prayer and service to the world
Letting go of the past requires forgiveness. If you do not forgive the things done to you, you will keep reliving the pain every time your are reminded of it or will react with fear and anxiety if you are ever in a similar situation, even if there is no real threat. Sometimes the hardest things to forgive are not things done to you, but done to someone else that you care about.
A guilty conscience is a constant accuser. You can’t escape from yourself. But there is a way to find peace with a cleansed conscience.
The Supreme Court upheld religious liberty and freedom of conscience in its 5-4 decision on Monday, and in doing so, avoided the same mistake the Court made when it upheld the rights of slave owners in the Dred Scott decision and ensured the Civil War. The Dred Scott case not only restored the rights of slave owners to recapture runaway slaves in the Northern States, but made those who did not believe in slavery complicit in their capture and return. In other words, it forced those who hated slavery to comply with slavery by handing slaves back to their masters. This legal decision to deny freedom of conscience only served to strength Abolitionist sentiment and helped precipitate the Civil War. Noting that then, as today, we have a sharply divided country on the issue of just “who” is entitled to the protection of life and liberty, that narrowly divided Supreme Court is reflective of that divide. The belief that abortion is indeed murder is a conviction that will not disappear with the stroke of the judge’s pen, as has been amply demonstrated by over 40 years of conflict and social disaffection. However, this decision is a lesson for the Church … Read more