For the Unborn..

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade a decision that has cost so many unborn babies their lives, and women, their dignity. As we enter into this day of prayer and fasting I have a few recommendations for books and movies with a pro-life message. The Atonement Child, by Francine Rivers is an excellent story of the effect of abortion on families all wrapped up in a case of one young girl who was attacked. unPlanned by Abby Johnson is her story of how she went from being a director Planned Parenthood abortion clinic to the Pro-life activist she is today. It is not a story for everyone since it does mention an abortion procedure that Abby attends in the first few chapters. Movies like October Baby and Bella also have great pro-life messages.

                                  Please pray for the unborn, those who have lost their lives to abortion
                             and for the women who have been lied to, Nina

If you like Sherlock..

Hi all, I can't believe we are over halfway mark in January. With all the snow, cold, and inclement weather I have been spending a great deal of time inside. After watching the series premiere of Sherlock I decided to watch again a few other British mystery series, one, being Foyle's war. I watched "The German Woman," the first in the series the other day. Christopher Foyle is Detective Chief Superintendent and is trying to become more involved in the war effort convinced that what he was currently doing was not good enough. Foyle goes on to find out that keeping of law even during a time of war is also important. For as he replies to his driver Sam's question of why should the death of a German woman matter as they were at war with Germany, ". Murder is murder. You stop believing that, and we might as well not be fighting the war... because you end up like the Nazis". Another episode showcases the antisemitism and pro-Nazi sentiment found in some of the British people. Sadly antisemitism can still be found today around the world.
                                                                 Have a good day, Nina

Martin Luther King Jr Day!!!

"Letter from Birmingham Jail,"

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all of the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would be engaged in little else in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.
I think I should give the reason for my being in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the argument of "outsiders coming in"
I am in Birmingham because injustice is here ...I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider ...
We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our God-given and constitutional rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward the goal of political independence, and we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say "wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos, "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger" and your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and when your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodyness"--then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience ...




You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, it is rather strange and paradoxical to find us consciously breaking laws. One may well ask, "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "An unjust law is no law at all."

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality ...
There are some instances when a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I was arrested Friday on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong with an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade, but when the ordinance is used to preserve segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and peaceful protest, then it becomes unjust.
Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was seen sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar because a higher moral law was involved. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks before submitting to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience.
We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. But I am sure that if I had lived in Germany during that time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal. If I lived in a Communist country today where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I believe I would openly advocate disobeying these anti-religious laws ...
I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are presently misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with the destiny of America. Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson scratched across the pages of history the majestic word of the Declaration of Independence, we were here ...If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands ...
Never before have I written a letter this long--or should I say a book? I'm afraid that it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else is there to do when you are alone for days in the dull monotony of a narrow jail cell other than write long letters, think strange thoughts, and pray long prayers?
If I have said anything in this letter that is an understatement of the truth and is indicative of an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything in this letter that is an overstatement of the truth and is indicative of my having a patience that makes me patient with anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.
Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.


I think this is an appropriate document not only for today on Martin Luther King Jr day it is appropriate with our current fight for religious freedom.  As Martin Luther King Jr mentions that   

            "there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws. 
            I would agree with St. Augustine that "An unjust law is no law at all." 
            Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine 
            when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares 
            with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out 
            of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas, 
            an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law."

As Catholics we are called to live in the world, but not be of the world. We are to work toward a society where God's law is at the center of all our laws. This letter is also known for its proposal of civil disobedience. 

                                                            Have a great day, Nina

True Love...

I have enjoyed the Heroes of Olympus up until I started reading House of Hades. One of the characters has turned out to be gay and have a crush on another male character. But what saddens me even more is the portrayal of love as something selfish and changeable. True love, as we see in Christ, is all about what is best for the other person, about sacrifice, and about the salvation of their soul. That is why whenever there is talk about homosexual relationships it saddens me because it is about okaying lusts, that is the hallmark of what the world views love as, lust.  I myself am a fan of fantasy and sci fi and a few of the series that I would recommend would be Bryan Davis's Dragons in our Midst and Dragons of Starlight; Donita K Paul's Dragon Keeper Chronicles; Meriol Trevor Letzenstein Chronicles for younger kids; and Ross Lawhead's Ancient Earth series for adults.
                                                                      Have a good read, Nina

The new Pink?

Two of the books I have recently read involve Pinkerton agents. One, Millie's Treasure by Kathleen Y'Barbo and the other, Gunpowder Tea, by Margaret Brownley. I enjoyed both books immensely. The first, Millie's Treasure continues the Secret Lives of Will Tucker series. Millie Jean Cope  is the quintessential bluestocking who longs to find acceptance of her scientific interests. First this leads her into the arms of Will Tucker now under the guise of a British nobleman. Who subsequently leaves when a Pink (a term for a Pinkerton agent), Kyle Russell, follows the trail left by Tucker to Millie's door. Kyle Russell and  Millie Cope soon find a shared interest in scientific theories and experiments lead them closer to Will Tucker and each other. I found Millie's character refreshing as she is not just a lover of knowledge and books but a keen interest in scientific theory.
    Gunpowder Tea by Margaret Brownley also features a Pink this time a girl, Miranda Hunt. Miranda Hunt has finally been given a case that she believes will do justice to her abilities, the search of a train robber known as the Phantom.  Her quest leads her to Last Chance Ranch where she has been ordered to apply as a prospective heiress to a cantankerous woman with no children. This is the third book in The Brides of Last Chance Ranch series which had told the story of two other prospective heiresses. Confusion reigns when misunderstandings between Miranda Hunt and Jeremy Taggert( a Wells Fargo agent) to believe each other is in cahoots with the Phantom. It is a fun read with lots of enjoyable characters. I also learned through reading this book that the Pinkerton Agency had fallen out of favor with the government and laws had been passed forbidding the government from hiring private detective agencies.
                                            Have a good read, Nina

New books for a New Year

"Lastly, that death, which threatens us every moment, must infallibly place us within  a few years under the dreadful necessity of being forever annihilated or unhappy.
There is nothing more real than this, nothing more terrible. Be we as heroic as we like, that is the end which awaits the noblest life in the world." Pascal, Pensées

   I  can't believe it is already 2014. As I have gotten older the years have sped by and yet I appreciate those moments more for their fleetness. I always have a list of books on hold at my local library so I always have something to read. I have recently found myself with so many books due that I have had to rush reading them before they are overdue. The quote above comes from a passage in The Soul of the Rose by Ruth Trippy. I really enjoyed the story of the book with its two protagonists Celia Thatcher and Edward Lyons who discussion of literature, poetry, science, and God reflect a bit of Blessed John Paul II's encyclical Fides et Ratio. Lyons represents the burgeoning world of empirical science.  He even subscribes to a "Popular Science Monthly" which is in fact the precursor to the Popular Science that we see today. Celia is the daughter of a preacher and brings forth the intertwining of faith and reason. It is a good story and somewhat reminiscent of Jane Eyre, it had me hooked from the beginning. As always I wish it had more of a Catholic bent but to learn more about the role of Faith and Reason as seen by the Church check out Fides et Ratio, a must read for all Catholics.
                                                              Have a good read, Nina

Happy Epiphany!!

The end of another Christmas and our entry into Ordinary time is both sad and exhilarating for me as we leave Christmas behind and put our best foot forward into a new Church year. Epiphany is at once a reminder of Jesus' belonging to the whole world but especially to those of Jewish faith. The fact that these Eastern kings journey to Bethlehem, the house of David, to find and worship the new king of Jews is a reminder that our salvation was revealed through the light and foundation of Judaism. Christ is not only King of Jews but He is also born in Bethlehem which literally means "The house of Bread". His subsequent discourses on His Body and Blood being true food from heaven can find an echo in the truth of this towns name. I also want to share a song that I have heard quite a few times over the last few weeks,"My Christmas Prayer," as sung by Bebe Winan and Rob Thomas is a beautiful reminder of all our prayers and hope for the coming year. Check out the link below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKzjaieItH8

                                                      God bless you and yours this new year,
                                                                               Nina