2010 December archive at Being Frank

Archive for December, 2010

Dec

“Take it like a man, boy, and do everything your sister says.”

Categories: Being Frank...

The newspapers over here this week have been reporting the UK’s first successful(ly reported) IVF ‘saviour sibling’ therapy. In summary, a 9 year old girl had a rare and life threatening blood disorder. Her parents then went through fertility treatment in order to conceive a child which would be a good tissue match for the girl. This was done after the girl’s older brother was found to not be a match, and a worldwide search also failed to find a suitable donor.

Of course there are all sorts of ethical issues that we can talk about. Is it right to artificially create life even if it was for a noble purpose such as saving a life? How many of us would sit idly by and watch a loved one die? The issues are black and white when looking at it from outside, and we can say, ‘oh it’s God’s will, the family should find solace in God’. But if said family are not religious, who are we to impose our viewpoint on them right?

Anyway – Merry Christmas to all!

Dec

Don’t ask, Don’t tell

By Filia Day 9 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

I’m still in the States and I’m still cold. I think I’ve been in a frozen state since the last post I wrote a week or so ago. This week we’ve been doing “touristy” things in the Big Apple (which probably is the reason I’ve remained cold for 7 days). We were fortunate enough to go to the bodies exhibit, which was on the whole fantastic. Real organs, veins, arteries, bodies – just my cup of tea. That and mummies for some reason. Anyways, when we were nearly at the end of the exhibit, we came to a section that was clearly to do with fetal development and I spotted a warning on the wall prior to entry. Basically the sign said that the exhibit featured live fetuses at various stages of development and that some people may want to avoid the exhibit. Considering some of the explicit body organs and gore we had just witnessed, the sign could only have been warning exhibit goers who had had an abortion. The contradictions are rife really. We don’t mind ripping a baby to pieces but we’re quite happy to advise people that the baby is just a clump of cells and then proceed to tell them to ignore such an exhibit. I also had a horrific afterthought. I wondered exactly how these fetuses had been acquired. Who knows, according to one blog I was reading the other day, it’s pretty easy (and inexpensive to buy fetal material).

Today, we went on a food tour and while waiting for the tour guide to arrive, I happened to hear on the radio that Obama had just signed a bill to nullify the don’t ask, don’t tell policy. Interested to know what people think about this issue. On the one hand, homosexuals are human beings and I don’t think there is any need to discriminate if they’re good professionals. On the other hand, such legislation somewhat raises homosexual relationships to a similar status to marriage – apparently if one is in the military then certain benefits are bestowed on spouses and partners. Then again, those living in de facto relationships were never penalised based on relationship status.

Oh the joys of being a tourist.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and may the Blessed Virgin invite you to come close to the crib of her Son over the next couple of days.

Dec

Waiting, Hope, Journeys, and Hobbits.

By Inkling 10 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

At the start of Advent we are reminded that it is a time of preparation and waiting. But following Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, and the Shepherds and Wise Men to the lowly stable, also implies that Advent is also a time of Journeys.

Advent is a time of waiting, but it is also a time of hope. Hope makes waiting bearable – and more than just bearable, it gives it both meaning and purpose. As John Paul II said, “Our reason for hope is intimately tied to our waiting.”

Perhaps Advent is, in a way, like a miniature version of the journey of life; In Advent, we wait and prepare for the coming of Our Lord at Christmas, just as in life itself we wait and prepare for the coming of the Lord, and our meeting Him at the end of earthly life.

The preparations we make for Christmas are like New Year’s resolutions in a way; the things we want to change as preparation for Christmas over the short season of Advent are probably the things we’d want to change over the course of the coming Liturgical year. I think Advent, like the start of all journeys, can be the first small step to greater things. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Lao Tzu.

Now, concerning Hobbits; I’ve started reading Lord of the Rings again, which coincidentally is quite appropriate to the season and to this topic, being, as it is, about a journey, albeit a very difficult and dark one. So to finish, here are some quotes from Bilbo Baggins and some others (not from Middle Earth) about going on a journey.

‘“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”’ - Frodo Baggins, quoting Bilbo.

‘”The Road goes ever on and on,

Down from the door where it began,

Now far ahead the road has gone,

And I must follow if I can.

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet

And whither then? I cannot say.”

- Bilbo Baggins

“You can only come to the morning through the shadows.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien

“Oh, Aslan,” said Lucy. “Will you tell us how to get into your country from our world?”

“I shall be telling you all the time,” said Aslan. “But I will not tell you how long or short the way will be; only that it lies across a river. But do not fear that, for I am the great Bridge Builder…” - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis

“When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge.” - Constantine Peter Cafavy

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end” - Ursula LeGuin

“The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too.” - St Teresa of Avila

“The journey is the reward.” - Chinese Proverb

Dec

Doctor Life

By Marty Rethul 16 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

It really is pretty tough out there.

My best friend (a Catholic) has begun work in the medical realm of obstetrics and gynaecology (pregnancy and other women’s stuff) within the past few weeks. Being Catholic in such an environment can be, as I am sure you can imagine (take a moment to do so, or use the following as a medidative guide if you will) difficult at times. In such a realm of medicine, certain things sail pretty close to the wind when it comes to Church teaching.

This is a place where her beliefs are considered to be misogynistic, but the ward is full of women who are suffering the wounds of the sexual revolution.

Here are a few examples:

1. A woman going into premature labour (before the baby can survive) because she’s been given an STD by the baby’s father.

2. In three weeks she has seen four women hospitalised after a first trimester abortion, three of whom required further surgery.

3. A mother consenting for her teenage daughter (because her daughter is too young to consent for surgery) to have an operation to fix a botched surgical abortion without knowing an abortion had been performed. There is something dreadfully wrong when a teenager under 16 can get an abortion without her parents knowing, but then require her parents consent for further surgery when that abortion has left part of the baby inside her, without informing her parents of the real reason for the surgery. The devil must love it.

4. An almost constant stream of admissions for STD pelvic infections and the increase in ectopic pregnancies (which are life-threatening) because of post-infection scarring.

Not only all of this, but do you men out there realise what’s involved in cervical screening that every woman who has ever had sex must undergo at least every three years? It’s not just a blood test, to be fair.

Both men and women are to blame for this. Men no longer care for women, and women no longer will allow men to care for them. All is held to the ransom of concupiscient appetites gone haywire.

What is happening to women and how do we even begin to address it?

PS Campiana thanks for your links. I’ve been away but I have been reading. Cheers. Marty.

Dec

The true meaning of Christmas

By Kereopa 14 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

This close to Christmas it’s impossible not to reflect on the true meaning of the season.

By far, Christmas is everyone’s favourite time of the year – both within the Church and in the secular world. Although I think Easter is more important, in that it’s the fulfilment of the Scriptures and the triumph over Hell, Christmas has always resonated with people. It’s a beautiful season and there is much to celebrate.

Yes, people drink too much and focus too heavily on buying flashy presents – but it’s also a great reminder of the beauty of the Christian faith. Even those who do not practice or do not belief in the Christian way of life are affected by Christmas and all its virtues.

It’s the time of year when friends of mine either attend Mass again for the second time that year (the other being Easter) or consider attending Mass at all. It’s not perfect, I know, not to attend Mass or to inquire beyond the holiday season. But it’s also a sign of the innate goodness of Christmas that somehow inspires the lost to return to the flock.

Christmas, even beyond Easter, must be a season of much conversion.
I’m grateful that Christmas means so much to me – as a Catholic it’s a rich and wonderful season, truly festive and truly holy. But it’s also a time when others see Christ and His Church in the way I see it every day: celebratory, joyous, and uplifting.

I think we can focus too much on the secularisation of Christmas. That somehow we’re moving away from Christ and towards a non-Christian tradition.

But there really isn’t much about Christmas that isn’t holy. The gift giving; the sharing of food; the coming together of families and loved ones; the singing of holy carols and hymns; the telling of the Nativity scene at Bethlehem; the remembrance of those gone before us; the joy and celebration; the Christmas spirit of thinking of those less fortunate and giving to those who go without – it all resonates with the real meaning of Christmas: the birth of Christ.

It truly is a Holy Day.

St. Nicholas, the real Father Christmas, pray for us.

Dec

The Hidden Saint

By Joan of Arc 1 Comment

Categories: Being Frank...

Until seeing the movie ‘The Nativity’ a few years ago I don’t think I had ever really appreciated the role of Joseph. He is not given words in the Gospel but his actions speak volumes. I recently read this short reflection by Mother Agnes Mary SV on Joseph:

It’s easy to miss St Joseph. He is often hidden in the shadows of Christmas cards though, next to the Virgin Mary, he is the greatest saint and the one closest to the mystery of the Incarnation. It’s no wonder St Joseph is called the ‘hidden saint’ – he was silent. Silence was his strength. It allowed for a deep listening to the promptings of God. What God revealed, Joseph did; faithfully, quietly, lovingly. He committed himself irrevocably to his vocation and followed through on his yes day after day, with faith, even when things were difficult or seemed impossible.

Today’s Gospel ends with “When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord told him to do”. Simple but profound. His life would never be the same again. Joseph’s ‘yes’ was no small matter. It is an example of humility, faith, and obedience, as was Mary’s, yet somehow he often gets put in the background.

Obedience can be hard (speaking from experience!). Sometimes I wonder if Joseph found it hard giving up his will for God’s will in what must’ve seemed like crazy circumstances. And yet it seems he did everything that was asked of him quietly and humbly. His virtues must have been such an example for Christ as He was growing up. Fatherhood isn’t easy – imagine the responsibility of being father to the Son of God!

St Joseph took his cues from what he learned of God in Scripture and prayer, and from the lived lessons of Nazareth and Bethlehem. Joseph witnessd the gift of the Incarnation: the radical committment of God to us, for us – day in and day out – for our salvation. This is the way Joseph followed; it is the way each of us is called to follow.

Dec

Quote of the day!

By Voice in the wilderness 2 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Reading another blog today I came across a great quote.

I thought it was so good, and that it provided so many good discussion points, that I abandoned my original post idea.

Enjoy!

If twelve men without influence, without knowledge, inexperienced in the ways of the world, but loving Christ profoundly, have succeeded by aid of some poor Jews in spreading the Christian Faith throughout the Roman Empire; if they have accomplished what Greece with all its eloquence, and Rome with its military power have failed to achieve; if they have succeeded in founding an institution which has lasted nineteen centuries – an institution which has regenerated the world, emancipated the slave, rehabilitated women, dignified family life, comforted the afflicted, uprooted vices, taught sublime truths, pure morality and heroic virtue, an institution which has resisted long-continued and dangerous destructive tendencies, undergone centuries of persecution, witnessed the passing away of kingdoms and peoples, remaining itself erect and immovable upon the ruins of time – an institution which has opposed human interests and passions – surely we have here the greatest of miracles. Unless the principle of causality be denied or the cogency of evidence called in question, it is necessary to recognize that this institution is Divine. Digitus Dei est hic. [The finger of God is here.]

– Francois de Lamy, Vérité évidente de la Religion chrétienne

I thought it was so good, and that it provided so many good discussion points, that I abandoned my original post idea.

Enjoy!