This Wall Street Journal article, "From Roe to Gosnell," from April 19 is excellent.  It's long and it isn't even written by someone who is pro-life.  But it is written honestly and logically and really gets to the point about the abortion issue.  The link is here.

The print version was entitled, "Back-Alley Abortion Never Ended."  The online version is longer and contains more information.

Both versions detailed the following shocking information;

  On Mothers' Day in 1972 (Mothers' Day!!!) 15 poor women were bused from Chicago to Philadelphia for abortions.

The women did not know that they were going to be given abortions using an experimental device that had only previously been used on Bangladesh rape victims and had been invented by a man with no medical training.

THEY WERE USED ON BANGLADESH RAPE VICTIMS (a device never before tried on anyone) UNDER THE SPONSORSHIP OF THE INTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION!!!!!  (The article does not say whether the IPPF was ever held accountable for this.)

OK.  Nine of the Fifteen women who had these experimental abortions in 1973 had serious complications.  One needed a hysterectomy.

Can you guess who the doctor was??  It was GOSNELL!!  That was 1973!! (And Mothers' Day, no less)  He continued to do abortions, EVEN AFTER THAT for 37 more years!!!

I hope you'll read the whole article.  It also details why the media has scarcely covered this issue.

It's about 4 miles to get there, I think.  Then maybe another half mile or so to ride around the pond.  This is Gallop Park, for those of you who live near here.  Not only is it not that far, but after the first half mile or so the whole route is designated bike path.  The entire round trip is about 55 minutes.


It's a wonderfully scenic ride.  And the park itself is so beautiful.


I did post these pictures once before.  But I just had to write about it again.  I saw 6 or 7 robins today.  I know, I know, the robins have been around for a while.  But Spring has not!!  And so the robins were a nice reminder that one of these days, sometime soon, the weather in Michigan will finally catch up to the calendar and we will, WE WILL, have Spring.


The weather is gorgeous today.  It's sunny with blue skies.  OK, the temperature was only about 45 degrees, but when biking that really is just pleasantly cool.  I only wore a fleece and leather gloves and I was very comfortable despite the fact that there was enough wind to blow up little whitecaps on the Huron River.  It was lovely.

There were only a handful of people at the park.  There were one or two bikers, a woman pushing a stroller, and a few people walking dogs.  To each person I gave a big smile which was returned.  I know what they were all thinking.  What a great day to be here.

Geese, swans, birds singing, ducks....it was just lovely.  I took my five minute water break at one of the benches on the water's edge.  Swinging my leg carefully and slowly off the bike, I was reminded of the time I slightly tore some cartilage in my knee while a little too energetically swinging my leg over a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs.  I could hardly walk for a couple days....Could that have contributed to the problem I'm having now?  I'm sure it could.  Then there was the rather more serious knee injury I sustained at age four.  An injury at age four?  Back to haunt me fifty some years later?  Who knows.

In any event, I'm thanking God for the pain in my knee because I need to be able to walk.  I need to do whatever it takes to keep my knee in workable shape.  And it is just that reality that tips the scales to justify in my mind the 55 minutes it takes for this bike ride.  Yes, it could also be justified for heart health, brain health, and emotional well-being.  But the nearly ever present knee pain reminds me to get out there and do it.  And I reap all those other benefits besides.

Glory to God.  Praise him for the beauty of his magnificent creation and for the unfolding of His will.  He is good.  All the time.

"But probably the most solemn, the most difficult, frightening (moment) is when you go with your ballot paper in your hand and hold it up in front of the altar and say, 'I call on the Lord Jesus, who will be my judge, to witness that I am voting for the one I believe to be worthy.'

Cardinal Napier said the above words about the 2005 papal conclave.

Catholic New Service has the entire article entitled "Prayer and Trembling:  "Cardinals Recount Experience of  Conclave" here.  It gives a fascinating view into the atmosphere and workings of the papal conclave.

Let's pray that all the cardinals will respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and vote for the pope the Lord wants us to have!!

It's a strange feeling for a Catholic to not have a pope, isn't it?

As some of you know, my family took a trip to Rome last Easter and we were blessed to see His Holiness Benedict XVI several times.  He always had such a kind, gentle expression on his face.  We fell in love with him.

So it was with great sadness that we learned of his resignation.  Still, God always has a plan and, as my son pointed out to me, it is also very exciting to see what God has in mind next.

Yes, the Holy Spirit guides the church and certainly, in particular, He guides the papal conclave.  Still, the cardinals are human beings and we must pray that they discern the Lord's will and vote accordingly.  I'm sure the spiritual battle over the selection of a new pope must be enormous.

So....with that in mind, may I suggest to you all that you do as 274,863 others have done and "adopt a cardinal" to pray for her.  You go to the following site:

http://www.adoptacardinal.org/

They assign you your cardinal.  I presume the "adoptions" are spread out evenly.  Just think!  You may be praying for the next pope.  My cardinal is Paolo Romeo.  I believe he is 76 years old and the archbishop of Palermo, Italy.  I pray every day for all the cardinals and for Cardinal Paolo Romeo in particular.

I love that nearly 275,000 people have already signed up to do this.  The cardinals need our support.  Think of the little decisions in your life that seem really important.  Then think of the stress these cardinals must be under to vote as the Lord desires!  May God reveal to them His will!!

That's why it  was with such delight that I had the opportunity recently to talk to my son on the phone for what turned out to be a rather extended period of time.  :-)  It wasn't intended to be an extended period of time.  But when there is an ocean between you and your son who is not usually particularly talkative it is not in the nature of a mother to keep an eye on the clock.

The same day I had this wonderful phone conversation, a very dear friend of mine who had not known about the phone call gave me this candle, knowing it would make me smile and think of my son so far away.

My husband, who knew about the extended phone call quipped that perhaps the candle was misnamed, in my case.  It should be titled "Calling London!"

When I meditate on this fourth mystery of the rosary I usually think of Simeon.  The following is from the writing of Bishop Amadeus of Lausanne, a Cistercian monk of the 12th century. It is part of the Meditation of the Day in Magnificat for February 2.  

"Taking into his arms Jesus whom he was awaiting with unspeakable longing, the other received divine love into the center of his being, and not able to endure in his frail flesh the sweet warmth of the being who is above the heavens or in his frame the power of the fire-bearing word, he prayed for the dissolution of his body, that when his mortal habitation was destroyed he might enjoy more freely the sweetness he already tasted and might announce to those dwelling in the shadow of death the birth of the Savior whom he was proclaiming among those on earth.

Watching the March for Life on EWTN.  For a number of years I have been there with my daughters and once with my son Jim too.  This year we had several conflicts and it didn't work out.

The March is such an amazing event.  The number of people is just mind boggling.

It's such a hopeful event.  It's been 40 years since Roe vs. Wade.  I remember when it came down.  I graduated from high school in 1973.  It was not long before that the people of Michigan had passed a measure outlawing abortion in our state.  My parents had been involved in the campaign.  They were devastated.  It was such a demonstration of judicial activism overriding the democratic process.  I remember my father asking how the Supreme Court could possibly do that.  The people of Michigan had spoken.  What right had the Supreme Court to override the will of the people.  Where on Earth in the Constitution is a right to abortion, etc.

Some 55 million babies have died.  How could this still be going on.  People have become so confused.   They don't seem to understand the difference between right and wrong anymore.  We know that human life begins at conception.  We've always known that.  Now we can even see the baby in great detail on ultrasound.  And still people claim that the unborn child is not a person.

When will this end.  It's a travesty of justice.  A horrible scourge on our county.  It is an abuse of women and womanhood.

Lord have mercy.