(Hat tip: Creative Minority Report)
Labels: Culture of Death, Families, Fatherhood, Media
posted by Pro Ecclesia 9:02 AM
6 comments
A convert to the Catholic Church who became Catholic because of a belief in and devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. * A graduate of Baylor University and the University of Virginia School of Law. * Former Mayor of the Town of Columbia, Virginia. * Married with four children: two boys and two girls. * Primary interests include the Catholic Church, family, Early American History, and law/politics * Primary purpose of this blog is fostering enlightened discussion about the roles played by the institutions of religion, family, and state in our daily lives. * Under the protection of St. Thomas More, martyr, and patron of lawyers, judges, civil servants, politicians, statesmen, and large families (not to mention troubled marriages).
Thomas More, counselor of law and patron of statesmen, merry martyr and most human of saints:
Pray that, for the glory of God and in the pursuit of His justice, I may be able in argument, accurate in analysis, keen in study, correct in conclusion, loyal to clients, honest with all, courteous to adversaries, trustworthy with confidences, courageous in court. Sit with me at my desk and listen with me to my clients' tales. Read with me in my library and stand always beside me so that today I shall not, to win a point, lose my soul.
Pray that my family may find in me what yours found in you: friendship and courage, cheerfulness and charity, diligence in duties, counsel in adversity, patience in pain -- their good servant, and God's first. AMEN.
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Prayer to St. Thomas More for Lawyers and Judges
Dear Scholar and Martyr, it was not the King of England but you who were the true Defender of the Faith. Like Christ unjustly condemned, neither promises nor threats could make you accept a civil ruler as head of the Christian Church.
Perfect in your honesty and love of truth, grant that lawyers and judges may imitate you and achieve true justice for all people. AMEN.
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"Give me the Grace Good Lord, to set the world at naught; to set my mind fast upon Thee and not to hang upon the blast of men's mouths. To be content to be solitary. Not to long for worldly company but utterly to cast off the world and rid my mind of the business thereof."
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Litany of St. Thomas More, Martyr and Patron Saint of Statesmen, Politicians and Lawyers
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"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."
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"What does it avail to know that there is a God, which you not only believe by Faith, but also know by Reason: what does it avail that you know Him if you think little of Him?"
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"The things that we pray for, good Lord, give us grace to labour for."
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6 Comments:
It is a very sad commentary on the state of our culture, but it is very true. I live in the Washington DC area and I wrote about a similar conversation I overheard at the beauty salon. Children are now seen as acquisitions that complete the parents. Parenting has gone from being a self-giving vocation to a self-centered avocation. Of course, this is the natural evolution when a child is seen as a choice controlled by the mother rather than a gift controlled by the will of God.
This is really just another excuse to look down on those who have more than 2 children. If you have more than 2 and you are of moderate-to-low income, you are irresponsible. If you are of moderate-to-high income, you are ostentatious. What it amounts to is intolerance, however justified. :P
Odd that the thing lacking from that column was any point that religion played in having more children. It's a shame that the moral issues didn't even play a role in the writer's thought -or if it did that she didn't feel comfortable enough to write it.
BTW -I just noticed your joke on the side about Time's Man of the Yes. That's funny.
I was going to make a joke but Catholic Mom and Literacy-Chic both just seemed to hit the nail on the head. It's sad really that people don't "get it".
Not too long ago I asked a new co-worker who I knew was married if he had any kids, him knowing full well I have children. His response was something like "oh no" shaking his head in a now why would I want to do that sort of way. It still irks me thinking about it.
Oh sure, our kids are a status symbol. Too bad the status is often "we were a bit rushed getting out of the house".
Does this author lady know any real people? I assure you that among our set, a $13,000 diaper bag is the last thing on anyone's mind.
You know, I was also thinking about how my mother raised 6 of us with an income of $40,000 or less (usually less) in the 80s and 90s. You're as ostentatious as you want to be. After two children, one or two more aren't really that much more expensive. And that's speaking to people who value children according to net cost vs. net value, which I don't. They're just not quantifiable. (Well, unless you count them--reminds me of Cheaper by the Dozen) It used to disturb me when I was pregnant with my first, due in January, when perfect strangers would comment, "Hoping for that tax break, eh?" Ummm... Yes. We got pregnant in April for just that reason.
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