Nearly 10 years after a stunning photograph of his tiny hand traveled the world, Samuel Armas has a firm grip on what “The Hand of Hope” means to him.

“When I see that picture, the first thing I think of is how special and lucky I am to have God use me that way,” Samuel told FOXNews.com. “I feel very thankful that I was in that picture.”

On Aug. 19, 1999, photographer Michael Clancy shot the “Fetal Hand Grasp” — his picture of a 21-week-old fetus grasping a doctor’s finger during innovative surgery to correct spina bifida. Nearly four months later, on Dec. 2, Samuel Armas was “born famous.”

The photo, which first appeared in USA Today on Sept. 7, 1999, quickly spread across the globe as proof of development in the womb and was later cited during congressional debates on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which passed in 2000.

“It’s just a miracle picture, a miracle moment,” Clancy told FOXNews.com. “It shows the earliest human interaction ever recorded.”

(See the link for the rest of the story, including the famous picture)

Truly a picture is worth a thousand words. The photographer, who was pro-abortion at the time, was himself transformed and became a strong pro-life advocate. With the advancement of medicine and technology, it is a scientific fact that what we are dealing with is a matter of human life! The abortion issue is not an issue of “choice,” but of preserving human life at it’s earliest stages.

The Church wants us to get the message of life out, and simply sharing these kinds of stories with your friends is a perfect way to evangelize. Many who are pro-abortion don’t know what is really at stake here, their attention is focused in the wrong direction (e.g. “choice”), but they can be transformed if they are simply shown that the unborn are people too!

It’s times like these which we should stop and give glory to God and offer up prayers, especially a Rosary, for the advancement of the Pro-Life cause.

YouTube – My Catholic iPhone

But there is more, another idea came to mind as I was thinking about the snow: What does the Bible have to say about snow? After doing a quick word search, an astonishing passage came up, Psalm 51. This is not only one of my favorite Psalms, but is a famous Psalm of repentance which the Church has always hailed. It was written by King David, who himself fell into sin, and rather than give up he trusted in God and repented.  The Church calls this Psalm the Miserere, which is Latin for “have mercy on me” (the first words of the prayer). If you think back to Mass, when we say the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei), part of the prayer says “miserere nobis” (have mercy on us).

Anyway, back to the text of Psalm 51, I will quote only the first 10 verses:

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Did you catch the reference to snow? I strongly encourage Catholics to pick up a Bible and read the whole Psalm, it’s amazing! If you feel the need to repent, if your life is not going so well, pick up a Bible and read Ps. 51, read it from the heart and it will pick you up. If you are about to go to Confession (or need to go), this Psalm (along with a good Act of Contrition) is a good place to start. Catholicism’s deep spiritual heritage is something that we Catholics today need to rediscover and take to heart.

If you’ve ever tried to take the Liturgy of the Hours with you, then your muscles must be getting pretty big by now. It’s four volumes long! Yeah, there’s a condensed version of it available, but that’s still one more thing to carry around.

I downloaded the app to give it a test drive. I have to say that I’m rather impressed. There aren’t too many Catholic apps for the iPhone (and good ones for that matter) so I’ve been patiently waiting for one to come along. This app is great because it’s so simple. It has the Office of Readings, daily readings, and common Catholic prayers such as the Angelus, Apostles Creed, and Act of Contrition, just a tap away. It’s pretty handy!

The biggest downside to this app is that the translation is a little rough. It’s obvious that the author is italian since the app is mostly in italian. Make sure you set your default language in your iPhone’s configuration panel, or you won’t be able to understand anything! But at $0.99 you really can’t complain. This is a great companion to any iPhone/iPod Touch carrying Catholic.

Visit their website to download the app: http://www.dimix.it/ibreviary

It’s also the day of my last final! Woohoo! Freedom! Ahem…sorry…just had to get that out of my system. Anyway…

As I was reflecting on my faith life over this past term, I realized that I can’t say that I’ve done such a good job at being a disciple of Christ. In fact I should just as well say that I’ve done a crummy job all together.

Maybe you’re in the same boat as me. School gets busy. Work gets busy. Life gets busy and we have forgotten to pray. We forget about God. I tell myself the same thing every term: “This term will be different. I won’t let my busyness get in the way of my relationship with God.” But somehow, it always does. I make excuses for why I’m too tired, or too busy to put God at the center of my day.

I can’t be the only one who struggles with this, right? There’s gotta be a hundred other people who feel the same as me. On the other hand…there must be at least one person who has overcome that temptation whom we can use as an example to look up to.

How about…Mary! Yeah! She’s so perfect that God saw her holy enough to use her as the vessel to bring Christ into the world. What would Mary say to us, if we asked her how to grow stronger in our love for Jesus. I think she would say the same thing she said to the angel.

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.” Luke 1:38

Such a simple, yet profound statement. Mary is ready for action. “I am ready to do God’s will.” Brothers and sisters, I am in the same boat as you, but we can’t keep making excuses for ourselves. We need to accept our responsibility as Christians: to make Christ our first priority. He is at the center of our lives and we are ready to do his will. Our day should revolve around him, and responding to his call.

Our day must be a conversation with God. We must be steadfast in prayer.

New term’s resolution #1: pray a rosary once a day.

We can ask Mary to show us the way to her son. By praying a rosary, we are meditating on the life of Christ. What a great way to grow closer to Christ.

New term’s resolution #2: go to confession. Regularly.

We should be eager to be found free from sin and without blemish. If Jesus came back today, would I be ready for him to see me, just as I am. I would hope so, but maybe I’m not. Maybe it’s time to go to confession and be made clean again.

New term’s resolution #3: go to daily mass.

If you work a typical 9-5 job, you might have a hard time finding a mass that fits your schedule, as do I. Even if we find the time to go to mass in the middle of the week, we’ll feel so much better for it. We’ll have the Eucharist to strengthen us for the week, and the word of God to guide our paths. We’ll be taking one step closer to filling our lives with Christ.

So…are you ready to take the Mary challenge? Are you ready to do God’s will? Are you ready to put God at the center of your life, instead of the time left over?

Yes. You are.

On November 12, 2008, Cardinal George gave a public statement “written at the request and direction of all the Bishops” concerning the upcoming administration’s duty to protecting the life of the unborn, and the disasterous consequences if pro-abortion legislation is passed.

I believe it is best to let the Cardinal speak for himself (with my emphasis):

“In the last Congress, a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was introduced that would, if brought forward in the same form today, outlaw any “interference” in providing abortion at will. It would deprive the American people in all fifty states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. It would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government and others of good will to reduce the number of abortions in our country.

Parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed, as would be laws banning procedures such as partial-birth abortion and protecting infants born alive after a failed abortion. Abortion clinics would be deregulated. The Hyde Amendment restricting the federal funding of abortions would be abrogated. FOCA would have lethal consequences for prenatal human life.

FOCA would have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities. It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil.

On this issue, the legal protection of the unborn, the bishops are of one mind with Catholics and others of good will. They are also pastors who have listened to women whose lives have been diminished because they believed they had no choice but to abort a baby. Abortion is a medical procedure that kills, and the psychological and spiritual consequences are written in the sorrow and depression of many women and men. The bishops are single-minded because they are, first of all, single-hearted.”

The full document (about one-page long) is available here, and I encourage all to read it.

It is very refreshing to see our Bishops standing up for this very important cause and making it clear where Christians need to focus their attention. We as lay Catholics should do our duty to spread the word to our neighbors about the devastating consequences of FOCA and we should continue to pray and fight (peacefully) for an end to all abortion. We especially need to pray for our upcoming President and Congress that they will do the right thing when it comes to protecting innocent life.

There is no doubt about just how devastating FOCA would be for our nation, especially for the unborn, and that is why it is our duty as Catholics to speak out for those who have no voice.

In response to all those people who have already given up hope…we must move on. Obama will become our next President, and there’s nothing we can do to stop that. The evil one would love to use this as an opportunity to make us fall; to make us weak; to make us dispair.

Alas, we cannot let him. We must increase in prayer, and continue to pray unceasingly, increase in adoration, ask for the saints’ intercessions for our country, for the lives of the unborn, for the lives of those near death… God is faithful. God answers prayers. We need to continue to believe that, especially in times like these.

Life Teen is one of the best, most effective examples, of Catholic youth ministry that I have ever seen. I have seen the difference that a Life Teen approach to youth ministry can make on a parish. The resources available through their organization are remarkable. My parish would not be the same if Life Teen had not been around.

In solidarity with Life Teen, and their 2008 Annual Appeal, we have decided to make it convenient for you to make your donation to Life Teen, by using the widget to the right. So I urge you to make even a small (or large!) donation to an organization that is changing lives. Especially in this age, our church needs the help of organizations like Life Teen.

To learn more, visit build.lifeteen.com

Catholic.org – A good Catholic news source.

EWTN.com – The largest Catholic television and radio network…all started by a little old nun!

Catholic.com -  All kinds of Catholic apologetics information, so you can learn how to defend your Catholic faith.

NewAdvent.org -  This page hosts Catholic Encyclopedia, great for getting information about almost anything Catholic related.

Go ahead, check them out. And while you’re at it, book-mark ‘em!  (Ctrl+D)