Love Those Who Hate You

Yesterday I was browsing the Catholic blog American Papist and enjoying the blog's hilarious photo caption feature. A user started to comment in all caps how horrible it was that the blog was being funny about religious photographs. Due to the user's comments he was banned. I posted in defense of the ban since the owner of the blog has a right to do so if he wishes; a blog owner could even disable commenting altogether if he wanted to.

Due to my support of the blog the user that was banned came onto my own blog and posted many comments from different names. All of the quotes I am showing here were intended by the poster to be public since he used the "Comment" feature of this blog.

Hey ..., you're a total dunce. Your mother should be ashamed to know she gave birth to such a sissyfied nitwit.

You call yourself a Catholic? You're an idiot.

BTW are you a homo? Just wondering after seeing your photo.

Well, that's nice. For the record, I'm not a homosexual; I am getting married next summer to a beautiful woman. This person continued to flame so I changed my blog settings so that I would have to approve messages prior to publication on my blog. The poster continued ranting.

Next time keep you efing mouth shut birdbrain

But wait, there was more hate in my email inbox!

I see you're sooooo brave over at American Papist where you can shoot off your big mouth, but get you alone over here and you are a sniveling crybaby cowering in the corner with your "Comment moderation has been enabled. All comments must be approved by the blog author."

hahahahahahaha Which means we can post all we want and you just sit there and listen. We don't have to listen to YOUR bull**** you coward.

You're what we call a real piece of work.

This poster claims to be defending the Blessed Virgin Mary. Defending her is certainly honorable; I do agree. However, it is not right, in fact sinful, to personally attack those that you disagree with. Using silly cuss words certainly does not help any one's credibility. Thus, I feel like this is the perfect example to illustrate why hate is such a horrible thing.

The Bible instructs us about hate, "whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him" (1 John 2:11). Therefore I pray for the one posting such hateful comments. Through such expression of hate he is lost in darkness. Hopefully the hate coming from him will subside. Regardless, I forgive him and I love him.

Where does this darkness of hate lead? For many people, hate is temporary. For others, hate builds on top of itself and is very hard to overcome. For still others, hate is treasured and encouraged and will lead to dire circumstances. The hate of reproduction in our society has lead to the acceptance of birth control and lead to the acceptance of elective abortions. Many women despise their bodies. I have heard of women who say things such as "I'm so happy I got rid of my uterus" after having a hysterectomy. No uterus, no children. The hate of human reproduction leads to a hate of children. Many people will say things like "having a child now will take away my ability to have fun." Children are seen as a burden rather than a blessing. This has lead to people despising their elder family members who they need to take care of. Euthanasia is slowly becoming accepted. We need to reverse hate of our neighbors, family, children, and our own bodies. If we do not reverse this hate then hate will further damage our society in ways most people could never imagine.

I have personally experienced hate when I protest against the horror of abortion. Just by holding a sign passersby would yell profanities, show their middle fingers at me with pride, and throw objects at me with the intention of harming me. By the grace of God I have been able to respond with kindness. They are mad at me for reasons that I may not understand. Thus, I pray for the healing of their hearts.

Jesus tells us what we should do in response to hate, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you" (Luke 6:27-28). God bless the one who continues to send me hateful comments. I pray that your hate will be reversed and that you will have a peaceful life without sin. God loves you. Let us all go forth and reverse hate in our community and our society. Let us replace hate with a never ending supply of love. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16). Let us bring God back into our world.

God Made Me be a Nurse

When I was a child I had a dream of composing music for video games as a career. Today I am a Licensed Vocational Nurse in the state of California. Hopefully, in little over a year I will become a Registered Nurse. What made me decide to become a nurse? I certainly didn't do it; God made me do it!

Just three years ago I was a college student with my eyes set on being involved in the video gaming industry. Not once did I ever consider going into the medical field in my whole life. One day my fiance and I were driving around town. Without thinking I sputtered out the words "wonder if I want to be a nurse?" What the heck was I saying? I didn't want to say that! In fact, it felt like I wasn't the one saying it at all. Today I realize what made me say those words; God made me do it!

For everything that God does there is a reason. For me, the reason has recently become very obvious. I have consistently been Catholic and Pro-Life. Have I been a Catholic blindly? No I have not. When I was challenged by various anti-Catholic high school friends I took the time on my own to learn all I could about my Catholic faith. I found that the more that I was challenged the stronger my faith became. During my journey of faith I found one very strikingly serious issue facing our nation: legalized induced abortion. I have always known that my faith values unborn human beings as equals to those who are born. What I did not know was the reasons behind this belief.

I searched and searched for information about abortion. I looked at both sides of the issue. If my own faith was wrong regarding this issue I certainly could not remain a Catholic. I understood, in a vague sense, the hardships that many women go through prior to making the decision to remove the growing human being inside of them. Abortion was no easy decision even if it was legal and easily accessed. My question was "what right is more important: the right of an unborn child to life or the right of a woman to end a pregnancy?" In the end I came to an affirmation of faith. I knew that while many women may face hardships due to pregnancy it in no way entitled them to destroy a baby developing inside of their body. All people have a right to life. As such, the right to life trumps all other rights.

During my search for truth regarding abortion I gained a heart for all those involved in the dilemma. I had so much reason to care for pregnant women and unborn children. My own mother was pregnant with me inside of her womb! For her protection and sharing of love I am eternally grateful. I wanted to show the love that mothers have for their children to all people. These were feelings in the depth of my mind and soul. The only way that it came out of me was in my expressions and, eventually, in my strive to become a nurse.

While I was in nursing school I still had doubts about becoming a nurse. I have even had doubts about a nursing career very recently. However, what was clear was that it has always been God's intention for me to be a nurse. The clearest example that showed me that nursing is where I belong was when I went through the four week obstetrics rotation in nursing school. This was where I was able to see the beauty of life coming into the world. This was where I was able to truly show my inner-most emotions of gratitude to all mothers all around the world. The experience was absolutely surprising.

The first birth that I saw was that of a delivery by the surgical procedure cesarean section. During the procedure I saw the uterus outside of the woman's body. It was such a wonderful sight. Biology and spirituality mixes through the purpose of one organ. Biologically speaking, the uterus has no knowledge of what it does. However, the uterus has a divine purpose to nurture and bring forth life! Then I saw the baby being born. The baby was covered with blood and amniotic fluid from the procedure. I looked past these factors and saw a beautiful, perfect human being. Soon thereafter the baby was taken to the nursery while the mother was brought to the post-anesthesia recovery room. I was placed at the bedside of the woman and monitored her vital signs. I observed the nurse administer medications ordered by the obstetrician for the woman. After the woman stabilized properly she was transfered to postpartum where I assisted licensed nurses to take care of her. I helped her walk to the bathroom, monitored her condition, comforted her, gave her advice I learned during nursing school, and did what I could to aid in her recovery.

Following all that I did for her, the mother made sure that I knew how much she was thankful for my help. What I did for her fit so perfectly with my psyche.

I had a similar experience with a natural delivery. It was a magnificent experience. I aided in the advice for breastfeeding and watched in wonder at the newborn's perfect form. God is so great. I did all that I could for this woman as well. The experience I had with the first mother was reaffirmed with the second. God intended me to help mothers survive and thrive; God intended me to save the lives of unborn children through the science of nursing.

Does this mean that my childhood aspiration to compose video game music is dead? It is never dead. God has not stopped working in my life. God made me do it!

"The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." Luke 18:27