The Passion (The Creed)

For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

he suffered death and was buried.

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote that Jesus Christ was the only man born to die.  The beauty of his birth was marred by the massacre of the infants by Herod. The happiness of his mother was overshadowed by Simeon's prophecy, "and thy own soul a sword shall pierce." (Luke 2:35)

The Son was not made Incarnate to establish an earthly kingdom or simply add to the work of the prophets. He was not merely another Elijah or John the Baptist. Jesus came to fulfill the law and establish a new and lasting covenant - "and this is to them my covenant: when I shall take away their sins." (Romans 11:27) This was not an impersonal contract. The Passion established a relationship built upon love between God and His people.

After coming down from Mount Sinai, Moses had his priests sacrifice to the Lord. He took a bowl of the blood from the victims "and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said 'This is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.'" (Exodus 24:8) Then Moses ascended Sinai once more and received the Ten Commandments, the Law.

The covenant of the Old Testament required the blood of sacrificial victims. Therefore it is fitting that the new covenant require the same. But this time, instead of calves, the victim is the Son of God Himself. A strong King might be able to sacrifice his servants for the good of the Kingdom. He might even be able to sacrifice his friends. But what King would be able to give up his only son, his own blood, for his people? For our sake?

For our sake, Christ yielded Himself to a humiliating death. He died in the most painful way the brutal Romans could devise. Isaiah the prophet describes Christ's noble sacrifice most beautifully.

"Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity, and his look was as if it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not.... He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth."  - Isaiah 53:4,7

Why? Why would the God who made heaven and earth die such an inglorious death? Why would He submit Himself so humbly to the whip and the jeering and the nails?

Because He loves us. Because He wanted to save us from our sins. When He came before the chief priests and the council, they shouted "He deserves to die!" (Matthew 26:66)

But that is not true. He did not deserve to die. As He was without the blemish of sin, there was nothing that justified His execution, no crime He could be convicted of. The truth of it is, we deserve to die. How many times have we fallen? Again and again we succumb to the easy lure of sin and its wages. Look at the world. Look at your own heart. The weight of sin is immense. But Jesus bore that weight on the Cross for us as He struggled for every breath. The blood of the Lamb stormed the pit of hell and thrust open the gates of heaven so that we might be saved. By His passion, though our "sins be as scarlet, they will be made as white as snow." (Isaiah 1:18)

In dying, Christ showed us how to live. With love. In "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ," Anna Catherine Emmerich wrote that in the Garden, Christ could see the sum of human sinfulness, past, present, and future. He gazed upon every blasphemy, every infidelity, and every act of hatred. And yet His love is so great that He nevertheless accepted the slow and tortuous death on a Cross.

In these days leading up to the Passion, meditate upon this. The outstretched and pierced arms of Christ embraced humanity in our dirty, ugly sinfulness. Remember that the Truth was not meant to fall upon the idle and inactive! Make this Truth a part of your life. Jesus showed us how to love unconditionally, to love without counting the cost. He forgave those men who were even then mocking him and hurting His most blessed Body. Ask yourselves, how can I live out this same love?

The world is mired in sinfulness and injustice. As Christians, doers and hearers of the Word, we are called to bring the light of love to this culture of darkness. May the Body of Christ save us and the Blood of Christ sanctify us as we strive to follow the bloodied footsteps of our Lord as He mounted Cavalry and saved the world.


DEUS VOLT!

The Incarnation (The Creed)

For us men and for our salvation

he came down from heaven,

and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,

and became man.

The Incarnation is the second most beautiful moment in history, only surpassed by the Passion. How wondrous a moment! In the words of one of my favorite songs, "heaven meets earth like a passionate kiss." The seen and the unseen collided when God "became man." This is the truth: Jesus Christ, while fully God, became fully man. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14)

It is all too easy to overlook this Mystery and simply accept it. This is a revolutionary Truth! God condescended to our human nature. The God who made the Universe, who is the source of all light and grace, assumed the weakness of human flesh. For Jesus was indeed "tempted in all things like we are, without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)

The reality is not just counter-intuitive, it is scandalous. Who would believe that God would become man? The Greeks let their false gods masquerade as men, but they never accepted the weakness of humanity. Even in the Old Testament, God appeared to His chosen people, but always in a supernatural way. He was manifest in a burning bush, a pillar of cloud and flame. He sent messengers to Abraham, Jacob, Joshua, and Tobit. But He never appeared to the Jews in the incarnate form of man.

Then everything changed. The Angel Gabriel appeared to a lowly maiden in Nazareth who was betrothed to a man named Joseph. He said to her "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." (Luke  1:28) Angels are superior in nature to mortal men. But Gabriel did not begin by trumpeting his own greatness or even the greatness of the One who sent him. Gabriel greeted Mary as one who is humbled in the presence of grace.

And this was rightly so. For Mary is indeed blessed among women. The only human being besides Christ to be born without the blemish of original sin was Mary. She was perfected to bear the Perfect One. "New wine must be put into new bottles." (Luke 5:38) That is why Mary deserves so much laud and honor, deserves to have angels hail her, because of her Divine Son.

Jesus came into the world. The King of Creation came down to earth and assumed flesh, not in the manner of one changing clothes or putting on a disguise, but fundamentally so. The Lord took on our weakness to temptation, our capacity for pain, confusion, anger, and sadness.

And Jesus did not enter the world as we would think a king ought to have. He was not born in a palace. He did not have servants fulfilling his every need or soldiers watching over him. We would expect God to come down to earth as He did in the Old Testament, with fire and thunder. We would expect Him to be borne down on a chariot of flame, flanked by a celestial retinue. He "should" have been born in the company of "great" men: Alexander or Aristotle, Shakespeare or Socrates or Confucius. He "should" have been born into an "advanced" age like our own, where He could have used radio and television and the Internet to spread His message across the seas, around the globe.

But that didn't happen. Christ entered the world in a way that was just as humble as the nature that he condescended to take. Instead of a palace, a manger. Instead of servants, cows. Instead of royalty and philosophers, dirty shepherds. Instead of protecting Him, soldiers tried to kill Him.

Jesus was born in an age before even the printing press. He was born in a remote corner of the world, Bethlehem in the modern day West Bank, far from the gilded halls of Rome.

God does not make mistakes. Jesus was not born in so lowly a time and so lowly a place on accident, just as His Passion was not a fluke. Jesus came into the world "for us men and for our salvation." Intentionally.

What is more beautiful? What is more humbling? For love of us, the God who created the universe became fully man. The Son became the child of a virgin. He spent thirty three years during which he felt pain, loss, anger, and joy. God-made-man was scourged and killed. He was brought to wrath by the defilers of His temple. His heart was consoled by the sight of the children who came to him. One of the most poignant lines in the Gospels comes when Lazarus died. Our Lord came to the tomb, "and Jesus wept." (John 35:11)

True God and True man. Jesus loves us so much that he endured the ignominy of an anonymous life. He was born in the most humble of circumstances. His surrogate father, St. Joseph, nearly divorced His Most Blessed Mother because she conceived by the Holy Spirit without knowing man.

Christ came to Earth to save us from sin. He is the only man born to die. (Fulton Sheen) The Word-made-flesh lived among men and in so doing, gives us "a concrete vision of triune life." (Hans Urs von Balthasar, Prayer)

This is our belief. Our God is not a cruel God. He does not hide His face from the ranks of men, He gave His face human likeness. Blessed be the Incarnate Son of God, True God and True Man!

Deus Vult!

The Son (The Creed)

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

The only Begotten Son of God,

Born of the Father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light,

True God from true God,

Begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father;

Through Him all things were made.

 

 

When Jesus explained the Mystery of His passion and the Eucharist after the multiplication of the loaves, His disciples complained. "This teaching is hard; who can accept it?" (John 6:60) Though they were talking about transfiguration, they could have just as easily been speaking of the doctrine of the Son.

 

Belief in the Son is indeed "hard." It is what separates Christians from Jews and Gentiles alike. Christ is a definitive truth. He is a decisive truth. In the book of Revelation, we read of the "stamped image" of the Beast that identifies servants of the apostate (Revelation 13:16.) The Teaching of Christ is so decisive that a mark "on their right hand or their foreheads" separates unbelievers from the believers. This Truth divides the "wheat" from the "chaff" (Matthew 3:12.) The "wise" from the "foolish" (Matthew 25:2.)

 

It is believed that the revelation of the Son caused the Fall of Lucifer and his rebel angels. The Devil could not accept the hypostasis of God and man because of his damning pride. Instead, he said "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God" (Isaiah 14:2.) Satan rejected God's reign because of the difficulty of this doctrine. How much more decisive will it be among men?

 

Perhaps one way to measure the importance of a truth is to see how many errors try to pervert it. And indeed there are many heresies that spread lies about the Son.

 

That is why we need the Creed, to separate truth from untruth.

 

Jesus is "the only Begotten Son of God." Through adoption, because of the Passion, we are all "children of God" (Galatians 3:26.) But we are also the creation of God's hands. A father does not mold his child out of clay or paint him into existence. But this is part of our relationship with God, Maker and Made. Not so with the Son. He was "begotten, not made." The child is the fruit of his parent's love. The Son is the fruit of the Father's love.

 

Furthermore, it is important to understand that the union of the Father and the Son is timeless. The idea that the Father exist4ed before the Son is heretical. "In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God: and the Word was God" (John 1:1.) This eternal relationship and unity of the paternal and filial persons of the Trinity is so important that John begins his Gospel by expounding it.

 

The Catechism tells us that "Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names." (CCC 233)

 

This "teaching" is indeed "hard." Our mortal and limited intelligences cannot comprehend this transcendental metaphysical reality. How can One Being be Father and Son at the same time? Relying purely on human intelligence will only lead us astray.

 

We accept this teaching as an article of faith. Faith is believing in that which the senses cannot perceive. It does not take faith to believe that the sky is blue or that the sun will rise in the morning. These things we have physical evidence of. It takes faith to believe in the Holy Trinity, One God. Augustine tells us that "faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe."

 

Brothers and sisters, believe in the Son. It is not enough to simply profess a vague spiritual Being in the sky that might possibly judge the things that we do. Have faith in the Son, Jesus Christ. Have faith and you will receive "the reward of this faith," everlasting life.

 

One of the disputes between Catholics and Protestants is over the respective necessities of faith and works. The Protestants claim that faith alone is necessary for salvation. They look to St. Paul when he writes "a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." (Romans 3:28) But they are arguing a moot point. St. Paul was not inspired by the Holy Spirit to write about a faith that is impotent and inactive. "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:20.) St. Paul wrote about a living, expressed faith.

 

Believing in the Son is more than checking off a list of doctrines that you profess with your lips because you have to. You must profess the Truth with your life. If you truly believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, your life will be changed. You will not be content with living in sin. You will not be able to see a fellow man suffering without seeing the suffering of Christ mirrored within them.

 

All too often we see examples of dead faith! People who thank God with their lips while doing the Devil's work with their hands. Abortionists who pray for the fruit of their professions. Clergy who support same-sex marriage. Politicians who "make wicked laws" that "oppress the poor in judgement and do violence to the cause of the humble" (Isaiah 10:1-2.) Faith in the Son is incompatible faith.

 

Faith in Jesus Christ does not tolerate sin.

 

So be like the Saints who lived their faith in the world, in persecution, in martyrdom.

 

May your faith be alive and well. May it bear great fruit.

 

DEUS VULT!

God the Father (The Creed)

I believe in one God,

The Father Almighty

Maker of Heaven and Earth

Of all things visible and invisible.

The Nicene Creed begins with our most essential belief. We believe in God. One God. Our faith rejects the senseless abyss of atheism and the pantheon of foolish gods. We believe in a Creator God, a God who existed when “the earth was void and empty,” (Genesis 1:2) a God who willed the Universe into existence, the Architect “of all things visible and invisible.

Furthermore, we do not believe in the impotent Watchmaker of Deism. God does not sit back and watch human history as if it were a soap opera, He takes an active role. “Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord: as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)

The work of God began with Creation, which culminated in the making of man. “”God created man to his own image.” (Genesis 1:27) We owe to God every breath that we take, knowing that it is His will that sustains us.

God saved Noah from the flood. He established the covenant with Abraham, “I will make my covenant with thee: and I will multiply thee exceedingly,” (Genesis 17:2) and He established the Law with Moses, “I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” (Exodus 24:12)

These mighty deeds were in the aspect of the First Person of the Holy Trinity, which is affirmed in the Creed. God the Father is truly almighty: “Thy right hand, O Lord, is magnified in strength.” (Exodus 15:2) This was the prayer of the Israelites after being delivered from the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians by the parting and then the returning waters of the Red Sea.

I think that the Father portion of the Trinity is overlooked too easily today. We prefer Jesus, the social justice worker, to Jesus, Son of the Father. We have overlooked the Lord who “is a jealous God.” (Nahum 1:2)

The first commandment given to Moses affirmed the identity of God. “I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2-3) The Creed tells us that we believe in “one God.” As I have written many times, idolatry is one of the most prevalent sins. We like to think that the worshipping of idols is a sin that only the ancients committed. Just because only the few and the insane worship statues of Beelzebub or Baal, does not mean that we do not have our own “graven images.”  How many have set up altars to their own popularity, iPhones, careers, relationships or bodies? Anything that you love more than God is an idol. It is not a question of time, but rather of priority. If you would deny God or reject the teachings of the Church for the sake of the things of the world, you are engaged in idolatry. This is not without its consequences. God the Father loves his people so much that he is “jealous” with his love. He cannot stand anything coming between us and His love.

“And I will throw down your altars, and your idols shall be broken in pieces.” (Ezekiel 6:4)

God punished the people of Israel for their fickleness. Their hearts were divided (Hosea 10:2) between the covenant God made with Abraham and the popularity of local gods. In His infinite justice, He exiled them from their promised land, forcing them to live among strangers. “Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers.” (Lamentations 5:1)  All of this was to show them the wrongness of their way.

One of the characteristics of the Father is His justice, the justice that brought the Flood, the justice that alienated the Israelites from their home, the justice that merited the Death of the Son on a Cross.

The Father is also majestic. He appeared to Moses in burning flame as “the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” (Exodus 3:6) as “I am who am.” (Exodus 3:14). The majesty of the Father was such that “Moses hid his face.”

Like Moses, we need to bow down in humility before our Lord. The Creed begins where it ought to, with the First Person of the Trinity. Our human nature is at once eclipsed by God the Father’s might, by He who “is with me as a strong warrior.” (Jeremiah 20:11)

DEUS VOLT!

The Creed

We recite it at every Mass. It is the product of two Councils of the Catholic Church. It contains the summary of our faith, the truth.

If we were playing Jeopardy, answer would be: What is the Nicene Creed?

Now though the Creed is said at every Mass, repetition does not always coincide with understanding. It is easy to say the same words every week without truly taking those words to heart. In the Creed, we find the substance, the meat of our faith.

How well do you know the Creed? Your answer determines how well you know the faith.

The next several posts will focus on the Truth contained within the Creed. This first post will review the history behind the Creed.

Though we know it as the Nicene Creed, its correct name is the Nicene-Constantinople Creed. The formula of the creed originated from the Council of Nicaea and was finalized through the Council of Constantinople.

The Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church and was invoked in 325 AD to counter the dangers of the Arian heresy. The first form of the Nicene Creed appeared in the Profession of Faith which began the text of the Council. It was meant to clearly enumerate the beliefs of the Catholic Church. The early form of the Creed was followed by a specific denouncement of the Arian heresy.

"And those who say 'there once was when He was not,' and 'before He was begotten He was not,' and that He came to be from things that were not, or from another hypostasis or substance, affirming that the Son of God is subject to change or alteration, these the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes."

In short, the Church refuted the claims of the Arians that Jesus was not "consubstantial with the Father." They defended the nature of the hypostasis, the union of Divine and human natures in Christ, against the attacks of the heretics. The Creed originated as a defense of the Truth.

The Council of Constantinople in 381 finalized the Nicene Creed. Surviving records of the Council
begin with an affirmation of the truth found in the Creed.

"The profession of faith of the holy fathers who gathered in Nicaea in Bithynia is not to be abrogated, but is to remain in force. Every heresy is to be anathematized...."

The Creed is a shield. It is a guide. It is the Truth.

We live in an age that reduces the Truth to opinion. The lie of relativism tells you that you can believe whatever you want to. It teaches that lies can be the Truth, if only you want them to be. But in the Creed, there is no relativism. There is no lie.

We find in the Creed the beautiful Truth of God, the Truth of our faith. I hope that you will enjoy the next several posts which will examine the Creed in detail in order to promote a greater understanding of what we as Catholics believe.



DEUS VOLT!

True Feminism

Do not believe the voices of unreason that say the Church restricts the rights of women.

Critics of the Catholic Church are quick to claim that there is a "war on women," especially when abortion is involved. They look at the Church's stance on abortion, birth control, and exclusion of women from the priesthood and call it oppression, as if the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church had actually conspired to do so!

This attack on the Church, this calumny, is one of the most frequent levied against the rock of Christ. But it is entirely contrary to the reality of our faith. The attitude of the Catholic Church towards women is not the watered-down talking points of the movement that calls itself feminist. It is an attitude of honor and reverence for the true nature of womanhood. It is true feminism.

"Male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27) Feminists like to believe that there are no differences between men and women. Not only is this a rejection of God's design, it is a reduction of the value of women instead of, as the feminists believe, a reach for equality. There are inherent differences between man and woman. As our knowledge of the human body increases, we are continuously finding more and more differences between the ways men and women function.

The most obvious difference between them, however, is quite obvious. Men cannot bear children. God created women to be capable of giving birth. Therefore, the idea of motherhood is central to our understanding of what it means to be a woman.

Motherhood is a gift from God. Feminists think it to be a curse. Their insistence on abortion and birth control is a rejection of that gift. This is a grave error. What is more beautiful than a newborn child? Fighting for an end to abortion is not an attack against women. It is a defense of womanhood. Abortion leaves scars. It hurts woman far more than it "helps" them.

Motherhood is central to the beauty of women. While men tend to be physically stronger, to women is given singular grace and beauty. Men are the protectors. Women are the treasure they protect. One of the central tenants of the medieval code of chivalry, the definition of manliness, was to respect the honor of women.

This does not degrade women. It celebrates them.

The exclusion of women from the priesthood is not a decision that was made by the Church. Once more, there is no anti-woman conspiracy. The priesthood was founded upon the example and teachings of Jesus Christ. The Sacrament of Holy Orders, whereby men become priests, was instituted at the Last Supper. When He said "this is my body," (Mark 14:22) Christ was instructing the Twelve. They became the inheritors of the order of Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18). They became the new sons of Aaron, keepers of the new manna, the Eucharist (Exodus 16:33-34). Though Jesus had women followers: Mary Magdalene, Mary of Cleophas, and his own mother Mary, He did not grant them induction into His sacred priesthood. That was His decision, based upon the fundamental differences between men and women.

But women are in no way excluded from the operation of the Catholic Church. Religious sisters are the bulwark of our faith. Their prayers and works of mercy help to sustain the Church. Often, their hands are the hands of Christ in the most destitute places on Earth.

Some of the greatest Saints and martyrs of the faith are women. What Saint is more honored and venerated than Mary Mother of God? And many of Mary's visitations were to female saints like Bernadette. St. Theresa of Avila graced us with her mystical writings. St. Catherine of Sienna brought the Papacy back to Rome. St. Faustina's Diary reminded the world of Christ's mercy in a century when it was desperately needed. Blessed Mother Theresa (soon to be Saint) lived out the works of mercy in abject poverty with constant joy.

The Catholic Church is not prejudiced against women. It respects their true nature. Feminism does not. The Church refuses to ignore the motherhood that is essential to the nature of womanhood. It honors women for who they are.


DEUS VOLT!

How to be a Pro-Life Warrior

Let us herald in this new year, not with a dropping ball or trumpeting revelry, but with a fierce and furious battle cry. Brothers and sisters, we are at war. We fight against the tyranny of sin and culture of death. We fight against the elements of our society that make the taking of innocent life morally permissible. Not just permissible, but something done for the sake of convenience! The crime of abortion cannot be allowed to continue any longer. It cannot be tolerated!

This war will not be won by sitting on the sidelines. Lukewarm arms will not carry the day. Arrayed against us are hordes of demons and a host of deluded souls who call themselves pro-choice, but who would more aptly be named pro-death. Our foes are no push-overs. They are, however, deceived. They have accepted the lies of Satan and this world. "It's just a fetus," they say, "a woman should be able to do what she wants to with her body."

But they are wrong! At the point of conception there is life, human life that is separate and distinct from the body of the mother. This is a truth that we must fight for. In this post, we will look at how to do so. Every Catholic is called to be a pro-life warrior. The horrific reality of abortion is not something that any true Catholic can ignore. It is not a reality that you can idly cluck your tongue at.

These 11 points will teach you how to arm yourself for the fight that we have at our hands, a fight that we cannot abandon until it is won.

    1) PRAY

Prayer is the foundation and sustenance of the spiritual life. It is our source of strength in these times of blood and woe. Prayer is our source of courage in this battle. We must kneel before the Lord and ask that His strength might replace our own.

There are two things that we must pray for as pro-life warriors. First of all, we must entrust to God the souls of the unborn, both those who have died, those who will die, and those who can yet be saved. Pray that the Blessed Virgin will extend her mantle around the children who are yet to be born into this world. For it is the tragic reality that we will not be able to save every child. This is not a battle that can be won in a day, and babies are murdered every hour.

But God is infinitely merciful, and when it comes down to it, the best thing that we can do is pray.

The second thing that defenders of the unborn must pray for is a quick and speedy end to the practice of abortion. It is a scourge upon our land that must be eradicated. Soldiers of God must be found down on their knees in fervent prayer for an end to the evil of abortion. God can do more for the hearts and minds that must be changed than we could ever do on our own.

    2)  STUDY SACRED SCRIPTURE

God, our Great General and Lord in this fight, has given us a manual of tactics, the Bible. Neglecting the Scriptures is a recipe for defeat. St. Jerome wrote that "ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." In God's written revelation to us, we find words of encouragement and exhortation. When weary, turn to the sublime beauty of the Psalms. When despairing, reflect upon Job's endurance in suffering. When discouraged, read the Prophets and the Book of Revelation ton find the promise of eventual victory. When you feel alone, the first letter of John reminds us of God's love for each one of us and the words of the Prophet Jeremiah remind us of the truth that we fight for: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." (Jeremiah 2:5)

In the Bible, and especially the Gospels, the reason for our belief can be found. Only a bitter soul can read the Word of God and remain unmoved and uninspired.

    3) FREQUENT THE SACRAMENTS

The definition of the Sacraments is visible signs of invisible grace instituted by Christ. Everyone should remember that from Sunday school. Pro-life warriors must sustain themselves with the Body and Blood of Christ. It is the "source and summit of our faith." The Eucharist is our bunker in this war. It is the greatest sign of God's love for us, the love that makes all life sacred.

But receive the Sacrament worthily! Taking the Body and Blood of God in a state of serious sin is a grievous blasphemy. Therefore let the Confessional be your shelter from the tumults of this world and your own baseness. It is very difficult indeed to Confess too frequently.

Use Confession like the Christian warriors of old. "The French rise up and on their feet stand close; all of their sins are shriven and made whole... all are now ready into the field to go." (The Song of Roland, 90) On the eve of every battle, they sought Divine forgiveness so that they would not have to fear death. We are far less likely to face Saracen swords while protesting abortion. Nevertheless, it is right and fitting that we frequently rely upon the Sacraments that we might remain pure and righteous warriors of God.

    4) TAKE SEMPER VITAE AS YOUR MOTTO

We fight for the lives of the unborn because we believe in the sanctity of life, every life, from conception to a natural death. As we take on the forces of this anti-culture, we must keep "Semper Vitae" as our motto - Always Life. We must defend life at every stage, whether attacked with abortion or euthanasia. Do not fall into the error of taking a life in order to save it. Engaging in acts of violence against Planned Parenthood and other providers of abortion violates the very Truth that we fight for. Ends do not justify means.

    5) LEARN THE ARGUMENTS

A pro-life warrior is not a soldier of steel. They are defenders of the Truth. Our weapons consist of arguments, apologetics, and the passion of our faith. In order to truly engage in this fight, you must study evidence to use as arms. Learn why we can be confident in the righteousness of our cause. The arguments are simple. The Truth often is. Conception creates life. Without conception, there is no life. Barring human interference or tragic circumstances, the child will grow and develop in the womb before being born. At no point are the fruits of our sexuality not a human child. Abortion unequivocally takes a human life.

Your reply to "It's the woman's body" should be an emphatic "No!" It is the child's body! Planned Parenthood does not sell the parts of women, they sell baby parts! Those are not parts of the mother that they discard so callously, those are the products of their murder! The corpse of a child! Murder is not justifiable for the sake of convenience! Not ever.

Learn the arguments that you might defend the truth of Semper Vitae.

    6) BE BOLD

The times that we live in are no occasions for the faint of heart or the lukewarm. Defenders of the unborn must be outspoken. We cannot give the foes of life any quarter. Never let their lies go unchallenged!
The rot of the pro-choice ideology has spread deep. You'll find it almost everywhere, from the schools to the workplace to the city streets. Therefore, let the world find a pro-life warrior just as frequently. Shout Semper Vitae from the rooftops.

Never allow your voice to be drowned out by the cravens who accept infanticide. St. Pope John Paul II famously said "Be not afraid." Be bold men and women of God. Do not fear persecution for the sake of the unborn. Embrace it. "Count it all joy." (James 1:2) Holding back in the field of battle might mean comfort and convenience for you, but it means death for even more children. St. Augustine wrote that we should "pray as if everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." Never let it be said that the courage we find in God is insufficient for our weak and tepid souls.

    7) CHALLENGE LEADERS

For the more than forty years since Roe v Wade, we have been forced to watch the innocents be slaughtered upon the altars of our corruption. Just as the evil of abortion was brought forth upon our land by a Supreme Court decision, it can be removed by a Supreme Court decision. While seeking to change the cultural conditions that allow abortion to be considered allowable, we must simultaneously seek to change the political conditions that make it legal.

Remember that the ranks of the pro-life movement are by no means thin. It is estimated that about 800,000 people attended the March for Life in DC last year. What if a mere tenth of that number were to write letters to their Congressional representatives? What if we were to flood the Capitol with letters and petitions and phone-calls? We could drown out the discordant howling of our opponents with a righteous defense of the unborn.

Go to opencongress.org. It has a listing of the representatives in both houses of Congress for your ZIP code. You'll find their phone-number, mailing address, and email. Demonstrates your support for the pro-life movement. Show your representatives, be they Republican, Democrat, or Independent, that the abortion wars are not yet over. We live in a country where the power is supposed to reside in the people. Prove to them that abortion is something you refuse to accept as citizens of this great nation.

    8) BE PRO-LIFE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

It seems that town halls and public meetings have all moved to the Internet. Therefore, let there be no need to search for pro-life warriors in the binary realm. There are pro-life pages and profiles on every form of social media. Show those who "follow" or "friend" you that you reject the status quo on abortion. Unsurprisingly, there are lots of pro-choice pages and profiles as well. Give the enemy no quarter! When you find a comment that denies the humanity of the unborn or justifies their murder, do not let it go unchallenged. While avoiding being a "troll" who delights in conflict for its own sake, do not be a lukewarm soul when it comes to how you express your faith online.

    9) ORGANIZE

"For when two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20)

This is not a battle that can be won by individuals. The slaughterhouse that is Planned Parenthood will only be toppled by a unified Militia Christi. Fighting alone will only lead you astray. Gather together, warriors of Christ, and find strength in your numbers.

There are innumerable pro-life groups and organizations across the country: National Right to Life, Pro-Life Action League, Students for Life, etc... Or you can even create your own group of like-minded opponents of abortion. Gather your true friends around you. Form a system of support so that you will not find companionship lacking in this fight. Only by standing together can this war be won.

    10) DONATE

Sometimes your job, health, or other factors can keep you from being a frontline warrior. Not everyone is made to be a foot soldier. There are still ways you can help. Planned Parenthood currently receives about half a million dollars every year from the federal government. Their "non-profit" coffers overflow. You will find that the National Right to Life, for instance, does not receive such enormous sums from Washington. And this is not a fight without a cost. It is expensive to produce materials, organize marches, and hire lobbyists.

It is not tacky to ask for money. It is not corrupt. It is practical. In addition to your actions and words, you can fight the scourge of abortion with your wallet. Jesus told the young man (Luke 18:22) to sell all that he had. What will you do to ensure that not one more child is denied a chance for life?

    11) NO COMPROMISE WITH THE EVIL OF ABORTION

We must finally refuse to bow to the whims of the culture of death. Complacency and compromise make us complicit in their sin. May God have mercy on those craven souls that place exceptions upon their pro-life stances. Allowing abortion in some cases but not in others is a depraved position because it recognizes the murderous reality of abortion, but still accepts its use as long as the circumstances are "right." Murdering a child is no less a crime is no less a crime when that child was conceived in incest or rape!



Give your foes no quarter. Never compromise your convictions for convenience! Do not let the sword rest in your hands until abortion has been wiped off of the face of the earth and every child has a chance to live!

Semper Vitae


DEUS VOLT!