Recently in Sole Fide Category

For those who have followed the saga of Rifqa Bary, a new development has arisen: Rifqa now has advanced uterine cancer. To compound this poor child's suffering, her own lawyers hid this diagnosis from her, yet consulted with her astranged parents and their CAIR lawyers. It was decided that Rifqa would not have a hysterectomy, although the Mayo Clinic says this procedure is recommended in almost all cases of uterine cancer and I imagine it would certainly be the course of treatment for advanced uterine cancer. In addition, her lawyers saw fit to bring her parents into her hospital room while Rifqa was awaiting surgery. She became so agitated that her parents had to be removed from the room.

With a grim prognosis, an illegal immigration status unrectified, her own lawyers working against her, and her eighteenth birthday growing ever closer, Rifqa needs all of our prayers.

Additional information can be found at American Thinker.

There is Good and Evil.

The path we have chosen is evidenced by how we treat our fellow man.

There is always a chance for redemption.

Science does not exist without faith. 

Love is powerful.

We all die...and death is only a doorway along the path our souls travel.

These are the truths I found in the six years of "Lost" and, though I disagree with the show's belief in a limbo-land betwixt death and the Great Hereafter, I can understand that worldview.

There is, however, one misstep in the Lost theology that is too great to ignore, one truth that renders all others useless: it is only through Christ that we may be found.

He is our chance for redemption. He is the path that we must choose.

Many these days tend to shy away from the "Him or nothing" belief; it seems so black and white and lacking of mercy. But He is the mercy and faith in Him and His death in our stead is the one and only way to ever pass on from this world into Paradise.

Love is powerful and the greatest love of all is God's.

We may be lost, but God knows right where we are and he can lead us Home.

 

For a Christian, every day is Earth Day because God made the Earth and everything in it and set it under the stewardship of man.

For a bit of "earthy" scripture (courtesy of my Twitterfeed today):

My own Earth Day: "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever."

"Before the mountains were brought forth,or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,even from everlasting 2 everlasting,thou art God.

"Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein."

"For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding."

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

"Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea."

"Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him."

"O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens."

"Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?"

"For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow."

"Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the LORD, because he cometh to judge the earth."

"Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth."

"Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation."  

"Know therefore this day,& consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above,& upon the earth beneath:there is none else."  

"For what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might?" 

"But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord."  

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein." 

Wow, today is simply packed with significance.

It's Patriot's Day.

Concord Hymn

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's fifteen years since the OKC bombing:

It's the anniversary of Israel's re-birth:

 

 

And the "new" Pope marked the fifth anniversary since his election.

 

What a day filled with sadness and celebration!

"Here is the King of the Jews, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, JESUS" By S, December 2006

I'm home this Easter morning. A family member has come down again with the Spring Plague that is going around.  I'm home and there are so many other places I wish I was.

I wish I was in church. I wish we had a church. I wish I wasn't in constant pain. I wish I didn't have to take medicines that cloud my faculties. I wish I was not so impatient. I wish I didn't cry at the drop of a hat. I wish I could spend just one day healthy.

I wonder if Christ had wishes, that night in the garden, the night he sweated blood.

How much did he know about what was to come?

Did he know just how much he was going to suffer? Was it the pain of torture that hurt him so or the betrayals and abandonment? Which was worse: the nails or the broken heart?

I don't know, but I do know that when he exclaimed, "It is finished," on the cross that it wasn't. It was far from finished.

The story didn't end on the cross, in the darkness, in the midst of a coming storm. It looked like the end, but things are seldom as they appear.

And as much as we are persuaded that the story ends with sunrise services, with frilly dresses, with fancy brunches, with pastel eggs, with fluffy bunnies, that is not the end either.

The end has already been revealed; it is no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. The end is no more pain.

Today is not the end; it is the remembrance of things past, the celebration of things to come. Today is the reminder of Christ's promise to those who take up the cross and follow him.

Our story doesn't end alone in the dark; it ends with jubilee. 

"Prayer's a very tricky business....Well, for inexperienced pray-ers it sometimes is. You see, they're apt to think of God as a slot-machine. If nothing comes out they say 'I knew dashed well it was empty'--when the whole secret of prayer is knowing the machine's full."

~ The Vicar to Cassandra in I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, author of 101 Dalmatians.

P.S. Liked the book, but stopped watching the movie after only a few minutes. It's terrible.

Matthew 21

The Triumphal Entry

 ¹ Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. ³ And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."
⁴ All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
       ⁵ " Tell the daughter of Zion,

      ' Behold, your King is coming to you,
      Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
      A colt, the foal of a donkey.'"

⁶ So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. ⁸ And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:


      " Hosanna to the Son of David!

      ' Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'
      Hosanna in the highest!"

¹⁰ And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"
¹¹ So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

When I was looking for a nice St. Patrick coloring page last week, I happened upon Catholic Icing and knew I had discovered a gem. Kid craft sites are a dime a dozen but few focus on the Liturgical Year and the many facets of our faith. While the site is Catholic, most posts are pertinent for all Christians.

To learn more about Catholic Icing, check out the About page or read about Lacy, the woman behind the blog.

I think you'll like:

the Last Supper craft,

the Lent Lapbook ideas,

the Pro-Life posts

For those wondering, the newest Duggar baby is reportedly doing well. Josie Brooklyn, born more than three months premature and weighing less than two pounds, is now seven weeks old.

Tomorrow, January 31, at 8pm Eastern Time, a "Special Duggar Delivery" will air on TLC. Here's a sneak peek, courtesy of TLC:

Also, if you use Tivo or a DVR, you will need to update the name of the show, which will now be called "19 Kids and Counting".