Joke of the Day

FaithfulDemocrats.org.

Except the joke's not funny, with offerings such as this pantload from a Catholic hospital chaplain:

"We know Christ transcends death, but can Christ transcend choice?"

... I think our discussion on the legality of abortion needs to take into account the spiritual nature of choice. To those who say, "Some choices are so obvious God doesn't need us to make them on an individual basis, we know how God wants everyone to act." I say, "Then why do we have the story of Abraham and Isaac?" Why is Abraham, the one who was willing to terminate his child's life, the spiritual father of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths?

In Scripture, when God calls out to humans, there is a common reply: "Here I am Lord". In Hebrew it is hineni. "Behold, I". I believe God is calling out to us all the time, and only rarely are we able to offer our honest selves in response. "Here I am Lord." When we do, a partnership between divine and human is established, making way for miracles of, yes, biblical proportions.

One thing I have never heard discussed in all the debates on abortion is: what would be taken away from those who choose to bring their pregnancies to term if abortion is made illegal. I vividly remember the complex array of emotions and questions and prayers that flooded me when I conceived. Each time, my commitment to bear my children (and my husband's commitment to parent them) was a process that unfolded. Knowing I had the choice to say ‘yes' or ‘no', I had to dig deep. What unfolded was a glorious "hineni". Here I am Lord! I absolutely believe that my response - born of struggle and doubt and discernment -- came from so deep that its truth infused my womb. Thus my children's first home was a place that said, "Yes to you!!" and taught them by example the wondrous fruits that come from saying, "Here I am Lord".

So can you see what could be lost if we legislate such discernment out of existence? Without the possibility of safely, legally terminating pregnancies we help to create womb-environments that say "Well you're here so I guess that's the way it's going to be, like it or not." ...

You know, because the child would be so much better off DEAD than to find himself or herself in a "womb-environment" that says "Well you're here so I guess that's the way it's going to be, like it or not."

Oh, that's right. The focus here isn't on what's in the best interest of protecting the child, but rather in providing women with a "meaningful" opportunity to "say 'Yes!' to God".

(Hat tip: Mark Shea)