Front Line Moral

Authentic Catholic Moral Analysis and Commentary

Author: Edward Richard

Catholic Priest, Moral Theologian

Consecration to St. Joseph

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Act of Consecration to St. Joseph

by St. Peter Julian Eymard

I consecrate myself to you, good St. Joseph, as my spiritual father. I choose you to rule my soul and to teach me the interior life, the life hidden away with Jesus, Mary, and yourself.

Above all, I want to imitate the humble silence with which you shrouded Jesus and Mary. For me everything lies in that self- abnegation like our Lord in his hidden life, making the world forget me by my silence and my practice of virtue.

I consecrate myself to you as my guide and model in all my duties so that I may learn to fulfill them with meekness and humility: with meekness toward my brethren, my neighbor, and all with whom I come in contact; with humility toward myself and simplicity before God.

I choose you, good saint, as my counselor, my confidant, my protector in all my difficulties and trials. I do not ask to be spared crosses and sufferings, but only from self-love which might take away their value by making me vain about them.

I choose you as my protector. Be my father as you were the father of the Holy Family at Nazareth. Be my guide; be my protector. I do not ask for temporal goods, greatness, or power. I ask only that I serve with fidelity and devotedness my divine King.

I shall honor, love, and serve you with Mary, my mother, and never shall I separate her name from yours.

O Jesus, give me Joseph for a father as you have given me Mary as a mother. Fill me with devotion, confidence, and filial love. Listen to my prayer. I know that you will. Already I feel more devout, more full of hope and confidence in good St. Joseph, your foster father and my spiritual father. Amen.

What Makes An Expert?

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Have you noticed that you can find an expert to say just about anything? Check out this article commenting upon a blog post from the Hastings Center.

“In a context like the one we are enduring, where scientific evidence is limited and changing rapidly, disagreements among experts can be the rule rather than the exception. When people are asked simply to trust biomedical experts, there seems to be a discounting of the real possibility and the appropriateness of scientific disagreements. The exhortations might leave people confused, skeptical, and unsure about whom to trust.” Immaculada de Melo-Martin.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/trust-me-im-an-expert/13779

Oh, no, it’s not the Planet of the Apes. No way. Don’t worry.

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I am reading a couple of articles from the journal “Cell” in which research involving the blending of embryonic cells is reported. The research is based upon and similar to a good bit of research that has already been done involving other animals like mice, pigs, and sheep. Scientists have created organisms with cells from two different animals. In the human/monkey experiments the researchers are implanting human embryonic “pluripotent” stem cells into a monkey embryo, either replacing or adding to the mass of cells in the embryo that form the developing creature. So far, according to the journal article, all of this is being done “ex vivo” or outside the organism. In other words, the embryonic chimera is not being implanted into a womb. The scientists say that what they are doing is ethical and that no one has any intention of trying to gestate one of these things. The fact that the human pluripotent stem cells were implanted into a monkey blastocyst (embryo) is in itself immoral. Moreover, some bishops have indicated that human-animal hybrids should be treated as human. This means, of course, that one cannot simply destroy or experiment upon these individuals. This process of making chimera, far from being ethical, is a very troubling development. There are no realistic goals here in spite of what the scientists claim. Their claim is that they can develop organs for transplant this way. I suppose the thought would be to allow the embryo, then fetus, to grow in a monkey, abort the fetus and, then use its organs for human transplantation.

Scientists are Creating Embryos With Both Human and Monkey Cells in Shocking Experiments

Is it safe? Is it effective?

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In earlier posts I spoke of criteria regarding the distinction between the ordinary and extraordinary means of conserving one’s life. In order for a treatment to be considered ordinary, it must not be unreasonably risky and must be reasonably effective. Carlson brings up these two criteria in his opinion and analysis.

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6248922358001?fbclid=IwAR177t8heAM0cou3K4mxXDROjGwSavq_ZG23D036fL4SEJaYa50YSBx-CoA#sp=show-clips

The Fire of Christ, Risen and Exalted, Burns Away Evil: Happy Easter

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Here is an except from a beautiful homily given by Pope Benedict XVI at the Easter Vigil, April 7, 2012. Pope Benedict begins with a reflection on Creation, “Let there be light,” and then on the new creation and the coming of the New Light of Christ. Light makes our access to the truth possible.

“Through the sacrament of baptism and the profession of faith, the Lord has built a bridge across to us, through which the new day reaches us. The Lord says to the newly-baptized: Fiat lux – let there be light. God’s new day – the day of indestructible life, comes also to us. Christ takes you by the hand. From now on you are held by him and walk with him into the light, into real life. For this reason the early Church called baptism photismos – illumination.

Why was this? The darkness that poses a real threat to mankind, after all, is the fact that he can see and investigate tangible material things, but cannot see where the world is going or whence it comes, where our own life is going, what is good and what is evil. The darkness enshrouding God and obscuring values is the real threat to our existence and to the world in general. If God and moral values, the difference between good and evil, remain in darkness, then all other “lights”, that put such incredible technical feats within our reach, are not only progress but also dangers that put us and the world at risk. Today we can illuminate our cities so brightly that the stars of the sky are no longer visible. Is this not an image of the problems caused by our version of enlightenment? With regard to material things, our knowledge and our technical accomplishments are legion, but what reaches beyond, the things of God and the question of good, we can no longer identify. Faith, then, which reveals God’s light to us, is the true enlightenment, enabling God’s light to break into our world, opening our eyes to the true light.

Dear friends, as I conclude, I would like to add one more thought about light and illumination. On Easter night, the night of the new creation, the Church presents the mystery of light using a unique and very humble symbol: the Paschal candle. This is a light that lives from sacrifice. The candle shines inasmuch as it is burnt up. It gives light, inasmuch as it gives itself. Thus the Church presents most beautifully the paschal mystery of Christ, who gives himself and so bestows the great light. Secondly, we should remember that the light of the candle is a fire. Fire is the power that shapes the world, the force of transformation. And fire gives warmth. Here too the mystery of Christ is made newly visible. Christ, the light, is fire, flame, burning up evil and so reshaping both the world and ourselves. “Whoever is close to me is close to the fire,” as Jesus is reported by Origen to have said. And this fire is both heat and light: not a cold light, but one through which God’s warmth and goodness reach down to us.”

Pope Benedict XVI