Eve and the serpent: The modern day deception of abortion

  

"God knows well that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know good and evil." (Genesis 3:5) This is the classical lie that the serpent used thousands of years ago to deceive the woman in the garden of eden leading up to the fall of man from grace.
   Today as I reflect on the modern state of our society, I see how we are still falling for the same lies from the ol' serpent.  I however wish to concentrate more on the issue of life especially today as we combat the rampant sin of abortion. From the events of the garden of eden, we see that the devil first cast doubt in the woman's mind about the goodness of God and whether truly obeying him was for her good. When the woman entertained these thoughts, the devil finally was able to convince her that by eating the fruit and disobeying God, she would become like god and determine what is right and wrong living on her own terms. Most of us know that the story ends with the woman consenting, leading her husband to sin and both end up falling from grace and separating themselves from God by spiritual death.  Fast forward to 2013. It saddens me to see how the devil has been able to conjure a modern deception that is not too far from the one in the garden.
      Let me explain.  Since 1973, and that is in the United States alone, over 55 million babies have been aborted under the guise of choice. The abortion proponents claim that it is the Woman's choice to kill her unborn baby.  For us Christians at the very least, we know that the gift of life and its taking thereof falls under the jurisdiction of the Sovereign God alone.  However, many today have usurped this role of God and accorded themselves the masters and mistresses of life.  Once more, man in search of autonommy have succeded to fall into the devil's deception.  In our world today, abortion has been engraved as a constituional women's right.  The selfish act of choosing our "hapiness" leads to the death of many unborn children under the protection of law.  Any reasonable person knows that abortion is killing, yet we continue to make all kinds of excuses just like our first parents did in the garden of eden.  Yes the devil is deceiving the modern day Eve by telling her that she will be happy and free if only she aborts, and the modern day Adam is still missing in action or is intimidated to stand up to the lie. But is there hope for man.
    Obviously the story of man did not end with his fall.  God in his goodness sent his only beggoten Son to save man from his sins.  This is the only answer to our ailments today.  If you ask anyone who has ever had an abortion, if they are honest, they would tell you that although they must have felt secure under the lie that it was nothing before the fact, once they went ahead with the abortion they knew it was wrong immediately just like Adama and Eve knew they had done what was wrong immediately after eating the fruit.  It is also true that just like Adam and Eve hid from God in shame, many who have had abortions or are advocates of it continue to hide from God.  However, God continues to call us to come back to Him and if we expose ourselves and seek his forgiveness, He is merciful and will heal us.  This must be the message for us today.  For those who have been deceived,  you should not hide from God, He is ready and willing to forgive you and you must approach him.  We should continually reflect on the fact that God is bigger than all our sins and He can forgive all of our sins, we however must seek the truth.  It fills me with sorrow to see how many even Christians don't see abortion for what it is and try to justify it as a choice.  It is our duty to tell the truth and not stand watching but to pray pray pray that the truth will prevail and then work work and work some more to eradicate the lie that so many of our brothers and sisters have fallen into. 

Prayer
  Oh Lord Jesus, have mercy upon us and bless those who are under the burden of the sin of abortion.  Help them to seek your forgiveness and be reconciled to you.  Also help those who are lukewarm that the fire of charity may enkindle their hearts anew for the protection of all life.  Finally Lord, give light to all those who themselves being deceived continue to deceive others.  Amen
    

The paradox of suffering

     Why do bad things happen to good people? I am sure this is the universal question that has crossed the minds of many.  I wish to examine this question and hopefully shed some light on it; not that I am an expert and will succeed in putting this question to rest, but rather will just give my humble examinations and experiences with the hope that we can start viewing suffering in a different light.  
   Before we go any deeper, it is inherent that we examine the fundamental issues surrounding suffering.  From the initial question of "why do bad things happen to good people," we see the innate nature of our perception of who should suffer.  Asking ourselves that question presupposes that suffering should be a result of not being good, and hence our conclusion that suffering should happen to bad people and not to good people. It is almost a universal feeling that suffering should be exclusively tied to justice. This is the reason why most people don't have a problem seeing a murderer or a thief suffering since they look at it as a form of justice, but the suffering of an infant or an innocent person remains a mystery for most people, and brings them to that initial question of why innocent people should suffer.  It is from these two perspectives that I wish to make my approach. First, the suffering that is tied to justice directly and suffering that superceeds justice.
     Since I am a Christian, I will approach suffering from a Christian perspective and not only that, but also because it is the only approach that makes sense.  If we go back to the book of Genesis, we see how our first parents Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden of eden, and as a result sin entered the world. This sin which has been classified by Christian theologians as "the original sin,"  became the root and cause of every suffering that humanity has fallen under.  By choosing themselves and wanting to determine their own destiny apart from God, Adam and Eve steered creation from that awe inspiring reality of complete happiness they were living. But this is only the beginning of our understanding.
      The first approach therefore of suffering is the one that can be explained by sin.  Sin brings about suffering in all its forms whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual suffering.  When we sin, we cause the suffering of ourselves or even others, and given the tight knit fabric of humanity, every sin committed affects the entire human family, and therefore we can't tie our suffering only to our sins but all the sins in general. After the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, we see the immediate effects of sin which is death beginning to take effect and has continued since. In the modern world, there is so much suffering that it is easy to be plunged into despair. From the wars, incurable diseases like Cancer and AIDS, to emotional suffering that is caused by broken relationships and failed dreams, the list is endless. While understanding the root of suffering as being tied to sin and human rebellion against God, it would be an injustice on my part to leave it there and not explore the mystery of suffering and discuss its final conclusion.
     To do this, we have to look at the other side of suffering which is the one that is not directly tied to justice like the suffering of Christ who was completely innocent and devoid of any stain of sin.  Why would Jesus who is the Son of God go through so much suffering? Indeed, it is only through looking at suffering through the suffering of Christ that can help us make sense of the question "why do good people suffer?" The simple answer to why Jesus suffered even unto death on the cross is for the remission of our sins.  We actually hear that "He became sin, him who knew no sin."  God in His Justice could have completely destroyed man and wiped him out of creation after his fall, but the Eternal mercy of God while demanding justice saw it fit to make a path for man's return to Him.  This is accomplished by the sacrifice of His only begotten Son Jesus who suffered for the sake of mankind, satisfying the demands of Divine justice for all who would believe in Him. This type of suffering is redeeming suffering and we can participate in this redemptive suffering also with our Lord like St. Paul put it "by out suffering, we complete what is lacking in the suffering of Christ."  This doesn't mean his suffering was missing anything, it just means He admits us into his redemptive work when we abandon ourselves to him and since we are "the body of Christ" as believers.  Now having looked at these two types of suffering, how can we better deal with the question of suffering.
   One thing we can be sure of in this life is that we will suffer. The fact that we live in a world that is under the influence of sin brings with it the consequence of sin which is suffering and its completion which is death.  That is not the end of the story however.  By the suffering of Christ and His redemptive work, we have the hope of coming to the share of His kingdom where in Rev 21:4, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."  We know how the story ends and we can therefore have the joyful anticipation of the fulfillment of that promise.  But how does this help us deal with the gruesome reality of suffering at the moment?
   For me, understanding the root of suffering helped me snap out of the delusion of those who ask; "how could a good God allow so much suffering."  This question assumes that it is God's will that we should suffer. The opposite is just the truth.  suffering is a consequence of our sin and this is where most of our suffering comes from. I have found in my life that suffering makes me reflective of my life and it would be an injustice if God allowed man to continue enjoying all good things after he disobeyed him.  Suffering  often reminds me of my loss and especially my loss of God's friendship through my sinfulness.  Is it any wonder that most of us call upon God when we suffer and ignore him mostly when we are content in our temporal wellness. Not at all.  Therefore, suffering can be taken as a grace that reminds us of our loss.  The second kind of suffering which is redemptive suffering is however the one that could add the most meaning to our lives. If we understood that the Innocent Man took upon suffering to redeem us, we who are not innocent would accept our suffering, offer it up to him and allow him to transform us.  The suffering of Christ through his crucifixion helps us understand that God always brings good our of even the most grieveous evils.  When asking ourselves "how come good people should suffer?" we should reflect on the fact that the only one who was not only good but perfect and the standard of goodness itself suffered for our sake. Before we despair, we should look at how God transformed the evil committed to His Son on the cross (and there is none greater) and made it the source of eternal life for all who would believe in Him. So When we suffer and even when we do so innocently, we should be hopeful that God will bring the greatest good out of it. At the end of times, the suffering will be infinitely pale compared to the glory that comes from it.  Finally, we should rest assured that by the resurrection of Christ, "death has been swallowed up in victory" and that is our sure destiny where no suffering, not even death will have power over us, and only happiness, peace and joy will be our possession.

On Prayer

     This past Tuesday evening, about 10 of my friends got together and had a bible study focused on prayer. Now I know what you are thinking; we met at a central location and opened our bibles like a normal bible study? Not this group! It ended a little before midnight, and everyone could jump into their beds if not already on them since we did it on a Video conference through skype, each one at the comfort of their home.  Seeing this, I know Sts. Peter and Paul are probably asking the Lord in Heaven why they couldn't have lived in a time with that kind of technology for they could have reached millions with the Gospel? Well atleast, I am sure St. Peter might ask that.  Beside the details sorrounding this bible study, my purpose is to explore this topic of prayer for since then, I have been in 3 more meetings and the focus was prayer which tells me maybe the Lord want me to share my humble reflections on it. Lets take the journey together.
     Like any journey, you must have a map and a destination. Having this in mind, I wish for us to accomplish 3 goals on prayer; The What, The Why, and The How of prayer.
Why?
   I have decided to start with this question since if we don't know why we should do something, we will do it half heartedly or not at all. Another reason is to make sure that I don't waste your time, for after this, if you can't answer that question, it serves you no purpose to read any further.
   My memory is still vivid when about 5 years ago, I sat with my newly found spiritual director, a Benedictine monk who had been recommended to me by a priest as a suitable spiritual guide.  I was in a place in my spiritual journey where my faith had been revived with great vigor and I was seeking direction on how to recognize, listen and do God's will, whom I was seeking to please above all. I was narrating my dissapointments, my aspirations and even my desparations, seeking great advice from someone I sensed to be very wise in spiritual matters. After my narration, I waited patiently to hear the words that would change my life. Well to say the least, I was dissapointed when after hesitating for about a minute, instead of giving me advice, he just asked me a question; how is your prayer life? After answering, he went ahead to explain to me how everything good I seeked could only be found in God, and prayer is the intangible access to Him.  Five years later, I am still contemplating and unpacking the truths confined in that simple statement.  This was confirmed  by the Master himself (Jesus) in the Gospel of St.Matthew 7:7 when he told his followers, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."  If you ask me why we should pray, I would say that if you seek anything that is good, you not only should pray, you must pray for God is the source and summit of all that is good, and He has promised that whatever we ask in the name of His Son, he would give it to us. 
       Well is it as simple as that? the answer is Yes, but let me let you in on something further I have learned.  In the book of Psalms, we see King David complaining to God that those who were neither seeeking nor loving Him seemed to be enjoying great proseperity.  I have asked this question myself on why those who seem not to pray still enjoy good things.  Simply put, God in His generosity has seen it fit to "let the rain fall on the good and evil as well," but like we hear in the book of James 4:3, "you ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."  With this in mind, I have realised that the separation of generosity of God's gift comes when we know what to ask for. One thing for sure, God will never give us holiness without us asking for it. Sure He will grant us the grace to know to aspire for it and seek it for if He doesn't give us that, we won't be able to even take the first step, but to move forward and persevere, He will not grant to those who do not seek. With this in mind, we should therefore ask The Father to grant us the grace to become what our Lord commanded us to be; "Perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect." (Matthew 5:48).  For those ambitious type in the spiritual matters, this should be the greatest reason to pray: to become Holy, for as St. Paul tells us to strive for "holiness without which no one will see the Lord," (Hebrews 12:14) and which without prayer is simply impossible. You will never meet a saint who didn't pray. 
      I can write a thousand pages on why we should pray, but from this, any person of reason should be convinced of the neccesity of prayer. This is only a start, but let us move forward to our next question

   What?
   During our bible study, this question of what prayer is was brought up and the various answers that were given all seemed to have a common denominator of "it is communication with God." Indeed, prayer in the simplest of terms is a conversation with God.  A more official defination according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church is that"Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God."  (CCC 2559)
   We see two ways that prayer is expressed throughout salvation history.  The two arms of prayer are public prayer and private prayers, since "there are two sides to our nature, the individual as well as the social". Public prayer simply put is the prayer we pray collectively as the body of Christ.  This could be during the Liturgy where the one sacrifice of the Son of God and the prayers of his bride the Church are raised to the Eternal Father. It could also include any prayers offered to God with another as Jesus said "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20) .  Private prayers would then include those prayers which we pray alone in following the words of the Master that  "when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you" (Matthew 6:6) 
    I wish to explore private prayers since many of us can go to Church on Sundays, but it's in the daily prayers where we find ourselves struggling the most and without which, the Sunday Worship "would degenrate into empty ceremony" (Frank Duff).
In this context, we find the 3 expressions of prayer; Vocal prayer, Meditation and Contemplation
2722 Vocal prayer, founded on the union of body and soul in human nature, associates the body with the interior prayer of the heart, following Christ's example of praying to his Father and teaching the Our Father to his disciples. 2723 Meditation is a prayerful quest engaging thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. Its goal is to make our own in faith the subject considered, by confronting it with the reality of our own life. 2724 Contemplative prayer is the simple expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gaze of faith fixed on Jesus, an attentiveness to the Word of God, a silent love. It achieves real union with the prayer of Christ to the extent that it makes us share in his mystery.
    These three expressions of prayer as explained in the catechism goes to explain and summarize what prayer is by exploring how we enter into that presence of God either using vocal prayer, meditation or finally when God draws us to himself through contemplation. 
   Without further ado, let us move on since we can spend an eternity talking about what prayer is and looking at all the different ways and types of prayer.

How?
  This is the simplest of the questions and one that I will go over quickly. If you ask me how you ought to pray, I would give you the advice of the apostle Paul "pray without ceasing." That is how we ought to pray. But I know that it is not that simple so let us explore further.  When the Lord was asked that question directly, he gave us that great prayer of "Our Father" (Matthew 6:9) Indeed, this is one of the most efficacious of all Christian prayers, and in it contains all the qualities of what prayer should be. From the Praise and acknowledgement of God's sovereignty, to the petition, there lies the great wisdom of God himself on how we ought to pray.  Whether it's formal prayers like "the Our Father" or the rosary which is a meditation on the life of Christ through the eyes of His mother, and any other prayers which are handed to us, or whether it is sponteneous prayers that comes from us, we should make sure "they have in common the recollection of the heart."
     This indeed is how we ought to pray. By following the "three principal parables on prayer as transmitted to us by St. Luke:
"The first, "the importunate friend," (Lk 11:5-13)  invites us to urgent prayer: "Knock, and it will be opened to you." To the one who prays like this, the heavenly Father will "give whatever he needs," and above all the Holy Spirit who contains all gifts.
- The second, "the importunate widow," (Lk 18:1-8) is centered on one of the qualities of prayer: it is necessary to pray always without ceasing and with the patience of faith. "And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" - The third parable, "the Pharisee and the tax collector," (Lk 18:9-14)  concerns the humility of the heart that prays. "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" The Church continues to make this prayer its own: Kyrie eleison! " (CCC 2613)
      With such great wisdom, my formula is to simply approach God constantly with contrition for our sins, humility of heart and unwavering confidence in His goodness.
        Having come to this point where I knew why I should pray, what prayer was and how I ought to pray, I came seeking advice from my spiritual director frustrated that despite my knowledge on the necessity of prayer, I was finding myself not being consistent. Waiting for advice, he asked me, where do you put your shoes? Again dissapointed, I told him like everyone else, I put them on the shoe rack or wherever my hands lets them go. He went ahead to tell me, "why don't you put them under the bed." Seeing the puzzled expression on my face, he explained to me that by putting them under the bed, every morning when I bent down to get them, I would remember to kneel and say my prayers before my day started. Again in simple practical advice, I tried it and it worked. Soon, the grace of habit took over, and my shoes went back to the rack, but my prayer life continued.
       since I know a great reading on prayer does not eliminate the weakness of the flesh which must be forced to comply with the desire to pray, I will give you that same advice that I was given by my spiritual director.  Remember that whatever practical steps you must take to make your prayer life consistent, take them for the good you seek can only be found in God, and prayer is the intangible access to God.

Political debates and Ideological divides.

    At the end of a long debate, I had to agree with my friend that "I am tired of this senseless debate."  But what kind would make you so tired? You probably guessed it, it is a political debate. This time around however, I have come to a different conclusion; I should get out of the business of trying to change people's minds and get in the business of changing people's hearts, starting with my own. Why? after having lunch with a friend, we started talking politics and while I like to think he leans more on the liberal side, he probably thinks, I lean more on the conservative side, but every time we get together, it's like we are trying to prove that our perspective sides are more just. The more we talk, the more we accuse each other of being ideological and quite frankly tend to overlook the bad of our side while highlighting the "evil" of the other side. Does this sound familiar in many of our political conversations? You be the judge of that.
   This time around however, I was reminded of a principal that I set in my heart a long time ago; if you convince a man to change his mind against his will, he remains unconvinced and unchanged.  Yet, my conversation was not like that since the friend I was talking to is someone I truly respect and love and even share my faith with. That was probably the reason why I was wondering how he can't see things the way I see them, and what I see as black and white, I think he sees grey and in all fairness, the vice versa. What is it then that causes two men with seemingly similar outlooks have such different conclusions? After reviewing our conversations, I could see a trend. Let me explain.
   Being that we are both Catholic Christians, we tend to agree on the fundamentals like abortion is evil, helping the poor is good, gay marriage is a contradiction of natural law, we should protect our environment....etc. It's however how we allow these truths to affect our decisions in politics that seem to take us on different paths. To be more specific, my friend put it bluntly that he couldn't see himself supporting an evil party whose political agenda seem to be fundamentally against the poor in the light of Catholic social teaching that tells us to always prefer the poor.  Well, I countered with a statement that I couldn't even dream of  supporting a party whose political agenda seems to be hellbent on supporting abortion and homosexual marriage which is fundamentally against not only Catholic social teaching but moral and natural law. I wish we were talking about the same party, but unfortunately, we were talking about our two major political parties. You can tell where our conversation was heading. An hour later, he was still trying to convince me that the party that doesn't support abortion uses the issue as a political game to manipulate voters while doing nothing about it, and I tried to convince him that the political party that supports abortion uses the poor as political pawns to advance an agenda that will run all of us to doom and the fact that the poor could be helped just as much without their claiming exclusive right to do so. At the end of this conversation that continued electronically on email, we were both exhausted and back to where we began and quite frankly, I was wishing there was a political party that would embrace all the right issues and then it would make it so much easier for those who care to make the right choices when electing their leaders. But how could we come to such different conclusions while we share so much truth? Allow me.
     Like a good Psychologist would tell you, listen to people and try to understand where they are coming from. Briefly, I will try to demonstrate how our backgrounds landed us where we found ourselves.  My friend Johny (not real name to conceal identity) has expressed how growing up, his mother being poor received help from the government and went to school which helped her get a job that pays well and could support her family. He has also spent his life being compassionate to the poor and with all honesty, I think he's one of the most compassionate person I  know. From this background, you can tell why he would be so passionate about anything that would seem to go against the poor. I on the other side, I grew up in a third world country where the government could care less about the poor, and from that, I learned that it was my job to care for my less fortunate neighbor since he had no one else to run to. On top of this, I was a victim of a tribal genocide where we were replaced from where I was born by violence and propaganda and we lost property and many lives were taken. This coupled with my first hand experience with a friend who almost killed her baby in an abortion makes me feel very strongly about the issue of life and makes me have such an urgency about protecting the unborn whom I think are the most helpless victims of murder by abortion. To be fair, my friend also feels strongly about the issue of life as I feel about helping the poor. So how then can you reconcile the differences?
   Let me try to give an analogy using the hospital.  In the hospital, there are different departments that deal with different issues and while they are all important, we would be misguided to believe that they all require the same urgency. When someone comes to the emergency room, it is a matter of life and death and requires a quick response. On the other hand, if it's not life threatening, while seeing the doctor is just as important, the urgent response may not be necessary and if a doctor had to choose between the emergency room patient and the other, the choice is clear and it doesn't mean they don't care about the patient who doesn't require emergency care.
     Without further ado, let me therefore make my case. The ailments of our times all require attention, and choosing politicians who can address them requires wisdom. To me however, there are issues that are a matter of life and death and to not attend to them I believe would be a mistake that will prove deadly to all of us. The issues that require emergency care are the ones that the Church call Intrinsic evils like Abortion, Homosexuality, Embryonic stem cells, Euthanasia, Racism etc. This issues if neglected proves fatal physically like in the case of abortion where millions of unborn are killed, or promoting homosexual marriage where spiritual casualties will be rampant. Yes we can't neglect the other issues  like what to do with the poor, or education, or environment...etc since neglecting them would eventually prove fatal like a neglected disease, but while they might be in therapy and we might need to change the form of treatment, we don't need to take them to the emergency room. I am of the opinion that if a doctor doesn't understand an emergency when he sees one and even treats an ailment that needs emergency care as if it wasn't an ailment at all, I would want to fire him if it was up to me. The same goes for those seeking leadership in political fields. Those who don't attend to these issues that need urgent attendance or even try to ignore them and say they are not bad at all should not be given the job of being our leaders.  Maybe this is what I was trying to explain to my friend and whether I failed or succeeded, I won't know.  I however think that I came understanding things a little better and having a different view. While maybe I was trying to say some issues didn't need attendance while those like abortions needed it, I have come to see that all issues need attention, but maybe not in the same urgency and degree of care.     
     During elections where everything may not be as black and white as we wish it to be, and while we strive to make moral choices or seemingly prudent choices, I believe if we apply this method, we will come off if not right, better than not. Hopefully my analogy of the hospital will serve to help you. 
   Let me conclude by saying that it is our duty as people who've been given the privilege to govern ourselves by choosing our leaders to educate ourselves and form our consciences so that we can apply our knowledge and with the help of God hopefully make the choices that are both moral and good. Should we neglect this duty of formation, we will have to face the consequences of other people's whims and desires which history has shown seldom comes to a happy conclusion. My prayer is that The all generous God will give us the wisdom we require to navigate this hard times, and the docility to allow Him to guide us and see us through. I also pray that he may give light to our leaders that they may seek Justice and truth in all that they do and have the courage to do what is morally good and just.