UNBORN WORD of the day

Catholic politicians who vote for abortion

First, check out can. 915 of the Code of Canon Law.

Second, read Archbishop Raymond Burke’s recently published article in the Canon Law journal Periodica de re Canonica, vol. 96 (2007) called, The Discipline Regarding the Denial of Holy Communion to Those Obstinately Persevering in Manifest Grave Sin.

We devoted a post to this topic on May 1, 2008, focusing on the denial of Eucharistic communion to Catholic politicians who, after being instructed by their pastor in the Church’s teaching about the sacredness of human life, persist in promoting abortion. But we wanted to give a little more information and also an update. The article by Archbishop Burke might be legitimately seen as a turning point in the Church’s efforts to discipline those who want to stand defiantly against human life within the womb and also want Catholics to vote for them in every election. These are the deceitful Catholic politicians who want their cake and want to eat it too, or in their case want you to abort your baby and want to kiss your baby on the campaign trail too!

With the aforementioned article Archbishop Burke is leading a nimble Canonical charge against Catholic politicians who want to aggressively promote the culture of death within our society. God bless him! Well, that is exactly what is happening. I subscribe to the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, and on the back page of my May 14, 2008 English Edition, under the “Roman Curia” heading I read the following news: Appointments by Pope Benedict XVI to the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. I see a blank expression on your face! This Pontifical Council is the official body which authentically interprets Canon Law. After naming six cardinals appointed as members the list ends humbly with two Archbishops: “Archbishop John Joseph Myers of Newark, U.S.A. and Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke of Saint Louis, U.S.A.”

While Archbishop Burke is no stranger to the Vatican - years ago he served on the Roman Rota - yet this recent appointment following his publication of a somewhat controversial article on a very controversial subject suggests that the Vatican is on board with Burke and bored with the old approach of “letting sleeping dogs lie” (especially when they are really wolves in sheep’s clothing).

OUR NEXT BLOG WILL FEATURE ARCHBISHOP JOHN J. MYERS

It was one of the lesser known prophets that actually named names in his prophecy:

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.” Micah 5:2

Bethlehem! The name means “house of bread”. God pulled out all the stops when He inspired this prophecy. There is a long prophetic line - a “bread line” - straight through the history of the Jewish people which culminates in the birth of Jesus “the Bread of Life”, in Bethlehem “the house of Bread”. Let’s take a look.

First there was Melchizedek, the priest king of Salem, way back in the time of Abraham (Gen 14:13-24). He brought out bread and wine as an offering, and in the name of “God Most High, maker of heaven and earth” blessed Abraham.

Then there was the unleavened bread of the Passover (Exodus 12) which the people were instructed to prepare and eat (with the lamb). And this has been celebrated every year, just as Jesus celebrated it with His apostles on the night before He died.

Remember the Manna! The people asked, “What is it?” Moses answered: “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat” (Ex 16:11-16). (The Lord told Moses he would “rain bread from heaven” for the people to collect daily.) A portion of this wafer-like bread was apparently to be kept in the ark of the covenant (Ex 16:31-34). In subsequent centuries during Temple worship flour offerings were routinely made in the form of unleavened cake/bread kneaded with oil.

When Micah made his prophecy about Bethlehem, no one could have imagined how its fulfillment would also embody the fullness of Israelite worship and sacrifice. The fulfillment came with the birth of the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. But Christ continued its fulfillment in various ways throughout His life: the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the teaching of the Lord’s Prayer (”give us this day our daily bread”), His sermon in John 6 (note His sermon rejected in Jn 6:66), the Last Supper, and after His resurrection in Emmaus when He revealed Himself through the blessing of the bread and again when He prepares a meal on the beach for His apostles of cooked fish and bread (Jn 21:9-14) and was revealed to them through this.

So Micah’s prophecy is truly Eucharistic. The Church continues in its worship today the fulfillment of the Bethlehem miracle (and keeps a portion of the wafer-like Eucharist in the tabernacle). Join this “bread line” and participate in the daily fulfillment of prophecy.

JUST 21 MORE PRAYING DAYS ‘TIL CHRIST’S BIRTH!

Today is the 10th anniversary of Blessed Teresa’s death. (August 26, 1910 -Sept 5, 1997) Here is a Vatican website link offering a short biography on her life.

Mother Teresa was known for her great love of the poor, including unwanted unborn and newborn babies. She spoke out often against abortion. See our previous post, Peace Begins in the Womb. The following is a quote from her about the Unborn Christ Child:

As John the Baptist recognized Jesus hidden in the womb of Mary, the first tabernacle of the Lord, so now we recognize Jesus hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, the mystery of our faith. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and John leaped for joy in His Presence then, as we rejoice in His Presence now, for here Jesus pours out His Spirit upon us in this sacrament of infinite love.

From Rosary Meditations by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

You may have never heard of Blessed Juliana of Cornillon  (Juliana of Liege), 1192 -1258. She was an Augustinian nun who was the first promoter of a feast day in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. She has been recognized as the person primarily responsible for the introduction of the Corpus Christi feast day during the middle ages. According to Acta Sanctorum, she had a unique and extraordinary devotion. She said the Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55) nine times a day; once for each month that Our Lord spent in the womb of His mother. (The Magnificat was proclaimed by Mary while she was pregnant.) One can not help but see the beautiful connection here in Juliana’s spiritual life between her devotion to the Body of Christ in the womb and the Body of Christ upon the altar.

Which leads us to the second woman: Mary the Mother of Jesus. In his encyclical letter ECCLESIA DE EUCHARISTIA, On the Eucharist in Its Relationship to the Church, John Paul II discusses Mary and the Eucharist:

“In a certain sense Mary lived her Eucharistic faith even before the institution of the Eucharist, by the very fact that she offered her virginal womb for the Incarnation of God’s Word. The Eucharist, while commemorating the passion and resurrection, is also in continuity with the incarnation. At the Annunciation Mary conceived the Son of God in the physical reality of his body and blood, thus anticipating within herself what to some degree happens sacramentally in every believer who receives, under the signs of bread and wine, the Lord’s body and blood.”

“As a result, there is a profound analogy between the Fiat which Mary said in reply to the angel, and the Amen which every believer says when receiving the body of the Lord. Mary was asked to believe that the One whom she conceived “through the Holy Spirit” was “the Son of God” (Lk 1:30-35). In continuity with the Virgin’s faith, in the Eucharistic mystery we are asked to believe that the same Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Mary, becomes present in his full humanity and divinity under the signs of bread and wine.”

“Blessed is she who believed” (Lk 1:45). Mary also anticipated, in the mystery of the incarnation, the Church’s Eucharistic faith. When, at the Visitation, she bore in her womb the Word made flesh, she became in some way a “tabernacle” – the first “tabernacle” in history – in which the Son of God, still invisible to our human gaze, allowed himself to be adored by Elizabeth, radiating his light as it were through the eyes and the voice of Mary. And is not the enraptured gaze of Mary as she contemplated the face of the newborn Christ and cradled him in her arms that unparalleled model of love which should inspire us every time we receive Eucharistic communion?”(#55)

“The Eucharist has been given to us so that our life, like that of Mary, may become completely a Magnificat!” (#5