Vatican panel condemns limbo to eternal dustbin - Los Angeles Times

Well I must read Dominus Iesus again but it seems to me that pope Benedict is being true to what he found as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation that the Church knows of and therefore He is the only way that the Church can truthfully teach.

The Church recognizes better than any of us the infinite love and mercy of God. So the Church has hope that Got has provided a way to salvation that we don't not know of.

This is what the statement on Limbo has done. It states that the Church dose not know how unbaptised babies are saved but she hopes our merciful and loving God provides a way we do not know of.

The media is making a big hubub about this statement as a change in Roman Catholic teaching. What this is, is a statement of the consistency of Roman Catholic teaching; or for the media at large, a non-issue that they will make an issue of.

As a fellow blogger blogged, this really only deserves a TINNY COMMENT.

"Although it doesn't actually dismiss limbo altogether," Weinandy added, "it argues for other ways of dealing with salvation for infants who died unbaptized."

Source: Vatican panel condemns limbo to eternal dustbin - Los Angeles Times

Never follow strangers!

My preparation for my ride is going average at best I have to say.  I was supposed to start riding 5 days per week this week but I had to hold it at 4.  My legs have felt like lead!  I did have a good ride today though.  I also learned something.  Never follow a rider you don't know; expecting them to get you where you want to go.

I got a bit disoriented on today's ride so I started to follow a rider who seemed to be going in the direction I wanted to.  When this happens, and it happens often, the rule is that I'm supposed to call my wife.  The problem with me and rules though is remembering them.  Well I lost my guide and I ended up in the projects', the hood, the barrio around downtown Denver!

As I rode through a group of 6 very large African American men (did I say VERY LARGE!) standing in the middle of the street, wearing blue 'doo rags' I realized that I didn't really blend in.  Nobody else was riding a fancy, red Spanish racing bike, wearing a  Helmet, gloves and goofy, skin tight, Lycra shorts.  Let's please try to forget the image of the milk white legs sticking out of them.  (A little honesty here is in order; even on Lance Armstrong cycling shorts look GOOFY!  The more high tech they are the goofier they look.)

My wife, who is full blooded Mexican, lived part of her childhood in that neighborhood.  Her Dad lived in that neighborhood.  My older sister lived there for several years with her children.  My Dad was brought up not in that neighborhood but just blocks to the north.  Sometimes I have gone there with my wife and her family or my family.  But only StrokeBoy would end up there alone, on a bike, wearing those damn skin tight Lycra cycling shorts and not having a clue how he got there or how to get home.  Thank the Good Lord my shorts are black and not some silly color like pink that you see in the Tour De France.  The only way I could have made this worse is if I had done it in the middle of the night.  Stay tuned because I very quickly unlearn the lessons I learn.

Anyway it all ended fine because I ended up home and I'm writing this.  The part that amuses me is that I almost never remember how I get home, I just end up here.  I'm sure my wife Awesome Chick is just thrilled about that.  I remember a few details of my ride, like today's visit the turf of the Crips, but very little else.  Geese if a cop had seen me I would have probably been arrested for simply being clueless and out of my mind.  No doubt I would have been guilty on all counts and sentenced to life I'm sure.

The Holy Father is Getting Tough

I pray that "warning Catholic politicians" is not the last step.  It does nothing but cause scandal and confusion when people see leaders living live that are contrary to the faith they profess.  To be honest I consider that a serious personality flaw which leads me to think a politician is not being honest with me.

Christ never made any compromise.  Holy Scripture has many places where even his disciples found a teaching hard.  Jesus never once compromises His teaching but  made it very clear that to follow Him meant accepting everything, even to the point of giving up all worldly attachments and relationships.  Following Him should mean even if you have to give up some votes and risk the election.

He has warned Catholic politicians who must decide on such issues as abortion, euthanasia and marriage that the faith's values are "not negotiable." And he has closed the door on any relaxation of the celibacy requirement for priests.

Source: Papa Ratzi Post

Gonzales v. Carhart, 05-380 - FindLaw US Supreme Court Center

Let the spin machines begin!  Take a look at the link below to take a look at the volume of information that is already available concerning Gonzales v. Carhart.  

I just wanted to print out today's US Supreme Court decision.  Just the decision is 75 pages long.

I wonder, is the average, everyday guy in this country, let alone a brain damaged StrokeBoy, EVER going to be able to fully understand the laws we have to live by every day.  The answer to that is a big fat NO with lawyers running everything. 

Link to Gonzales v. Carhart, 05-380 - FindLaw US Supreme Court Center

Cardinal Hails Court's Abortion Ruling

Cardinal Justin Rgali is sounding very optimistic about today's Supreme Court ruling.  In this ZENIT article he quotes language in the decision that is surprisingly prolife which would give reason for prolife Americans to be optimistic.

I however believe that the opposition has just begun the fight.  This is something too important for the Culture of Death to taking lying down.

The cardinal, who is archbishop of Philadelphia, added: "Especially welcome is the court's explicit recognition of certain key facts: that abortion is the taking of a human life, and that government has a legitimate interest in protecting and preserving this life at every stage."  

In the quote below he is pleased that the court recognizes the devastating affect that abortion has on many facets of society.  I'm sure that he was mindful of the absence of the mention of men and how being involved in the killing of their child may affect them.  That may be too difficult of a leap for the court right now as it would strengthen the idea of a family having two parents, male and female.

He further praised the court's recognition "that 'respect for human life finds an ultimate expression in the bond of love the mother has for her child'; that abortion may also cause grief and sorrow for women, which is only made worse when the reality of the procedure has been withheld from them until it is too late; and that the ethical integrity of the medical profession, as well as the fabric of our society, is threatened by the acceptance of practices that are difficult to distinguish from infanticide."

I have not read the text of the actual decision, but I plan on it. 

In the mean time the best course of action is still to pray, fast and do penance.

Link to ZENIT News Agency--The World Seen from Rome

One and a Half Years

Today is exactly 1 and 1/2 years since my first stroke.  I also had an appointment with my neurologist.

This really has been an Eclectic Journey.  One that continues.  Along the road I've been able to find things that in spite of my disability I have been able to enjoy and even improve at.  In fact one of those things has come directly from my cognitive therapy; writing!

In an effort to remember what goes on from one minute to the next my cognitive therapist has had me writing down EVERYTHING.  So I kind of got into the habit of writing down not just my actions but my thoughts and emotions.  I've written volumes (whatever a volume is) in the last 18 months.  In fact, between my journal I write by hand, my PDA and computer I'd venture to say my life is probably one of the most documented ever.  For some strange reason, even though when I talk or even think to my self my thoughts are broken and get confused, I can write and the thoughts are smooth and well, less confused.  I have a theory that my writing, which is slow, causes my brain to work at the speed of my fingers and thus can do a better job of processing.

Then there is riding my bike.  For some reason anaerobic exercise causes me to have nerve pain.  Sometimes I have to stop and sit down after walking up the steps in our house to get the nerve pain to settle down.  I found though that aerobic exercise does not cause me the same pain.  I can ride my bike for a long time with no pain.  In fact the longer I ride it, the more "in synch" my anaerobic and aerobic systems become and the longer I can then ride.  This could be because I was riding a lot before my strokes. 

My neurologist was happy with where I'm at.  I have to say this.  Considering what I thought my life was going to be when I first heard those words, "he has clots in his brain and is having a stroke" and everything going dark, I'm pretty happy with where I'm at.  I have to do another EEG.  That's because of an episode I had over Easter.  I seem to have completely lost three days.  He is going to check to see if perhaps my medicine that is supposed to stop my seizures isn't pulling its weight.

Legal victory for abortion opponents

Celebrate, but only a little! 

It should be painfully obvious to everybody now that a so called 'right' to kill an unborn child is never going to go away by depending upon legislation alone. 

Until we change the hearts and minds of an entire nation we will be continually pulled from one extreme to another.  As the winds constantly change from political conservatism to liberalism the volume of innocent lives taken and people ravaged with the aftermath will decrease or increase.  Americans will change their value system based upon the last election or as in this case nine individual judges.

The 5-4 ruling, which upheld the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, marks a significant shift to the right by the US’s top court on one of the country’s most divisive issues.

All people who respect life should feel a cold chill in there blood when reading the quote below by Justice Ginsburg.  What have we done as a society when we have made the taking of an innocent life so mundane that in her words it is a central part of a woman's life?!  We must pray and fast for those that hold this as a "centrality" of their life.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who wrote a dissent on behalf of the court’s liberal wing, called the decision “alarming”. She said it “cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this court – and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women’s lives”.

Never forget, the right to kill unborn children was brought to you via Roe v Wade in 1973 by the same institution that brought America Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1856.  Both decisions have cost millions of lives and incalculable suffering and division.  That is NOT something that more legislation can fix.

Pray, fast and do penance!  The war is far from over.

Link to FT.com / World - Legal victory for abortion opponents

Fox Hollow Hill Goes Down!

Yesterday I made it up a hill; I call it The Fox Hollow Hill. Let me explain. The last time I made it up that hill was roughly 19 months ago. It is a long steep hill and it comes at the mid-point in my ride so I was not real fresh. Nineteen months ago I spun up that hill with a cadence of 75 and in a mid-range gear! Yesterday I made it up in the tiniest gear my drive train has to offer with a cadence of roughly 30 rpm. (That can be decoded using the StrokeBoy Super Secret Decoder Ring as… WAY below 30)

The Fox Hollow Hill is important because a couple weeks after riding up that hill 19 months ago an artery in my neck broke and sent clots to just about every part of my brain, including the largest clot in my brain stem. Praise God that he guided those clots as He did and that He held me close as they went about doing their damage.

I started training again prior to September of 2006. I started out 10 minutes per day, three days per week on a stationary bike. That was almost TOO MUCH! I have tried The Fox Hollow Hill three previous times; only to be forced to turn back; once I think before the grade even started to increase. Is that possible?!

I'm not talking about victory over illness; I'm still StrokeBoy and will be for the rest of my life. I’m not talking about a great training goal attained.

I was riding at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. At the top of the hill I could see almost forever to the North, East and South. To the West were green, purple and brown snow capped mountains. The air was crisp at about 50 degrees but the sun was so warm I had to remove my wind shell. I just sat there experiencing the view, the temperature, the silence and feeling of being King of the Hill. As I peacefully sat there a coyote walked within 20 feet of me. He let me know I was more the Court Jester and he was the King of Fox Hollow Hill.

I love riding. Riding my bike takes me back to the time when things were different, simpler; not better mind you. The pain and monotony of training are only so I can capture moments like today. There was nothing heroic or strong in the moment; quite the opposite in fact. As reality set in and I contemplated the journey of me and my family this past nineteen months a lump formed in my throat and I couldn’t hold back the tears. More than anything my wife, son, daughter, all my family and friends gave me that moment. No, no feeling of victory, just profound thanks.

Lord grant peace and healing of all those touched by the shootings in Vermont.

StrikeBoy Strokes Again....

Or maybe that was StrokeBoy Strikes again!

Awesome Chick and I are always looking for things that are constructive for me to do yet therapeutic.  All the assigned therapy I do can be so tedious, boring and there isn't much of a feeling of accomplishment.  Yesterday I was assigned long division and multiplication of two digit numbers.  It turns out I have a long way to go to be able to do that.  That's kind of depressing for a person whose favorite classes in college were 4th and 5th semester Calculus and Partial Differential Equations.  Hey I couldn't do that stuff now anyway but common... give me a break will yah?! 

Now for the topic of today's post.  Awesome Chick and I try to come up with things around the house that I can do that have a detailed set of instructions.  That's another thing my therapists are working with me on.  It seems all my elementary school teachers were correct and I can't follow instructions.  Well the task for the day was a set of instructions from the trusty Home Depot Home Maintenance book.  Yep I was to unclog a drain in our bathroom.  It went pretty well to start.  Things took a turn for the worse when the instructions said do rinse out the trap I had just removed from underneath the clogged sink.  Hey it didn't say to NOT rinse the trap in the sink that you just removed the trap from.  I got that darn trap clean as a whistle but just about flooded out the cabinet and the rest of the bathroom.  So my next assignment was drying out all the stuff from under the sink and letting the wood dry, and hopefully not mold.  Details, details, I think those instructions were flawed.