Faithful Citizenship

Politics are not my cup of tea.  When I do occasionally watch the news, the media's liberal agenda has me aggravated within the first few minutes. My oldest daughter and her husband who live and breathe politics in DC learned very quickly why I don't watch the news. I stayed with them the whole month of April for the birth of my grandson. Every night FOX news or some news broadcast was on . . . for hours at a time!  After the first week, I became quite irate during those hours listening to complete nincompoops voice their opinions.  It became a joke with my daughter.  When she would realize I was getting upset, she would jokingly say to her husband, "Kev, turn the channel.  Mom is getting angry!"  


Last night I attended a meeting regarding Faithful Citizenship which is a teaching document on the political responsibilities of Catholics written by U.S. bishops.  It is a must read, even if you're not Catholic.  Here is the link: 


http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithful-citizenship/forming-consciences-for-faithful-citizenship-document.cfm


And for further reading pleasure, the speaker last night informed us of a document comparing Republican and Democratic platforms.  This is NOT written by Catholics.  These are the actual platforms of each party. It's on the web for everyone to see and understand what each party stands for. Here is a link to the comparisons:


http://www.politicalresponsibility.com/comparison_side1.pdf
http://www.politicalresponsibility.com/comparison_side2.pdf

When reading today's Gospel (John 17:11b-19) think about the documents in the above links. Evil is prevalent in our society.  As Christians, Jesus is our armor to fight for what is right . . . sanctity of life. Below, Jesus is praying for our protection to His Father in heaven:

I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One.

Do the right thing, fellow lay apostles.  Stand up for what you know is right.  Stand up for Jesus.

In Anne a lay apostle's book The Mist of Mercy, she gets right to the point when it comes to accountability:

"The enemy tells God that we, who were created to develop in the image and likeness of God, have developed into the image and likeness of God’s enemy instead. Imagine God’s pain. Let political leaders and all Christians be warned. You cannot be friends with Jesus Christ and accept abortion. The truth will emerge and each soul will be accountable."

There are approximately 1.21 million abortions performed in the U.S. every year according to AGI (http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/). And, 42 million worldwide! That means billions of hurting women (and men), most not ready to admit what they did was wrong. It's too painful. So they become pro-choice as a way of dealing with the shame.  How do I know this?  Because I was one of those women when I was 18.  Somehow being pro-choice made me feel what I did wasn't so bad.  It took going to Confession after 25 years of thinking I didn't need it to make me realize admitting my mistake gave me the freedom from my past I had been searching for. We all make mistakes.  Sometimes grave mistakes. But believe me, once you come to grips with what you've done, lean on our Savior for strength and courage.  He has so much love for His lost souls. Go to Him. He is waiting to heal you.  

Thank you, Lord, for giving me the strength and courage to speak up about my past. I pray it leads other hurting women (and men) to You and Your Mercy.  I promise to remain politically involved and fight for our religious freedom.  Although, I won't be staying current via the TV news! 

God bless,

Bonnie