Tag Archives: death

Wounded Soldier Down

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Wounded soldier down!
The very air crackles about him,
The moment is charged with alarm.
Fallen is Babylon.
Fallen, too, the Savior.
Man at war within himself,
His livery undeclared.

Wounded soldier down!
Two armies meet in one field of battle.
Only one shall rise again.
Victory is at hand.
Only one has paid the price.

Wounded soldier down!
Unseen forces join the fray.
The smell of fear draws the demonic.
Hell combats hope and the holy,
Raising doubts by telling lies.

Wounded soldier down!
Dragged by the heels,
Through the mire of memory.
Sin gnashes its teeth.
The enemy assails a child of God.

Wounded soldier down!
Prayer cries out before the throne of God.
There were days in which he’d prayed.
And there was selfless love.
Sprinkled as holy water.
Father forgive him,
Though he knew little of Me.

Wounded soldier down!
A moment of Truth
Before One God,
How will you now?
Choose your livery.
Be you a son to Me?
I won the battle long ago,
Fighting now for you alone.

Wounded soldier down!
Angelic encampments
Muster to the call.
Hell is engaged,
As son you choose to be.

Wounded soldier down!
Life leaves you on that plain.
Bereft of breath.
Like a child,
Lifted heavenward,
On wings of the holy,
To your Sabbath rest.

©2012 Joann Nelander

 



Jesus , Savior in Repose

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O, my Jesus, 
In gentle and humble repose upon the altar,
Wrap Your arms about me.
My body yearns for Your embrace. 

Only Your Humanity can unlock 
The treasure trove of grace, 
You hold in store for me, 
A repentant sinner,
Grace, You purchased for me 
By Your coming to Man as Man, 
In Your weakness and poverty and might.

You called Yourself,"Son of Man",
And by Your obedience, 
Suffering and Death upon the Cross, 
Showed us True Love.

All Holy, All Human, All Love, All God,
Son and Servant of God, 
Benefit and Benefactor of Man,
Apply the fruit of Your Saving Death
To my humanity,
To the glory of God,
And the continuous deification
Of my poor, desirous body and soul.

Conceive in me thoughts, words and deeds, 
Which bring to fulfillment our Father's plan 
For my life and eternity,
So, that purged of all Sin and concupiscence,
I might shine with radiant joy,
Hidden and secure in Your Heart, 
As does Your Virgin Mother, Mary.
"Be it done to me according to Your Word."
Amen.

Copyright 2011 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Remembering Fr. Thomas Dubay S.M. – RIP September 26, 2010

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Our beloved Fr. Thomas Dubay died Sept.26,2010; reported here by Insight Scoop/ the Ignatius Press Blog

Imitation is the greatest form of compliment. Won’t it warm his heavenly heart to know we were are trying harder to be like his Master?

Blurring the Line Between Life and Death

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Terri Schiavo died on March 31st, a week from today.  Next week will mark the 5 year anniversary of that murderous action/event, indicating a turning point . Next week also begins Holy Week leading to Easter.  It also marks the beginning of Passover, starting Tuesday, March 30th.  It is a good time to consider: Are we to value human life by its utility or because God has have placed His life in us?  Passover is about God delivering His people from Slavery and setting them/us free for Life. Easter celebrates the victory of Life over Death, Christ’s victory. Terri’s death brings both into focus.

Writes Dr. Daniel Eisenberg, M.D. in The Death of Terri Schiavo: An Epilogue:

Blurring the line between life and death, and between medical data and morality, her death signifies a disturbing turning point for American society.

Terri Schiavo did not die of PVS; she died of starvation and dehydration

Terri Schiavo died on March 31, 2005, after lasting 13 days without food or water. Her life and death had a profound impact on the American psyche and brought to the forefront the unresolved debate regarding how we treat severely disabled people and who should be their surrogate decision-makers. There is reason to be disturbed by the role that physicians play in molding public opinion regarding end of life issues, because their expertise is generally in medicine and not ethics.

A letter from a neurologist in complete disagreement with Dr. Eisenberg prompted him to respond:

He (the neurologist) states:

…I find myself in sharp disagreement with Dr. Eisenberg. The article refers to PVS as a “cognitively impaired” condition. In fact, there is no cognition whatsoever in someone who is in a persistent vegetative state. Modern aggressive emergency care developed over the last several decades, has allowed us to resuscitate patients with what would have been terminal hypoxic brain injury (what happened to Terri Schiavo). Unfortunately, the entire brain cortex becomes nonfunctional in these people and we are left with a functioning brainstem that allows for reflex eye movements, facial movements etc. PVS patients can even track a moving object in their field of vision because collicular function of the intact brainstem reflexively guides these eye movements. It is all too easy to imagine sentience in the PVS patient because, as humans, so much of our communication is nonverbal and cued by facial and eye movements.

Dr. Eisenberg responds:

His assessment of the persistent vegetative state is succinct and it is accurate. To the best of our medical understanding, we presume that a person in a persistent vegetative state has no cognition whatsoever. I never gave much credence to those who argued about the rehabilitation potential of Terri Schiavo. Not because I did not believe it to be true (I have no way of knowing), but because it really does not make a difference to outsiders like myself. CT scan results, Glascow Coma Scales, and following balloons are really only of interest to neurologists and family members who need to arrange for the best possible care for the patient.

As a society, what we must concern ourselves with are two questions: What is the significance of being so terribly impaired that there is no cognition and how should such people be treated? It is here that the doctor falls woefully short in his analysis. While I am sure that his credentials are impeccable and his understanding of neurology is excellent, he completely misunderstands the role that physicians should play in society’s evaluation of end of life issues (as we will discuss) and he clearly does not appreciate where medical knowledge ends and morality begins.

Neurologist’s letter continued:

Nevertheless, the activity of our cerebral cortex is what distinguishes our very “humanness”. If the cortex is dead, then the human individual is dead. . . If the cortex is destroyed, personhood ceases. PVS is an abomination of life –in essence a human shaped colony of cells with no sentience — a glorified cell culture. . .Thankfully, I have not seen this irrational preservation of “life” at all costs in this situation since my training in the early 1970’s. . . Patients with PVS and end-stage Alzheimer’s disease routinely have IV’s and feeding tubes removed in the United States every day.

Dr. Eisenberg responds:

The opinions expressed above are very widespread in the medical community today. Variations of these views are espoused by many of the physicians with whom I have discussed this topic. For this reason, they cannot be lightly brushed aside. Please understand that the issue is not autonomy (which is an independent and important issue), but the definition of life. Is the cerebral cortex what makes us human and is it true that “if the cortex is dead, then the human individual is dead”?

Of course not. My physician critic clearly has stepped beyond the bounds of medicine into the realm of philosophy, and that is the problem. As any physician knows, there is neither a state in America nor any sane physician in the world who would declare that someone who is in a persistent vegetative state is dead. If PVS really equals death then why bother pulling the feeding tube? Just bury the patient with the feeding tube still in place! The doctor’s comments are clearly hyperbole, and represent a very insidious type of bias that leads people to equate PVS with death.

People want to feel “good” about the killing they allow whether by deeming a fetus ‘not a real living person’ or a person in a persistent vegetative state ‘as good as dead.’  In matters of morality, the doctor steps beyond the data and expertise of his training to play God.  Dr. Eisenberg asks “why the medical knowledge of the physician seem to translate into skill in evaluating the value of life?”

Dr. Eisenberg reminds us:

“The belief that medicine can determine which lives are worth preserving was an intrinsic part of the pre-Nazi German medical establishment (see “Why Medical Ethics“). In the late 1920’s and early 1930’s:

“a number of prominent German academics and medical professionals were espousing the theory of “unworthy life,” a theory which advanced the notion that some lives were simply not worthy of living. . . If Mengele himself (an infamous physician who performed murderous experiments on live concentration camp inmates) became a cold-blooded monster at the height of his Nazi career, he certainly learned at the feet of some of Germany’s most diabolical minds. As a student Mengele attended the lectures of Dr. Ernst Rudin, who posited not only that there were some lives not worth living, but that doctors had a responsibility to destroy such life and remove it from the general population. His prominent views gained the attention of Hitler himself, and Rudin was drafted to assist in composing the Law for the Protection of Heredity Health, which passed in 1933, the same year that the Nazis took complete control of the German government. This unapologetic Social Darwinist contributed to the Nazi decree that called for the sterilization of those demonstrating the following flaws, lest they reproduce and further contaminate the German gene pool: feeblemindedness; schizophrenia; manic depression; epilepsy; hereditary blindness; deafness; physical deformities; Huntington’s disease; and alcoholism.

I ask again: Are we to value human life by its utility or because God has have placed His life in us?

Read more here.

Stupak Stripped of “Defender of Life” Award-Susan B. Anthony List

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Stupak Stripped of “Defender of Life” Award-Susan B. Anthony List.

Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund Pledges to Drive Out Pro-life Betrayers in November

WASHINGTON, DC – In response to Rep. Bart Stupak’s announcement that he and other self-labeled “pro-life” Democrats will vote in favor of Healthcare reform legislation with the addition of an Executive Order from the White House to address concerns about abortion funding, Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund President Marjorie Dannenfelser offered the following statement:

“This Wednesday night is our third annual Campaign for Life Gala, where we were planning to honor Congressman Stupak for his efforts to keep abortion-funding out of health care reform-We will no longer be doing so. By accepting this deal from the most pro-abortion President in American history, Stupak has not only failed to stand strong for unborn children, but also for his constituents and pro-life voters across the country.”

“Let me be clear: any representative, including Rep. Stupak, who votes for this healthcare bill can no longer call themselves ‘pro-life.’ The Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund will not endorse, or support in any capacity, any Member of Congress who votes for this bill in any future election. Now through Election Day 2010, these representatives will learn that votes have consequences. The SBA List Candidate Fund will work tirelessly to help defeat Members who support this legislation and make sure their constituents know exactly how they voted. We will actively seek out true pro-life candidates to oppose Members who vote ‘yes’ on this bill, whether it be in general or primary elections. For these Members, it will be a quick downhill slide to defeat in November.”

“The executive order on abortion funding does absolutely nothing to fix the problems presented by the health care reform bill that the House will vote on this evening. The very idea should offend all pro-life Members of Congress.  An executive order can be rescinded at any time at the President’s whim, and the courts could and have a history of trumping executive orders. Most importantly, pro-abortion Representatives have admitted the executive order is meaningless.”

Last night, Rep. DeGette told The Huffington Post, “If there was an executive order saying they weren’t going to use federal funds in the bill to pay for abortions that would be fine with me.”

Today, Rep. Wasserman Schultz admitted to Fox News’ Megyn Kelly that “an executive order cannot change the law.”

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops pointed out today that “only a change in the law enacted by Congress, not an executive order, can begin to address this very serious problem in the legislation.”

The Susan B. Anthony List has been leading the fight against abortion funding in health care reform for over a year, spending nearly $2 million on a grassroots campaign of targeted television and radio ads, 1.3 million automated calls, 70,000 patch-through constituent calls, 1.2 million letters and petitions to Congress, two media and grassroots tours in pro-life Democratic districts, television ads in six districts and comprehensive polling in 20 pro-life Democratic districts.

The Susan B. Anthony List is a nationwide network of Americans, over 280,000 residing in all 50 states, dedicated to mobilizing, advancing, and representing pro-life women in politics. Its connected Candidate Fund increases the percentage of pro-life women in the political process.

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Priest Who Saw Heaven, Hell & Purgatory

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A priest who saw heaven, hell, and purgatory. The
death experience of Father Jose Maniyangat.
Fr. Jose Maniyangat is currently the pastor of St.
Mary’s Mother of Mercy Catholic Church in
Macclenny, Florida. Here is his personal testimony:
I was born on July 16, 1949 in Kerala, India to my
parents, Joseph and Theresa Maniyangat. I am the
eldest of seven children: Jose, Mary, Theresa,
Lissama, Zachariah, Valsa and Tom. At the age of
fourteen, I entered St. Mary’s Minor Seminary in
Thiruvalla to begin my studies for the priesthood.
Four years later, I went to St. Joseph’s Pontifical
Major Seminary in Alwaye, Kerala to continue my
priestly formation. After completing the seven years
of philosophy and theology, I was ordained a priest
on January 1, 1975 to serve as a missionary in the
Diocese of Thiruvalla. On Sunday April 14, 1985,
the Feast of the Divine Mercy, I was going to
celebrate Mass at a mission church in the north part
of Kerala, and I had a fatal accident. I was riding a motorcycle when I was hit head-on by a
jeep driven by a man who was intoxicated after a Hindu festival. I was rushed to a hospital
about 35 miles away. On the way, my soul came out from my body and I experienced death.
Immediately, I met my Guardian Angel. I saw my body and the people who were carrying me
to the hospital. I heard them crying and praying for me. At this time my angel told me: “I am
going to take you to Heaven, the Lord wants to meet you and talk with you.” He also said
that, on the way, he wanted to show me hell and purgatory. Hell First, the angel escorted me
to hell. It was an awful sight! I saw Satan and the devils, an unquenchable fire of about 2,000
degrees Fahrenheit, worms crawling, people screaming and fighting, others being tortured by
demons. The angel told me that all these sufferings were due to unrepented mortal sins. Then,
I understood that there are seven degrees of suffering or levels according to the number and
kinds of mortal sins committed in their earthly lives. The souls looked very ugly, cruel and
horrific. It was a fearful experience. I saw people whom I knew, but I am not allowed to
reveal their identities. The sins that convicted them were mainly abortion, homosexuality,
euthanasia, hatefulness, unforgiveness and sacrilege. The angel told me that if they had
repented, they would have avoided hell and gone instead to purgatory. I also understood that
some people who repent from these sins might be purified on earth through their sufferings.
This way they can avoid purgatory and go straight to heaven. I was surprised when I saw in
hell even priests and Bishops, some of whom I never expected to see. Many of them were
there because they had misled the people with false teaching and bad example. Purgatory
After the visit to hell, my Guardian Angel escorted me to purgatory. Here too, there are seven
degrees of suffering and unquenchable fire. But it is far less intense than hell and there was
neither quarreling nor fighting. The main suffering of these souls is their separation from God.
Some of those who are in purgatory committed numerous mortal sins, but they were
reconciled with God before their death. Even though these souls are suffering, they enjoy
peace and the knowledge that one day they will see God face to face. I had a chance to
communicate with the souls in purgatory. They asked me to pray for them and to tell the
people to pray for them as well, so they can go to heaven quickly. When we pray for these
souls, we will receive their gratitude through their prayers, and once they enter heaven, their
prayers become even more meritorious. It is difficult for me to describe how beautiful my
Guardian Angel is. He is radiant and bright. He is my constant companion and helps me in all

my ministries, especially my healing ministry. I experience his presence everywhere I go and
I am grateful for his protection in my daily life. Heaven Next, my angel escorted me to heaven
passing through a big dazzling white tunnel. I never experienced this much peace and joy in
my life. Then immediately heaven opened up and I heard the most delightful music, which I
never heard before. The angels were singing and praising God. I saw all the saints, especially
the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, and many dedicated holy Bishops and priests who were
shining like stars. And when I appeared before the Lord, Jesus told me: “I want you to go
back to the world. In your second life, you will be an instrument of peace and healing to My
people.You will walk in a foreign land and you will speak in a foreign tongue. Everything is
possible for you with My grace.”After these words, the Blessed Mother told me: “Do
whatever He tells you. I will help you in your ministries.” Words can not express the beauty
of heaven. There we find so much peace and happiness, which exceed a million times our
imagination. Our Lord is far more beautiful than any image can convey. His face is radiant
and luminous and more beautiful than a thousand rising suns. The pictures we see in the world
are only a shadow of His magnificence. The Blessed Mother was next to Jesus; She was so
beautiful and radiant. None of the images we see in this world can compare with Her real
beauty. Heaven is our real home; we are all created to reach heaven and enjoy God forever.
Then, I came back to the world with my angel. While my body was at the hospital, the doctor
completed all examinations and I was pronounced dead. The cause of death was bleeding. My
family was notified, and since they were far away, the hospital staff decided to move my dead
body to the morgue. Because the hospital did not have air conditioners, they were concerned
that the body would decompose quickly. As they were moving my dead body to the morgue,
my soul came back to the body. I felt an excruciating pain because of so many wounds and
broken bones. I began to scream, and then the people became frightened and ran away
screaming. One of them approached the doctor and said: “The dead body is screaming.” The
doctor came to examine the body and found that I was alive. So he said: “Father is alive, it is
a miracle! Take him back to the hospital.” Now, back at the hospital, they gave me blood
transfusions and I was taken to surgery to repair the broken bones. They worked on my lower
jaw, ribs, pelvic bone, wrists, and right leg. After two months, I was released from the
hospital, but my orthopedic doctor said that I would never walk again. I then said to him:
“The Lord who gave me my life back and sent me back to the world will heal me.” Once at
home, we were all praying for a miracle. Still after a month, and with the casts removed, I was
not able to move. But one day while praying I felt an extraordinary pain in my pelvic area.
After a short while the pain disappeared completely and I heard a voice saying: “You are
healed. Get up and walk.” I felt the peace and healing power on my body. I immediately got
up and walked. I praised and thanked God for the miracle. I reached my doctor with the news
of my healing, and he was amazed. He said: “Your God is the true God. I must follow your
God.” The doctor was Hindu, and he asked me to teach him about our Church. After studying
the Faith, I baptized him and he became Catholic. Following the message from my Guardian
Angel, I came to the United States on November 10, 1986 as a missionary priest… Since June
1999, I have been pastor of St. Mary’s Mother of Mercy Catholic Church in Macclenny,
Florida. Fr. Jose Maniyangat