A Shout-out to Pope Saint Pius X

In follow-up to my last post- I wanted to give a "shout-out" to Pope Saint Pius X for making daily reception of the Eucharist a reality in the modern Catholic church.  It was Pope Pius X's decree Sacra Tridentina, issued on December 20, 1905, that stressed the importance of frequent(and even daily) reception of communion.

It is a wonderful decree and well worth taking a look at...  If you are so inclined, Sacra Tridentina is available here:

http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDWFREQ.HTM

So, thanks Pope Saint Pius!  Praise God!!

Quick Hits

A couple of quick thoughts:

First, daily Mass is a wonderful blessing.  I have been attending daily Mass for the past seven or eight years, and it is most often the highlight of my day.  I look forward to my intimate communion with the Lord on a daily basis and am truly grateful that He provides me with the opportunity to attend Mass each day.  I will admit that I was not always a daily communicant, but the experience of attending Mass alone-- i.e., just me and the Priest-- a few years back really opened my eyes to the tremendous beauty and grace of the Eucharist.  Praise God!

Second, on the Joe Biden topic-- I saw him on NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday morning (9/7/08).  At one point during the interview, big Joe set forth his "personal" acceptance of the Church's teaching that life begins at conception (good!), but explained his refusal to force that belief on others (e.g., I am personally opposed, but...) (bad).  Aarrgh!  I cannot stand it when Catholic politicians hide behind the "personally opposed, but" position.  There is no "but."  If life begins at conception, which is difficult to refute (see www.princeton.edu/~prolife/articles/embryoquotes2.html ), then how is it possible to say one is "opposed, but"?  Murder is murder.  Let's at least acknowledge abortion for what it is-- the murder of a human person.  Anyway, suffice it to say that although I find the majority of the Obama-Biden platform attractive, I doubt that I will be able to vote for them simply because of the life issue.  It makes me feel disenfranchised!

First Thoughts

Barack Obama's recent selection of Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate for the 2008 election got me thinking about what it means to be Catholic. . .  So much so that I created this blog.  I make no guarantees and will post my thoughts only when inspired.  The only limit that I currently place on this blog is that somehow any/all posts will be related to my Roman Catholic faith.

Back to the initial inspiration:  Joe Biden.

His selection has re-sparked the debate regarding Catholic politicians that support abortion and, perhaps more to the point for me, whether a practicing Catholic can or should, in good conscience, vote for a politician that is pro-choice.  This issue is certainly worth discussing.

I do not profess to have any answers and am, in fact, still undecided regarding the upcoming presidential election.  I am well aware of how awful abortion is and do not want to stand up and be counted with the pro-choice (pro-death?) people in America.  Yet, the Republican platform, which is nominally pro-life, has plenty of its own positions that are cause for revulsion.  My current plan is to think and pray long and hard before casting my ballot in November.

However, one point I would like to make is that it seems to me that there is an awful lot of grand-standing and judging that goes on in the debate over these issues.  I humbly submit that our Lord would frown upon his followers taking potshots at others and manning the moral high ground so often staked out by the Pharisees in His time.  The passage regarding tending to the beam in one's own eye before pointing out the splinter in the eye of another comes to mind.

Anyway, the issue of abortion-- or more specifically, of Catholics that mistakenly believe they can be "pro-choice" and Catholic--  is one that must be addressed with love, not rhetoric and vitriol, if any true progress is to be made.