Birth or Not

Today I learned from American Papist via Facebook that there is a couple in Minnesota who is considering whether or not they want to abort their unborn child and they are making their decsision based on the votes they get on an Internet Poll.  This is the most sad and disturbing thing I have heard in a while - the couple has even given their baby a nickname and they are still trying to decided whether or not to kill it!  Right now the votes for "Give Birth" are in the lead, and we need to make sure they stay overwhelmingly so. 
Now is your chance to make a difference in an actual birth or abortion decsision.  Go and vote for life!
http://www.birthornot.com/

Fervent Prayers Needed

For those of you who follow my other blog Prayers and Petitions, you know about the girl, Emily, whom I've been asking you to pray for. For those of you who haven't read that blog, this past April I posted a prayer request for a 21 year old girl we know who has tongue cancer. After extensive radiation and chemotherapy they managed to get rid of the cancer, and she was cancer free for about three months.

This past week though, she found out that she has cancer again, in a different spot and worse then it was the first time. She can't have radiation again so they are going to try surgery. Sadly, the doctors feel that her cancer will just keep returning, no matter what they do.

Please pray that God will grant them a miracle and heal Emily. If that is not part of His plan, please pray that they will be at peace if the worst should happen. I know Emily and her family really appreciate all the prayers.

I will continue to post updates on Prayers and Petitions.

Special Prayer Petition for a Girl with Cancer

I would like you all to pray for a girl I know. She is 21 and has tongue cancer. She's already had one surgery to remove the cancer from her tongue, and was supposed to have surgery again yesterday. Here is the e-mail we got yesterday from this girl's mom.

This update is so difficult to write. Emily did not have surgery today. The cancer is more aggressive than anyone thought. In 2 weeks time it went from a stage1 to a stage 3 cancer. It has hit at least 1 lymph node in her neck. Her cancer has spread to cover the whole side of her tongue. Surgery is no longer an option because of how advanced the cancer has become in an amazingly short time.
So we are starting our journey and fight today. They will be starting the radiation calibration on Monday and on Tuesday radiation therapy begins. Radiation will be every day (mon-fri). They will also start chemotherapy on tuesday. Chemo is once a week. This will be a 7 week course, with 8 weeks of recovery. She should feel ok the frst 3 weeks but then it will go down hill pretty quickly after that. I will be staying with Emily in Illinois for the duration of the treatment. My parents and husband will be keeping the rest of the family in I-----. Mom R---- will come down from F--- at the 8 week recovery point and help take care of Emily in I----. That is when she will get to come home!

Here is the Good Friday miracle. Today at 1:00pm we entered a dentist office unannounced with a prescription to have all her 3 crowns on her teeth removed. They needed to be taken out because they were stainless steel and they would make the light from the radiation scatter. They needed to be replaced before the CaT scan 7:00AM Monday, so that the calculations would be correct. The dentist office was so compassionate that they cancelled all the appointments for the afternoon and they scheduled her procedure for 3:00pm; the hour our Lord died. We think that was God's way of showing us He has a plan. We can never thank Dr. S---- and the dentist office enough for their kindness in our hour of need. There was room at the inn for our family today.

Emily wants everyone to know that she is a fighter. Her appearance will change but her spirit will stay strong. She wants everyone to stay strong for her. Her biggest fear is her family and friends being upset. That is just like Emily to worry about us.

Emily is very hopeful. Her faith in God is amazing. She stated, "I trusted Jesus completely from the beginning and I still trust Him now. He has a plan for me and for all of us."

What more can I say. J---- stated,"Jesus has given Emily the greatest gift of all. The opportunity to suffer with Jesus on the holiest three days of the year. Her reward will be beyond our comprehension. God has a plan for her that is bigger than her or any of us and we just need to have faith in Him."

I am just humbled by all of this and as always amazed at the strength of my husband and children.

~ Emily's Mom

Please pray for Emily's miraculous recovery in her time of trial! She's also had surgeries in the past for spinal correction, so she's been through a lot in her life time.
Here are two prayers for those with cancer; a prayer to Saint Jude Thaddeus (Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes or things despaired of), and a prayer to Saint Peregrine (Patron Saint of Cancer victims).

Prayer to Saint Jude For Those Affected by Cancer
Dearest protector, St. Jude, our companion, you are the bearer of abiding hope. I place Emily in your care as she bears the cross of cancer. We trust that you walk with her and give her courage when she is afraid, strength when she grows weary, hope when it seems all is lost. Most faithful patron, never leave her side. May your friendship remind her always of the love God offers to each of His faithful children, and the healing He provides to all those who believe in His saving power. Amen.

Prayer to Saint Peregrine For Those with Cancer
Dear Apostle of Emilia and member of the Order of Mary, you spread the Good News by your word and by your life witnessed to its truth. In union with Jesus crucified, you endured excruciating sufferings so patiently as to be healed miraculously of cancer in the leg. If it is agreeable to God, obtain relief and cure for Emily and keep us all from the dread cancer of sin. Amen.

Protest NOW!

Urge YouTube to Remove "Jesus Juice" Video


How do you feel about YouTube allowing people to post videos showing the Holy Eucharist being desecrated and mocked?

For example, did you know there's a video called "Jesus Juice" on YouTube showing a man who takes a Host and mixes it with fresh fruit in a juicer machine?

Did you know that the video maker mocks Our Lord by saying: "I think that even Jesus himself would drink this juice it is so delicious...I can almost see Jesus in that juice already."

He also says: "If you want to make this yourself at home, you might be saying - where can I find that secret ingredient? Well, I bet if you just think about it hard enough, you'll be able to figure it out."

Finally, he mocks Our Lord before drinking the "Jesus Juice" in these words:

"Jesus, we thank you for this juice. May it nourish my body. And
thank you for giving me the idea as I sat in church..."

This is a sacrilege! And don't you consider it shocking that YouTube allows someone to post this type of offensive speech on its video sharing site?

So please send your protest message to YouTube.

The good news is that tens of thousands of Catholics joined our previous email protests against similar desecration videos on YouTube. Other Catholic sites and groups joined us, and we were able to get the desecration videos pulled from YouTube - thank God!

That victory reminds me of the protest we did against e-Bay auctioning consecrated hosts online. We won that one too! E-bay changed its policy and no longer facilitates the sale of consecrated hosts online.

These victories spur me to action today, to reach out to millions more Catholics out of the one billion Catholics worldwide. Ultimately, I hope 100,000 people sign this protest message to YouTube.

Will you help do it by passing on this message to your friends and family?

Thank you for helping. And if you like the work we're doing please:

Go here to send a small gift to spread the YouTube protest to millions of Catholics in America and abroad.
Sincerely,
Robert Ritchie
Robert E. Ritchie, Director

Lepanto '08

The other day, I came across the Lepanto 2008 Novena on Mamselle Duroc's blog. It as a Novena, starting September 7th, for the upcoming presidential election.

I know this is a day late, but please consider signing up, or even if you don't officially sign up, offer your daily rosary for the intention, quoted here:

The Intention of the Rosary will be:

In Honor of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the USA, and for the intercession of the Poor Souls in Purgatory, especially the unborn babies who have been victims of abortion, so God may grant us a holy, wise, pro-life, pro-family president in this upcoming election--a president that will guide our country according to God's laws.

The goal is to have the rosary prayed perpetually until the elections in November.
Please join in prayer for our nation!

May I Draw Attention

to these two links here below? I will explain the first one first.

Victory Rose for Christ just recently posted about the Filipino Fund on her blog. I will take the liberty of quoting her here:

"Please take the time to look and participate in this. It is a threat to human life and we should do all that we can to make sure it doesn't happen. This was sent to us through a yahoo group we belong to.

Friends & family,
Raymond Arroyo on EWTN "World Over Live" has asked that we sign a petition addressed to the President of the Philippines and their House of Representatives. In 2 weeks they are voting on a bill (like in China) toward a TWO CHILD per family law. If this bill is signed, anyone, including priests, teachers, health care workers who protest it are subject to a heavy fine and six months in jail. Signatures from the USA count. Our tax payer money helps support this program. AMAZING The bill is backed by Planned Parenthood- a group in the UN and one other.To sign:
#1 www.filipinofamilyfund.org
#2 Link to the first listed 'Filipino Family Fund'
#3. On the left side - link to 'Sign the Petition' How long will it be before we are fighting this in our country."

Please take the time to go to the Filipino Family Fund website and sign the petition.

The second link I would like to mention is a place to vote on something that concerns our nation.
Should the words "In God We Trust" be removed from our national currency?
Please click here to vote "No!" As Christians, we should stand together and insist that God is still part of our country.