
Yet Jesus triumphs over death, destruction, and the devil.
Who caused the woman’s hemorrhage in the Gospel? Only God knows for sure. How did Jairus’ little girl die? Only God knows for sure. Why did these and all the other destructions happen? Only God knows for sure.
Yet Jesus triumphs over death, destruction, and the devil.
Why did Job endure all he did? God told him: only He knows and understands for sure.
Yet Jesus triumphs over death, destruction, and the devil.
Why is there such war in our world, such fighting supposedly in the name of God? Only God knows for sure. We cannot set ourselves up to judge. Only God judges for sure. We can fight in our understanding for righteousness and against injustice. But only God knows which is which for sure.
Yet Jesus triumphs over death, destruction, and the devil.
We stand with Him. Triumphing over sickness. Triumphing over addictions. Triumphing over abuse of any sort – for it is all a destructive tactic of the devil, whether the abuse is against the unborn, or families, or nations.
We do know what is true — no — what is True. Truth is not something but Someone.
Knowing that Truth, we triumph over death, destruction, and the devil along with Him who is the way, the truth, and the life. As He raised Jairus’ little girl, so He raises us — even as the devil tries to raze us.
As St. Paul says to the Corinthians today: you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ — you know His triumph over death, destruction, and the devil.
May His triumph reign in and through us despite the destructions planned against us.
Obama Sacks Bioethicists From Bush Years
Wants More Policy, Less Philosophy
WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 25, 2009 (Zenit.org).- U.S. President Barack Obama gave an early termination notice to bioethicists picked by his predecessor for an advisory board.
According to a New York Times report from last week, Obama wants the committee to focus more on "practical policy," rather than discussion of issues.
He thus ended the bioethicists' terms a few months early (they were originally to serve in the position until September), and will appoint new members to the board.
According to ethicist E. Christian Brugger, the "push to get practical in bioethical discourse is a bad sign."
Writing for the Culture of Life Foundation, Brugger said this shift "signals a turn away from urgent questions such as whether human embryos deserve full moral respect or whether 'human dignity' means that all persons, even the disabled and dying, possess equal value."
"It turns discourse from the question of 'should' to the question of 'how,'" he lamented.
Brugger contended that the chief virtue of the Bush appointees was "a willingness and ability to formulate and struggle with ethical questions."
He noted that their conclusions sometimes differed from the Catholic view, but that "the commission in general took seriously the kind of people we become as a result of asking the questions. It knew that scientific advancement doesn’t always translate into good moral options."
Bush appointed the council in 2001. U.S. presidents since Jimmy Carter have had a bioethics advisory council, but their leanings depend on the personal outlooks of the president.
WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 25, 2009 (Zenit.org).- U.S. President Barack Obama gave an early termination notice to bioethicists picked by his predecessor for an advisory board.
According to a New York Times report from last week, Obama wants the committee to focus more on "practical policy," rather than discussion of issues.
He thus ended the bioethicists' terms a few months early (they were originally to serve in the position until September), and will appoint new members to the board.
According to ethicist E. Christian Brugger, the "push to get practical in bioethical discourse is a bad sign."
Writing for the Culture of Life Foundation, Brugger said this shift "signals a turn away from urgent questions such as whether human embryos deserve full moral respect or whether 'human dignity' means that all persons, even the disabled and dying, possess equal value."
"It turns discourse from the question of 'should' to the question of 'how,'" he lamented.
Brugger contended that the chief virtue of the Bush appointees was "a willingness and ability to formulate and struggle with ethical questions."
He noted that their conclusions sometimes differed from the Catholic view, but that "the commission in general took seriously the kind of people we become as a result of asking the questions. It knew that scientific advancement doesn’t always translate into good moral options."
Bush appointed the council in 2001. U.S. presidents since Jimmy Carter have had a bioethics advisory council, but their leanings depend on the personal outlooks of the president.
Friday, 26 June 2009
Obama Sets Afternoon Meeting With Pope
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 24, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican confirmed today Benedict XVI will receive in audience U.S. President Barack Obama next month.
The meeting, set for the afternoon of July 10, will be the first between the Pontiff and the new president.
Obama's Vatican visit will take place within the context of his participation in the Group of Eight summit, which will be held July 8-10 in L'Aquila, Italy.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said to reporters today that "Benedict XVI is open to receive the president of the United States during the afternoon of July 10."
The decision to set the meeting for the afternoon, which breaks protocol for papal audiences, is due to the president's tight schedule.
The meeting, set for the afternoon of July 10, will be the first between the Pontiff and the new president.
Obama's Vatican visit will take place within the context of his participation in the Group of Eight summit, which will be held July 8-10 in L'Aquila, Italy.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said to reporters today that "Benedict XVI is open to receive the president of the United States during the afternoon of July 10."
The decision to set the meeting for the afternoon, which breaks protocol for papal audiences, is due to the president's tight schedule.
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