Great seeing you again!

Photo originally found at:
http://www.rolandgarros.com/images/pics/misc/f_06-05-Portrait-henin.jpg

What they say about sportsmen and sportswomen

is true.  Ok, at least with many of them.  Fortitude, determination.  ABC News talks of one of them: Lolo Jones

By Sheila Marikar
@SheilaYM
Follow on Twitter

May 22, 2012 5:13pm

Olympic Athlete Lori ‘Lolo’ Jones Says She’s a Virgin

Credit: Roger Kisby/Getty Images.

The schedule of an Olympic contender doesn’t exactly allow for a lot of dating. That’s why 29-year-old track and field star Lori “Lolo” Jones has yet to find a boyfriend and is still a virgin.
In an interview airing tonight, Jones tells HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” that she has yet to have sex because it’s “a gift I want to give my husband,” and despite her hardest efforts, she hasn’t been able to find any contenders. Jones first announced she was a virgin on Twitter.
“I’ve been tempted,” she tells Gumbel. “I’ve had guys tell me … ‘Hey, you know, if you have sex, it’ll help you run faster.’”
Her response: ”If you marry me, then yeah.”
“This journey has been hard,” she adds. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Harder than training for the Olympics. Harder than studying for college has been staying a virgin before marriage.”

Great man, Saturnino!

He is Saturnino.  A great man indeed.  A big man with the biggest of hearts.  I do not now much about him, and would have wished to know him much better.  But one generous act has me increasing my faith in people.

Last Wednesday, I flew to General Santos City, enroute to Polomolok, to spend a couple of nights with my parents.  Who would have known that that day would start the way it did?

I took a cab from my house to attend Mass at the Carmelite Monastery in Cebu. It was the best schedule for me since I had to be at the airport by 7:20a.  In the cab as we set off for the church, I needed access to my handerkerchief in my right pocket.  To get to it, I had to take off the belt bag where I had placed my phones and pda (so you probably know where this goes).  So I did, and placed the belt bag further to left of my bag that was on the seat next to me.

When we reached the church, I paid my fare and got off taking my bags with me.  I settled at the last pew, as even then, I was still perspiring and that area seemed coolest.  Then the Mass started.

At the sign of the cross, I suddenly realized that my belt bag was not around my waste.  The perspiration started again.  I was pretty much distracted.  I bent to take my bag off the floor and in my mind was deciding to bolt out of the church (anyway I can attend the afternoon Mass in my "hometown", or not really, since I had a talk to give in Koronadal at 6pm, what to do then?).  

But soon enough I realized that there was not much I can do.  I cannot run after the cab, that was 5 minutes ago when I got off.  Put down my bag, still a bit distracted.  I made a simple request from God, through Our Lady and St. Josemaria, that nothing more "tragic" should happen, and that I will continue attending His Mass as best I can.

After the Opening Prayer (and the First Reading was about to commence), I turned around to check my seat and seeing that there was nothing that will make the experience of listening to the Word of God anything but pleasant, I turned back my head and to sit.  But something caught my eye, someone by the door of the church.  I looked at him and just as quickly, he also saw me, and with an expression of relief on his face (I think I probably had the same look on my face), he pointed at me with his right hand, and in his left hand, now raised as well, my belt bag.

We stepped out.  He was gentleman driver Saturnino.  I did not check the contents of the bag, as I knew everything was there.  I thanked him and he said hat it was his obligation to return things left in his cab.  He was not even certain that he could see me there as he could not remember how I looked.  I told him that I will finish the Mass and if he wanted he can also take me to the airport afterwards (decided that I will give him a hefty tip).  But he had to go as he was taking the cab to the garage yet.

Surely there was something else I could do to reward him for that so unselfish act, but he said simply, "I-praise lang ko nimo sa Gino-o, sir".  

How do you really translate that?  

I praised the Lord for Saturnino, and for the many unsung heroes.  I praised Saturnino to God for allowing grace to fill his heart with generosity.  I praised God with Saturnino, even as he had to go his merry way, to fill this world with his kindness in the best way he could.

Back in Cebu now, I can only just now write about it.  Nevertheless, the joy that accompanied me on my visit with my parents and to my hometown, was only a fruit of the joy that Saturnino shared with me.

Put "smiley" face here

Is foregoing a previously carefully-vetted decision only because there seems to be an escalation of opposition to it (even as those opposed give you the benefit of "ultimately, it is up to you") good enough?  

Is that enough sign of humility (or obedience)?

So ... As Sarah says,

Funny how just moving my lips into the shape of a smile can change my outlook…

Two days

Had a great two days, waking up, to the news of Champions League wins (well, the good news of two losses!).  Yesterday, Barca got kicked out of another CL finals appearance by Chelsea.  Not really a team am rooting for, but a loss by Barca, who beat AC Milan in the quarters, was a "karma's-a-bitch" moment.  Yeah!  Today, although, a little belated because of internet connection issues, I found out my second team, Bayern Munich, won their semifinal match against Real Madrid, in Madrid, on a 3-1 win on penalties (after a 3-3 aggregate).  Another KAB moment, especially as they poached Kaka' from ACM some years back.  Yeah!  Double yeah!

Give me the luxury just this time to celebrate the losses.  Forza!

Parenting is funny

Shout-out for this blog: parentingisfunny.wordpress.com

It always ends happily

 Always. 

Although this article about NBA player JaVale McGee was not a pro-life write-up, but an NBA profile, it turns out happily a pro-life story.

On a Saturday morning in the spring of 1987, Pamela McGee sat on the shore at Dockweiler State Beach in Los Angeles, 72 hours from a scheduled abortion. "Do you want to be pregnant?" the counselor at the clinic had asked her. "No," McGee replied. She was a single, 24-year-old professional basketball player, and she could not take maternity leave. And even if she could, she couldn't imagine hauling an infant to Italy and parking the stroller next to the bench. But as McGee looked out over the Pacific, she began to reconsider. "I prayed and prayed and prayed and felt like I heard a voice from God," McGee says. "He was telling me, 'This is your gift.' " The next day she went to Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, and the pastor delivered a sermon about not aborting one's blessings. O.K., God, McGee thought. You don't have to beat it into my head. She called the clinic to cancel, and on Jan. 19, 1988, gave birth to a boy with physical abilities that would border on the supernatural. ...

The day after last year's dunk contest in L.A., JaVale called his mother at 8 a.m. and told her he wanted to go to church. Pamela was exhausted, with only five hours sleep, and surprised. But she knew just the place. During the sermon at Faithful Central Bible, JaVale looked over at his mom, tears streaking her cheeks. "Why are you crying?" he asked. There, for the first time, Pamela told him about the clinic and the beach and the reason she cannot get all that upset about alley-oops gone awry. "For me," she told her son, "you've been such a blessing."

Today is the anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict XVI.  Here is an article by Elizabeth.  

Read.

Later that night, an exhausted Nicholas, who is four, snuggled next to me as we watched a replay of the announcement on the balcony.

"I see Benedict," he said.

"Yes," I encouraged my tender-hearted boy, "What does he look like to you?"

"He has very white hair, Nicholas observed. "And his cassock is white, too. That?s for celebration. He wears white for celebration."

I waited a moment, watching with him.

"I wonder," Nicholas said quietly, "what color his hair will be in ordinary time."

Fighting laughter, I let him wonder and watched him fall asleep. I was so grateful for our beautiful day. My children will always remember the day as one of celebration and they will always have a sense of having participated in a momentous event as members of the Universal Church. A beautiful, holy day, indeed.

Justice must be restored first

The injustice that is human IVF (injustice to the person formed) has far-reaching repercussions.  The problems that result from this injustice will only continue to increase for as long as the practice is not stopped.  And even if this "reproductive technology" is halted, there is also the question of what is to be done with the frozen embryos.  The Church and governments (and even the courts) are still at a loss as to how to resolve this, and even then, we hear almost everyday about all the problems that have arisen.

Case in point is that recent case just "resolved" by the court in Pennsylvania on the fate of 13 frozen embryos whose parents divorced:  the court says the mother can have the IVF despite the father's protest.  This is different from another case in Tennessee, where the court ordered the destruction of the frozen embryos in another case of divorced parents.  See how complicated the matter of IVF is.

Then there are also cases of surrogacy and same-sex couples who want to have children of "their own.

From lifenews.com:

Actually, this and other cases could be totally avoided if we did not allow mass manufacturing and freezing of human lives in a laboratory. These couples are already parents. The question is not whether parenthood is forced on them (they freely chose to become parents in undergoing IVF), but whether these embryos deserve a chance to finish their lives.


Step back and realize how surreal this situation is. These offspring have had their fates decided by a court where one parent wants to give at least some of them a chance to finish the lives that IVF started and the other parent just wants them destroyed. How far have we come in this world of “reproductive rights” for the parents that this scenario, where children’s lives are at the mercy of a court, is becoming more common place?

....


This is an untenable situation that we should never have allowed to happen. Until we regulate the fertility industry and realize that embryos are not “potential human life”, but instead “human life with potential”, our courts will continue to be charged with deciding the fate of these littlest of human lives. A decision they should never be charged to make.

Happy Easter!!!

Life is stronger than death.  Good is stronger the evil.  Love is stronger than hate.  Truth is stronger than lies.  Benedict XVI

"The little color wheel is flashing across a black screen"

Elizabeth tells us in a novel, friendly way about confession, the sacrament that serves us well this Lenten season.

Right now, there is no heavy truck careening toward you. There is no doctor pointing out the shadow of a deadly blood clot. There is no airplane heading toward the building where you sit at your desk. Right now, there are signs in every parish yard reminding you that you will lose everything. They say “The Light is On for You.” Right now, you are being invited — begged really — to bathe in grace of the sacrament of reconciliation.

Cat's eyes, anyone?

Lead author of a new paper, S. Matthew Liao, has something to say.

Even as he says the starting point of this paper is the anthropogenic cause of climate change, well, ok, of global warming, his realization that man should be able to "mitigate", with his intellect and will, with a bit of voluntary "re-engineering", and not by Big Government autocratic push for "change" (read:  consensus), is what we have seen and said long before (maybe not so much about the re-engineering thing though).  

Nevertheless, any modifications to the body as to the extent of human re-engineering may have serious ethical repercussions that need looking into more deeply.  It would seem that they know that they are treading on shaky if not very sensitive ground.

Taking a look at this from the perspective of deep ecology---is there something to be said for the idea that because climate change is human caused, that humans ought to be the ones that change to mitigate it---that somehow we ought to bear the cost to fix this?

Liao: That was actually one of the ideas that motivated us to write this paper, the idea that we caused anthropogenic climate change, and so perhaps we ought to bear some of the costs required to address it. But having said that, we also want to make this attractive to people---we don't want this to be a zero sum game where it's just a cost that we have to bear. Many of the solutions we propose might actually be quite desirable to people, particularly the meat patch. I recently gave a talk about this paper at Yale and there was a man in the audience who worked for a pharmaceuticals company; he seemed to think there might be a huge market for modifications like this.

Read the rest of the interview here or from the source here.

More from the interview:

Judging from your paper, you seem skeptical about current efforts to mitigate climate change, including market based solutions like carbon pricing or even more radical solutions like geoengineering. Why is that?

Liao: It's not that I don't think that some of those solutions could succeed under the right conditions; it's more that I think that they might turn out to be inadequate, or in some cases too risky. Take market solutions---so far it seems like it's pretty difficult to orchestrate workable international agreements to affect international emissions trading. The Kyoto Protocol, for instance, has not produced demonstrable reductions in global emissions, and in any event demand for petrol and for electricity seems to be pretty inelastic. And so it's questionable whether carbon taxation alone can deliver the kind of reduction that we need to really take on climate change.

With respect to geoengineering, the worry is that it's just too risky---many of the technologies involved have never been attempted on such a large scale, and so you have to worry that by implementing these techniques we could endanger ourselves or future generations. For example it's been suggested that we could alter the reflectivity of the atmosphere using sulfate aerosol so as to turn away a portion of the sun's heat, but it could be that doing so would destroy the ozone layer, which would obviously be problematic. Others have argued that we ought to fertilize the ocean with iron, because doing so might encourage a massive bloom of carbon-sucking plankton. But doing so could potentially render the ocean inhospitable to fish, which would obviously also be quite problematic.

Godspeed, Champ+

You are in better company now, Champ!

You will be missed Laddie!  and Joe's with the welcome committee.

Update: Laddie will be laid to rest on Saturday morning, March 17.  Happy that I will be there to send him off, but sad with his passing.  Intercede for us, Champ!

You go girl (woman)!

"That the whole world may recognise the contribution of women to the development of society".

This is the general intention of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, for March.  

Today, we also celebrate International Women's Day (ever wonder why today's Google.com image is this?)

Duty to warn

Another ingenious defense for pro-life counselors outside abortion clinics.  Methinks this works for any pro-life cause outside of the abortion issue.

I also point out that from a medical viewpoint, the charge of trespassing a business holds only if that business is legitimate. In this case the medical “business” of aborting babies cannot be legal because: a) It is not proper medical practice; women are never given any alternative to abortion to “treat” a very wide range of problems, b) It is not conducted by a physician acting in good faith, (they don’t know the results of their procedure because they don’t do long term follow-up and they don’t keep up-to-date on the scientific literature etc. c) There are no scientifically established benefits to abortion, d) There are many harms and hazards. e) They don’t inform the patient fully and accurately so don’t obtain an informed consent, f) They don’t try less invasive and more reversible treatments first. Moreover, if it is, as they claim, a “business”, they cannot: charge the medical insurance scheme and taxpayers for costs, (large doctors fees etc) and they are using false advertising. In short this “business” only harms women and does so at taxpayer’s expense.

...

Using “duty to warn” as a defense for counseling pre-abortion women, might encourage a wider variety of people to follow their conscience or scientifically determined convictions to protect women from harm and to defend innocent life. Let us pray they will.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

As we find a lull in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Corona at the Senate, Congress will now have time to focus on some important bills since they will have the numbers to conduct business at the House.  About a month's worth of sessions were "wasted" as many congressmen found themselves front seats at the impeachment court.  Or elsewhere (I believe some others had better things to do; good for them).

Obviously, I also believe one of the more pressing bills that they might tackle is the RH Bill.

I only hope they look at what is happening in the US, especially the disregard of the conscience objections/protections through their national health care law, and the subsequent junking of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act at the US Senate.

Congress need not look so far as to see that the RH Bill if passed into law will have the makings of a mess as they have in the US concerning the conscience rights and abortion (even in the context of abortifacient contraceptives), sex education and HPV vaccines even for the very young.  

And with parallelisms with BHO and BSA in social issues, the fear is not far-fetched.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, the road to Heaven, with good deeds. (Not original to me.)

For the bad times, and good: prayer

Yet another shooting at a high school in Iowa.  And as far removed we are from them, we offer our prayers for the victims and their families, as well as for the gunman and his family.   Todd Starnes at foxnews.com asks: 

Why is school prayer only allowed during tragedies?

It was supposed to be a fairly quiet week at Chardon High School.
The boys basketball team, the Hilltoppers, was scheduled to play a game Monday night. Parent-Teacher conferences were set for Thursday.
It was just a normal day in Chardon, Ohio.
But normal changed at approximately 7:30 Monday morning.
Gunfire. Screams. Chaos.
A teenager – an outcast – armed with a gun – walked into the school cafeteria. In a matter of moments, five students were gunned down. At least one child died.
Terrified students huddled in classrooms. They called 911. They texted and tweeted. Teachers locked doors and implemented emergency procedures.
And at least one teacher chased the gunman out of the school – an act of bravery that possibly saved lives.

As police try to make sense of the senseless, the school superintendent called on people to pray.
It was a wise decision.
But perhaps lost in the chaos is the irony that in American public schools – people are not allowed to pray.
Liberals have successfully banished God from the classroom, replacing Him with the manmade god of secularism.
Yet in times of great tragedy, school leaders inevitably seek guidance and solace from the same God they’ve expelled. I’ve often wondered – if God is good enough for the bad times, shouldn’t He be good enough for the good times?
It’s a lesson I sadly suspect our nation’s educators will never learn.

True.  Why indeed?

We are still fortunate that prayer, even in public schools, in the Philippines is still allowed, or at the very least, no one gives a hoot about it when prayer is said in school.

In the public sphere, it is not uncommon that even the leftists offer Holy Mass before any protest action.  Why even NPA's or criminal elements when they find themselves cornered in a gun battle against the armed forces or police do not forget to seek the intercession of the saints in heaven.  

Any calamity or disaster strikes the faithfuls' hearts and souls with the fire to seek comfort in church and prayer, not only for their survival, but also petition strength for the victims that they may get back on their feet again.

Still, we notice that the churches are filled up few days prior and during final or board examinations, or when results are expected to come out; but very few come back after the good results are received.  The party places replace the churches, and the merry-making, the prayers of thanksgiving.

Now that we are in Lent, perhaps, we can find more time (the good times) with God.  Forty days is not that long.  So many to pray for as well.

Contempt and then some

Ambrose Gwinett Bierce “CONTEMPT, n. The feeling of a prudent man for an enemy who is too formidable safely to be opposed.”

That's what libs do, and more.  Like stealing documents (by deceit) and forging memos.  Much like what AGW environitwit Peter Gleick confessed to.  Although it does not seem that any apology, real apology, is forthcoming.  For these types of people, ethics sure goes out the window.  Especially if it is for Mother Earth. Here's Heartland Institute's response to what Gleick fessed to. “Earlier this evening, Peter Gleick, a prominent figure in the global warming movement, confessed to stealing electronic documents from The Heartland Institute in an attempt to discredit and embarrass a group that disagrees with his views. “Gleick’s crime was a serious one. The documents he admits stealing contained personal information about Heartland staff members, donors, and allies, the release of which has violated their privacy and endangered their personal safety. “An additional document Gleick represented as coming from The Heartland Institute, a forged memo purporting to set out our strategies on global warming, has been extensively cited by newspapers and in news releases and articles posted on Web sites and blogs around the world. It has caused major and permanent damage to the reputations of The Heartland Institute and many of the scientists, policy experts, and organizations we work with. “A mere apology is not enough to undo the damage. “In his statement, Gleick claims he committed this crime because he believed The Heartland Institute was preventing a “rational debate” from taking place over global warming. This is unbelievable. Heartland has repeatedly asked for real debate on this important topic. Gleick himself was specifically invited to attend a Heartland event to debate global warming just days before he stole the documents. He turned down the invitation. “Gleick also claims he did not write the forged memo, but only stole the documents to confirm the content of the memo he received from an anonymous source. This too is unbelievable. Many independent commentators already have concluded the memo was most likely written by Gleick. “We hope Gleick will make a more complete confession in the next few days. “We are consulting with legal counsel to determine our next steps and plan to release a more complete statement about the situation tomorrow. In the meantime, we ask again that publishers, bloggers, and Web site hosts take the stolen and fraudulent documents off their sites, remove defamatory commentary based on them, and issue retractions.” The Heartland Institute is a 28-year-old national nonprofit organization with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Washington, DC. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site or call 312/377-4000. But where are mainstream media and AGW supporters now?  Where is the outrage?  The deafening silence is way opposite the noise from MSM and global warming advocates in the case of the "stolen" emails from East Anglia.

"Reality vs Alarm"

H/T:  WSJ

An invite from Dawn

Greetings from Eden--or make that Washington, D.C.!

I'm writing to invite you to save the date for the launch event for my new book, My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints. The talk and signing will be Monday, April 23, 6:30 p.m., at the Catholic Information Center, 1501 K St. NW, Washington, DC. (Click here to see a flyer for the event.)

My Peace I Give You (Ave Maria Press, 2012) is the first book ever to offer a Catholic spirituality of healing for adult victims of childhood sexual abuse. It bears an Imprimatur (ecclesiastical approbation) from Washington Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl.

Here's more from the Ave Maria Press website:

Eden uses her own story as a backdrop to introduce numerous holy people— like Laura Vicuña, Thomas Aquinas and Bernard of Clairvaux—who suffered sexual abuse or sexual inappropriateness, as well as saints such as Ignatius of Loyola who suffered other forms of mistreatment and abandonment. Readers seeking wholeness will discover saints with wounds like their own, whose stories bear witness to the transforming power of grace. Eden explores different dimensions of divine love—sheltering, compassionate, purifying, etc.—to help those sexually wounded in childhood understand their identity in the abiding love of Christ.

Sisters of Life Superior General Agnes Mary Donovan S.V. writes in the book's foreword:

“An inspired work . . . powerfully moving and hope-filled. . . It is my hope that this book may become a resource readily available: in churches, schools, counseling centers, young adult ministries, libraries, and hospitals. Through it may many whose human dignity has been offended come to know their beauty in the eyes of God, and learn to sing in joy of His love and His mercy. I pray that for every reader this book will be an instrument of grace and instruction.”

The book has also received endorsements from Father James Martin S.J., Alice von Hildebrand, Barbara Nicolosi Harrington, and others.

Would you like to help spread the word about My Peace I Give You? If so, here are some things you can do:

• Mention it on your blog, Facebook page, or other media outlet. Include links to the book's Ave Maria Press home page and its Amazon page (now taking pre-orders). Please also link to my blog, The Dawn Patrol, as I've resumed regular blogging.

• If you would like to review My Peace I Give You for your blog or other media outlet, or if you would like to host my upcoming "blog tour," write to me with your snailmail address so I may ask Ave Maria Press to send you a review copy.  

• Are you in radio or TV, or do you know someone who is? If so, please help me get media interviews. Any personal introductions you could provide to such contacts would be enormously helpful.

• Is there a bookstore, church, college, or any other venue in your area that might like me to come and speak as I promote My Peace I Give You this spring and summer? If so, please link me up with them. I want to speak at shelters and prisons too--anywhere where people might be helped.

• Most of all, please pray for God's will for My Peace I Give You, that it may reach those who would be helped by it. Please also pray for me as I seek to help adults who have suffered childhood wounds find healing in Christ.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers. If you are in Washington, D.C., hope very much to see you April 23 at the Catholic Information Center.

Take on, Shamcey

I was in Cagayan de Oro City for three days last week.  There is much hope.  Of course, that hope is spurred by the "awakening", as a friend says, of how much the local government has not really worked for the people, but rather for their own grip on power.  There are these streamers that say something like Bangon CdO and Go (forward) CdO.  Let us see how far they can sustain this hope.

From the airport, we mistakenly took the main road and ended up having to use one of the newer flyovers (one of those expensive "humps" as they call it) that reminded me of ube ice cream.  Yep, it was painted in purple, shades of purple.   I heard it is the mayor's favorite color.  Then again, it is about Lent, so that'll be a good reminder for the folks at CdO during Lent.

The rest of the days were really routine chats and meetings of sorts.

On Sunday, while lining up to pay for the terminal fee, it happened again.

I had the queezy (is that even a word?) feeling that people were looking at me or at least towards my direction.  Then I felt some sort of, figure, hovering over me.  Like a small cloud suddenly covering the sun on an otherwise cloudless sky.

Nope it wasn't any dementor.  It was BbP. Shamcey S. a little behind me.  At her natural height, plus 4-inch heels, that's hovering.  I did not know it was her at that moment, only some minutes later at the pre-departure area when some ladies went a little agog at her "hovering" presence.  No pictures, you just have to take my word for it, I guess.

On the Q400, before take off, a four-year old kid kept asking his Mum what time we were to take on in Cebu, persistenly, as Mum was keeping things in order and convincing older brother to give in to little sister who wanted a window seat.  

Take on?  What are you saying, son?  Take on?

Take on.  Aren't we to take off shortly?  Take off, then take on.

We had a good flight.  And a good take on.  I like the Q400.