A Nativity Poem from C. S. Lewis

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“The present life is a wrestling school, a gymnasium, a battle, a smelting furnace, and a dyer’s house of virtue” – St John Chrysostom

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2015

Holy Martyr Anastasia

Dear Ones

Blessings and best wishes for a sublime celebration of our Savior’s Nativity!

A Nativity Poem from C. S. Lewis

Among the oxen (like an ox I’m slow)

I see a glory in the stable grow

Which, with the ox’s dullness might at length

Give me an ox’s strength.

Among the asses (stubborn I as they)

I see my Savior where I looked for hay;

So may my beast like folly learn at least

The patience of a beast.

Among the sheep (I like a sheep have strayed)

I watch the manger where my Lord is laid;

Oh that my baaing nature would win thence

Some woolly innocence!

 

News from the World Congress of Families – December 18, 2015

  Both Houses of Congress Vote to De-fund Planned Parenthood

In response to the scandal over Planned Parenthood abortion clinics selling the body parts of unborn children they had harvested, for the first time, both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have voted to de-fund the abortion conglomerate.

Under the guise of helping pregnant women, the Planned Parenthood Federation currently receives $528 million annually from U.S. taxpayers – funding which could be given to thousands of community health centers. The appropriations Planned Parenthood receives go almost exclusively to abortions, which it performs at the rate of 320,000 annually.

The outcry over the sale of fetal tissue led to the historic vote. While the legislation isn’t veto-proofs, and President Obama promised a veto, according to Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser, “Tonight’s vote is a landmark victory for all who prioritize comprehensive women’s health over abortion industry profits.”

Dannenfelser said the Congressional action and the reconciliation process will keep the issue alive into 2016. “If Americans elect a pro-life president next year, and safeguard our pro-life majorities in Congress, this bill – and many others – could be law by 2017.”

For more news on the Congressional move to de-fund Planned Parenthood http://www.lifenews.com/2015/12/01/senate-votes-this-week-on-de-funding-planned-parenthood-democrats-exploiting-shooting-to-kill-bill/

For the Susan B. Anthony List https://www.sba-list.org/

European Commission Says Marriage Initiative Is Compatible With EU Rights Charter

The European Commission has certified the European Citizens Initiative “Mum, Dads & Kids” as compatible with EU law, including the EU Fundamental Rights Charter. Supporters now have six months to collect 500,000 signatures on the petition. If they succeed,  the Commission will be required to send the initiative to the EU Parliament for a vote.

The Commission stated that the initiative “does not manifestly fall outside the framework of the Commission’s powers to submit a proposal for a legal action, that it is not manifestly abusive, frivolous, or vexatious and that it is not manifestly contrary to the values of the Union.”

A recent move to force same-sex marriage on all EU member states (by requiring that marriages contracted in one to be recognized by all) was blocked by Poland and Hungary. There are currently, initiative campaigns in a number of member states, including Romania, Slovenia and Switzerland, which would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, like the Mum, Dads & Kids Initiative.

The fertility rate in the European Union as a whole is only 1.5 (with 2.1 needed just to replace current population), due in part to the failure to form families.

https://c-fam.org/turtle_bay/european-doma-compatible-eu-fundamental-values-commission-says/

For more information on the initiative   https://mumdadkids.wordpress.com/our-initiative/

European Parliament Condemns All Forms of Surrogacy

As reported at Turtle Bay and Beyond, Resolution 114 of the European Parliament reads in part that the EU: “Condemns the practice of surrogacy, which undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity; considers that the practice of gestational surrogacy which involves reproductive exploitation and use of the human body for financial or other gain, in particular in the case of vulnerable women in developing countries, shall be prohibited and treated as a matter of urgency in human rights instruments…”

For more information https://c-fam.org/turtle_bay/eu-parliament-condemns-forms-surrogacy/

Why the High US Divorce Rate Despite Record Numbers of Marriage Counselors?

In his book “The Search for Domestic Bliss: Marriage and Family Counseling in 20th Century America,” author Ian Dowbiggin argues that marriage counselors are often part of the problem. Dowbiggin told Mercatornet.com that rather than trying to save marriages, these counselors too often prioritize the happiness of individuals over other considerations — called the “consumer” model of marriage.

In his resaerch, Dowbiggin discovered that Emily Mudd, founder of the Marriage Family Counseling Movement (MFC) was also an advocate for legalized abortion, population control and eugenics — much like Planned Parenthood icon Margaret Sanger.  Dowbiggin told Mercatornet: “Mudd’s career in MFC indicates that she was driven by an ideological faith  that individuals could be liberated by re-defining and re-organizing social institutions like marriage along the lines of self-fulfillment and self-esteem. In other words, marriage itself would be a vehicle of major reform.”

For the Dowbiggin interview, go to http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/desperately-seeking-domestic-bliss/17350

Divine Services

Tuesday 5pm Vespers and Little Compline with Forefeast Canon

Wednesday 6pm Vespers and Little Compline with Forefeast Canon

Thursday 9am Royals Hours, Typika, and Vesperal Liturgy fo St. Basil for Christmas Eve

Thursday 1030pm Nativity Orthros, 1130pm Nativity Liturgy

Saturday 8am Orthros, 9am Liturgy for the Synaxis of the Theotokos, 530pm Great Vespers

Forgive me.

Fr Josiah