The Humble Cicada

During this last week, those of us who live in the St. Louis area, have been suddenly bombarded by the screeching of an insect that makes an appearance once every thirteen years.  It is the humble, yet ugly, cicada.  This somewhat ominous looking insect is harmless.  It does not bite.  It does not strip trees and mature bushes of its foliage.  It simply emerges from the earth where it has lived for the last thirteen years, looks for a mate by creating a near deafening noise in the daytime hours, finds a mate and does what bugs do, then the male dies, the female lays her eggs and dies.  This life-cycle is short-lived.

These flying bugs are now with us in the billions.  Neighborhoods ring with the mating calls of these creatures.   Some go so far as to swoop down at you as you emerge from your home or car.  You can see them flying as you go down the highway, many of whom slam into your car, meeting death before they can reproduce.  If you look closely at any tree, you will find thousands of the little noise makers dangling from branches and leaves or clinging to the bark.  They all seem to sing in chorus at times and the noise can easily drown out the sound of any average sized lawn mower.  They are annoying, somewhat creepy, but completely harmless to man and most other creatures.

The other day as I listened to their chorus, something struck me.  This lowly little bug, this every thirteen year visitor, is yet another reminder of the greatness of God.  He has created an insect that emerges every thirteen years to mate and fill our ears with the natural screech of nature alive and vibrant.  These annoying little creatures are doing just what they were meant to do.  What purpose they serve is beyond me, but I am quite certain that they do serve something.  That is irrelevant to what I am talking about.

Like everything else in nature, beautiful or ugly, dangerous or harmless, big or little, these creatures are unique reminder of the mystery of God Himself.  They sing loudly and their song can be seen as a song of praise to their Creator because they are fulfilling the nature He gave them completely.  They give us a lesson in humility because these lowly creatures do remind us of our place in the universe.  God has elevated all His creatures simply through their existence.  Each has a place and each gives glory to Him when they fulfill His will for them.

The next time you hear these little noise makers cry out in the daytime, think of it as praise from nature for the God who created all.  Maybe we should join in the chorus by seeking out the will of the Father and finding ways to fulfill that will!

Memorial Day 2011

Today the nation pauses to honor those who, throughout our history, have answered the call to military service to protect and defend our freedoms from the threats of those who would gladly take them from us.

This annual observation, first begun in 1866, has seen times in which it was a solemn day of remembrance, a day of ceremonies, parades, and services, recalling the fallen heroes of our society who gave their last full measure of devotion so that the rest of us might enjoy the fruits of liberty.  But it has also seen times in which barely anyone paid heed to what the day was about choosing instead, to turn it into a celebration of summer while the once cherished dead lay quietly, unnoticed.  The politics of the time often determined the degree to which Americans honored their fallen warriors.

In spite of this history, it is imperative in this day and age, a time in which the United States of America is engaged in two wars while supporting military actions carried out by NATO in Libya, to remember the dead of our wars.

We must remember and honor the sacrifices made by countless families as loved ones marched off to battle only to lose them in the brutality of war.  We remember, too, those who feel on the field but did not succumb to their wounds, returning home broken physically and often mentally, a result of their service to us.  We remember the mother whose heart was pierced as the ominous black vehicle swung around the corner and pulled to a stop in front of her house with two men delivering a message of horror no parent ever wants to hear.  We remember the children who grow up never to know the father or mother who gave them life.  We remember the neighborhood kid who never seemed extraordinary in anything he ever did, that is until he entered the service and became a hero through his brave actions under fire.

We must be a grateful nation for all of those who have been willing to sacrifice everything, if necessary, to preserve and protect the greatest republic the world has ever known.  We must thank them by coming together as a nation, setting aside all political rancor while tackling the monumental issues confronting our society.  We must stand up for our beliefs, but to honor those brave men and women who have given their all in service to us, we must be willing to do what is necessary for the common good of the people so that liberty and justice will continue to be the foundation of this country.

We let freedom ring every time we come together as a community to lend a helping hand to those who, like the citizens of Joplin, MO, have had their lives devastated by a natural disaster.  We proclaim liberty throughout the land every time we write a leader with our ideas and criticisms of what they are doing.  We promote democracy every time we invite all who are Americans into a vigorous, yet respectful, dialogue about the issues that confront this nation.  And we honor our fallen troops every time we remember these shinning examples of what it means to be an American in our thoughts and prayers.

We have been given a great gift in the form of the United States of America.  God has showered His bounty upon us but that bounty has come with a high price tag.  We do not take this lightly, nor should we forget those who have taken up the challenge of defending freedom with their very lives.

And so, on this one hundred forty-fifth anniversary of the observation of Memorial Day, we pause to say thank you and may God bless you all who have given their lives as payment for our freedom!

The Marriage Blessing

Recently, I ran across what you are about to read below.  Years ago, at the very end of the wedding ceremony in the Catholic Church, the priest extended his hands over the newly married couple and pronounced this blessing.  I found it to be a moving and profound prayer and a marvelous summation of what the married couple had to look forward to.  Please read the blessing slowly and think about its various components, reflecting either on your marriage or someone else's marriage that you are familiar with.  This is really quite beautiful and really quite simple.

"May almighty God bless you by the Word of his mouth and unite your hearts in an enduring bond of pure love.


May you be blessed in your children, and may the love you lavish on them be returned a hundredfold.


May the peace of Christ dwell always in your hearts and in your home; may you have true friends to stand by you, both in joy and in sorrow.  May you be ready with help and consolation for all those who come to you in need; and may the blessings promised to the compassionate descend in abundance on your home.


May you be blessed in your work and enjoy its fruits.  May care never cause you distress, nor the desire for earthly possessions lead you astray; buy may your hearts' concern be always for the treasures laid up for you in the life of heaven.


May the Lord grant you fullness of years, so that you may reap the harvest of a good life, and, after you have served him with loyalty in his kingdom on earth, may he take you up into his eternal dominions in heaven."


I believe that this is not only a blessing for all newlyweds, but a blessing for all who are contemplating marriage or who may have been married for many, many years.  A husband and wife are responsible for each other both in time and eternity; this is what this blessing truly means.  Perhaps if the elements of this blessing were better known and better adhered to, there would be less divorce and the family would begin to resume its rightful place as the backbone of society!

Baby Joseph

A little boy, named by the press "Baby Joseph," has been given a chance at life.  A Canadian, Baby Joseph has been in the public realm over the last several days.  In short, this thirteen month old baby was born with a progressive neurological disease that is fatal according to the Canadian doctors attending him.  He was put on a respirator to help him breathe but once the diagnosis was made, the doctors wanted to remove the child from the respirator because the physicians felt there was no hope in saving him.  However, his parents objected to this move and went to court to obtain an order directing the hospital and the medical staff to keep Joseph on the breathing aid and to get another opinion regarding his prognosis.  The court denied the parents and the hospital staff was set to remove the respirator.

After this, a call went out to US hospitals to take the baby and perform a tracheotomy on the child and evaluate his condition.  Several hospitals throughout the country denied their request.  Finally, SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center of St. Louis agreed to accept the child.  Late Sunday night, the parents, Baby Joseph, and Father Frank Pavone, director of the organization known as Priests For Life, flew to the St. Louis facility.  Today, the child is being evaluated by the medical staff to determine the best course of treatment for the little boy who clings to life.

Life is sacred.  It has no price tag, yet the hospital and Canadian health care system seems to have put a price tag on the head of this little boy.  Undoubtedly, the child's condition is fatal.  His prognosis is not good and will likely remain as such.  But the fact of the matter is that we have a responsibility to continue to provide treatment to those among us who are in the final stages of life.  This is not an economic decision, nor can it ever be allowed to become one.  We have no right to withdraw treatment such as a breathing tube to sustain life because life is sacred.  We are made in the image of God who created our very soul and because He is the Creator, our lives are holy.  That does not mean that everyone lives a holy life.  To the contrary, most of us do not!  But we all deserve every effort to keep us alive and comfortable should we find ourselves in the state that Baby Joseph is.

We cannot and must not allow any kind of health care system that is devised here in the United States to ignore the fact that each life has a right to the best of care till we die.  We cannot and must not allow the medical community or insurance companies to dictate the terms of life because life will then, indeed, be marked with a price tag.  How much is a child in the condition of Baby Joseph worth?  He produces nothing. He has yet to make any mark on society outside his family.  He is just there and every day that passes, his medical costs continue to rise unchecked.  Who will be paying for this part of his life?  All of these questions have no answer, of course.  And, yes, there is a crisis in the American health care system when it comes to what seems to be overinflated charges that needs to be addressed.  We must find answers to these questions and more but not at the expense of human life no matter what stage of life it happens to be in.

Baby Joseph is in an institution which clearly values life.  SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medial Center should be thanked and congratulated for standing by its Catholic principles and philosophy.  Life is indeed sacred and Baby Joseph is just one reminder of this fact!  Let us pray for this child of God and his family that all will be according to God's will and that whatever that will may be, peace will, in the end, reign.

Grandparenthood!

This is my youngest granddaughter.  Her name is Noelliah.  She is now just past five months old.  As a grandfather I have been blessed with an abundance of granddaughters.  If you think a daughter can wrap her father around her little finger, well, then, just try to hold your own with a granddaughter.

Little Noe (as she is called) came into this world on a fateful anniversary, September 11, 2010.  That makes it easy to remember!  She, like her sisters, is full of life.  She is constantly in motion, always looking around, engaged in what is going on in the room or nearby.  To look into her eyes is to look into the breath of life itself.  Here is energy, optimism, hope, and a curiosity about the world unleashed.  Here is a little child touching the hearts of all she comes into contact with simply because she is.  Her sisters exhibit the same magic and when they are all together, there is an energy for life that can be felt.

It is not the energy of simple motion, but the innocent energy of life that we all once possessed.  At one time in our lives we were all this innocent, waiting to learn everything there was to learn about the world around us.  We stared in amazement at the faces of those seemingly large giants who happened to stick their faces in our face and make ridiculous sounds and facial expressions.  We weren't sure whether to cry or laugh or just frown in wonder if we would look like that some day.  We were all at the beginning of life, ready to take on come what may.

When you are a grandfather or grandmother, you have the privilege of years lived.  You have the perspective that life experiences have given and you may be somewhat beaten down by what life has doled out up to this point or by what you have done to life!  Life may seem very wearisome on certain days and you wonder how much farther you can go.  And then you look into the eyes of a little granddaughter filled with the energy and zest for life you once possessed and it all comes back: this is what life is all about!  Oh sure, there is the humdrum of everyday life.  Bills to be paid, problems to be solved.  The car is broken down again or a horrible day at work can leave us looking for the nearest exit.

I think one reason that God gives us grand kids is to help us keep the proper perspective in life.  He reminds us that life isn't, after all, a burden that we seem to turn it into through our own efforts.  That life is about living, enjoying, and giving everything you have every day.  It isn't about how bad things are.  It is about the possibilities of how good things can be.  That is what grandchildren remind us of.  The potential of the future.

Noe knows nothing of her profound effect upon her loving grandparents.  She does not know the joy of seeing a recent photo posted on Facebook.  She isn't aware that we're willing to travel whatever distance necessary just to spend a short amount of time with she and her sisters and parents.  Yet, in all her beauty and innocence and, yes, zest for life, she does this and so much more.

Aliyah

Thank you to all my grandchildren for being such great witnesses of the love that God has for all of us.  If we didn't have grandchildren, the world would certainly be vastly empty and our knowledge of God so much more limited!

Kiki

The Most Dangerous Place for an African-American

Recently, in the crowded streets of New York City, a billboard, sponsored by an organization called "Life Always," was erected to coincide with the celebration of Black History Month.  The billboard, featuring a picture of a little African-American girl, stated simply, "The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb."

On the surface, this would seem to be a very shocking statement, almost, some would say, outrageous, that is until the statistics are examined.  

The City of New York's Department of Mental Hygiene recently released its vital statistics from one year ago.  The numbers are alarming and prove that the Big Apple is the abortion capital of the United States.  The Department's report revealed that a chilling 41% of all pregnancies in New York City were aborted.  Forty-one percent!  That is a tragic and phenomenal number.  Reading further in the report, an even more startling statistic is revealed.  The report revealed that a stunning 59.8% of all African-American pregnancies were aborted!

The group who placed the billboard said it did so to point out the fact that Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States, targets poor, African-American neighborhoods by putting more clinics in those neighborhoods than anywhere else.  Planned Parenthood in a statement said the billboard was "a condescending effort to stigmatize and shame African-American women."

The Reverend Al Sharpton rose up in furry and threatened to protest the billboard.  He demanded that it be removed from the side of the building upon which it appeared.  So much for freedom of expression that the Reverend claims to be such a champion of!  Remember Don Imus?  

Outcries came from all liberal circles, demanding that the billboard and its stark and alarming message be removed.

Buckling under pressure, the billboard was removed and now Al Sharpton and the howling liberal pack of wolves are satisfied, having successfully squelched the awful truth of the genocide that is taking place in what some call the Capital of the World.

Dr. Alveda King, niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, said in a statement released today, "Its an outrageous act of censorship that this billboard was taken down.  This billboard should be posted in every city in America."

Planned Parenthood, Al Sharpton, and all the liberal organizations should be outraged, but not because, as they claim, the billboard is racist, but because of what is going on the African-American community.  These numbers are staggering.  Two out of every three African-American babies in the city of New York were deliberately killed through the process of abortion in the time span of a year.  If this kind of butchery were taking place on the streets of Tripoli, Libya, the world would be in an uproar.  And its not just the African-American community!  Remember, 41% of all pregnancies in New York City ended in abortion.

Is it not possible for the supporters to see abortion for what it is?  Are they blind to the truth that life begins at the moment of conception and that the result of this conception is a human being just like you and I?  Are they incapable of thinking about that life in the womb as being human, preferring, rather, to think of it as some inconsequential cells to be discarded like the day's garbage?  Can they look at their children in the eye and see before them only a group of inconsequential cells?  When they found out that they were going to have a child, did they think of that tiny life as anything but a living baby?  Or, rather, did they, in all honesty, see that  offspring as just an inconsequential bundle of cells?

We have cheapened life, at all stages, through the scourge of abortion.  We, as a society, think of ourselves as having liberated women, but have we?  Look how women are viewed today.   Commercials on television testify to the fact that we see women as something to possess, something to use, and then, when we are done or they are too old and "unattractive," to be discarded.  The most popular comedy on network TV (CBS' "Two and a Half Men") is a show dedicated to see how many women the main character can get into bed!

We must take an honest look at what we are doing to ourselves as a society.  No terrorist could ever dream up a plot to kill as many people as abortion claims year after year.  We devote billions of dollars every year to defend ourselves from another terrorist attack similar to 9/11.  But the number of abortions on a daily basis pales in comparison to the tragic numbers of that horrible day in September, 2001.  

Millions of children have been sacrificed in the name of providing women "health care services."  Who would these children have become?   Why weren't they given the chance that all of us were given--life?  And who says that you can't tell someone what they can or can not do with their bodies?  We do it all the time!  We make laws regarding self-inflicted pain.  There are laws that make suicide a crime.  We have laws that prohibit the use of drugs even though we only ingest those substances ourselves.

It is time for America wake up to the genocide that is taking place across this land.  It is time for us to realize that if we treat the most innocent citizens with the callousness of travesties such as abortion, it isn't long before we begin having open and honest discussions about things like euthanasia of the elderly.

Polls testify to the truth that America is changing its mind where abortion is concerned.  A majority of Americans see abortion as wrong and that it should not be permitted.  But the battle is far from over.  The African-American community is suffering more than any other, but we all suffer from the complete  of human life.  There is a price tag on all our heads and we need to fight back.  We need to pray, become active in the community in educating the public what abortion is and what it is doing to the fabric of society.

Abortion is the great evil of our society and, if we are not very careful, it will be the complete undoing of who we are as a people!

Immediately, when the billboard was put up, shouts of protests arose.        

Profound

There is a certain luxury to being a grandparent that one never has when the parenting duties are your main preoccupation in life.  That luxury is the ability to look upon your offspring, now adult, and reminisce in your own mind about their lives through the filter of their current life.  I had such an opportunity today and it left me thinking that this day was, indeed, profound in nature.

This morning, at Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois, my son Josh and my daughter-in-law Melissa presented the newest member of our family to be dedicated to God.  The ceremony, a rather simple affair, gives the parents the responsibility of seeing to it that the child is reared in the Word of God and that Word becomes the basis for their lives. 

For the ceremony itself, the entire family was called to the altar.  As the minister proceeded with the ceremony, I must admit that I did not take in many of the words he was pronouncing over the family.  Rather, my mind shot back through time to days in an era that was much simpler than the times in which we live.  There, I saw Josh as the little boy growing up with a sense of curiosity and wonder of the world that were so unique to him.  Then my glance led to Aliyah.  She is so like her father and I could not help but notice how similar the two are today.   Younger sisters Keirah and Noelliah, rested in the arms of each parent as the dedication unfolded.

As the family stood on that stage, my heart swelled with pride not in anything that I had done but in the kind of man my son has become.  He is first and foremost a man who places God at the center of his life.  He has made a commitment to guide his family using God as his compass.  He is a husband who is fully dedicated to his wife, loving and embracing her for all that she is and all that she brings to his life (which is considerable).  He is a father who embraces his children every day with a deep and abiding love founded upon his love for God.  His girls are his life and you can be sure that they will always be under his watchful eye.   And then he is the son who has given his father a love that is unearned but surely welcomed.  This love has given and energy to my life that is beyond words.

All five of them-Josh, Melissa, Aliyah, Keirah, and Noelliah-bring pride to this baby-boom father like nothing else in his life.  As I looked upon that family I realized just how much God loves me by favoring me with this vision of family.  Encapsulated in that moment was the message of just how much He loves us all and how much He has sacrificed us all so that we may share these profound moments in life.

I am profoundly grateful to Josh and Melissa for their bringing into the world three little lights that will grow into shinning beacons of God's love for man.  And I am profoundly moved that God would allow me to glimpse this remarkable manifestation of His love.  Profound, in reality, doesn't even begin to describe it!