I haven't finished writing about my Peru trip yet and I promise I will! You've seen the pictures that I've posted. I promise to write about it all soon. I am in the process of dealing with quite a bit as Todd and I have broken up. It's not easy for me and re-living my trip to Peru causes a lot of emotions to rise up to the surface, so I am needing a bit more time on this. I promise that I am nearing that time. We are still friends (with a lot of Todd's patience, of course) and I'm thankful for that.
Back to the whole purpose of this blog... Happy Respect Life Month! October has been named by the US Bishops (I believe it's just the US Bishops) as Respect Life Month. This is in where we honor the human dignity from conception to natural death. For a lot of people Respect Life brings up one topic -- abortion. My oh my, Respect Life covers so much more. We are called to respect ALL aspects of life. We are made into God's image from the time we are tiny, tiny embryos to the time we die.
"Let us rededicate ourselves to defending the basic rights of those who are weakest and most marginalized: the poor, the homeless, the innocent unborn, and the frail and elderly who need our respect and our assistance,"
Abortion is definitely a very important aspect of respecting life. I remember being asked my view on abortion during my interview and I could feel myself shaking. I am very much against abortion and feel strongly that even at the earliest stage of pregnancy God is present. I admit that this was not always my view on abortion. At one point in my life I would have told you that the woman had every right to make that decision. I am now appalled at having even thought that. Why am I so against abortion now? Vincent. He's all the proof that I need. Even though I was being abused by his father while I was pregnant with him, I could not imagine detaching a very special life inside of me no matter how hard times were. I honestly did not know what was going to happen to me during that time. My relationship was miserable, but my pride would not let me give up on something I had gotten myself into. My pride also prevented me from thinking that I would rely on my family. I would cry in the bathroom not knowing what steps to take next, but knowing for sure that this life growing inside of me was to be the most special being in my life. I am thankful that Vincent and I made it out of that situation alive because there were times that I was sure he could harm us greatly. The whole experience of being pregnant and being a mother has made my views on abortion even stronger. For every step that Vincent takes in his journey through life, the more I am thankful for this precious gift that God has lent to me during my lifetime. He's now very involved with the presidential election and is such a joy to listen to as he analyzes each candidate.
Let's look into other aspects of Respect Life. I admit that I will not be able to cover all as it's getting late and we could go on and on. In our parish we are educating our parishioners on Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. This is a statement put out by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that guides Catholics to look at the issues and to base decisions on our Catholic Social Teachings. In my ideal world I would write a backgrounder on the social teachings, but that would take up too much time. I love these teachings because it helps keep me focused on how Scripture teaches us to live out our lives. Whenever I feel this rebellious side of me starting to stir (or is it the cynical side?), I turn to these teachings to keep me grounded.
There I go again -- on a tangent and pulling a Sarah Palin :) OK... Let's look at the opposite end of the spectrum -- Euthenasia/Assisted Suicide. This is a difficult topic because as humans we long to ease the suffering of our loved ones or long to be free from pain. We are to keep in mind that this life is not for us to take. Honoring the divine in us means honoring His decision as to when we go. I struggle with the power that humans have in deciding when it is time to die. Why is it so easy for people to administer this death? I know that I've never been faced with this situation, but this pain and struggle is part of our living process. At all times, God is in us and with us.
Capital Punishment -- again in way, shape or form are we to control another person's time of death no matter what crime he/she may have committed. A human being is a human being even when they have made bad decisions in their life. I don't care if you try to convince me that this person is the devil himself; it is not for you and me to decide. As God is willing to forgive us, so should we. Pope John Paul II forgiving his would-be assassinator, the Amish community that forgave the assassinator of their children and other members,... This is how we are called to love. We love not just those we can easily love; we love those that are hardest to love.
I will now start to end this as I'm fading quickly because my day started even before there was day(light, that is). So what do we do with everything in between? How do we respect the poor and marginalized? How do we respect nation's declaring war on another country? How do we respect those who turn to terrorist acts? How do we respect those who administer inhumane torture tactics? How do we respect those who are in need of adequate health care? How do we respect the mentally and physically handicap among us? How do we respect the need to let science prevail over nature? There are so many issues that fall under Respect Life and I could go on and on.
As a lot of Filipinos are used to, we as Catholics are called to political life. OK, my opinion, though, is that the Filipino Archbishops tend to dictate too much. Anyway... We are still called to advocate for the issues that revolve around our Church teachings. We are called to fight for policies that would benefit the common good. We are called to love one another -- from the moment of conception to the time we are called to join our maker.
These thoughts are a bit brief on each point (some more than others). I will try to get back and address more of these issues. This month is going to be very busy for me, but most exciting in my Social Justice career so far. I will share more as we go along.
A couple more things, though... I will be teaching English to a group of Filipino and Hispanic women starting October 11th. This is so exciting for me because this is also the start of another exciting venture for me. I am in the planning stages (more like talking stages, but it's getting there) for a women's ministry. I plan on creating a community of women for strength and support in our faith and to teach other women to empower themselves as well. We are in a community that has two extremes -- very strong, educated women and those who are economically challenged because of various situations. I long to bring these two groups together to teach each other to live by faith, to let go of fear, and to be stronger because of each other and our love for God. Very broad description so far, but I will get into details as it progresses. We deserve that R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
