An Advent to Remember

This year has been...whew. I mean for us, personally, it's been filled with ups and downs, suffering and joy, but nothing major as far as hard things go. But for this weary world of ours, I just feel such a heaviness. It seems like every time I open Facebook it's a constant stream of tragedy, and each news cycle brings with it fresh anxiety and mounting dread.

For the past four years my job as editor of on online news aggregator meant that I spent hours each day coming the www for stories touching on life issues and bioethics. It was, I'd estimate, 90% negative. Taking in that kind of horror daily wears on a person. And while I'm thrilled to share with you guys that I'm stepping into an exciting new role (details to come soon. Promise.) I'm definitely still feeling the weight of all the awfulness I've waded through, especially this last year.

And I realized something else today, too; I've gotten pretty good (scary good, really) at forgetting something terrible 14.5 seconds after I've clicked the link/read the story/sent the donation. It's almost a sort of disassociation that I've developed, probably to protect my finite human brain (and heart) from the infinite stream of tragedy and horror that filters in every second of every day via the airwaves. And this without even having cable.

I skimmed past a link on somebody else's page yesterday and saw a thread of discussion still active from late October - October! - about Britanny Maynard and suddenly my mind and my heart were freshly jolted back to the horror of waking up on the feast of All Saints to discover that she had, in fact, taken her own life.

I was so shaken by that story. And then...I moved on. Ebola, Ferguson, Bill Cosby, Syria, Ukraine, babies in sewer pipes and young fathers murdered in cold blood didn't leave me with the mental or emotional stamina to keep processing her death. Or even to remember it 5 days after it happened.

I don't want my use of technology to strip me of my humanity.

And I don't want to overload my brain with so much horror that I lose the capacity to feel, deeply, the sting of loss, an ache at acts of evil, or real sympathy in the face of suffering.

I was thinking that in addition to the mild smattering of efforts we're making as a family to consecrate Advent as a time of waiting in joyful hope, I could also bring my heart to bear on those stories from this past year that will give our weary world the most cause to rejoice when He comes.

For the next 3 weeks, I'm going to try to recollect one story each day from the past year that broke my heart, and offer the little sufferings and inconveniences of that day for those still hurting in connection with those stories, if that makes sense. So for Robin Williams' family. For the young wife and mother whose husband is gone. For a city burning and roiling in turmoil. For a mama whose girl's days on earth are numbered.

Surely I can do this small thing in an effort to bring some meaning to all the suffering we've witnessed this past year, and to hold these families and individuals up in prayer as we prepare for the Baby who will save us from ourselves.

If you want to join me, my plan is to simply scroll through my Facebook page and my browser history each morning and select a story, a situation, a loss...and then to make that the focus of the day. I'm confidant - sadly - that I'll have no trouble filling up the next 21 days or so.

This isn't meant to be depressing, but redeeming. I really feel like I've lost something in my rabid consumption of news and media, and I'm hoping it isn't an irrevocable loss.

May your Advent season be filled with joy, anticipation, and deep empathy for those who are most in need of Bethlehem this year.

Guilty

Because you can't murder babies with scissors in America and get away with it. At least not forever.

We're coming for you next, Planned Parenthood.

Justice has been served.

7 Quick Takes on the Decline of Western Civilization

Hell of a week, y'all. Can't say I've been particularly proud to be an American while reading/covering the news from home this week. Are you sick of seeing this on Facebook/Twitter/blogs yet? Well me too. But the truth must be revealed, even (and perhaps especially) when it's ugly. Because the only way to defeat evil, ultimately, is to expose it to the Light.

Is the news morbid, depressing, and defeating at times? Hell yes it is. But you know what? You might assume that everyone is already aware of this or that depressing/horrifying/shocking/infuriating situation, but you'd be wrong. The reason things like Kermit Gosnell murdering hundreds of breathing, born human babies and getting paid for it in a licensed 'medical' facility continue to happen is because people aren't aware, or if they are, their consciences aren't sufficiently formed to feel horror at the scope of evil we're dealing with.

And that's where we come in. To bring the message of the Gospel, yes. But also to denounce the anti-Gospel. To stand up in a crowded room and identify something evil as exactly that: evil.

Does that word make you uncomfortable? It should. It is the antithesis of what it means to be fully human, an impoverishment of our God-given nature. And it's real. And it's destroying souls and families and nations today, just as it has for a thousand generations beforehand. But lately, it seems, we've become deaf and dumb to its existence. And suddenly every kind of depravity and attack on the dignity of the human person is re-branded and repackaged as a 'lifestyle choice', a 'deeply personal decision,' or the laudable evidence of 'diversity.'

Lies. Calling something evil 'good' does not alter reality. And committing murder of human beings using surgical instruments doesn't make it medicine.

So hold on to your butts, readers, because we're going to pull back the curtain and look evil in the eye. And we're going to spit in its face and expose it for the rest of the world to see.

1. The Gosnell Trial. Horrifying, mind-numbing, and completely over-saturated by media coverage, at least on my newsfeed. But I inhibit a particular little corner of the internet where I see a lot of coverage of all things bioethics-related. So I trust that there are still plenty of people out there who don't know about the man who systematically murdered hundreds of unborn and born children at his filthy 'medical' facility over a period of decades, employing the assistance of unskilled and untrained staff members and disposing of the bodies (or keeping revolting trophies, as some serial killers are wont to do) in the most inhumane and gruesome manner. Vom now or vom later, the choice is yours.

2. Live Action President Lila Rose's latest undercover video investigations, '#Inhuman'. She is a boss. She is in her early 20's. And she is braver and more intimidating and effective than any single politician or investigative reporter on the planet. Live Action has dropped 3 shocking videos this week. None of them are shocking for what you'll see. There are no gruesome pictures. All of them, however,  are shocking for what you'll hear:

3. The first details the willingness of late-term abortion facilities to murder accidentally-born babies should the procedure fail,

4. The second provides evidence that abortion 'doctors' routinely break federal law in order to deny medical aid or resuscitation to failed abortion victims,

5. The third includes a step-by-step description of how a baby is dismembered inside the uterus (or sometimes outside, after birth) and how the remains are sent out to funeral homes (even though they're not human?) It also has some chilling footage from a Senate hearing in Florida of Planned Parenthood's view of the human person, and of their own perception of their role in the abortion business.

6. Fox News' correspondent on the O'Reilly factor didn't seem to share my opinion of her. Though she didn't seem able to form a coherent sentence, either. And had some weird facial tics going on, so I don't know, maybe she was on something.

7. The FDA's (and the President of the United States) endorsement of statutory rape. The Morning After abortion pill is now available OTC to children as young as 15. Who are, according to federal law and common decency, protected from sexual exploitation by statutory rape laws in every state in our nation. But just in case you get one of them pregnant, no worries, you can easily send her down to Walmart or CVS for a powerful dose of the dangerous and potent drug Levonorgestrel and bam, problem solved. 

I find it deeply ironic and more than a little disturbing that the President is himself father to two teenage daughters. But remember, this is the same man who doesn't want them 'punished with a baby.' Best make the Morning After pill available to teens then, to make certain the cycle of destructive behavior and precocious sexuality our young people are enslaved to continues to spiral out of control. Hell, why not officially endorse it?  

So there you have it. Depressing, disgusting, and oh-so-necessary to share until there is no filthy, darkened corner for this madness to hide in. Mother Teresa, who surely saw more filth and depravity in a day than the average human being could stomach in a lifetime, tells us we must 'be the change we wish to see in the world.' And so we must.


If you're still reading, good on you, solider. Head over the Jen's to have some peace restored.

Safe, Legal, and (medium) Rare

Kermit Gosnell, the late term abortionist and murderer standing trial in Philadelphia is, unfortunately, not the exception to the rule of abortion in America today.

This is hard to watch, but not because it's filled with gruesome images or graphic photos. It's hard to watch because it's filled with gruesome philosophy embraced by an impoverished humanity. It's hard to watch because it perfectly illustrates how the linguistic decay of a civilization allows for the destruction of its people in a very literal sense.

It's hard to watch because in so doing, it becomes very clear that when the side of Good has lost the battle for our common language, hearts and minds are won to the side of the enemy, where they can hide behind euphemisms and anachronisms and catch phrases. They can even hide from themselves, behind these sterilized terms and turns of phrase.

Watch, and listen. Be mindful of the necessity of Evil to hide behind vagaries and imprecise definitions and generalizations. It can't suffer the truth, because the truth sets free. Evil seeks only to hide, to cover up, and to imprison.

Listen for terms like 'termination,' 'procedure,' 'solution,' 'killing the heartbeat,' 'stopping the procedure from continuing,' 'it,' 'parts,' and 'instruments.'

Words are everything. And sometimes, words fail.