Christ Be With Me
– St. Patrick
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Christ.
May your salvation, Lord, be ever with us
Amen
Oh my. Ireland. You have believed a lie. That to be free and strong you must destroy life. Cain murdered Abel. Pharaoh murdered the male children of the Israelites. Herod murdered the young boys of Bethlehem. Sparta left to die those children unfit for its vision of itself as a warrior city-state. Nation destroying nation, bloody civil wars and industrialized mass murder.
Let us ponder Mary:
Birth of Jesus Foretold
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Mary submitted to the will of God, at great personal risk. She could have be stoned to death. Her betrothed husband could have left her. Joseph had to have a dream to stay with her, at risk of his reputation as a good man. Ultimately, at great personal anguish to Mary when her son was whipped, scourged and nailed to a cross for the sins of entire world. Are we “moderns” such frail creatures that a baby is such a tragedy to our lives that the solution is to destroy that life? What coarseness does this bring to our souls and our society? In what insidious ways has it crept into the psyche of our culture? And who will the knife fall upon next when fleshly pleasures require it? My life is secure in Christ. My life rests on the life, death and resurrection of my Lord and Savior Jesus who is called the Christ. The finished work of Christ. I have faith that He can save me. I refuse to bend the knee to the prevailing culture. Abortion is wrong. It is evil. It’s a consumption of the frail and helpless while feeding the uncontrolled pleasures of the flesh. How long will God endure this injustice? May God have Mercy on us.
Soli Deo Gloria
