Right to Marriage?

by Christine
Today I received a personal message on Facebook from a long time friend from France.
This friend has 4 grown children, but he has never married and has lived his whole adult life in cohabitation. He's always been on the far left side, ecologist, rebellious to any faith, religion, law, etc.. A pure product from 1968 who stayed stuck there.
His message was a "comic" showing 2 men hand in hand saying:
"It is sad that nowadays people demonstrate not to gain rights but to make sure other people do not get rights."
It made me really sad... but after all, what does he know about marriage?
He has always seen marriage as an alienating institution, an absurd and outdated heritage from a traditionalist society. Our French president, by the way, must think the same with 5 children from 2 different women he never married, and living now with a not-yet-divorced woman! Isn't it paradoxical to hear them support "gay marriage?" Why would someone who has always rejected marriage defend and support "gay marriage?" "Gay marriage" is NOT marriage, it just mimics marriage. And we know well that anything that mimics something good has evil roots.
We are often accused of 'intolerance.' Yet those who prone "tolerance" are the ones who rudely and aggressively throw garbage at us for speaking the truth. Marriage cannot be reduced to a mere legal right.

Tous pour le Mariage Facebook profile picture

The same day, we also received a short video of a drunkard at the French demonstration who was yelling: "A father, a mother, it's not complicated! IT'S NATURAL! Everybody wants a father and a mother! I want a father and a mother! I'm not going to go home and say Hi dad! Hi dad! Everybody wants a home with a dad AND a mom!..." In his drunkenness he was much wiser than our ecologist friend who should at least understand the "natural" aspect of the whole thing.

Still the same day, I received another short note, from a French psychoanalyst friend this time:
"The probable unconscious fantasy of homosexuals is a fantasy of omnipotence. To get married you need two different people. Or getting married with the same is like getting married with oneself. It says I refuse to be in need of another..."

The question of equal rights is for the "feel good-do good" and it causes much damage. As I said above, marriage is not a question of rights, and deep in our hearts, we all know it.
So what is behind all this? As Gilles Bernheim says: the goal is to undermine the foundations of the individual and the family.
I guess our civilization is on the verge of disappearing.  It's not rocket-science, just look back at the Greeks and the Romans... "When anthropologist J. D. Unwin studied the origins and development of eighty civilizations, he discovered a profound connection between the vitality of a society and the strength of its marriages and families. He concluded that any society that did not direct its sexual energies toward the good of marriage and family would not last." (Jason Evert-2004- citing Donald DeMarco, 1999)

Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris

For those of you who speak French, here is the complete essay from Gilles Bernheim, Chief Rabbi of France.

Go France!

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By Christine

ONE MILLION gathered in Paris today to protest against gay marriage!
I hadn’t been proud of my home country in a long time! Today I truly am!

Not long ago, one of my Goddaughters asked me on Facebook: “tell, me, my dear God Mother, what are your reasons against gay marriage?”
I answered, warning her that it couldn’t be a short answer…
Now I know better! It can be a short answer (at least at first)! And it doesn’t even have to be a “religious” answer (again, at first).
As Rabi Gilles Bernheim says, “it is not because people love each other that they systematically have the right to get married! For example, a man cannot marry an already married woman, even if they love each other. A woman cannot marry two men under the motives that she loves both and both want to be her husband. Or a father cannot marry his daughter even if their love is only paternal and filial! Even in the name of equality, tolerance, the fight against discrimination, and other principles, we cannot give the right to marriage to all those who love each other.”

Marriage is not only the public recognition of two people who love each other, or “the public recognition of a committed relationship between a man and a woman (or two adults) for their fulfillment.” says William May
As the USCCB declared on December 6th, 2012, marriage is, “the universal institution that unites a man and a woman with each other and with the children born from their union.” (Emphasis added).

Gay marriage wouldn’t take into account the fundamental right of children to have a mother AND a father, to know their roots, where they come from; in short, it would deliberately deny children their right to their identity, and, from that, to their psychological equilibrium. It doesn’t mean that a homosexual couple cannot be loving, or that they aren't capable of raising children. But they cannot give what they do not have. And what they do not have is essential to the good development of any child. Love is not enough. Love doesn’t give all of the basic psychological structures any child needs to know his/her genealogy in order to position himself/herself as an individual.

From the beginning of humanity and until the end of time, we are born male or female, in a chain of generations, and no one can ever change this!

Go France!

Happy New Year!

By Mattie

Hello,

It's been quiet around here, hasn't it?!
Well we are enjoying this season as much as we can between bouts of stomach flu with all that it has to offer! But mainly peace and quiet at home, near the roaring stove....
So instead of my monthly liturgical post, I will keep it sweet and short.

Our families have two traditions to begin the New Year right. First, we write a letter to the Blessed Mother, second, we are chosen by a saint who will travel with us throughout the year.

Letter to the Blessed Mother

Every year on New Year's Day, after going to Mass (it IS a Holy Day of obligation, you know), we write a letter to Mary. What kind of letter? Any kind you want! Mainly it is a letter to thank her for the blessings of the previous year, and to entrust our dreams, needs and desires for the coming year. Write it just as you would write to your mother, entrusting everything to her.
So that's the ideal version, but you really have all of January to do it ;) Even though I was quite late in bringing you this tradition, you can still do it!

Then what do you do with the letter? We place ours underneath our statue of Mary and re-open it on the next New Year's Eve. When you open it again, you will be amazed by how much Mary will have blessed you!


The Year with a Saint

So what do I mean by being chosen by a saint? No, I promise I haven't enjoyed too much eggnog!
Every New Year's Eve, after a small family prayer to bring the year to a close, we pass around a basket. One by one, each of us picks out a slip of paper. On that piece of paper is a quote from a saint. It is a quote to live up to for a year, and a saint to discover and befriend, to help you walk closer to God and grow in holiness.
Oh, and a head's up! The quote will usually be dead on! Dead on something you know you need to work on!

Here it is: printable saints quotes PDF
The best is to print it on sheets of business cards.

all the saints by Fra Angelico

Another source to discover a new saint is this very fun website: Saint's Name Generator
And again, yes, you have all of January! We actually keep the basket with the extra quotes for any guests that come visit in January.

Well happy New Year again! Enjoy it and make it holy!