Abortion
Researchers: Abortion should be listed as a “major cause of death” in statistics by Calvin Freiburger
This Woman Had 3 Abortions So She Could Keep Making Meaningless Art by Nicole Russell – “Performance artist Marina Abramovic came to a tragic conclusion about what to do when faced with the consequences of one’s decision to have sex. Other women have found better paths.”
The Problem with President Obama’s Feminist Glamour Essay by Alexandra Desanctis
Zika Virus Opportunists by Judie Brown – “As the Summer Olympics begins … we thought it appropriate to reprint this excellent commentary that discusses the virus that elicits fear in so many.”
Debunking the myth of “back-alley” abortions by Susan Michelle
Extreme: Planned Parenthood opposes virtually all abortion restrictions by Susan Michelle
Mother of baby never expected to live: She is compatible with life and love
America’s first woman to run for president was a pro-life feminist by Luke Faulkner
Only 30% of Churchgoers Say Their Pastor or Priest Has Mentioned Abortion From the Pulpit by Micaiah Bilger
Bioethics
Brave New World Should Be Campaign Issue by Wesley J. Smith
X-Men: fine in the movies but not in real life by Michael Cook
NIH close to new policy on chimera research by Michael Cook
End-of-Life
19 intellectually disabled murdered in Japan by Michael Cook
After 63 years of marriage, Platte, South Dakota, couple dies 20 minutes apart by Courtney Collen
Devotional
Do I Have a Word for You! by Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz
Family Living
How To Reclaim The Lost Art Of The Family Meal by Cheryl Magness – “Here are a few strategies my husband and I have used to make mealtimes occasions for nourishing not only the body but the mind, heart, and soul as well.”
“Plastic, not paper”: Growing demands for pricey school supplies anger parents by Michelle Leibowitz
Bride asks man with father’s heart to walk her down aisle on wedding day
I’m a 79-Year Old Virgin and I’m Getting Married by Kaitlyn Chamberlin – “If I get two years with him, even just one month, I will die a happy woman.”
14 Teachers Share Horror Stories About Their Students’ Parents by Heather Finn – “#8 is just downright ridiculous.”
Video: A Sweet Little Girl Kissed Him. And His Reaction Was TOO Perfect!
Video: Photo Of A Teen’s Act Of Kindness For A Homeless Woman Goes Viral
Video: Toddler’s Plane Tantrum Bring Out The Best And Worst In People
Music
Tony Bennett Performs “This Is All I Ask” On The Late Show – “The iconic musician serenades The Late Show audience on his 90th birthday.”
Political
The Election and the Judgment of God – “And God Gave Them Over” by John Stonestreet – “I suppose you’ve noticed all the gallows humor going on regarding the presidential election. And for good reason.”
Sexual Purity
Sexually Transmitted Unease – How Casual Sex Works Bad Chemistry from Good by Terrell Clemmons
Worldview and Culture
Husband of Woman Brain Damaged by Rock Thrown from Overpass Kills Himself 2 Years After Her Injury
North Korea bans crosses amid fresh crackdown on Christians by Antony Bushfield
Watch as a Massive Whale Almost Collides With a Boat Full of Tourists by Rebecca Shinners – “This is what happens when you get up close and personal with the second largest mammal in the world.”
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A Poet Who Knew It
by James M. Kushiner
Executive Director, The Fellowship of St. James
(Source: Email, 8/5/16)
St. John Jacob the Chozebite, was born in 1913 to peasants in Moldavia and baptized Elias (Elijah). His mother died 6 weeks later; his father was killed in World War I. In 1933, he became a monastic novice; in 1934 he was conscripted into the Romanian Army. In 1936 he was tonsured a monk, then decided to remain in the Holy Land after a pilgrimage.
In addition to chores at St. Sabbas Monastery near Bethlehem, he was given the task of nursing in the sickroom, where he tended monks, Bedouins, and Arabs with humility. At night in his cell he would pray, read the Gospels, study the fathers, translate their works from Greek, and write spiritual poetry (in Romanian). He later said of his poetry:
“Words flow forth from my heart, like sparks off a flintstone, but this only takes place when the touchstone of the heart responds to sorrow or to joy, regrets for faults or gratitude to God … When I write moving lines, I sense a sorrow of heart, as though the verses were fragments torn from my heart; that is why the words run with tears.”
In 1952 he entered the monastery of St. George the Chozebite across the Jordan; in 1953 he settled in a nearby cave, where died on August 5, 1960.
St. John Jacob’s words about poetry are striking. I have been thinking about the powers of poetry because of something I posted earlier this week, suggesting we need to read literary works to write better. And because we read inferior texts, our writing suffers because we think less deeply, as Laura Moss noted:
writer Nicholas Carr argues that the time we spend on the web is even restructuring our brains, shortening our attention spans and making deep reading difficult.
As Carr wrote in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?“:
… what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation….
… When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances-literary types, most of them-many say they’re having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing. Some of the bloggers I follow have also begun mentioning the phenomenon. Scott Karp, who writes a blog about online media, recently confessed that he has stopped reading books altogether. “I was a lit major in college, and used to be [a] voracious book reader,” he wrote. “What happened?” He speculates on the answer: “What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”
To develop a Christian mind today takes effort, like gardening. We live in a society in which presidential elections have devolved from one or two-hour-long speeches carefully presenting a candidate’s reasoned positions to Tweets and ‘gotchas’. (Watching the 2016 campaign is like watching a Jerry Springer show, so I don’t.) Caught in a net of superficial froth, we rarely delve into the permanent things of the human spirit and human heart. Even fewer ascend to the place where the sharpened edges of the words of holy men and saints–informed by the Word of God–can bring us to experience “regrets for faults or gratitude to God.” Where there is never a regret, there can be no embrace of the pure, the holy. Where there is no gratitude, there can be no true knowledge of God. No poetry, no psalms.
Proud of the shiny new digital world of information at our fingertips, we feel amply informed but live in a spiritual knowledge desert. St. John Jacob went into a physical desert and thrived. According to our circumstances in life, we can pray, read, and water our hearts with the living water that is Christ. But we will have to take time to do that.