What Lawrence of Arabia Taught Me About Abortion
Praying at work isn't always easy. We've talked about this many times. We're busy and the day goes by and we haven't even thought about Our Lord.
One recommendation is to simply think of our Lord's name: Jesus. Just say it silently. That's a prayer. It shows our love for Our Lord. There are many other aspirations you could use too, for example, "All for You Jesus."
But maybe you want to pray for something special today. And maybe you have a minute or two - more than the usual few seconds - between whatever it is you're working on now and what you're about to tackle. So here's something you can always, ALWAYS pray for in those more-than-a-second-or-two-moments:
An End to Abortion
I'm reading a pretty good book about Lawrence of Arabia, Hero, by Michael Korda. If you like history, and interesting characters in history, especially someone you're somewhat familiar with, if only with his name, you might enjoy this book. I've seen the David Lean movie, "Lawrence of Arabia" more than once (we have the DVD) and enjoyed it. The book is more accurate and filled with more details.
In case you don't know, Lawrence was a British officer who - for reasons the book explains - wound up leading Arabs against the Turks (the Ottoman Empire) during World War I.
Why do I bring up T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia's real name)? Because during descriptions of some of the battles Lawrence fought during World War I, the author quotes directly from the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a book written by Lawrence himself. At one point, he quotes extensively from a lengthy description of a battle between Arabs and Turks and its aftermath, during which what we would consider atrocities were committed. Lawrence participated in these atrocities.
The detailed account of all this by Lawrence himself is quite graphic and disturbing to read. Part of one particular atrocity was the deliberate, gruesome murder of innocents, most horribly, little children. The author makes the point that Lawrence suffered from guilt over this for the rest of his life.
Atrocities occur during war. That's no secret. It doesn't excuse them. While circumstances may mitigate personal responsibility, people remain responsible for their actions.
After reading this harrowing account of the murder of children, I thought of abortion. What occurred to me was that war has a beginning and an end. Atrocities in war don't go on forever. Not so with abortion today.
Today, abortion is allowed under the law in the United States. There is no end in sight for this atrocity - the deliberate murder of innocents. It's going on all the time, every day. While you're working at your job today, some abortionist is working at killing innocent children.
So if you have a moment or two and want to pray for something special at work, how about a prayer that legalized abortion ends here in our country.
Even more, perhaps you could perform acts of reparation during the day. You could offer up any difficulties or even suffering you may encounter during you work in reparation for the atrocity of abortion.
I don't presume to know how Our Lord judges acts of atrocity during war. But I do know that He will judge you and me when we die. And I do know that we live in a time when the atrocity of abortion has been committed millions of times, and continues to be committed every day, day after day seemingly without end.
What must Our Lord think of all this? When we approach Him at Mass or in our visits to the Blessed Sacrament, can He hear our prayers over the screams of the millions of innocents who are systematically murdered in the most horrendous fashion in our country and in other countries around the world?
You know, it's one thing for someone to commit an abortion. It's something altogether different when the laws of a country permit this murder of innocents. No one pretends that atrocities committed in war are somehow legal. At best, people consider them the unfortunate, perhaps inevitable result of engaging in war. But in the case of abortion, what explanation, never mind excuse, can possibly be offered?
The horror of it all just happened to sink into my brain during my reading of Hero and so I'm sharing my thoughts and recommending something we can do during our busy days at work.
One recommendation is to simply think of our Lord's name: Jesus. Just say it silently. That's a prayer. It shows our love for Our Lord. There are many other aspirations you could use too, for example, "All for You Jesus."
But maybe you want to pray for something special today. And maybe you have a minute or two - more than the usual few seconds - between whatever it is you're working on now and what you're about to tackle. So here's something you can always, ALWAYS pray for in those more-than-a-second-or-two-moments:
An End to Abortion
I'm reading a pretty good book about Lawrence of Arabia, Hero, by Michael Korda. If you like history, and interesting characters in history, especially someone you're somewhat familiar with, if only with his name, you might enjoy this book. I've seen the David Lean movie, "Lawrence of Arabia" more than once (we have the DVD) and enjoyed it. The book is more accurate and filled with more details.
In case you don't know, Lawrence was a British officer who - for reasons the book explains - wound up leading Arabs against the Turks (the Ottoman Empire) during World War I.
Why do I bring up T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia's real name)? Because during descriptions of some of the battles Lawrence fought during World War I, the author quotes directly from the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a book written by Lawrence himself. At one point, he quotes extensively from a lengthy description of a battle between Arabs and Turks and its aftermath, during which what we would consider atrocities were committed. Lawrence participated in these atrocities.
The detailed account of all this by Lawrence himself is quite graphic and disturbing to read. Part of one particular atrocity was the deliberate, gruesome murder of innocents, most horribly, little children. The author makes the point that Lawrence suffered from guilt over this for the rest of his life.
Atrocities occur during war. That's no secret. It doesn't excuse them. While circumstances may mitigate personal responsibility, people remain responsible for their actions.
After reading this harrowing account of the murder of children, I thought of abortion. What occurred to me was that war has a beginning and an end. Atrocities in war don't go on forever. Not so with abortion today.
Today, abortion is allowed under the law in the United States. There is no end in sight for this atrocity - the deliberate murder of innocents. It's going on all the time, every day. While you're working at your job today, some abortionist is working at killing innocent children.
So if you have a moment or two and want to pray for something special at work, how about a prayer that legalized abortion ends here in our country.
Even more, perhaps you could perform acts of reparation during the day. You could offer up any difficulties or even suffering you may encounter during you work in reparation for the atrocity of abortion.
I don't presume to know how Our Lord judges acts of atrocity during war. But I do know that He will judge you and me when we die. And I do know that we live in a time when the atrocity of abortion has been committed millions of times, and continues to be committed every day, day after day seemingly without end.
What must Our Lord think of all this? When we approach Him at Mass or in our visits to the Blessed Sacrament, can He hear our prayers over the screams of the millions of innocents who are systematically murdered in the most horrendous fashion in our country and in other countries around the world?
You know, it's one thing for someone to commit an abortion. It's something altogether different when the laws of a country permit this murder of innocents. No one pretends that atrocities committed in war are somehow legal. At best, people consider them the unfortunate, perhaps inevitable result of engaging in war. But in the case of abortion, what explanation, never mind excuse, can possibly be offered?
The horror of it all just happened to sink into my brain during my reading of Hero and so I'm sharing my thoughts and recommending something we can do during our busy days at work.
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