feminine-genius

What is at stake

Please take the time to read this interview and understand that the outcome of this election will either promote more of this, or provide a climate to retreat from the snowballing insanity. Statistics concerning SSA's harms to children are indisputable. They are the victims in social engineering based on dysfunction, pathology and self-indulgence seeking redefinition as normal.

Abortion is another key element, with events like this happening regularly. One candidate has promised to sign catastrophic domestic legislation and to support dark global initiatives.

In this light, please add your prayers and sacrifices in this last stretch. God's will in all things.

UPDATE: From Dale O'Leary

During this long campaign, I have asked myself over and over how can people who think they are good Catholics, good Christians vote for aggressively pro-abortion, anti-life candidates. I have prayed for them to be open to wisdom, but fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom and it appears to me that they lack this fundamental fear.

         Then it came to me this morning, if they won’t fear the LORD, let a spirit of fear of the consequence of electing pro-abortion candidates fall on them.

         Let them fear radical change.

         Let them fear facing terrorism, chaos and war with untested leaders.

         Let them fear high taxes and economic collapse.

         Let them fear socialism and the welfare state.

         Let them fear those who will use power to suppress anyone who criticizes them.

         Dear LORD, in your mercy send a spirit of fear on those who are not wise enough to listen to your prophets.

UPDATE: NYTimes wedding page is portent of the nuptial debate.

Election Novena

Please pray each day from Oct 27th to November 4th:

Solemn Novena to Our Lady of Victory

Lord, have mercy on us,
Christ, have mercy on us,
Christ, hear us,
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.

The response for the following greetings is Pray for us.

Our Lady of Victory,
Victorious daughter of the Father,
Victorious Mother of the Son,
Victorious Spouse of the Holy Spirit,
Victorious servant of the Holy Trinity
Victorious in your Immaculate Conception,
Victorious in crushing the serpent’s head,
Victorious over all the children of Adam,
Victorious over all enemies,
Victorious in your response to the Angel Gabriel,
Victorious in your wedding to St. Joseph,
Victorious in the birth of Christ,
Victorious in the flight to Egypt,
Victorious in your exile,
Victorious in your home at Nazareth,
Victorious in finding Christ in the temple,
Victorious in the mission of your Son,
Victorious in His passion and death,
Victorious in His Resurrection and Ascension,
Victorious in the Coming of the Holy Spirit,
Victorious in your sorrows and joys,
Victorious in your glorious Assumption,
Victorious in the angels who remained faithful,
Victorious in the happiness of the saints,
Victorious in the message of the prophets,
Victorious in the testimony of the patriarchs,
Victorious in the zeal of the apostles,
Victorious in the witness of the evangelists,
Victorious in the wisdom of the doctors,
Victorious in the deeds of the confessors,
Victorious in the triumph of all holy women,
Victorious in the faithfulness of the martyrs,
Victorious in your powerful intercession,
Victorious under your many titles,
Victorious at the moment of death,

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Spare us, Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Hear us, Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Have mercy, Lord.
Pray for us, blessed Lady of Victory.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

The Novena Prayer

Let us pray:

Our Lady of Victory, we have unshaken confidence in your influence with your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Humbly we ask your intercession for all of us associated under your title, Our Lady of Victory.
We beg your powerful assistance also for our own personal needs. (Please mention here your special intention in you own words.) In your maternal kindness please ask Jesus to forgive all our sins and failings, and to secure His blessings for us and for all the works of charity dedicated to your name. We implore you to obtain for us the grace of sharing Christ’s victory and yours forever in the life that knows no ending. May we join you there to praise forever the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, on God, for all the ages to come. Amen.

Election Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, You told us to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. Enlighten the minds of our people [in] America. May we choose a President of the United States, and other government officials, according to Your Divine Will. Give our citizens the courage to choose leaders of our nation who respect the sanctity of unborn human life, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of marital relations, the sanctity of the family, and the sanctity of the aging. Grant us the wisdom to give You, what belongs to You, our God. If we do this, as a nation, we are confident You will give us an abundance of Your blessings through our elected leaders. Amen.

(Composed by Father John Anthony Hardon, SJ)

Martyr = Witness

Gayle Williams had worked in Afghanistan for years, loving her work and dedicating herself wholeheartedly to Christ in the poor of that country.

Her colleagues in Serve Afghanistan, a Christian-based British organisation, remember her as a person “who truly put others before herself,” always lending a “helping hand to those in need.”

Serve Afghanistan is an organisation that has been involved with the Afghan population since the Soviet occupation. Its employees worked with Afghan refugees in Pakistan. At the end of the nineties when the refugee emergency was over, it (along with the refugees) moved back to Afghanistan to help the elderly, the disabled and children.

She was killed earlier this week, gunned down by those who claim that she was converting people to Christianity, which her group vehemently denies. She could have been killed for her faith, or simply because of her British citizenship -- one cannot truly tell. Her family, regardless, is devastated.

Speaking to The Independent yesterday, her mother Pat Williams said: "I am still trying to cope with what happened and it is very hard. The only thing that gives me comfort is knowing that she was doing what she loved most when she was taken from us. I have heard that Gayle was thinking of coming to see me for Christmas, but she did not tell me that so it must have been meant as a surprise. I say to myself that at least Gayle is with Our Lord."

Gayle wanted to be buried in Kabul, indicating that her heart and soul was with the people she served so selflessly. All Christians know the risks of their work. Their witness gives evidence of the faith without needing to use words:

Catholic communities present in Afghanistan shy away from proselytising. They bear witness through their work. For instance, the Sisters of Mother Teresa and the “Pro-Kabul Children” association are involved with disabled or street kids. So far they have not experienced any resentment or felt any tension. People love them because “these women came to help our poor.”

That we could all be known as children of God by our works and disposition.

Simchat Torah!

The feast began last evening at sundown:

Simchat Torah means “Rejoicing in the Torah.” This holiday marks the completion of the annual cycle of weekly Torah readings. Each week in synagogue we publicly read a few chapters from the Torah, starting with Genesis Ch. 1 and working our way around to Deuteronomy 34. On Simchat Torah, we read the last Torah portion, then proceed immediately to the first chapter of Genesis, reminding us that the Torah is a circle, and never ends.

This completion of the readings is a time of great celebration. There are processions around the synagogue carrying Torah scrolls and plenty of high-spirited singing and dancing in the synagogue with the Torahs….

And the relevance is...?

Wisdom is the foundation of the law and the prophets and their crowning glory. God’s plan for his people was revealed in detail for their own good, so that they would thrive among the nations, and the relationship between the two parties in the Covenant would prosper. Sometimes the community would adhere to the commandments of God more closely than at other times, and it must be admitted that now and again in history one would be hard-pressed to distinguish the Jewish remnant from their neighbors; but in time, they would return to their faith, and they would cling once more to the special covenant with the one true God Who called them out of darkness.

 

To help the people see what lay shrouded in the Scriptures, the spiritual covenant even took tangible form, especially in the yearly celebration called “Rejoicing in the Torah.” During this feast, in Hebrew called Simchat Torah, “one takes the Torah under one’s arm, as if it were a bride, and dances with it in the synagogue.”The men who participate are actually called “bridegrooms of the Torah,” which underscores the nuptial reality, and the day allows the community to celebrate God’s mercy anew and acknowledge that it is Lady wisdom that gave life to the children of Israel.

 

For all the passionate love bound up in this earthy and joyful feast, the care taken with the actual Torah throughout the centuries reveals that there is a chasteness to this love, a abiding reverence for the “law as bride.” The scrolls are treated with great respect, being kept in an ark-like tabernacle (often, fittingly, with a crown adorning it), and the law forbids them from being touched by human hands. Even when they are removed so that a portion of the law may be read each day to an assembly, they would never be laid on a bare table but always on a prepared cloth, and then there are layers to be reverently removed: first a mantle, often finely embroidered, then an outer covering of expensive material, and then a girdle of silk which ties the scrolls together. At this point, a silver bar is used as a marker, recalling the admonition of God Himself that nothing should ever touch the Ark, which rested in the midst of the Chosen People. These very same men – who loved wisdom with the ardor of a husband – would go so far as to lay down their lives to protect their scrolls, as witnessed by tragedies over the centuries in which many sons of Israel would die in trying to rescue them from fire or abuse.

 

Jesus, upon reaching the age of maturity, read from the Torah and even unlocked its mysteries in a way that would astonish those assembled. He knew them intimately, of course, since both He was the author, creator, and spouse of the wisdom therein. He would later stress to his followers that he did not intend to do away with even the smallest portion of the law, saying “For truly, as I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished,”Indeed, if He allowed such a thing to happen, He would have distorted or erased the very features of His own bride. Rather, He reminded us that all of the law and the prophets could be summarized in the love of God and of neighbor. Understanding this allows us see the parallels, and to more easily grasp the spiritual truth – that the revealed laws of God were simply tangible dimensions of the Bride of the ages, whom He could embrace as easily as a rabbi did his beloved scrolls (fromThe Authentic Catholic Woman).

Is this the face of chivalry?

The reporter above (centre) noted that Muhammed's world view isn't very nice to women. For that he was originally given the death penalty. That sentence has been commuted to 20 years in jail. This is the government we fought to install? This is where women are left -- still defenceless?

Reporters Without Borders said, "Afghan justice has again failed to protect Afghan law and guarantee free expression." In a statement on its Web site, it continued: "The appeal proceedings were marred by ideological distortion, a glaring lack of evidence and incomprehensible delays." Kambakhsh's brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, said the sentence was issued under pressure from local militia and political leaders he had criticized in his articles, according to The Associated Press.

The court in Mazar-i-Sharif sentenced Kambakhsh to death in January, after a five-minute trial in which he was not allowed to offer any defense. The appeal was held in a Kabul court before a panel of three judges and involved several hearings over a number of months.

John Dempsey, an American lawyer observing the trial in Kabul, said Kambakhsh was not accorded fair treatment. "He was detained far longer that he should have been legally held," he said, according to The AP. "The defense lawyer was not even allowed to meet the witnesses until a night before the trial."

Perhaps he did say that the Prophet was an adulterer. Perhaps he thinks that Islam is unfair to women. The point is that no one may say such things, and women have to endure. How can justice ever emerge in such an environment?

God alone knows

From northern India:

An 11-year-old girl has been set on fire by a relative in India's northern city of Jaipur for wearing lipstick and being inappropriately dressed. Police say the girl suffered burns over 90 per cent of her body and her chances of survival are bleak. They've arrested her great uncle who allegedly poured kerosene on the girl and set her alight yesterday.

Investigators say the 55-year-old man, a conservative Muslim, told the police he was enraged at the girl wearing lipstick and being scantily dressed. But relatives have accused the man of trying to molest the girl and setting her on fire when she objected.

Unless the girl recovers and has the courage to speak up, we'll never know the truth. What is it about this religion that causes men to react with such vehemence (about everything?) Even if his version is correct, she is not his daughter, and the first response would be to tell her to get back to her room and try again. But if each confrontation goes nuclear, then society will always be unstable.

Very dangerous waters

Rwanda has moved from a brutal bloodbath to enlightened democracy in a matter of years. Very few years. And part of the fallout has been a form of gender engineering of the most radical kind.

Last month, Rwanda became the first country in the world whose women MPs outnumber men: 56 per cent of seats went to female candidates. To outsiders schooled in the stereotypes of dominant African male patriarchy, the election results came as a surprise.

But in Rwanda, where women have, in a few short years, shot from being oppressed and undervalued to holding a raft of senior administrative positions, it was expected.

The last elections, in 2003, when women won almost 49 per cent of seats, had already pushed the country to the top of the league table of gender parity in world parliaments. Britain's House of Commons, by contrast, languishes 58 places lower, with just 19.5 per cent of seats held by women, behind Ethiopia, Argentina and Pakistan.

"We are always being asked why we are first," said Speciose Mukandutiye, president of the Forum of Rwandan Women Parliamentarians, with a mischievous grin. "That's the wrong question. Why not ask why the rest of the world is not here yet? More than half of the world is women. If democracy really works in those countries in the West, why are their parliamentarians not more than half women?"

Well, there are many answers, and one of them is because freedom still exists. In that sense, there are not "pink chairs" set aside for women, mandating outcomes. The article makes clear that not all the women are elected into mandated women slots, but 24 out of 80 are. The rest are freely decided.

The problem comes when stereotypes are the building blocks of future action.

"Women in positions of leadership in a country like Rwanda are better able to nurture reconciliation than men. In situations of conflict, women move more to pacification than men – this is natural.

"The whole gacaca process rests on people coming out and telling the truth. We've seen mothers standing in public and telling their sons, please, say what you did or else I will say it. The mothers, sisters, wives – they push their men to tell the truth."

Rwanda's men, at least those who took part in the genocide, cannot do this, Mrs Kantengwa said, because, "unfortunately, in most cases, the men did these things together".

Even at the most local level, women are for the first time taking public positions of responsibility. At the end of a dirt track an hour's drive east of the capital, Jeanne Munekatete, 29, sat on a hard wooden bench in her husband's one-room pub as the shouts of children playing drifted through the open door.

A farmer of cassava and beans and a mother of four sons, she is now also the first woman to be elected head of the local council in the village of Musha. "I am not an educated woman, but Rwanda now is changing. People here, they know that a woman is the one who has always kept the family strong and safe and they want women to do the same for their communities," she said.

"Men are too impatient and hasty. Women listen more, they talk to everybody. In Rwanda, that is very important. If we stop ignorance and bitterness at the local level, that will move up all across the country."

Do you see the subtle signs? The less subtle signs? Women good. Men bad. Women peaceful and patient. Men violent and impatient. Women wise. Men ignorant. Surely the recent massacres were on the "men's watch," but social engineering to castrate the men is already having a negative effect.

"This is not a society at ease with open discussion about its problems," said Jeanne de Chantal, a radio ''agony aunt'' on Kigali's most popular independent station, Contact FM. "I have had complaints from men on the show when they say that in helping women improve, they are losing their leadership in the family, in the community. I don't know that this country's men are really ready to work like that with women, without feeling   frustration."

But Rwanda's pro-women push is not about forcing men into the back seat, said Mrs Kantengwa, the senior RPF woman MP. "We know we have different roles in society, we just think that those roles should be reflected in the parliament and thus in the legislation we pass."

She said that women legislators focus better on the fine details of draft laws, while men grasp 'the bigger picture', adding that several new laws introduced during the last parliament of 2003 to 2008 reflect the balanced nature of the chamber.

"These included a law on gender-based violence and one that for the first time lets parents nominate their daughters, not just their sons, as their heirs and successors.

"We do not want to frustrate our men and push them into submission while we run the show," said Mrs Kantengwa with a chuckle. "We want to safeguard against anything that would make men think that we're taking over. We're not taking over, we're just coming along to join them."

We're just joining them. Hmmm. Restructuring the family. Rewriting inheritance laws.  I wonder how divorce, contraception, abortion and homosexuality will be reflected in the near future. The fact that the men are frustrated might be an immature response about their "treehouse" being invaded. OR, it might be a red flag that this benign explanation is not the whole story.

Be uplifted

Father Longenecker has lovely insights on the Annunciation. So refreshing after all the clamour and clang of presidential politics. Well-worth a quick click.