Is there room for Jesus in our hearts? In our culture?

Sacred Scripture tells us that there was no room for Jesus at the Inn. Is there room for Jesus in our hearts? In our culture which is advancing along the way of death and destruction? Whatsoever we do to the least of His brethren we do unto Him. What about the unborn? Will we take a stand to protect innocent human life or will we say (as Mr. Scrooge in Dicken's A Christmas Carol) that these innocents should go ahead and die and decrease the surplus population?

Mother Teresa on abortion:

"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts -- a child -- as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters"
And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign." (Mother Theresa -- "Notable and Quotable," Wall Street Journal, 2/25/94, p. A14)

"But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
"Please don't kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child, and be loved by the child. From our children's home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000 children from abortions. These children have brought such love and joy to their adopting parents, and have grown up so full of love and joy!"

February 1997 - National Prayer Breakfast in Washington attended by the President and the First Lady. "What is taking place in America," she said, "is a war against the child. And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another."

"Any country that accepts abortion, is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what it wants."

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."

Zeal for your house will consume me

Readings from the Third Sunday of Lent:

Reading 1Ex 20:1-17 or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17

In those days, God delivered all these commandments: "I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments. "You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.For the LORD will not leave unpunished the one who takes his name in vain. "Remember to keep holy the sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God. No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you. In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. "Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him."

Responsorial PsalmPs 19:8, 9, 10, 11

R. (John 6:68c) Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

The law of the LORD is perfect,refreshing the soul; The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,giving wisdom to the simple.

R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the command of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eye.

R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true, all of them just.

R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

They are more precious than gold, than a heap of purest gold; sweeter also than syrup or honey from the comb.

R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

Reading II 1 Cor 1:22-25

Brothers and sisters: Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Gospel Jn 2:13-25

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said,"Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace." His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him,"What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.He himself understood it well."

The Lord God has commanded us, "You shall not kill." There are nine words in Hebrew for taking a life (I have addressed this in a previous post). The word used in Exodus 20: 13 for "Thou shalt not kill" is ratsach, a strong verb used to indicate an intentional and unjustified act of murder. And yet, the murder of innocent unborn children continues. The Gospel reading tells us that after Jesus cleansed the Temple, the Apostles remembered the words of Scripture, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

Zeal for your house will consume me. Let's reflect very carefully on these words as we ponder the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 3: 16-17: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy."

Zeal for your house will consume me. The blood of the innocents cries out to the Living God as surely as it did when Cain murdered his brother Abel. If our society does not repent of its crimes, if it does not turn away from murdering the innocent and destroying God's Temple, then Jesus will fashion "another whip."

Mr. President, how about opposing every form of torture?

President Barack Obama moved quickly (just a couple of days after his Inauguration) to close down the prison at Guantanomo Bay while banning the harshest interrogation methods (such as "waterboarding" which is viewed as torture). The president cited the Founding Fathers, "This is following through not just on a commitment I made during the campaign but an understanding that dates back to our Founding Fathers that we are willing to observe core standards of conduct not just when it's easy, but also when it's hard."

But it would appear that President Obama isn't too concerned about observing "core standards of conduct" when it comes to those unborn children who must suffer excruciating torture and death at the hands of abortionists. According to Steven Calvin, perinatologist at the University of Minnesota, "The neural pathways are present for pain to be experienced quite early by unborn babies." How early? As early as 8 weeks. And yet, the president has stated publically that if either of his two daughters "make a mistake," he doesn't "want them punished with a baby."

So much for observing "core standards of conduct." Under President Obama, those detained because they are suspected of acts of terrorism or links to terrorist groups will fare much better than innocent unborn children. Let's all pray that President Obama will come to oppose every form of torture. Not just when it's easy (read politically expedient) but also when it's hard.