Monday, June 23, 2008

An Unexpected Blessing


Hey all. I've been pretty busy recently, so I haven't been able to write posts on some of the more burning questions and issue that I've been wrestling with lately. To give you a preview, I'll say that I've been thinking more about Dawkins' book, the God Delusion and am eager to really break it open and see what he has to say. I've also been digging into the question of the Protestant views of salvation and justification, and how they compare to the Catholic views. Pretty cool stuff, and I'm really eager to write about them and share my thoughts with you on them. But, in the meantime, I'll just leave you this...

I was eating lunch today with my pastoral supervision, Fr. Steve Hook, and a friend and fellow seminarian. Since it was during the day, Fr. Steve and I walked into the diner with our clerics on, and the area we live in is not one that has been historically very welcoming to the Catholic Church. But there we are, eating our diner food (and was it good diner food!) when an older gentlemen approaches our table and sets some small, pocket size pieces of paper at the edge of the table, saying something along the lines of "just in case you don't have this at your parishes," and walked away. Not too sure of what they were, and even what religion the fellow was, we hesitated. But finally I picked up the materials and was instantly warmed and surprised to find this written on them

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn

To help stop the anti-life push in the U.S., Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen encouraged the spiritual adoption of an unborn child. This is done by praying that one particular but unknown child's life be spared abortion and be allowed to continue to and after birth.

To accomplish this, it was recommended an individual say the following daily prayer for a period of one year:

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you very much. I beg you to spare the life of the unborn baby that I have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion."

During your earthly life this spiritually adopted child of yours will be known only to God, but in the world to come and throughout eternity both you and the child will find happiness in each other's company.
Indeed, a very heart warming thing to find. It's wonderful to be able to see the little ways in which God reveals Himself throughout the day. Truly, every second of our day He blesses us somehow, in some way. We must only open our hearts so that He can give us the faith to see it. May He bless you today and everyday and give you the grace to see His presence in your lives. Then, He will be able to fill you with "the peace which surpasses all understanding" (Phil. 4:7a). I hope to be able to write more extensively soon. Until then, in the words of the Ven. Fulton Sheen, "Good night, and God love you!"

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