“Woe to you if you do not succeed in defending life” – St. John Paul II

I hear these words today and shudder at what they bring.

From CNS News – January 22, 2015

I remember vividly the August of 1993. I was part of a massive gathering of over half a million youth from all over North America in Denver, Colorado with Pope John Paul II. The saintly old Pope’s message was electrifying for us, but it held a rather startling prediction for America which many of us missed until we read it later: “Woe to you if you do not succeed in defending life” said the pontiff.

Also, from Fr. Dwight Longenecker: America the Murderous: A Solemn Prophetic Warning

EVANGELIUM VITAE can be found by clicking here 

March of 1993 was the year that I had lost my child to abortion due to my own uneducated stupidity, after I had changed my mind and wanted to keep my child, as I didn’t know what was taking place. I will not try to justify it. It was my fault. (see here- as I have written about it back in 2011) I don’t believe in coincidences. I do believe our Lord has a plan and when we follow Him, it becomes very apparent to the repenting soul who has turned away from sins turns back towards Him and follows Him, dies to self, and lives for Him. I know I sound like a broken record when I say this, but it is true. For many years, far to many, my life had been a living hell because I had made it that way by following the world and not Him. Its not that I didn’t want to hear our Lord, or follow Him. I did! I forgot how to hear Him. When you follow the “world” you forget everything that matters most. I was so lost in sin. I was caked in my own filth of self. When I reflect back, I pray to our Lord to never let anyone go that way.

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” – St. Thomas Aquinas

I have always held St. John Paul II in a special place in my heart, in a very special place, as I had the pleasure of being blessed by him in Chicago during his visit in 1979. Please see – Reflection On Blessed Pope John Paul II Which, once again, as I am writing this, was originally posted on May 4th, 2011. May 4th 2013, after close to four years as living as brother & sister, with my husband, as we were going through the annulment process, we were finally married in the Catholic Church. Which, while planning, we had found out was the exact same day as my First Holy Communion in 1975, along with my Great Uncles Ordination into the Priesthood in 1930, who survived the Nazis, followed by the Communist occupation of Slovakia.

Our Lord has shown me great mercy. I can never fully place into words how He has strengthened me with His grace, teaching me it is not my strength, but His. Teaching me that nothing is mine and everything is His. Teaching me to see Him as much as I can, in all souls, although hidden. Even in the most hardened hearts, teaching me that I too, was that hardened heart. Seeing my own sins being committed by others, and repenting for committing exactly what they were doing. Seeing His face in every soul on earth, as easy as seeing the Artists signature on a masterpiece. Hidden behind the blacked over paint of sin.

I know I am getting carried away in the words here, but there is great mercy of our Lord in repenting. The country we live in, the one my dad, US Navy Veteran from 1946 defended, the one my husband served 23.5 years in the US Marines for and defended, has become a country of the culture of death. Its sickening to see what this country has become and is becoming. She is in desperate need of a “heart transplant” through replacing the broken moral compass she has been using for the past 45 years. I pray to God, she receives it soon.

The only way to fix her, is for each soul to look in the mirror, look deep within your own hearts and and turn your back on selfishness,turn away from the mentality that has brainwashed so many, and to the needs of others, placing yourself last. Starting with the smallest in the womb. Repent. The toss away culture we currently live in, has caused us to toss away our own hearts. Defend and protect all human life first. In one another, and your own. Take time to learn the meaning of Love. Its not anything you can remotely associate with what is taking place in today’s culture. What is Love? <<<SEE HERE>>>

For a few years, after my conversion back home really started to take shape, I would look at different pictures of parishes and the beauty within them. Before understanding, it was our Lord’s presence in the tabernacle that is the true Beauty I was seeking. One particular parish caught my attention and I thought it was so beautiful. The Chapel on the Rock (officially, Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel) in Allenspark, Colorado, considered St. Malo St. John Paul II had been in this particular parish and I could only image how beautiful that day must have been.

I had forgotten about it until a week ago when a friend had posted a photo of the parish that had captivated me, as it had been closed in 2011 due to a fire in the area, but the church was spared. During the rock slides of September 2013 the Chapel on the Rock survived, though much of the surrounding terrain was destroyed. How much that beautiful church endured speaks something wonderful to the soul.

My oldest daughter, just graduated from College, whom my sister took in at the age of 12, due to something I have yet to write about, is now living not far from that area. We have not seen each other for close to 2 years. I found it beautiful that the picture had been posted only a week ago, as I had forgotten about it, and all in our Lord’s time, His grace, His will, my family will be there soon for our family vacation. It will be the first time we take a family vacation like this. We will ALL be together. We are planning on spending time hiking this area of Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel and praying for the end of abortion and the destruction of human life in this country, along with the protection of the family and the conversion of hearts. God willing.

I am eternally grateful to our Lord for blessing me with the faith in Him that He has rekindled in me, along with my husband, my children and the gift of a life I could have never imagined not very long ago. My suffering may be painful and extremely excruciating at times, to see the lack of love in souls, but its so easy when its joined to His as the joy our Lord has allowed me to have in my heart, in knowing Him and not just of Him, is a degree of His mercy, that no one can imagine.

Pull closer to our Lord. Turn back to Him. “Return to your first Love”. Never forgetting, God first and foremost above all else.

St. John Paul II, intercede for all of us. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us all.