Tuesday, November 22, 2005

INSCRIBE LOYALTY
ON YOUR HEART

“Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart."

(Proverbs 3:3)

QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“Loyalty purchased with money, money can destroy.”

(Seneca)

“Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.”

(Woodrow Wilson)

"Loyalty is still the same, whether it win or lose the game; true as a dial to the sun, although it be not shined upon."

(Samuel Butler)

LIBERAL NEWSPAPERS
MISREPORT
PATRIOTIC RALLY
IN WATERVILLE

It was a simple story, one without the slightest nuance, but Maine’s most liberal newspapers still managed to get it wrong. The story involved a rally held over the weekend in Waterville to protest a “peace” group which had placed two thousand white flags in a Waterville veteran’s park.  On Monday, both the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel reported that the rally was a dismal failure, and that the only participants were a family of three who stood outside in the cold waving a tiny American flag, looking rather forlorn. At the same time, both papers ran a photo of a dozen or more “peace” protestors, who were all smiles.

Later in the day, readers learned the truth. The reporter for the newspapers had not covered the rally at all, which was held some distance from the married couple. Over a score of well organized, energized citizens stood cheering in a sea of American flags. 

How should readers account for the discrepancy between what actually happened and what was reported? Many political commentators have observed that liberal newspapers routinely underreport the numbers of people who attend conservative rallies, while at the same time inflating the number of those who attend liberal events. One explanation is that the liberal media always attempt to show the opposition as weak and divided, while trying to create a bandwagon effect for their own side.  

But to miss an enthusiastic and well-attended rally in favor of a family of three standing outside in the cold with a tiny flag is a record of sorts.  Perhaps the failure of the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel to cover the rally was inadvertent – another oversight which just happened to favor the liberal cause - but increasing numbers of readers are beginning to wonder.

MEDIA BEGIN
ANNUAL ASSAULT
ON THANKSGIVING

Over the weekend, the media opened their annual propaganda barrage aimed at separating the American people from the most meaningful and most American of their holidays.

Thanksgiving is of course the story of the founding of our nation. Since the story has, above all else, a religious meaning, it is subject to relentless attack by those who wish America to be a purely secular society. 

Not a single story in the media has provided an impartial, objective analysis of the meaning of Thanksgiving. Rather, the Pilgrims are shown as a bumbling, aggressive group of religious fanatics. One newspaper in Maine ran a piece on the meaning of Thanksgiving as seen by Mainers of different cultural backgrounds. Another newspaper ran an article mocking Thanksgiving as a particularly stressful and meaningless holiday.

All in all, the media seem to have pulled in their horns a bit this year, perhaps out of fear of a public which is fed up with political correctness. We can expect the worst tomorrow, the day before Thanksgiving, when the media will pull out all the stops and present the standard revisionist view of American history. Here is a preview of what we can expect, in the words of a few liberal and left-wing commentators.

“American Thanksgiving may be sacred to some, but it’s utterly profane to me.”

“The end of American Thanksgivings is a cause for universal rejoicing.”

“Nobody but Americans celebrates Thanksgiving. It is the most ghoulish event on the national calendar. No Halloween of the imagination can rival it….”

“I am revolted by the holiday known as Thanksgiving. I want to go back in time to when people lived communally… I look forward to the utter destruction of America… the machinery, the State, the capitalism, the Christianity…all that it stands for.”

THE MIRACLE OF THANKSGIVING

The RECORD extends its thanks to Rev. Dallas Henry for providing the following fascinating account of the origin of Thanksgiving. It is excerpted from Rev. Henry’s sermon, “The Miracle of Thanksgiving.”

“But that’s not the end of the Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving story.  Now listen to me. The facts I’m about to tell you next, are not the ones you usually hear in contemporary accounts of the Pilgrims’ history.  They’ve been deleted.  The reason is because what I am about to share with you, can best be described as an apparent miracle from God, and apparent miracles from God are not popular subjects on today’s campuses, and in institutes of higher learning.

The events concerning the miracle involve the days that followed the first Thanksgiving celebration at Plymouth.  What happened is that though the Pilgrims rejoiced that they had food to tide them over, and gave God the glory for his providential care, they ran severely short of food in the following months.  Just one month after their celebration, the first ship from home dropped off thirty-five unexpected people, called "Adventurers," but they brought no food, no clothing, no tools, and no bedding with them.

So, the Pilgrims, true to their Christian heritage, made the decision to go to half rations in November and share their food with the newcomers, with hopes that they would all make it to the summer. 

They were practically starving that winter; eating their tiny little meals; praying the whole time, but not one person was lost to starvation which was a miracle in itself.  Spring finally arrived, but the hardship wasn’t over yet.  There was a severe drought that lasted through the summer.  Week followed after week with no rain at all.  The crops had been planted and had sprouted and come up in the spring, and had grown about midway up, and now they were just sitting there dying in the fields. This particular crop was really needed after having such hard times in their first year and a half in America. The situation was desperate, and people’s hopes were starting to die. 

Not knowing what to do, Governor Bradford decided to have everyone turn to God by ordering the colony to set aside a whole day for nothing but fasting and prayer.  Now people, what I’m about to share with you, I was never taught in school.  In fact, growing up, I never heard or read this story anywhere.  It was on that day that the miracle occurred.  Here’s the actual account of the miracle, as recorded by Governor Bradford in his own journal:

"I may not here omit how, notwithstanding all their great pains and industry, and the great hopes of a large crop, the Lord seemed to blast, and take away the same, and to threaten further and more sore famine unto them.  By a great drought which continued from the third week in May, till about the middle of July, without any rain and with great heat for the most part, insomuch as the corn began to wither away though it was set with fish, the moisture whereof helped it much.  Yet at length it began to languish sore, and some of the drier grounds were parched like withered hay, part whereof was never recovered.  Upon which they set apart a solemn day of humiliation, to seek the Lord by humble and fervent prayer, in this great distress.  And He was pleased to give them a gracious and speedy answer, both to their own and the Indians’ admiration that lived amongst them.  For all the morning, and the greatest part of the day, it was clear weather and very hot, and not a cloud or any sign of rain to be seen; yet toward evening it began to overcast, and shortly after to rain with such sweet and gentle showers as gave them cause of rejoicing and blessing God.  It came without either wind or thunder or any violence, and by degrees in that abundance as that the earth was thoroughly wet and soaked and therewith.  Which did so apparently revive and quicken the decayed corn and other fruits, as was wonderful to see, and made the Indians astonished to behold.  And afterwards the Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing.  For which mercy, in time convenient, they also set apart a day of thanksgiving."

That people, is the miracle of the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving--the first Thanksgiving where the actual-real-historic proclamation of a day of thanksgiving was made by Bradford.  After three months of no rain, with dying plants, heaven literally opened up and the crops in a sense were born again.  In fact, the harvest that fall was so abundant that they ended up with a surplus of food and seed.

These facts concerning the Pilgrims aren’t often repeated nowadays.  Maybe this is the first time you’ve ever heard of the miracle of 1623.  But this is the season that Americans celebrate the Pilgrim’s "Thanksgiving," and so from now on, you can celebrate Thanksgiving knowing why the original Pilgrims in 1623, as Bradford said, "set apart a day of thanksgiving."

We should never forget that God in His great mercy has given us more than we deserve, and more than we appreciate at times.  It is human nature to take for granted the many blessings that we experience each moment.  Our tendency throughout the day, is not to thank God, but rather to complain.  But, God wants us to be thankful.  The scriptures exhort us to "give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever," (1 Chronicles 16:34.)  So, what God wants you to do is to give thanks to Him, and in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, we read this; "in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." You and I are to be thankful in everything. It is God’s will.” And in Ephesians 5:20, we are to be "always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father."

God wants us to always give thanks for all things so that each day; as Winslow said, will be "a solemn day set a-part and appointed for thanksgiving, wherein we return glory, honor, and praise, with all thankfulness to our God, which deals so graciously with us, whose name for these and all other his mercies towards his Church and chosen ones, by them be blessed and praised now and evermore, Amen."

LAY CATHOLICS START
NEWSLETTER IN DEFENSE OF
MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

The following is the text of a flyer circulated at a Catholic Men’s Breakfast on Sunday. Response to the flyer was encouraging. Anyone interested in the work of Lay Catholics for Marriage and Family are invited to contact Dr. George Rodrigues at CatholicFamily@maine.rr.com.

Lay Catholics for Marriage and Family
 
Maine Public Policy - Headed the Wrong Direction

Recent events in Maine have been discouraging for Catholic Families.   We've made little progress towards public policies that support  life, defend marriage, or protect the family.  This past year alone, Maine state government has rejected the teaching of sexual abstinence in our public schools and added special laws that affirm homosexual
behavior.  Now activists in Augusta are preparing the battle for homosexual marriage and town councilors in Brunswick are attempting to remove God's name from a fireman's memorial.
 
Catholics Can Make Things Better for All Families

It does not have to be this way.  Catholics make up the largest single religious group in Maine.  We have more votes and more financial resources than any other church in this state.  Most importantly, we have God's Word and His Truth together with the great deposit of church teaching.  With just a portion of our time, talent and  treasure, we can make the difference in a state that urgently  needs  public policies that support marriage and the family.
 
Find Out More and Join Our Newsletter

If you would like to be kept informed on public policy developments that impact the Catholic family, we would be happy to send you our  newsletter. We report on state and local issues, and let you know about ways that you can help to defend Church teaching, family values and traditional marriage.
 
Please call or write to Lay Catholics for Marriage and Family.  We will tell you more about our organization and how you can receive our newsletter.  Working together we can promote marriage and protect our children.
 
About Our Director

Dr. George Rodrigues is a lay Catholic living in Westbrook, Maine. He founded Lay Catholic's for Marriage and Family after becoming  aware of  the need for better communication among Catholic Laity regarding  public policy developments that are threatening Catholic families  in  Maine.