Taking up our cross

I have been thinking about Christ's exhortation to His followers to take up their cross daily. He said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." (Luke 9.23)


People may have different types crosses but from our Lord's words we can deduce that taking up one's cross involves continual self-denial, sacrifice, and submission to the will of God with complete abandon. Our only reward is to follow Christ, to be willing to suffer for the sake of Christ, to abide in His love and will, and ultimately to be with Christ. The rewards of taking up our cross are not earthly and temporal rather heavenly and eternal.

To take up one's cross will inevitably turn the individual inward to face the internal man. A man can run from his cross, and The Cross, but he can not escape because he can not escape from himself. The cross makes Objective Truth personal and intimate. A man who is living a lie can not bear the Truth and so the cross is offensive. If Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life (which He most certainly is) then the cross is inescapable. And the man who chooses to follow Christ is assured the he will have his own cross to carry.

I wrote about this in my most recent column for Canada's Western Catholic Reporter weekly newspaper under the title "Christ walks with us as we shoulder our cross" (see http://www.wcr.ab.ca/columns/markpickup/2010/markpickup090610.shtml)


MP

A letter from the President of America's National Right to Life Committee

Two blog entries ago, I wrote about my wife, LaRee, and I speaking at the 2010 U.S. National Right to Life Prayer Breakfast. The entry was entitled "A woman's pro-Life message for a time such as this." I gave it that title because LaRee spoke with such profound personal understanding of abortion, post-abortion grief, and the sorrow of watching a family member degenerate with incurable and chronic illness and unresolved grief can and does fuel calls for euthanasia and assisted suicide. LaRee knows because she has lived these. It was LaRee's words of insight and wisdom that captured the audience from across the United States.

We have received an encouraging letter from the President of the National Right to Life Committee, Dr. Wanda Franz, based in Washington, D.C.., in response to that keynote address that we delivered. Dr. Franz stated, in part:

Dear LaRee and Mark:

"Your presentation was truly inspiring and we heard so many comments about how moving it was ... ."

"I especially want to thank you for sharing such a personal story about your abortion experience. It is another dimension of the extraordinary life experience you have had."

"You have such a keen understanding that society's callousness toward these vulnerable individuals [the sick and disabled] grows out of our acceptance of abortion and our callous disregard of the unborn. These insights have given your work such urgency because you have so clearly articulated the dangers we are all facing in embracing the "culture of death" that is growing around us."

Dr. Franz concluded her letter by saying "I want to wish you well in your work, and I urge you to continue your work of speaking out on behalf of all endangered human beings. ..."

Thank you Dr. Franz. We will continue to speak out as a couple to any group willing to listen and every venue afforded to us.

A copy of Dr. Franz' letter is below, although it's likely too small for many readers. That is why much of the text was transferred above.

To book us to address abortion and post abortion grief (a woman and man's perspective), disability, suffering, euthanasia and assisted suicide (a family perspectives), contact us email at MPickup@shaw.ca or by telephone at (780) 929-9230. We will speak to pro-Life groups, provincial/state RTL conventions, churches and church groups, legislators, colleges and schools.

Mark Pickup.

Speaking about suffering ...

In the Spring of 2010, I gave a presentation in Ottawa to Canada's Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF), which was co-founded by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus.

I was asked to speak about suffering from a Christian perspective. You can hear my address at

http://www.colf.ca/mamboshop/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=239

MP

A woman's pro-Life message for a time such as this

My wife, LaRee, (pronounced like Marie except with an L) and I delivered the keynote address to the 2010 U.S. National Right to Life Prayer Breakfast in Pittsburgh, PA. The ballroom was packed with Pro-Life and religious leaders from across America. We dealt with abortion and post abortion grief (we killed our first child by abortion in 1971). We spoke from our personal experiences about the suffering and grief of serious degenerative disability (multiple sclerosis) and how such conditions impact not only individuals but their families. (Unresolved grief often fuels consideration of assisted suicide and euthanasia.)

Although I addressed a man's perspective on abortion as well as suffering associated with acquired disability -- from the perspective of the individual who is chronically ill -- LaRee unintentionally stole the presentation with her riveting account of abortion and its aftermath, from the perspective of a frightened and confused 17 year old girl faced with an unwanted pregnancy. Her gripping and heart-wrenching testimony of a spouse of a mate enduring the ravages of aggressive and degenerative disability, and the sorrow and grief of watching a loved one degenerate, captured the attention of every person in the conference room. At one point she reflected: "I think it is easier to be the one degenerating than to watch the degeneration."

You could have heard a pin drop as the sold-out Prayer Breakfast audience sat in rapt attention to her every word.

I was the secondary part of the speech: LaRee spoke with such indisputable authority of someone who knows the major Life issues of our time at the deepest heart level. She wore her vulnerability on her sleeve and it connected with every young woman, mother and grandmother in the ballroom.

I sat awestruck at the command with which LaRee delivered her message. She took the audience on a journey from the perspective and mindset of a pregnant and frightened teenager, through the abortion experience, the pain of post-abortion grief, to the shock and fear of a wife learning her husband has been diagnosed with a serious degenerative disability. LaRee spoke with remarkable candor about being angry with God and life -- then concluded with how He bound her broken-heart to give her a new and greater understanding of life and love (both human and divine).

When we finished, the audience jumped to their feet in a prolonged standing ovation. LaRee was quickly surrounded by a crowd of women. They shared with LaRee their stories of abortion, disabled family members or loved ones with chronically or terminally illnesses. One weeping lady embraced LaRee and said, "Thank you. I'm going to try to be a better wife." (Her husband is chronically ill.)

The President of Michigan Right to Life immediately booked us to address their annual convention in September (but I think it is LaRee they really want to hear). Other state Right to Life organizations inquired about possibly coming to their states. LaRee was stunned by the overwhelming show of support and affection she received. People really identified with her message.

It seems that LaRee's life experiences have come together for a time such as this. Some people will listen, some will not. But her message is rooted and solid in an understanding of God's love, forgiveness and hope. LaRee speaks from a vulnerable, hurting heart to other vulnerable and hurting hearts. And love is the language of vulnerable hearts. LaRee has both in spades.

The U.S. National Right to Life Prayer Breakfast showed that LaRee's pro-Life message is timely for women across North America (and our life denying culture, if it will only listen).

MP

Email CONTACT for bookings: MPickup@shaw.ca

Squandering what our soldiers won

After writing this note, I must get ready to attend a funeral of a old friend who was a soldier in the first wave storming the beaches of Normandy on June 6th 1944. Jack Mclean was a man of great courage, decency and character, and I feel fortunate to have known him. I am forever grateful to Jack and the countless other soldiers who fought in the Second World War to stop the Nazis. Hundreds of thousands of young men in that war (1939-45) paid the ultimate price and did not return to their families. Jack was one of the fortunate ones who came back.

A few weeks ago (before Jack Mclean died) I submitted a column to my editor at the Western Catholic Reporter newspaper in Canada. It appears in next weeks edition (22 July 2010) under the title "Rampant secularism is killing civilization". It deals with the freedom preserved in that terrible war and how it was squandered by the children of what Tom Brokaw called the Greatest Generation -- the babyboomer generation perverted freedom and turned it into licence. Although Brokaw specifically referred to Americans as the Greatest Generation, the term equally applies to the British and Canadians of that generation who fought together, and of whom Jack Mclean was a part. Rest in peace my friend, rest in peace.

I invite you to read my column at http://www.wcr.ab.ca/columns/markpickup/2010/markpickup072610.shtml

MP

Shame on the MS Society

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/search-results/index.aspx?pageindex=O&pagesize=208&keywords=stem+cell&x=37&y=10

The American Multiple Sclerosis Society makes the following statements on the above note webpage. My comments/translation follow in coloured italics.

Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Available for Federally Funded Research

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society urges Congress to support the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 (H.R.3 and S.5) at all levels of the legislative process. The legislation would increase the number of approved embryonic stem cell lines that can be used in federally funded research by allowing new lines to be generated from embryos that have been donated for research purposes by people using the services of in vitro fertilization clinics, while establishing important ethical protections.

[Translation: The MS Society was/is just itching to get their hands on stem cells at the cost of human life generated artificially by perverse science. They want legal free-reign to be in experimentation involving stem cells taken from human embryos, which kills the embryo. Parents can donate their unwanted children to be experimented upon by perverse researchers to try to find treatments or a cure for multiple sclerosis. The end justifies the means no matter how corrupt. The MS Society recognizes that many MS sufferers and supporters have moral objections to embryonic stem cell research because it kills a human being for the sake of harvesting its stem cells. Therefore the MS society promises to establish "important ethical protections." One is drawn to point out that any pretext ethical protections are not extended to the embryonic child.

"...Research on all types of stem cells is critical because we have no way of knowing which type of stem cells have the most value in MS research.

[Translation: The MS Society holds a very narrow definition of moral responsibility to the greater Common Good. Their only concern is multiple sclerosis. Any previous moral consensus, such as the Nuremberg Code, does not concern them.]

It pains me to publish this on my blog. After all, I have MS. But I would have to refuse any stem cell therapy developed involving embryonic sources. After more than 26 years with this progressive disability, I know what discrimination and exclusion is like. Why would I accept any treatment based upon the belief that other human life is of less value -- so much less value that it is expendable?!

Any person who is truly committed to the universality of universal human rights must demand that rights of every human being be respected and protected. True universal human rights begin when human life begins. And the first and highest human right is the Right to Life. I have said this before: If the Right to Life is not guaranteed for everyone then all other rights become arbitrary and uncertain.

The MS Society in America and Canada are wrong to support embryonic stem cell research. Many therapies and treatments for numerous conditions and diseases have been developed using NON-embryonic sem cells: No therapies have been developed using embryonic stem cells. None!

From a purely pragmatic perspective, limited research money should be directed where the most promise lies -- not the least promise!

Shame on the MS Society. They are prepared to violate proper morality and prudent use of research money.

MP

The safety of Catholic hospitals

A few years ago, I participated on a panel discussion at an American university: the panel was made up of eight people with various disabilities. I was the only panelist who had not been openly pressured to sign a DNR order (Do Not Resuscitate) when being admitted to hospital for treatment.

Across North America we are seeing the bitter fruit pf post-Hippocratic medicine where the sanctity of human life ethic has been replaced by a quality of human life ethic. But who defines "quality of human life and by what standard? Will it be hospital ethics committees or treating physicians? Should it be families or patients -- and based upon what criteria? What patients are too young or unable to express themselves?

There seems to be a new societal view that death is preferable to disability. It's ironic. People with disabilities are receiving conflicting messages from our culture. At the same time as euthanasia is gaining prominence and acceptance , great strides are being made to include the disabled within society. Human rights legislation declares that people with disabilities are to be included yet the ultimate exclusion like euthanasia is quietly practiced in hospitals across North America -- with or without family consent.

Are the disabled welcome or not?!

Thankfully there are still Catholic hospitals. They operate within a general consensus that human life is sacred. Whenever I enter a Catholic hospital near where I live and see a cross on the wall, I feel reassured.

Catholic hospitals and health care are important options for the terminally and chronically ill, as well as people with serious disabilities. It is critically important to us because we need to know our lives will always be valued and deaths not hastened -- regardless of how compromised or hopeless our medical circumstances may become.

As medical ethics continue to coarsen in our post-Christian culture, the uncompromising standard of care found in Catholic hospitals can and must serve as a vivid witness for the love of Jesus Christ and tat love is expressed when caring for the sick, disabled and dying.