Mom's Wisdom: Politics and Abortion

Greetings fellow Network of Love Lovers!

This post comes to you moments before I plan to take a nice Monday afternoon nap. I'm tired but I must take a run later this afternoon!

This reflection was inspired by an e-mail between my mom and I. Yesterday, I sent her an e-mail in regards to an article I read on MSNBC.com:

Greetings mom!

I found an article on MSNBC.com that reports Obama feels he was too "flip"
when responding to Pastor Rick Warren's question about abortion during the
interview at his church in California last month. Personally, I am glad
that Obama has addressed this issue. When listening to him speak about
abortion that night, his answer did come out as cold and seemed to lack some
compassion arguably. Interesting too in this article to note Biden's stance
on abortion. Tell me what you think about the article. It's really short.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26593948/

peace in the middle east.

with love,

your son bob.

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My mom's response was very pastoral (makes sense, she is a pastoral leader in the Catholic Church!), very heartfelt, and very understanding of the complexities that surround abortion. Nevertheless, my mother takes a stance on conception that comes from a very personal experience and happens to coincide with the teachings of the church she belongs to. Her writing is wonderful...you might see where some of my inspiration to write comes from.

Hello Honey
Honestly, when i heard Obamas answer to Rick Warren that night, i too
thought that Obama was trying to say that the mysteries of life and when it
begins are too large for him to answer. I think that Obama is a very
thoughtful and caring person, in fact after the Saddleback interviews i told
your Dad that i got the impression that both Obama and McCain were
incredibly decent people and that was a blessing for our nation, no matter
who wins.
Bidens stance is common among many persons, Catholic and otherwise that
I know. I don't mean to be sexist about this, but i do think that a man who
never carried a child would come more to this opinion, because i say this
with all humility and respect for all of the wonderful men i have been
blessed to know and love in my life, from the moment you and your brother
were concieved, I was totally aware in a deep, inner, unexplainable way that
there was new life within me.
In fact, this Saturday one of our Spiritual Mentoring instructors,
Sister Virginia Stone ( you would absolutely love her Robert, she is like a
female version of Rolhieser) anyway, we were talking about each of us being
a light of Christ, she said that at the moment of conception it has been
captured by scientific means, that there is a burst of life when the sperm
implants itself in the egg, - thus in the creed when we say Light from Light
part of could be translated into Life from Life if you will, the life of
that little fertilized egg from the Life that is God of the Universe. That
spark of light at the moment of conception being the Light of Christ renewed
over and over in every human being created in the image of God.
Another thing that re-inforced my belief that mother and child know each
other in the depths of our souls happened when i accompanied Grandma to her
echocardiogram several years ago. I took her to her cardiologist
appointment and he ordered an echocardiogram which is a visual ultrasound of
the heart of sorts. For some reason the technician asked me if i wanted to
stay in the room while he did the procedure and i said sure.
Anyway, there in the dark room was a screen of an ultrasonic type of pix
of my mothers beating heart. The beating of her heart was muffled but clear
and when i heard it i immediately knew that sound from somewhere deep in my
soul. Keep in mind that i am a nurse who has listened to thousands of
heartbeats while assessing patients, but this heartbeat of my mother was
something my soul remembered when i was just a little zygote, fetus, baby-
whatever the label living underneath that very familiar heart for nine
months.
In my work as a nurse, i also remember years ago, shortly after hospital
abortions were more openly allowed, holding a sobbing woman in my arms
because she came back to our surgical floor after having been talked into
aborting her baby, and she wept in my arms realizing that she had just
extinguished a true life within her. Thats another aspect that pro-choice
persons don't consider, all the years of pain and guilt that women who have
undergone abortions feel when they are rushed into making a decision to get
rid of their baby. Oftentimes these poor women carry that guilt with them
and they marry and raise children and can be overcome with such grief and
guilt that they do abusive things to surviving children - its on the order
of post-traumatic syndrome years after abortions. The press doesn't talk
much about it, but it is a real medical/psychological phenomonom.
So, I take that into account when each candidate gives their answers,
they each have their own experiences and they are only human.
Lots to think about. A lot longer than your article.
Thanks for sharing this Robert
You are a light in the world, and i've known it since the moment you were
just a spark of light within.
Love and Blessings on your Day
Mom


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I hope my mom doesn't mind that I shared this with all of you! Mom, you are a light in the world as well, a light that allowed me to turn my light on! Amen!

with peace and love to all Network of Love Lovers,

your friend bob.