Choice is a Gift from God

originally published in The Current May 19, 2007- re-edited October 20, 2012
"As they traveled from city to city, they handed on to the people for observances the decisions reached by the apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem.  Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number"  Acts of the Apostles 16:4-5

     As a lay person in the Catholic Church, I have learned that I need to look to the teachings of the Church for guidance, support, discernment, and decision making.  Although there are many sources of Catholic doctrine, especially the easy to read Catechism of the Catholic Church. it is through the daily and weekly homilies at Mass that much information is translated to the faithful.
     Today's clergy are commissioned and obligated, as were the early disciples, to teach the truth about our faith in God and how we practice that faith in our personal and public lives.  We as  lay people are commissioned with the same gifts and responsibilities in our ministries.
     Our private beliefs and actions have a direct effect on our public beliefs and actions whether we admit it or not.  When we reach intersections where public and private come together, it usually means we have to decide on a choice between right and wrong.
     It can be a time in which we are tested in the crucible of fire.  Several Catholic politicians are feeling the heat now because of their statements regarding abortion and their willingness to intrude into the religious practices of faith organizations that support life at every stage.  The U.S. system of government did not come up with the idea of rights and freedom of choice.  Choice is guaranteed, not because it is written in a Constitution, but because it is a gift from God.

     Even under the rule of the most horrendous leaders, people always have choices.  In a democratic system  of government (republic), it is probably easier to do, but choose we must.
     The Catholic Church teaches universally that life is sacred from the unborn to those at death's door.  We are not to choose who lives nor dies regardless of the stage of development, not the person's perceived value to society (as is done in genocides).
     Although it may seem like a given that life is sacred at any point, the false teachings that are pervasive in our culture, about abortion, have distorted the thinking of even the most well meaning Catholics. Some  Catholics in positions of government leadership are misleading the flock.
     Since the 70's and before, many have fallen victim to the "rights verses choice" argument.  Abortion has always been a personal choice, but we erred when it became a Constitutional right.  The HHS mandate that eliminates the conscience clause for individuals and faith practices is an abomination.
     If we were to find the mass graves of the people who were aborted it might help to put the pieces of the picture together so we would have a different perspective.  Since we don't bury the aborted babies, we have to discern the true teachings which have outlasted cultural and political trends.
     We must pray for clear direction and discernment.  Prayer leads to action.  In many faith based organizations, especially in the Catholic Church, one will find organizations which give spiritual, moral, and material assistance to those who choose life for the unborn.  One will also find organizations within the Catholic Church which help those who suffer the consequences of having an abortion.  Other faith practices do the same.  That is the main reason why the current pro-abortion leadership wants to diminish or extinguish the influence of faith practices.  Faith practices that value life at every stage are interfering with the enemies' plans.
     When we invite people to "come to the feast of heaven and earth, where saints and sinners are friends" we are singing the truth.  Life is a blessing.
     Share your own blessing of life with others by taking a public stand against abortion and the current health care law which does not value life from conception to natural death.  Take a stand for freedom.  It is the a matter of life or death.  God has warned us throughout history, as stated in Deuteronomy 30:19:
"This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live"


Choose the gift from God.  He sees the bigger picture and has a plan for all of us.  He created us for life.  The enemy would have us choose death.  Thanks be to God.

Marian R. Carlino
October 20, 2012