Two Edge Talk

The Groaning of the Church

Pope Benedict and Tim talk this week about Romans 8:22-25.  Lest you misread that sentence and think that the two of them have chatted, unfortunately, they've been playing phone tag and have missed connections.  But, in this podcast, Tim does talk about the Pope talking about this passage of Romans:

"Yes, we know that all creation groans and is in agony even until now.  Not only that, but we ourselves, although we have the Spirit as first fruits, groan inwardly while we await the redemption of our bodies.  In hope we were saved.  But hope is not hope if its object is seen; how is it possible for one to hope for what he sees?  And hoping for what we cannot see means awaiting it with patient endurance." 

So, there's the rub: "Hope is not hope if its object is seen."  No wonder our spirit often groans as we live this Christian life!

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Audacious Hope?

On the eve of the Pope's visit to the U.S., Deacon Tim contrasts the vision of hope laid out by Pope Benedict versus the vision of hope that seems to be capturing the imagination of American voters.  The idea of "change" that is sweeping the country actually has its roots in the French Revolution.  Is this the change we're looking for?

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Cocktail Party Talk

Want to get your name on the "Don't Call" list for cocktail parties?  Have we got a podcast for you - one full of religion and politics!  If you're a Catholic having trouble wading through all the issues of picking your candidate, it's not surprising - there isn't a candidate out there who lines up perfectly.  It is important, however, to realize that how you vote is just another extension of your faith.  One's faith, well-lived, should infiltrate every moment of his life, including (maybe especially) that time in the ballot box. 

Here's someone else who wouldn't be too welcome at a cocktail party:

 "But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. "

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