The Immaculate Conception is the door opening on our salvation. It is God the Father, preparing the way for the birth of God the Son by first preparing a holy mother for Him. The idea that God chose to enter the world as a helpless baby, born to a young girl and her carpenter husband in a backwater province of a conquered nation goes against everything we know and believe about what makes a person important. We live in... Read more
What would you ask the Holy Father if you could? Generations of Christians could never have dreamed of such a possibility. But now you and I have the opportunity ask Pope Benedict XVI our questions. His Holiness has a new twitter account, @Pontifex. Anyone who wants can tweet the Pope with questions and thoughts. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the internet trolls are out in force, tweeting insults and their usual hate-filled comments. These people and their pathological hatred of the... Read more
Confession is part of the conversion process in much the same way that taking medicine is part of the healing process. The season of Advent requires us to examine our consciences and then to take the sins we find there to the confessional. This process of honest self-appraisal and equally honest confession results in an interior cleansing that I don’t think can happen in any other way. I always mentally draw a line under my past misdeeds after confession and... Read more
I confess. I am a Mac. I used to love Steve Jobs’ presentations. His sense of timing, ability to communicate and excite, were unique to him. I find this old video of a young Steve Jobs talking about Apple at Apple’s beginnings fascinating. Even at this young age and in this overly casual environment, he already had that stage presence. He also spoke from the hippie ethos of that time. This is an interesting look backwards into our recent history.... Read more
Springfield News-Leader, A Gannett Company 12/2/12 In China there are more than 1,000 labor camps. There are more Christians in jail for their faith in China than in any other country. ChinaAid , an organization that tracks persecution of Chinese Protestants, reveals that in 2011, the number of Christians detained for their religious beliefs had soared 131.8 percent from 2010. Arrests and disappearances of Christians intensified immediately preceding the recent Party Congress in China. The Cardinal Kung Foundation (which monitors... Read more
The United States Supreme Court announced earlier today that it will hear two cases concerning gay marriage. Whenever a case makes its way to the Supreme Court, the court decides whether or not it will hear the case or let the lower court ruling stand. In these two cases concerning the federal Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, which was a ban on gay marriage that passed in California a few years ago, the Supreme Court has decided... Read more
Why does the US State Department resist calls to say what is obvious to so many and name Boko Haram a terrorist organization? That is the question the following Barnabas Aid article asks. According to the article, ” … calls earlier this year from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and more than 20 American scholars for Boko Haram to be labelled a terrorist outfit largely fell on deaf ears in the US State Department, which in June named only... Read more
Nigerian Christians are withstanding violent persecution at the hands of Islamic terrorists called Boko Haram. Their witness for Christ humbles me today, as if has for quite a long time. I will never forget the voice of a Nigerian Anglican Bishop’s wife as she told me “Those who persist in following Christ until the end will have eternal life.” Eternal life in Christ was real to her. It sustained her and gave her not only a peace which passes understanding,... Read more
</The following Yahoo News article describes a raid on a sweatshop in India where enslaved children, some as young as 8 years, were forced to make Christmas decorations. Many of these decorations are being sold on eBay. Read the excerpt of the Yahoo News article below for tips on how to avoid buying them yourself. Watch the video on the link at the end of the excerpt for more information. Police and child advocates broke padlocks and busted down doors... Read more
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