Letter to Thune to DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD

Senator Thune,

With the recent activity in the House of Representatives regarding the passing of the bill to defund Planned Parenthood, I feel obligated as a taxpayer to notify you of my strong support for this bill to pass in the Senate as well. It is with my deepest prayer that you take a strong stance not only for the state of South Dakota, but for young women, and the lives of millions of unborn babies and vote for this bill to pass. Not only does Planned Parenthood perform abortions that kill millions of lives every year, they break many laws regarding statutory rape issues and sex trafficking as well. I have done immense research on the topic using liveaction.org. Live Action is an organization founded by a young woman by the name of Lila Rose who as a college freshman began going on undercover "stings" to prove the scandals happening inside the walls of multiple Planned Parenthood agencies. She would pose as a minor who was pregnant by an older man and seek an abortion. The videos she captured clearly show that, even though they are obligated, Planned Parenthood would not report these cases of statutory rape. This is just a small reason for my plea for you to stand firm in a vote to pass this bill. I know I am among many of you constituents who believe the same as I do.

Please, do not take my word for it, log on to liveaction.org and see for yourself the tragedy that Planned Parenthood really is. It would be doing our state, country, and society- born and unborn a great disservice to vote any other way. The truth is black and white for this case- no US taxpayer should be funding such illegal actions that cause such cutting wounds in the lives of our young people. I will continue to pray that God's mercy and justice will fall on this bill in abundance.

In great faith,

Meghan O'Connor, SDSU Student

Lord, grant me grace to die

†JMJ†

Happy new year! This year's resolution is to die and find new life.

When Christ went to the River Jordan to be baptized by John, it marked the beginning of His ministry. Those same waters that touched Christ now have the power to mark the beginning of our lives as Christians. We enter the waters with original sin and as the waters sweep over us, we die and are reborn into the family of God. Our sin is washed away and we gain our salvation, should we choose to accept it. Christ purchased that for us; He died so that we may have new life! We owe everything to our humble King, yet we still live for that which the world has trained us to live for: ourselves.

How sad is it to live like that? There is no way to find peace when we desire to have control over all things. Think of the false bubbles of security we create at the expense of love. We seek our security in worldly things: counterfeit pleasures that do not fill the void of the heart. Over and over we indulge in false delight, in hopes that it will bring us lasting joy, but find ourselves at a loss. We are restless, broken, duped by sin. But we have a choice to either float on down the mediocre river of self indulgence or to turn around and battle the current towards sanctity.

Why not sanctity? If we can admit that monetary wealth and material possession is just not cutting it, then we can stop pursuing those things and start seeking lasting happiness. True happiness can only come from God! He will ask us to trust Him, and we will suffer for Him, and we will suffer for each other because we will truly appreciate and love those around us! Our commitment to this will lead to pain and desolation at times but we will forever have joy and peace!

Let’s keep our eyes off ourselves and keep them on each other! Let’s nurture the souls of our friends and enemies, dying to self so that they can truly experience the love of Christ through us!

I want the world to know Jesus. I want death to vanity and birth to humility. What do you want this year?

Pax Christi

+J.M.J+

"The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ’s example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.”

St. Paul Miki, martyr (as he was hanging on a cross about have a lance driven through his heart)

Holiness vs. Niceness

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/civilization/cc0373.htm

J+M+J

Jesus is the only thing that will fulfill us. The ONLY thing. Our spouse will not, our children will not, or boyfriend or girlfriend will not, chocolate will not, and a warm shower will not fulfill us- only Jesus.

We get to receive that fulfillment EVERY SINGLE DAY, most especially when we receive the Eucharist. We receive the one and only true person who can fulfill our EVERY need. He is in our hands, and on our tongue- PERFECTION, in tangible form.

And we reject that! Out of apathy we decide to skip Mass. We choose sleep, or food, or T.V. over Our Lord Jesus Christ because we are looking for fulfillment, we are looking for love in all the WRONG places. Nothing, nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing can fulfill us except for Jesus. We cannot be fulfilled by imperfect things. Our spouse is imperfect, our children are imperfect, our boyfriends and girlfriends- IMPERFECT and so is chocolate and a warm shower! JESUS is perfect- He is unblemished and pure- and He is all that we can be fulfilled with.

Why do we reject Him in the Eucharist? In the confessional? In all these sacraments?! Get behind me Satan! So I may fully receive the love from the one who is love.

- Meghan

"Silence is a sword in the spiritual struggle. A talkative soul will never attain sanctity. The sword of silence will cut off everything that would like to cling to the soul. We are sensitive to words and quickly want to answer back, without taking any regard as to whether it is God's will that we should speak. A silent soul is strong; no adversities will harm it if it perseveres in silence. The silent soul is capable of attaining the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God works in a silent soul without hinderence."

St. Faustina's Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul

Give Meaning and Purpose to Every Moment With Selflessness and Joy

+J.M.J.+

We are here for a purpose. God created us for a purpose, not a general purpose, but a purpose for each day, each moment and each millimoment. We should be giving meaning and purpose to every single moment of our lives. How do we do that? We must take our eyes off of ourselves and focus them on God and what His will is for each small situation we are placed in. Satan tempts us to take our eyes off Our Lord by getting us to put them on ourselves.

I have been blessed to experience this in a very real way this week. I drew a mortification this week ( a small sacrifice to offer as prayer for another soul). The mortification is to refrain from using mirrors and looking at my reflection in windows or anything reflective. I thought it would just be a struggle that I would continuously get to offer up. I did not expect to gain so much wisdom about our spiritual warfare by doing it. Satan tempts me by literally and physically putting my eyes on myself in the mirror. This seems like a small thing, but Satan has such a firm grip on small parts of our lives, parts that if we let God into them, it would make a huge difference. I came to this realization as I was washing my hands. What do I usually do while I wash my hands? I stare at myself in the mirror. As I stare I either space out or find every flaw on myself as I can. BUT, today I couldn't do that. I asked God, as I was washing my hands, what the point of not looking in the mirror was. It was then that Our Lord revealed to me that I was not giving purpose to the moment when I stare at myself in the mirror. What was I doing? I was washing my hands, but I was not paying attention to that at all- I was not giving meaning and purpose to the moment! It dawned on me- I AM WASHING MY HANDS! PRAISE GOD! I have running water and soap. Jesus showed me that by taking my eyes off myself I was able to totally glorify God in the smallest of acts- give meaning and purpose to that moment. In that moment, God was calling me to glorify Him by washing my hands- that was His will for me! By doing God's will in everything we do we will become great saints! God is not calling us to focus on ourselves, but to "pray without ceasing"(1Thes. 5:17)! Be in constant communion with Him, and to do everything whole-heartedly as a gift for God! St. Catherine of Sienna said "When I eat chicken, I eat chicken. When I pray, I pray". Do everything with purpose! "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving"(Col. 3:23-24)

Praise God for His many gifts and graces, and may Mary hold us in her arms.
OLO Perpetual Help- Pray for us!

-Meghan