You would
hardly know that they were from the
debate the seven candidates participated in on 15 Sept. 2023. The words ‘Christ’ or ‘Christian’ were
uttered only one time that we heard, when Hunter Lundy said he was a Christian
near the end of the debate.
This absence
of the divine was particularly glaring during the discussion about abortion
that took up the first third of the debate.
Not once did anyone mention God, faith, religion, Church, or anything
related during all that time. Instead,
all the candidates and moderators spoke using cold, technocratic language that
would make Mustapha
Mond or Dr. Fauci proud – spoke with their anodyne air about women,
doctors, legislators (no fathers were mentioned that we recall), and that most
dehumanizing of terms, ‘fetus’.
That is an
unacceptable way to speak about the mystery and miracle that is human
life. A better way is illustrated in this story of a premature
birth that happened recently in Russia:
Our world is so strange and
incomprehensible. Some are horrified at the very thought of conceiving a child.
Our world is contradictory. Some can’t even manage one child. And in their
unexpected happiness—for every single child brings happiness, which is
sometimes misunderstood or understood with great delay—they see an untimely and
unnecessary burden. Others decide to have as many children as God gives them—as
it had always been customary in Russia since time immemorial. That’s why God
had always blessed Russia. And such people know with their hearts that where
there are children, there is Paradise; and the more children the more Heavenly
joy in the family.
She knew that. She knew that
she was bearing a precious child. She prayed with complete trust in the Lord.
But at some point she noticed that she was bleeding.
. . .
She did not want to lose her
baby, and so, turning with all her heart to the Almighty, she also turned to
doctors as well. At that moment she was fifteen weeks pregnant. The doctors
diagnosed placental detachment and admitted the mother to the hospital so that
she could keep her baby.
She asked all her acquaintances
to pray for her and prayed herself. She also consulted with a priest. For the
day and the hour could come when her baby would be born prematurely. His bodily
existence would be incompatible with our world, and then she would have to
struggle for his immortal soul.
We will never understand why
God, having allowed a child to be conceived in his mother’s womb, didn’t allow
him to be born at term and took him from our sinful world so early. The cause
of any pathology and premature death is the fact that our world was corrupted
by sin. We are heirs of a corrupted nature, and we bear the destructive
consequences of sin. But even the most fatal consequences are included in Divine
Providence. How can we fathom this? The
mystery of Providence will remain a mystery.
And that fateful day came. Her
pregnancy resulted in what medicine calls a miscarriage.
He was born. He was only about
fifteen centimeters (about six inches) long—a little human being. But so real,
with fingers and toes. It was a baby boy—her desired, beloved son. His little
heart was beating fast—she could see it. He was alive!
He fed from her through the
umbilical cord. He found himself in the external environment too early and
could not survive in our inhospitable, aggressive world. But there was someone
with him who was trying to overcome external aggression, because she loved him
infinitely—it was his mother. She looked at him affectionately, an infant so
dear and priceless. But, realizing that there was very little time left, she
immediately stretched out her hand to the holy water, which was right there on
the bedside table.
She had spoken about all this
with the priest in advance, and he had told her what to do and how to do it.
She had been preparing for this and praying so that she wouldn’t meet this
moment unprepared spiritually. Normal water would have been fine too. But she
had brought some holy water with her because she had wanted everything to be
holy in the sacrament. And now that moment came.
God bless!
It so happened that there was
no one in the hospital ward at that moment. And the mother perceived it as
God’s mercy, because a great sacrament was being performed there—the spiritual
birth of a little human being into eternal life. Her own flesh and blood, her
sweet little one, who was now being born of water and of the Spirit (Jn. 3:5). And at that
sacred moment there should be no fuss, no screams, and no running staff.
The Lord arranged that no
outsider was present where the angels were receiving the newly baptized infant.
In the sacred stillness, in the secret silence of the sacrament the mother
performed Baptism.
“The servant of God Alexander
is baptized in the name of the Father, amen; and of the Son, Amen; and of the
Holy Spirit, Amen.”
With these holy words she
poured holy water on her son’s head three times, and the grace of God washed
him inexplicably and mysteriously. Glory to Thee Who hast shown us the Light!
The Life–Giving Trinity, the Indivisible Trinity, Whose name is Love, allowed a
newly baptized baby to be born into eternal life. Where death wanted to triumph
a spiritual victory shone.
We don’t even guess what the
Lord has entrusted us with. Human beings, created in the image of God the
Creator, participate in the creation of new people. Let no one think that only
the carnal is accomplished in the conception of a child. No, a wondrous mystery
of God is performed there. Bringing from non–being into being is a gift from
God, Who created the whole world out of nothing. Created in the image of God
the Savior, people participate in the salvation of new people as well. Parents
are entrusted with the lives of their children: parents name them; if they are
wise enough, parents will also introduce them to the mystery of salvation. God
calls parents to become like the guardian-angels of their children—that is, to
protect them from sin and nourish them with the life-giving dew of the Holy
Spirit. Let’s think seriously about how much is entrusted to us. So much that
it is terrifying.
But let’s return to that
ordinary hospital ward, which was transformed for a moment into a church of God
and stretched its vault to heaven. Eternity was united with a few seconds of
the sacrament so that the baptized infant would receive the blessings of
eternity. Now it remained for the holy angels to receive the soul of the newly
baptized baby from his weak body. His heart soon stopped beating. He departed
from our sinful earth. But it was not such a great tragedy here as there could
have been. For a baby, which is as pure as an angel, the true life is in
Heaven. An indescribable, profound peace began to reign in his mother’s heart.
Spiritual joy shone instead of despondency.
She thanks the Lord and
believes that it is the greatest mercy of God. For the child has departed from
the earthly world, having entered through the gates of God’s Paradise, given to
us by Christ out of His great love.
They gave her the baby’s body,
and she buried him in the cemetery next to her relatives. And the priest
performed the funeral service over the baby according to the order proper in
this case.
Our world is a mysterious arena
of struggle. Good and evil come to grips in a violent battle. Eternal destiny
is at stake, and the fruits of this warfare extend to our children as well.
But, by the mercy of God, there are spiritual winners even here.
There is an image of God in
every little child, just as the sun is reflected in a small mirror. And a child
himself is a priceless Divine gift.
So, fight for the lives of your
children. And fight even more vigorously for their eternal life.
There is a
gigantic chasm between the spirit of that conception and birth (and any
Christian conception and birth) and the spirit of the discussion last
Friday. To those on stage, a child is
not a miracle, a gift of God, a soul and a body worthy of baptism and salvation
and eternal life with God in Heaven. It
is a burden on a woman, and its life must be snuffed out and its remains
disposed of as biological waste per the all-wise god-doctor, lest it should put
any kind of restriction on her personal ‘freedom’.
. . .
The rest is
at https://thehayride.com/2023/09/garlington-are-any-of-the-lagov-candidates-christians/.
***
We would also
like to thank the folks at Identity Dixie for posting the previous essay
at their site:
https://identitydixie.com/2023/09/24/the-fruit-of-the-theory-of-evolution/
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us
sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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