Mark P. Shea's Blog, page 1337

In this week of miracles....

Here is a story about a wonder of healing in our time.  Stunning and beautiful.  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ:

Coptic Church Forests

Turns out that a love of nature and green initiatives are as old as Christianity and not a kneejerk sign of eco-pagan sympathies except in the Land Where There Are Only Two Sides to Every Question.

Good Christian Novels Aren't Associated with the Occult

That's how we infallibly know that Harry Potter is evil when it uses magic as a literary device but the Lord of the Rings is virtuous, good and holy when it uses magic as a literary device.

Ahem.

Behold the Lord of the Rings Tarot Deck and the Lord of the Rings Oracle Gift Set, for all your Wicca Divination needs.


Moral #1: Don't judge a book by how quacks and cranks misuse it.

Moral #2: The Gandersauce measure we use for LOTR applies to Harry Potter too.

Fr. Robert Barron is great, as always

HT: The Deacon's Bench

John Allen

on post-tribal Catholicism.

Speaking of which, I just ran across a lovely apostolate called Salt and Light Media. Here's an introduction to them and here's sample of their work.

May their tribe increase.

How Do Feminist Abortion Zealots...

resolve their inner contradictions of the Chinese One Child Policy:

When a child is born, Kumei explains, the midwife prepares a bowl of warm water -- called Killing Trouble water, for drowning the child if it's a girl, or Watering the Roots bath, for washing him if it's a boy.

Of course, once you've embraced Murder as a right, it's not really that hard to muscle down Nonsense as a philosophy.

Some Guy Tries to Square Ayn Rand with Catholic Teaching

He fails.

Rand, like Marx, is one of those people who is much better at landing punches on what's wrong than on building philosophies to correct what's wrong. She is the photo negative of Stalin. Worshipful of Pride, ice cold, and a hater of God and the weak. You can cannibalize bits of what she says to land a few punches on Commies. But her philosophy, taken to heart, will damn you to Hell just as much as Stalin's will.

The Robin is Pretty Impressive

Just in case you weren't clear on this

If you are Catholic, the Obama Administration lies about your Church and considers the Vatican an enemy when it comes to its policies on human reproduction.

Prayer Request

A reader writes:

Hey, Mark – here's an update for your readers re: the recent prayer request for L----, with a complicated pregnancy:

Update on Mother and Baby at St. Vincent's Hospital as of Sunday, April 10, 2011

The father wanted to thank all of you for your prayers. The baby was delivered last week. The mother could still use some prayers as they are having trouble removing the placenta.

The surgeons were hoping the placenta would atrophy. It is not cooperating. L---- is on a drug that has her pretty wiped out. They are watching her closely. My daughter visited her and told her that there are probably tens of thousands of people praying for her. She wept.

We are grateful to God for her baby's life. Now we need another effort to get her safely through this. She has been in bed for three months and would feel terrible even without complications. Please pray that she get healthy and home fast and that there be no permanent harm.

Thank you,

Father, hear our prayer for the complete healing of this family in this difficult pregnancy and delivery, through Christ our Lord. Amen. Mother Mary and St. Luke, pray for all involved. And thank you, Father, for a safe and healthy baby through Jesus Christ!