On the Last Day of Christmas.... and Remember Alea

On the Last Day of Christmas.... and Remember Alea Dear Friends, It is the last day of the Christmas season; everything changes at the Baptism of Our Lord and....there has been a gift to the Catholic community: a spirit of reconciliation between the family and the priest. They had a long conversation and although there is not a complete meeting of the minds the family is content, but will not return to that parish. This "confrontation" was necessary and there's a great possibility that no other little children will be denied their blessing in the future. For those of you who have written with their "election stories", or questions about this one, I thank you and will get back to you ASAP, if necessary. Remember that no emails will be given out from VOCAL to anyone without your permission. As our Oregon Catholic community celebrates together we mourn together. On January 1st at 10pm a car lost control on an icy bridge and a beloved child of God and man was the first traffic fatality. Alea Kosydar, 22 years old, was killed as the car she was riding in slid an hit a tree. Her dad, Jerry, said that she had in her possession a new video of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Christmas gift she "borrowed" from another family member so she could share it with others; among them the family of her boyfriend. He was driving the car and suffered minor injuries. Not only did his family learn the pro-life message of Our Lady, but the forgiveness of Christ from holy Christian examples who had just lost their most precious girl. On the Feast Day of the Mother of God, Alea was taken into the arms of her Heavenly Mother. May we have the blessing to be doing His work when we are called home. Iin the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of not being born. This is a story that Jerry Kosydar loves to tell to his family and surely Alea herited his passion as well. Here is the story in memory of Alea. We read in the Book of Leviticus how the Lord tells Moses about the serious crime of offering children to Molech, referring to the Canaanite custom of sacrificing children to the god Molech. The little victims were first slain and then cremated. (Leviticus 20,1-5 and 18,21). In the Americas, five centuries ago, cruel human sacrificing rituals were performed in the Aztec empire. Between 20,000 and 50,000 were sacrificed a year. The rituals included cannibalism of the victims limbs. Most of them were captives or slaves, and besides men they included women and children. The early Mexican historian Ixtlilxochitl estimated that one out of every five children in Mexico were sacrificed. The climax of these ritual killings came in 1487 for the dedication of the new and richly decorated with serpents temple of Huitzilopochtli, in Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), when in a single ceremony that lasted four days and four nights, with the constant beating of giant drums made of snakeskin, the Aztec ruler and demon worshiper Tlacaellel presided the sacrifice of more than 80,000 men. Our Lady of Guadalupe crushed this serpent in 1531. Today, the ancient Serpent is certainly achieving big hits in its attack upon human life. Millions of unborn children are killed every year around the globe, in procedures that in some countries are not only legal but also officially supported and financed. In many cases the procedures follow the same rules as the sacrifices to the ancient god Molech: the slain and then cremation of the little children. The Woman clothed with the sun, in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Protectress of the Unborn, will crush this serpent again. A Prayer for Abortion Victims Prayer for all victims of abortion. May those involved in abortions be reconciled to God and may the innocent dead be saved. Holy Mother of God and of the Church, our Lady of Guadalupe, you were chosen by the Father for the Son through the Holy Spirit. You are the Woman clothed with the sun who labors to give birth to Christ while Satan, the Red Dragon, waits to voraciously devour your child. So too did Herod seek to destroy your Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and massacred many innocent children in the process. So today does abortion killing many innocent unborn children and exploiting many mothers in its attack upon human life and upon the Church, the Body of Christ. Mother of the Innocents, we praise God in you for His gifts to you of your Immaculate Conception, your freedom from actual sin; your fullness of grace, your Motherhood of God and the Church, your Perpetual Virginity and your Assumption in body and soul into heaven. O Help of Christians, we beg you to protect all mothers of the unborn and the children within their wombs. We plead with you for your help to end the holocaust of abortion. Melt hearts so that life may be revered! Holy Mother, we pray to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart for all mothers and all unborn children that they may have life here on earth and by the most Precious Blood shed by your Son that they may have eternal life with Him in heaven. We also pray to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart for all abortionists and all abortion supporters that they may be converted and accept your Son, Jesus Christ, as their Lord and Savior. Defend all of your children in the battle against Satan and all of the evil spirits in this present darkness. We desire that the innocent unborn children who die without Baptism should be baptized and saved. We ask that you obtain this grace for them and repentance, reconciliation and pardon from God for their parents and their killers. Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite power of merciful love. May it put an end to evil. May it transform consciences. May your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope. May Christ the King reign over us, our families, cities, states, nations and the whole of humanity. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary, hear our pleas and accept this cry from our hearts! Our Lady of Guadalupe, Protectress of the Unborn, Pray for us! Prayer of John Paul II for Life O Mary, bright dawn of the new world, Mother of the living, to you do we entrust the cause of life: Look down, O Mother, upon the vast numbers of babies to be born, of the poor whose lives are made difficult, of men and women who are victims of brutal violence, of the elderly and the sick killed by indifference or out of misguided mercy. Grant that all who believe in your Son may proclaim the Gospel of life with honesty and love to the people of our time. Obtain for them the grace to accept that Gospel as a gift ever new, the joy of celebrating it with gratitude throughout their lives and the courage to bear witness to it resolutely, in order to build, together with all people of good will, the civilization of truth and love, to the praise and glory of God, the Creator and lover of life. Pope John Paul II Encyclical Letter "The Gospel of Life" Given in Rome, on March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, in the year 1995. Let's start this New Year with the resolution to do the work of the Lord by advocating for the lives of his most innocent children. Sunday, January 16th at the Oregon State Capitol from 2:30-3:30 is the Oregon Right to Life Rally. Father Charles Taaffe will be honored for his 30 years of caring for young mother's and their babies in his three homes. A mass for Life will be at noon at St. Joseph Church. There will be pro-life displays to educate and energize us until the Rally. Also, Monday, February 21st, President's Day is Oregon Catholic Conference's Advocacy Day at the Capitol. It will be hosted by Archbishop Vlazny and Bishop Vasa at St. Joseph Church, Salem from 8am until 3pm. The cost is $10. Let our Shepherds know how much we value Life. More information will be coming. Life is so precious and fragile. Let us remember the love for life that Alea Kosydar shared so eagerly and pray for the repose of her soul and peace and comfort for those who love her. God Bless, Carolyn Wendell "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" Revelation 21:4 V.O.C.A.L. Voice of Catholics Advocating Life PO Box 458 Sublimity, OR 97385