The Guardian Angel 1897
Pierre Amedee Marcel-Beronneau (1869-1937)
Pastel, Private Collection
© Heritage Images / Fine Art Images / akg-images
www.magnificat.com
The iridescent wings are formed as they are by an emanation of divine light flowing from the heavens. Finally, when we have breathed our last, it is our guardian angel who will take our soul in his hands and bear it up to the bosom of God – just as we see here, at the bedside of this little child who has just passed away. Pierre-Marie Dumont. Magnificat October 2020
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. (Shakespeare, Hamlet) Shakespeare and Pierre Amedee Marcel-Beronneau open a window on a penetrating Catholic reality. There is more good in heaven and earth than people could ever dream of.
“I guess you don’t want to be in the same room with me anymore!” Carol Everett was right. She had just told her story. She owned abortion sites. She wanted to make a million dollars. Her plan was to open more abortion sites to reach that goal. Her story was just awful. Its details filled me with horror. How could a person do that and think it was a good thing? Actually, I wanted to be in the same room with Everett. She repented!
Her story made sense to me. When God reaches into your heart and opens your eyes to your sins, it is gut wrenching. You had not realized. You thought it was not that bad. It was just a little thing. The devil whispers, “You need this. It is just a little bit bad.”
At the abortorium downtown people tell us we should give abortion bound women their privacy. “They need this!” This need for an abortion is not simple like the need for a tissue when we have a cold. This “need” is the whispered lie of the devil.
- For our struggle is not with flesh and blood. Ephesians 6:11-12
- I will give them a heart with which to understand that I am the Lord. They shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. Jeremiah 24:7
Consider the good of a newborn baby sleeping in Mom’s arms as they rest together after the birth. A single cell develops into a full grown newborn baby, in part, thanks to 9 months of monumental microscopic cellular activity. Cell differentiation orchestrates amazing things. The process that takes a baby from one cell to amazing newborn sounds like science fiction. Evidence proves that it really happens. Here are three examples.
- Neurons are the cells responsible for receiving sensory input from the external world, for sending commands to our muscles, and for transforming and relaying the electrical signals at every step in between. If you lined up the brain’s 100,000,000,000 neurons end to end, they would stretch approximately 621 miles. They would be too narrow to see without a microscope, however!
- Myocardium cells, enable the heart to beat an average of 70 times per minute. More than 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of blood passes through the heart every minute.
- Cones are photoreceptor cells in the retinas. They are essential for distinguishing colors. The eye contains a lens that bends light rays so that they meet, focusing on the retina.
Consider the good Ben Shapiro shares with us. He helps put sympathetic treatment of legalized abortion in context.
We are in a cultural battle right now to preserve basic ideas like “a man is a man” and “a woman is a woman” and “men and women don’t have exactly the same roles in all aspects of society” and that “traditional marriage is a good thing” and that “decency in sexual behavior is a good thing” and that “modesty is a good thing.” You know, things that societies have learned over the course of thousands of years are being completely ripped away and anybody who is of use in ripping away those values is now considered the heroine or hero in any particular exchange.
And what this is really about is … in the end … is making sin public and religion private. And making a lack of values the common currency and the common standard and making values something you are not supposed to say out loud. And if you say values out loud, this makes you a bad person. If you say values out loud this makes you intolerant and cruel. And people can be as intolerant and cruel to you as they want to be if you say anything about traditional values because you are being judgmental, you see. They are not being judgmental about you in going after you … wrecking your life … and suggesting that you ought not have a job if you disagree with them politically or on values. They are not the aggressors in this culture war … even if they are the aggressors in this culture war.
Ben Shapiro. Ep. 1217 Ben Shapiro Show https://youtu.be/hPEc2v2f0pI
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Simon and Max Khorolskiy, Если солнце угасает ” O fulfill my aspirations so in you I would be strong.”
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NOTES FROM THE SIDEWALK
JEN McD. SHIFT MANAGER 7-9
The first Sunday of spring! It was still cold, but the sun was shining and many more people were on the streets than in recent memory. Happily, it was a peaceful and prayerful shift, with only positive interactions with passersby.
Thank you to Diane and Tom for setting up the sidewalk, and to Bill for stopping briefly to pray despite having been up all night with the family of the young boy hurt downtown last night. Please keep him in your prayers.
An additional prayer request: we learned this morning that at yesterday’s vigil, SA Greg spoke to a young mother pregnant with her fourth child and seeking an abortion. She was open to the information he shared with her, and we pray that God will water the seed that Greg planted so that this precious child may be born into the world.
Thank you also to my dear Shift Buddy, Vince; to his faithful brother Knights, Rich and George; and to the man who quietly joined us as we were praying and just as quietly slipped away before I could get his name.
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KEN B. SHIFT MANAGER 9-11
Reading today’s Gospel for Passion Sunday we are reminded, with the resurrection of Lazarus, that all things are possible through the Mercy of our Savior. In this spirit we offered our prayers today for the Mother who is being pressured to abort twins, for the boy who was attacked in a downtown McDonald’s, for a three month old baby in need of Mercy, and in Thanksgiving for the report yesterday that a Mother left Planned Parenthood and could be heard telling someone on the phone that she didn’t abort her child.
We pray for an outpouring of grace and Mercy for these and all who have crossed our paths this Lent at the 40 Days for Life vigil.
Joining us in prayer today were Pat from St. Patrick’s, shift buddy Nikki, Mike from St. Killian’s, Rich and George from St. Sebastian’s Knights of Columbus, and Bonnie from St. Joachim and Anne parish.
Thanks also to the weekly participants in the Rosary Walk for their perseverance and fortitude in continuing every Sunday to pray for peace. Each week they pause on Liberty Avenue to pray.
Pat from Saint Patrick’s, Nikki Shift Buddy, Mike from Saint Killian’s, Rich and George from Saint Sebastian’s Knights of Columbus and Bonnie from Saints Joachim and Anne Parish.
Rosary Walk for Life witness with 40 Days for Life
RICH AND ROSEANN K. SHIFT MANAGERS 11-1
Parishioners from Saint Michael the Archangel
Saint Michael the Archangel volunteers praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet around the circle
LINDSAY M. SHIFT MANAGER 1-3
‘God provides’ . . . these words rang true in my heart today as I anticipated my Sunday afternoon shift at 933 Liberty Avenue. It was a shift that my parish grouping had committed to praying at the vigil. Would folks show up or would there just be one or two witnessing on the sidewalk? A witness that is so needed today – and every day. I knew there would be more foot traffic with word of an event at the nearby convention center. Witnesses were needed.
Well, as I said ‘God provides’ – He provided an ARMY of folks, as you can see from today’s photo, from SS John and Paul and Good Samaritan Parishes, and a few others – over 30 of us on the sidewalk!! We joined our voices in prayer and fellowship. In addition to the faithful prayer warriors, God provided beautiful – and abundant sunshine for us!! Yes, God DOES provide!
Marie
SS. John and Paul Respect Life Group, SS John and Paul and Good Samaritan Parishes, and a few others … an ARMY of folks!
JOE W. SHIFT MANAGER 3-5
Kevin came up from Steubenville to pray with my truly amazing shift buddies Jim and Cathy. I love y’all. Thank you for your unwavering witness. Paul got extra credit for his beautiful self made sign, and his committed spirit.
The fearless, authentic, joy filled folks from Corpus Christi Parish in Bridgeville showed up with a small army to do battle. I am so blessed to be part of this parish.
I don’t know how I ended up on the block these past years with 40 Days, but I am so so grateful to learn, share, grow from/with all the wonderful and alive Christians I meet every week
Kevin from Steubenville and Shift Buddies Jim and Cathy
Paul and his self made sign.
Joy filled folks from Corpus Christi Parish in Bridgeville
Wonderful and alive Christian pro-life witness
ANDY L. SHIFT MANAGER 5-7
Sunday 5 to 7 was such a beautiful evening I almost felt guilty. Such a gorgeous day, and being outside of a building where hideous things take place was quite a dichotomy. Yes, many prayers were said on the last shift of the day. We had a few regulars show up which was great. Denise the shift buddy was as faithful as ever. But the lesson I learned today came from another source. Praying the Liturgy of the Hours, multiple Rosaries, and multiple Chaplets is great. But the kingdom of heaven is often built the strongest when efficiency is thrown out the window, even efficiency in prayer, and we take the time to kneel to help a young child or someone who is having a tough time of it. God Bless.
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And God saw that it was good.
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