ABVM PARISH COMMUNITY

  WHAT DO WE DO? The massacre in Uvalde, TX is one of a long list of horrendous attacks on innocent children in the United States.  Columbine, OH in 1999; Red Lake, Minnesota in 2005; Nickels Mines, PA in 2006; Virginia Tech in 2007; Sandy Hook in 2012; Parkland, FL and Santa Fe, Ca in 2018.  I could cite more but I won’t. Why the young?  The shooters are often young themselves.  There is no logic to it.  Except when we recognize that there is more behind these attacks than mental illness.  I believe that they are the inspiration of Satan, who hates innocence.  He hated Christ for his innocence.  He hated the Holy Innocents who were massacred by the soldiers of Herod after the visit of the Magi to the Christ child in Bethlehem.  The influence of Satan is surely behind the ongoing holocaust on the innocent unborn. Children represent our future.  They are our hope.  We see in them so many promises.  This is why they are targeted by the Enemy.  How do we protect them?  If my assessm

  THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD Gaudium et Spes was promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in 1965.  It was the last of the four great Constitutions produced by the fathers of the Second Vatican Council.  Vatican documents are named by the first few words of the document, which in this case are “Joy and hope.”  It is known in English as “The Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World.”  It is written not only to the faithful but to all people, inviting a dialogue with modern men and women of faith or no faith, and offering guidance for how the world might respond to the many challenges it faces as the result of modern progress.  Specific topics include marriage and the family, the proper development of culture, economic development, government and politics, peace, and the community of nations.  The Church’s view of human beings as having inestimable dignity and value is the foundation of all that it recommends. Circumstances hav

A NON-RELIGIOUS ARGUMENT AGAINST ABORTION Is it ever okay to intentionally kill an innocent human being?  The answer has to be a resounding “no.”  It is a self-evident fact.  There are no circumstances in which it would be morally permissible to intentionally kill an innocent person.   For example, the indiscriminate bombing and targeting of a civilian population for the purposes of war, which is what the Axis did during the Blitz when the Luftwaffe indiscriminately bombed English cities, and later in the war when they aimed V-1 and V-2 rockets at populations.  The Allies were equally guilty of this crime when they carpet bombed German and Japanese cities, intentionally destroying the homes of civilians and using incendiary bombs to burn out city blocks.  Getting revenge, ending the war more quickly, or any other reason for doing it could never make those acts morally acceptable.  The same reasoning needs to be applied to the abortion debate.  Abortion must not be permitted because

  GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY This Sunday’s Gospel is short but sweet!  It gives us one of the most beloved images of Jesus, that of the Good Shepherd.  It is worthwhile to read the entire tenth chapter of the Gospel of John on this day, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, which is commonly known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.”  Only in the Gospel of John does Jesus call himself the Good Shepherd.  He uses this image, which was very familiar to his listeners, to illustrate the close relationship he seeks with those who follow him.  In the other Gospels the evangelists depict Christ as a shepherd coming to the aid of the lost sheep of Israel.  They draw on the Old Testament’s depiction of Israel as a “flock” and the leaders whom God places over them as “shepherds.” Jesus is described as having compassion on the crowds that came out to see him “for they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36; cf. Mk 6,34).  He tells a parable in which a shepherd leaves his ninety-nine sheep