Is Cuomo Catholic?

"Now, those who deny that marriage is holy, and who relegate it, stripped of all holiness, among the class of common secular things, uproot thereby the foundations of nature, not only resisting the designs of Providence, but, so far as they can, destroying the order that God has ordained. No one, therefore, should wonder if from such insane and impious attempts there spring up a crop of evils pernicious in the highest degree both to the salvation of souls and to the safety of the commonwealth."
– Excerpt from Pope Leo XIII "On Christian Marriage" (1880)

Cuomo and live-in girlfriend Sandra Lee after both received communion from the Bishop of Albany Jan 2, 2011

The subject of "gay marriage" is once again in the headlines. This time it is a push by Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo to legalize "gay marriage" in New York. This is despite the fact that Cuomo claims to be Catholic.

Archbishop Dolan of New York has published a statement on his blog against legalization of "gay marriage", but in my mind his statement is weak and deeply flawed. He seems to be saying that gay couples should have all the legal rights of a married couple except that their relationship shouldn't be called a marriage. This is basically the "civil union" concept which we have seen is just an intermediate step towards gay marriage. Why for example should a gay sex partner be entitled to health insurance? Who will ultimately pay for this added benefit? What will keep someone from declaring to be a "partner" just in order to get the benefits?

And not surprisingly, Cuomo is also pro-abortion and supported by Planned Parenthood. Dr. Edward Peters, a top expert in Catholic Church law said, "based on what is widely reported about the governor’s consistent support for abortion in New York, I see no other way to interpret his abortion-related conduct except as sufficient to warrant withholding of holy Communion from him under Canon 915." Cardinal Raymond Burke, who heads the highest court at the Vatican said, "We find self-professed Catholics, for example, who sustain and support the right of a woman to procure the death of the infant in her womb, or the right of two persons of the same sex to the recognition which the State gives to a man and a woman who have entered into marriage. It is not possible to be a practicing Catholic and to conduct oneself publicly in this manner."

I have to say that I'm very disappointed in Archbishop Dolan. Not only is he the Archbishop of New York, but he is also the recently elected head of the American Bishops. He needs to demonstrate more leadership on this issue. In addition, to everything else there has been an ongoing controversy over whether Governor Cuomo should be allowed to receive communion since he is divorced and living with his girlfriend. The teachings of the Catholic Church are quite clear on this matter and yet no one in the New York Catholic hierarchy has stepped up and confronted Governor Cuomo. Is excommunication a thing of the past?

In contrast former New York Giant David Tyree (who is Christian but not Catholic) has come out with the following strong and heartfelt video statement in support of marriage as defined by human society throughout history. He is very clear that underlining his support of marriage is his strong religious beliefs. And he states clearly that changing the definition of marriage will have profound effects on American society and our practice of religion.



Related articles:

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• On marriage
• Prop 8 Round 3
• The end of "one man, one woman"?
• The meltdown of the family
• "What is Truth?"
• The Manhattan Declaration
• The attack of the "humanists"
• Pope Leo XIII on marriage
• Marriage and the Mass

The Word made Flesh

Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.... For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
 – John 1:1,14,17

There is no doubt that St. John intends us to compare this opening statement in his Gospel with the first line of the Bible: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

I was contemplating on "the Word" this morning trying to understand why John used that term in describing the Son, and it seemed to me that what he was saying was that along with the physical world there is also a spiritual world that has always existed. I also recalled from Genesis that God created Man in His own image. (Genesis 1:27)

The one thing that truly sets Man apart from the other animals is his ability to reason. So it seems to me that this is a clue about the sense in which Man was created in the "image" of God.

This brings us back to "the Word" which is normally associated with language. Words, language, ideas, thoughts, concepts. This is as close to God as we can come while we are still living on this earth.

I imagined springing from "the Word" all the ideas, thoughts, concepts that ever were and ever shall be. "The Word" then is Truth. It is the fountainhead of Truth from which all other truths flow.

But rather than a fountain, I envisaged something more like a tree with branches reaching up into the sky. And when we think we have invented something new, it is just that we have discovered a new branch of that tree.

I wasn't thinking of the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" of Genesis, but now that I write down these thoughts it does seem like there is a similarity.

(And here is something else to think about. Adam and Eve were prohibited from eating from the Tree, but Christ welcomes us to eat His Flesh.)

I was also thinking about how as Man acquires knowledge, he is then faced with the challenge of using that knowledge for good or evil. And also that there is some knowledge that seems to be inherently evil. And yet it must all arise from the same source of Truth, which is God.

When God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden, he placed an angel with a flaming sword to guard the Tree of Life.  (Genesis 3:24) The Tree of Life is the other tree in the Garden of Eden that was forbidden. If Man was to eat its fruit then he would have eternal life.

US Air Force: Flaming sword patch from 1946

Providentially, there was an angel with a flaming sword that appeared in the third message of Fatima. It threatened to destroy the world, but Our Lady interceded and kept the angel from setting the world on fire.

Considering that mankind is uncovering the secrets of Life itself through biotechnology, could this angel of Fatima be the same angel described in Genesis that is protecting the Tree of Life?

Common sense says that genetic sciences should be approached with extreme caution. And yet we have plunged headlong into this new science as if it was just another new technology that could be exploited for profit and personal gain.

From contraception, to population control, to eugenics, to IVF, to stem cell research, to cloning, to transhumanism – nothing is declared totally off limits.

Technology is the new idol. Progress is the new goddess.

Painting (1872) titled "American Progress" (notice the telegraph line)

In ancient times the Bible tells us that men built a tower to try to reach Heaven. This was the Tower of Babel which God condemned.

Now, once again we try to be like gods through our technology. We seem headed towards a technological apocalypse called the Singularity. Increasingly it seems that we are no longer masters of our own technology, rather it is technology that has become our master.

UPDATE – June 16, MMXI:

After writing this post I did an online search for 'Jesus' + 'Tree of Knowledge'. I found that Jesus is most associated with the Tree of Life rather than the Tree of Knowledge. Indeed Jesus comes to bring us eternal life. Not wishing to give up on my idea of an association of Jesus with the Tree of Knowledge, I imagine that there is a link through Jesus' statement, "I am the Alpha and the Omega." (Revelation 1:8) So that the Tree of Knowledge becomes the Alpha (the beginning) and the Tree of Life becomes the Omega (the end).

This also fits in well with the fact that Revelation (the last book) speaks of the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem. (Revelation 22:2) And in the final chapter of Revelation Jesus repeats the statement made in the first chapter of Revelation, "I am the Alpha and the Omega." And this time Jesus adds,  "the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

The next verse from Revelation affirms, "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and that they may enter the city by the gates." Clearly this is a reference to Jesus being the Tree of Life which grants eternal life.

The book of Revelation continues, "Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practices falsehood." The reference to "sorcerers" could very well be applied to some of the scientists of today who claim that God does not exist. I'm thinking specifically of recent statements by Stephen Hawking. This type of statement goes beyond science which must rely on proof and wanders into a practice of pseudo-science which makes claims which are not based on rationalism, but on preconceived beliefs which are inline with ancient sorcerers that conjured up evil spirits to do battle with God.

Anyone who really loves the Truth must understand that there are areas of knowledge that are beyond the limited scope of human science.

And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy."

"Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practices falsehood.
 – Revelation 22:10-15

Jesus, help me

The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord... Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ... Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body.... You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
 – excerpts from 1 Corinthian 6:13-20

I was watching Women of Grace on EWTN, which I highly recommend to everyone, and the topic was pornography addiction. This is perhaps the most pervasive addiction of our times.

If ever there was an addiction which is satanic in origin, it is most certainly the addiction to pornography. And the only effective form of healing for this is through the help of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The effect of this malady of the soul is the degrading of the individual person as he or she feels the shame of this addiction, and the degrading of others who are viewed as mere sexual objects. The effects are felt throughout society as men and women begin to view their relationships through a distorted lens; and ultimately families are afflicted by divorce, and children suffer through the pain and humiliation of a broken home.

As someone who is recovering from a pornography addiction, I can tell you that for me it was impossible to tackle this addiction on my own. By myself I would never have been able to climb out of the hole of self-destruction that I was in. It was only through the grace of Christ that I was able – not to climb out, but to see the walls of my spiritual prison just disappear.

It would be wrong to say that I was set free. In fact I accepted to voluntarily – through my own free will – become a servant of Christ. I gave up the "freedom" that the world offers. Instead, I chose to follow Christ along the narrow and hard path; I chose to become one of his sheep and join his flock; I chose to answer the call of the Good Shepherd.

We need to strengthen ourselves every day through prayer, but we also need to remember to ask for God's help at the moment of our temptation. We need to ask Him through our daily prayers to "lead us not into temptation", but we also need to remember to ask Him when we are confronted with temptation to "deliver us from evil"; to free us from the snares and traps of the devil.

At those times we should not be ashamed to say, "Jesus, help me. Give me your strength." He can break any chain and free us from any prison. He is the rock that we can climb on to save us from drowning in a raging sea. He is our shelter from the storm and our strength.

This is the reason that He came to earth and suffered and died for us; to save us from sin and to redeem us when we have fallen; to lead us along the path to eternal life.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 -----

Epilogue

Why is the bottom line on the Orthodox Cross above slanted? I read a few explanations which I found to be unsatisfactory.

For me it represents the path from earth to heaven, by following in Christ's footsteps. That is why it is inclined, and why it is at the level of Christ's feet. Or another way of saying the same thing is that Christ is "the way" to heaven. He is the bridge between our temporal earthly lives and our eternal lives in heaven. This is a reminder of when Christ says "I am the way... no one comes to the Father, but by me."

It also recalls Revelation 21 and the new Jerusalem. On one side is the old earthly Jerusalem where men sacrificed animals at the altar, and on the other side is the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven where the Lamb of God is sacrificed at the true altar of God.

Finally, it recalls the words of the Messiah, "Follow me!" Jesus repeats these words over and over in the Gospels. It is the last thing that He says to Peter in the Gospel of John. It is the first thing he says to Simon Peter and his brother Andrew in the Gospel of Matthew. And He affirms in John 10:27-28 that if we respond when He calls out "Follow me!" then we will be given eternal life.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.
 – John 10:27-28

Like any Icon, the image is intended to be contemplated on, and to become a "window to heaven".

Do you love me?

St. Peter with "the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven"

"Simon, son of John, do you love me?"
 – John 21:17

I was thinking about Fatima again. And I was trying to understand the desire of Francisco Marto (one of the three shepherd children of Fatima) to console Jesus. I found it so strange, that I thought that he must have -- because of his young age and immaturity -- misinterpreted the visions.

And yet that seemed like too simple of an answer. There must be something to Francisco's  desire to console Jesus that I did not understand. After all Francisco and his little sister have been beatified by the Church and so he couldn't be totally mistaken on this very important point.

The answer came to me -- somehow, I don't remember exactly how -- that Francisco was responding to the many insults hurled at Our Lord. Just think about the multitude of insults hurled at Jesus and the Church daily in our modern society that denies the very existence of God.

And yet Our Lord is forgiving and only desires for us to come to him in a sincere and humble act of faith.

I'm not saying that we should think of Jesus as being sad and therefore in need of consolation, but I think we should consider that He is being crucified again and again. And in that spirit we can offer our prayers for Him. Actually, I had an image in my mind of His Sacred Heart receiving multiple wounds -- like arrows.

He gladly suffers to redeem our sins, but these are like rocks thrown at Him by the very ones that He is trying to save from eternal damnation. I'm reminded of the words of Jesus to St. Paul, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"

Tonight as I was reciting the Our Father slowly and deliberately, I heard a new meaning in the words, "forgive us our trespasses".

I had been thinking in terms of offenses that I might have committed against others -- especially since this is followed by, "as we forgive those who trespass against us". But I now think of this more clearly as offenses against God Himself.

When we ask God to "forgive us our trespasses", we recognize His authority. And this is one way that we can console Our Lord. We can also offer prayers as Jacinto did asking that we may bear the suffering of others, for their "trespasses" against the Lord. We can make small sacrifices in our lives and offer them as a consolation to Our Lord, to help heal His wounded heart.

Jesus asked Simon Peter three times, "Do you love me?" And after Peter's replies Our Lord responded:
 – "Feed my lambs."
 – "Tend my sheep."
 – "Feed my sheep."

If we truly love Jesus -- as we say we do -- then we must be willing to sacrifice ourselves for others. This is what the "good shepherd" does for his flock. And like Peter we are called by Christ to sacrifice ourselves for the good of others.

Purgatory

Mother Teresa

"O, my Jesus. Forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven – especially those in most need of Thy Mercy."
– Prayer of Our Lady of Fatima

We would all like to think that upon our deaths we will immediately enter into Heaven. We all imagine ourselves to be "good" persons and deserving of a place in God's Kingdom. Very few people these days even believe in Hell.

If there were only a Heaven and a Hell, then very very few of us would make it into Heaven. Only the saints would be invited to sit at the table and share in the Supper of the Lamb.

But, Holy Mother Church tells us that there is another way for us to enter into Heaven. It is not an easy way. It is through Purgatory.

Purgatory is a place of fire and burning, but unlike in Hell the souls there are full of hope. They are going through a purification by fire, where their sins are being burned away; leaving them eventually in a state of pure white holiness so that they can be received by the saints into Heaven.

I imagine that Purgatory must be a very busy place these days. The false teachings of the past few decades have led astray Christians by the boatload. There have never been so many deceased souls who led their lives full of good intentions, but which were deceived into turning away from the face of God.

This is bad news for them, but can be good news for us. All those souls in Purgatory are still part of the body of the Church. They are called either the Church Suffering, or more fittingly the Church Penitent. If they are to progress in their journey towards Heaven they must spend their time in prayer asking for forgiveness.

And they are assisted by our prayers for them. We – the living here on earth – are the Church Militant.

I just learned something interesting, that at the same time we are praying for them and guiding them towards Heaven, they in turn are praying for us so that we won't imitate them in the error of their ways.

Just think of the multitude of souls praying in Purgatory for us right now so that we can avoid the sins of the "sexual revolution". This is a cause of great hope for us, even as the clouds gather and the skies darken.

I imagine though that there are some stubborn souls in Purgatory who refuse to recognize their sins and to pray for forgiveness. How long will it be before they find themselves – instead of on the path to Heaven – on the path to Hell; not through the condemnation of God, but through their own choosing.

We can pray for those souls and ask the angels and saints looking over them to apply the fires of salvation in such a way so as to melt their hardened hearts. Then it is up to those souls to realize that the piercing pain that they are experiencing is a loving, healing pain and not the cruel pain of torture. It is a form of spiritual surgery which requires time to heal, followed by a period of spiritual rehabilitation through the exercise of prayer.

Imagine the extreme gratitude of those suffering souls, in knowing that they have allies among the Church Militant (us) who are praying for them. In turn they will pray for us from their privileged position in the afterworld. And they can show us the error of their ways so that we don't fall into the same snares and traps of the devil.

We all have loved ones who have passed away that we sometimes wonder about with regards to their fate in the afterlife. They may be relatives or friends; or perhaps it was some famous person that we admired.

We can comfort and console them in their spiritual sickness through our prayers. And give them the strength to bear the pains of redemption; and to never lose hope in God's promise of an eternal life in Heaven.

Mother Mary, comforter of souls in Purgatory, pray for us.

Related posts:

• Our Lady of Fatima

Pray for Church in China

[God] desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
– 1 Timothy 2:4

Today, in an unusually blunt and straightforward message, Pope Benedict XVI criticized the persecution of Catholics by the government of China, and asked all Catholics worldwide to pray for the Church in China.



The Vatican's response to increased persecution of Catholics by the Chinese authorities has been to become increasingly vocal in its support of the Church in China. For example, this month's missionary prayer intentions are: "That the Lord may help the Church in China persevere in fidelity to the Gospel and grow in unity."



China has created its own "official Catholic Church" which is called the Catholic Patriotic Association. This state sanctioned institution does not recognize the authority of the Pope. It claims authority to ordain its own bishops who inevitably have strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The true Catholic Church in China which remains loyal to the Pope and to the Catholic Church worldwide, is forced to live an underground existence.

May 24th is the feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians which is celebrated throughout China. It has traditionally been a day of pilgrimage to the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai. But since 2008, the Chinese government has forbidden members of the underground Chinese Church from celebrating pilgrimages to the Shrine of Sheshan.

Our Lady of Sheshan

Following is the complete statement from the Pope on the Church in China at the conclusion of his general audience on Wednesday, May 18.

-------------

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

During the Easter season, the liturgy sings to Christ risen from the dead, conqueror of death and sin, living and present in the life of the Church and in the affairs of the world. The Good news of God’s Love made manifest in Christ, the Lamb that was slain, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, is constantly spreading until it reaches the ends of the earth, and at the same time it encounters rejection and obstacles in every part of the world. Now, as then, the Cross leads to the Resurrection.

Tuesday, 24 May, is dedicated to the liturgical memorial of Our Lady, Help of Christians, who is venerated with great devotion at the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai: the whole Church joins in prayer with the Church in China. There, as elsewhere, Christ is living out his passion. While the number of those who accept him as their Lord is increasing, there are others who reject Christ, who ignore him or persecute him: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). The Church in China, especially at this time, needs the prayers of the universal Church. In the first place, therefore, I invite all Chinese Catholics to continue and to deepen their own prayers, especially to Mary, the powerful Virgin. At the same time all Catholics throughout the world have a duty to pray for the Church in China: those members of the faithful have a right to our prayers, they need our prayers.

We know from the Acts of the Apostles that when Peter was in prison, everyone prayed fervently, and as a result, an angel came to free him. Let us do likewise: let us all pray together intensely for this Church, trusting that by our prayers we can do something very real for her.

Chinese Catholics, as they have said many times, want unity with the universal Church, with the Supreme Pastor, with the Successor of Peter. By our prayers we can obtain for the Church in China that it remain one, holy and Catholic, faithful and steadfast in doctrine and in ecclesial discipline. She deserves all our affection.

We know that among our brother Bishops there are some who suffer and find themselves under pressure in the exercise of their episcopal ministry. To them, to the priests and to all the Catholics who encounter difficulties in the free profession of faith, we express our closeness. By our prayers we can help them to find the path to keep their faith alive, to keep their hope strong, to keep their love for all people ardent, and to maintain in its integrity the ecclesiology that we have received from the Lord and the Apostles, which has been faithfully transmitted to us right down to the present day. By our prayers we can obtain that their wish to remain in the one universal Church will prove stronger than the temptation to follow a path independent of Peter. Prayer can obtain, for them and for us, the joy and the strength to proclaim and to bear witness, with complete candour and without impediment, Jesus Christ crucified and risen, the New Man, the conqueror of sin and death.

With all of you I ask Mary to intercede that all of them may be ever more closely conformed to Christ and may give themselves ever more generously to their brethren. I ask Mary to enlighten those who are in doubt, to call back the straying, to console the afflicted, to strengthen those who are ensnared by the allure of opportunism. Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, Our Lady of Sheshan, pray for us!

-------------

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Truth

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life."
 – John 14:6

Oldest known icon of Christ Pantokrator

The one thing that distinguishes Christianity from all other religions is that it uncompromisingly seeks the truth.

It is from within Christian society that the scientific method developed. Why didn't this develop in other cultures that held other religious beliefs?

It certainly wasn't because of a lack of technical sophistication. It wasn't out of a lack of understanding of mathematics or physics. Many ancient societies had very sophisticated understandings of those basic sciences.

It is because those religious belief systems were not based on the divine truth. Ultimately, those religions were philosophical systems which required that the facts be twisted in order to fit into a humanly created concept of truth.

But because Christianity is born of the truth revealed by the Son of God, it was able to transcend human truth and gave birth to the modern sciences. It is not by denying God that man finds the truth, but by seeking the face of God.

The modern sciences have revealed physical truths that were hidden from the greatest intellects of the ancient world. They were unable to progress in their pursuit of the sciences not because of a lack of technology, but because of a form of intellectual and spiritual blindness.

Jesus, who restored the sight to a man blind from birth, opened the eyes of Christian scientists so that they could see the truth that was always present. When Jesus healed the sick it was not in order to bring fame to himself, but so that the people of his time would come to believe in the one true God.

And so perhaps when Jesus through the Holy Spirit revealed to Christian scientists truths that had remained undiscovered throughout the history of man, it may have been as a sign so that the people of the world would come to see Christianity as the one true religion.

Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the "Spirit of truth". There is one truth that rules the universe which is God. When God created man, He created us in His own image. And the universe is also created in way that reflects His truth. If we find beauty in the universe, it is because there is beauty in the fundamental truth which is God.

Physics teaches us that the universe is both simple and profound. No matter how much we learn about the basic building blocks of nature, there is much more to be learned. When we think we are approaching a fundamental understanding of physics, suddenly a whole new door opens which reveals new secrets but also reveals new unexplained mysteries.

At any time in our past, man's knowledge of the universe was only a sliver of what we know now; and our present scientific knowledge is only an infinitesimally small sliver of God's truth.

You would think that scientists would be the first to appreciate this. But once again, Stephen Hawking has come out with a statement denying the existence of God.

"There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."

How sad that Hawking can not come up with a better vision of a human brain than a computer. In so doing he attempts to convert mankind – the ultimate creation of God – into simply a machine. Hawking's vision lacks a soul.

Christianity is primarily concerned about the spiritual truths, because these truths transcend the physical truths. The scientific truths which we discover in the laboratory are mere physical manifestations of God's truth. They can never refute the eternal spiritual truths which Jesus taught us in His short time here on earth.

Without knowledge of the afterlife, life here on earth is without meaning. It is only when we realize that our earthly life is a pilgrimage towards Heaven that we can truly come to understand God's purpose for our lives.

Our lives are meant to be a preparation for our meeting with the God who created us. Our earthly lives are short, but our heavenly afterlife lasts forever. It is better to sacrifice for a short while than to suffer for all of eternity.

Is Hawking trying to tell us that rather than be "afraid of the dark" that we should embrace "the dark"? And what do you make of this cryptic answer from Hawking to the question "Why are we here?"

"The universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can't solve the equations, directly in the abstract. We need to use the effective theory of Darwinian natural selection of those societies most likely to survive. We assign them higher value."

It seems to me that there is more than a hint of eugenics (and possibly transhumanism?) in the strange phrase "Darwinian natural selection of those societies most likely to survive". It's odd that it doesn't seem to occur to Hawking that an unborn child that was found to be genetically susceptible to "motor neuron disease" might very will be the victim of "selection". He would not be assigned "higher value" but instead be "selected" for an early death based on "scientific" Darwinian principles.

It is only through God's mercy that such a child would be allowed to live a full life. Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) at the age of 21. MND is typically fatal within 2–5 years.

I'm sure there are many people praying for a conversion of the heart for Stephen Hawking. In the past he has been more open to the idea of God the creator. And I suppose it is no coincidence that the secular media plays up the atheistic comments of a well-known scientist. Most likely if he were to speak of his profound belief in God, then the mass media would pay no attention. It just would not fit the secular humanist agenda which the popular media has totally bought into.

It is sad because Hawking statements are an example of a disturbing trend towards a militant atheism that is not just satisfied with expressing doubt in the existence of God, but demands a total denial of God.

I am reminded of the readings from Sunday's Mass. If you think of sin as turning away from the truth of God, then you can see how seeking the truth leads us to God. And conversely how seeking God leads us to the truth. They are one and the same.

"Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.... Save yourselves from this crooked generation."
– Acts 2:36,40

Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips.
 – 1 Peter 21-22

"All who came before me are thieves and robbers... I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved.... I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
 – John 10:8,9,10