Adult Stem Cell Research

Catholics are not opposed to stem cell research but only embryonic stem cell research. The Archdiocese of Sydney just announced they are contributing $100,000 to adult stem cell research.

Adult stem cell research is also more productive than embryonic stem cell reserach. Look at everything that adult stem cells have done. This list in from the IL Right to Life website:

• Spinal cord injury repair (using stem cells from nasal and sinus regions)
• Complete reversal of juvenile diabetes in mice using adult spleen cells, with Harvard now preparing for human patient trials using spleen cells
• Crohn’s Disease put into remission (using patient’s blood stem cells)
• Lupus put into remission (using stem cells from patient’s bloodstream)
• Parkinson’s disease put into remission (using patient’s brain stem cells)
• Repair heart muscle in cases of congestive heart failure (using stem cells from bone marrow)
• Repair heart attack damage (using the patient’s own blood stem cells)
• Restore bone marrow in cancer patients (using stem cells from umbilical cord blood)
• Restore weak heart muscles (using immature skeletal muscle cells)
• Put leukemia into remission (using umbilical cord blood)
• Heal bone fractures (using bone marrow cells)
• Restore a blind man’s sight (using an ocular surface stem-cell transplant & a cornea transplant)
• Recovery from a stroke (using stem cells from bone marrow)
• Treat urinary incontinence (using under arm muscle stem cells)
• Reverse severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) (using genetically modified adult stem cells)
• Restore blood circulation in legs (using bone marrow stem cells)
• Treat sickle-cell anemia (using stem cells from unbilical cord blood)

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Marian Quotations

What is your favorite Marian quotation? There are so many excellent and loving quotations by Mary. I will just direct my readers to Mary, Mother of God to read some of my articles on her.

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Holy Cards

I wanted to share this article that talks about holy cards and what they are for those here that are not Catholic. For a source of many beautiful Holy Cards, please see Holy Cards for Your Inspiration as well as Holy Reflections. Beautiful holy cards are featured on those websites.
Here is part of an article on holy cards:

"From the beginning of the church, it has been important to Christians to maintain practices that help them remember holy men and women whose lives they feel are an inspiration and to whom they can pray for intercession. These practices have included telling stories, singing songs and looking at pictures. Holy cards, which are small cards that bear the image of a saint, angel or scene from the Bible, are part of this tradition" (Catholic Online)

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain, Title Unknown

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Quotations by Pope Benedict XVI

Well, the poll is almost over for this week and the topic will certainly be on Pope Benedict XVI. I wanted to start by writing down some quotations by him that I view as important.

First:

"'Rock' [music]. . . is the expression of elemental passions, and at rock festivals it assumes a cultic character, a form of worship, in fact, in opposition to Christian worship. People are, so to speak, released from themselves by the experience of being part of a crowd and by the emotional shock of rhythm, noise, and special lighting effects. However, in the ecstasy of having all their defenses torn down, the participants sink, as it were, beneath the elemental force of the universe."

"An adult faith does not follow the waves of fashion and the latest novelty."

"We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires."

I believe those three comments show something very important about Our Holy Father; he is very concerned with the Church and is determined to keep us together by Sacred Tradition and Holy Scripture. I believe that secularism is growing too acceptable in the world, and I think the Pope also is concerned that too many are leaving the Church behind - the Church that Christ started out of love for us.

Second:

"Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves."

I think this shows his humility and determination to serve Christ although he calls for our prayers. I think more people should also pray for him that he may help lead the Church. For more quotations see EWTN & All Great Quotes. If you wish to continue reading on updates concerning the Holy Father, read the mainpage of my blog and check out Pope Benedict XVI, a page on my blog.

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Learning to Forgive

Forgiveness may be one of the hardest aspects of the Christian/Catholic life. Not only must we go to Confession to be forgiven our sins, but we must also forgive those that harm us. As Christ said, "Love thy enemies", but this radical gospel calling is still possible although to answer Christ's calling He must be the visible center of our faith and life.

Forgiveness is something that came from the Cross, where Christ died the death for sins and in doing so redeemed everyone of us. However, we must still repent for our sins, confess them, and forgive others. The road to Heaven is far from easy. Jesus made Heaven possible; He didn't open the door for the unrepentant. At this time, I must also reiterate the value of indulgences.

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned," but "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him" (Romans 5:12, John 3:17). Remember, "His mercy endures forever" (Psalm 118:4).

6 steps into forgiveness:

1) We can spend a few minutes every day looking at a cross and considering that Jesus gave up his very life to win forgiveness for us.

2) We can pray constantly to be filled with his perspective of love. Looking at others with eyes of mercy goes a long way toward undercutting the tendency to revenge.

3) We can pray and intercede for those who have wronged, offended, abused, or hurt us. Doing this frees us to love as God loves. God's grace has power not only to change us but also those who have done us injury as well.

4) We can try to perform at least one act of kindness toward someone who has hurt us or who rubs us the wrong way.

5) We can ask the Holy Spirit to cultivate within us an attitude of forgiveness.

6) We can get more serious about following the promptings of the Holy Spirit — especially those that touch on relationships we find difficult. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you find the way to peace, restoration, and reconciliation.

(Source: Catholic Exchange)

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain, Title Unknown

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Book Report: Memory and Identity

I recently read "Memory and Identity," but I was only able, though, to read the first three parts (about 70 pages) since I have another book I have to read. For the pages I did read, I separated my reports below.

Part One: Good and Evil
Part Two: Freedom
Part Three: Native Land

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"Memory and Identity" Part III

This is my summary/opinions for Part Three of "Memory and Identity" by Pope John Paul ll. After this part I had to quit reading the book, though, because I have another book I have to read very, very soon for someone else. Here is my final report for "Memory and Identity".

Part 3:

When we speak of our native land it is more than just a territory; it includes the country’s values and culture. For Pope John Paul ll, we saw how vitally important this was to him, and with Pope Benedict XVI in “Memoirs”, I saw such a fervent love for his own homeland and fellow countrymen. However, in Germany, as Pope Benedict XVI expressed, not all values were good, and this realization of what is good and not is only through God. If we don’t have God then we become our own gods and decided what is good and what is not while no definite opinion remains.

On page 62, Pope John Paul ll wrote “Christ’s teachings contain the most profound elements of a theological vision of both native land and culture.” He went on to write much about these examples, but I also thought of something while reading this: we all are attached to our native land and its values, but we must only remain attached to the values which God would condone; the values mentioned must be in God’s will, which can be summed up as love itself.

Culture is also changing where we develop new lands such as a Christian land, which began from Christ himself. We also believe in Christ’s second coming where we hopefully will reach Heaven where our new homeland, our refuge, exists. Pope John Paul ll loved his homeland of Poland, but he also loved its values as those values God would condone. But, we don’t need to leave our current country and go to Poland; we only need to be with God, and Christ is present first and foremost in the Blessed Sacrament. Christ gave us the Catholic Church, where “catholic” means “universal” showing that Christ is with us through His Church to the end of the ages (Matthew 16:18).

Overall, I found the book very refreshing although at times repetitive. I give it a 6.0/10, and would encourage it.

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"Memory and Identity" Part II

Part Two summary/opinions of "Memory and Identity" by Pope John Paul II:

In the chapter “Lessons of Recent History”:

Through faith and love good conquers evil, and this occurred in the Communist lands. One thing I am reminded of is the pullout of the Germans from Austria in a rosary miracle. This again reaffirms that God is mercy and love and can turn all evil into good, which is the underlying theme of the book.

The Paschal Mystery proves that good all triumphs, and just as St. John the Baptist called before Christ, I see St. Faustina calling out before World War II for us to go to Christ through the Divine Mercy Chaplet (55).

Mercy and love go hand in hand. All those that request mercy and show love will be given it. God is the perfect mercy and perfect justice, his “His mercy endures forever”, and I would say before His justice is always His mercy.

Freedom can only be reacted through truth, and it is this realization in the perfect truth of Jesus Christ that God frees us from sin and suffering. I think we should mention the atonement of sins at this point.

On page 40, it states, “Freedom is for love: its realization can even reach heroic proportions.” I believe true freedom is found only in God because if we are free from sin then we truly are free. Many people today enjoy the beatific vision (sainthood), and this includes those that have given their lives for the faith, martyrs. These martyrs, though, still possessed a strong freedom. The world today believes freedom is in doing what you want, but I view freedom as one world: Sainthood, where we are truly free from Sin, Satan, and death. Some will say we are not free if bound in servitude to the Gospel, but in Heaven all bondage ends and we enjoy the freedom of Christ on the Cross. Christ was held firmly to the Cross by our sins, but all the freedom Christ had He gave for us so that we might have eternal life.

Simply, there is no freedom without truth, and this truth is only found in the perfect truth of Jesus Christ. This realization of truth leads us to the virtues of the faith and in turn we show love and mercy. This love is characteristic of what freedom is according to Aristotle: “…is a property of the will which is realized through faith.” If we have realized the real truth then we must be in God’s grace and serving Him; each of the two greatest Commandments include one word “love”.

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"Memory and Identity" by Pope John Paul ll

I'm currently reading this book and will be posting thoughts by Our Holy Father along with my opinions for the next few days. Here is my summary/opinion of part one:

Before anything else, I must state an important conclusion I realized through this book. When we speak of good, we must understand God equals the supreme good; all things God has done and creates is good and perfect serving a definite purpose, and if we are to rate any action in relation to good or lack there of good (evil), we must have a definite value of the perfect good, which is God. I can therefore conclude that sin, an offense against God, is evil because it is against God’s perfect will. I also can conclude that this action of sin is evil, defined as a complete lack of good (the Supreme good being God), so evil must also be the lack of God. Therefore any sin, no matter how small, infinitely offends Our Good God.

Though, evil and good are opposite, all things were both created perfect until they where stained with original sin due to the sin of Adam. Both those that are good and those that are evil, though, still serve a purpose and live together as in the parable of wheat and weeds; “God is mercy” as St. Faustina said, so there never exists a loss of hope to be forgiven for our sins, which Christ bore on the Cross.

Other fundamental concepts I studied included St. Augustine’s view of original sin: “self-love to the point of contempt for God”, which is fought through “love for God to the point of contempt of sin” (6, 7). The Holy Spirit is a powerful armor against hell, which shows us evil and how to fight it; through the outpouring of grace, we are able to live in life through the Holy Spirit’s involvement. As is written on page 7, if we turn away the Spirit of God, we can not be forgiven for this offense because it is showing that we don’t want pardon of our offenses (Matthew 12:31). The Father of lies, satan, was also created good but became evil through pride, and in the Garden of Eden, he set us forth to suffer like him and be cast away. Yet, he failed in his attempt as God has redeemed us; satan views himself to be equal to God, which is the definition of pride. Only through denial of self can we seek God that is why I believe pride to be the greatest of all sins because it prevents our redemption.

On page 8, Pope John Paul ll brings up the philosophical thought of Descrates, which is “I think, therefore I am”. This shows resemblance to how some view science, where it must prove God. But, science is merely the study of God’s creation not the study of God. As the next several pages show, if man uses this thought, he then views himself to be a deity (Genesis 3:5), but then who can decide what is right and wrong? In truth, only God’s opinion is absolute, so if people view themselves equal to God or if they view God as less than the perfect, supreme Creator then we have the rising of evil empires and ideas which include also include abortion.

To finish part one, on page 15, Pope John Paul ll talked about the evil being necessary for mankind. As I thought about this I concluded, without the cross there would be no hope of eternal salvation. Everything God creates is good; “I created both good and destruction. I am the Lord”. If God can take the greatest evil in human history – the condemnation of God to death and turn it into the greatest joy, then that is a miracle beyond words. The Cross continues to live on today as it is through the Cross that eternal life is reached, and we must all live the life Christ calls us to by loving everyone even our enemies so that we fight evil through good (Romans 12:21).

Furthermore, Pope John Paul ll stated that Redemption is the divine limit imposed on evil because it is through evil that the Cross shines. We are only saved through grace, the grace on the Cross, so through evil there is always a Cross. This brings to mind the fact Redemption is a task that must be worked on as we must pick up our daily crosses. All saints have had to bear his or her cross through life, but evil is powerless over the Resurrection.

Pope John Paul ll continued by saying there are 3 stages to follow Christ:

1. Observance of the Commandments
2. Development of virtues
3. Experience a love for God with growing intensity.

These are called the purgative way, the illuminative way, and the unitive way.

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A Catholic Supreme Court Justice

I have just read that if Justice John Roberts is confirmed to the United States' Supreme Court, he will be the fourth Catholic on the court at the present time. His position on abortion is a little unsure, but his wife is a member of Feminists for Life. I think that he would serve our country well, but I certainly would like to hear his answers to abortion; I certainly hope he would vote against Roe vs. Wade, which legalized the murder of an unborn child.

I'm currently reading "Memory and Identity" by Pope John Paul ll, and in that book he talked about ideologies of evil including WWII struggles, the Cold War, and abortion. The book is fairly good, and I will be posting summaries and notes from it on my site for the next few days.

Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain, Title Unknown

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