Sunday, June 17, 2012

Better late than never: St. Thomas Aquinas on the Feast of Corpus Christi

I meant to post this on Sunday or Monday of last week but due to my busy schedule, then having to deal with a medical issue which is still unresolved, I haven't had a chance to post it up til now.

From St. Thomas Aquinas on the Feast of Corpus Christi (Feast of Body and Blood):



O Precious and Wonderful Banquet
"Since it was the will of God's only-begotten Son that men should share in his divinity, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might make men gods. Moreover, when he took our flesh he dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us for ever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.

O precious and wonderful banquet that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion.

It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the fulfillment of ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation."

St. Thomas Aquinas, Opusculum 57, in festo Corporis Christi, lectures 1-4

Monday, May 28, 2012

Remembering our brave men and women on Memorial Day

We honor all those brave men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice defending freedom along with those who are serving overseas today.




Friday, May 18, 2012

Franciscan University is First Catholic Casualty Due to HHS Mandate,Obamacare

So, actually you can't keep your insurance. Something I figured was the true intent the entire time. There plan is to force us into a single-payer health system. That is a major reason why Obamacare either needs to be struck down by the Supreme Court or repealed. Franciscan University is my alma mater and it is sad that because of the rising government health care costs because the federal government is marching forward instituting this boondoggle that the university has been forced to drop their health insurance coverage for students. In addition Franciscan University has made it crystal clear that it will not comply with the unjust HHS mandate which would force them to violate their beliefs in accordance with Holy Roman Catholic Church.  Obamacare is an example of secularism run amok.  Hopefully we will hear in June that the Supreme Court has struck down Obamacare.



Here is the new policy from Franciscan University:

Campus Health Insurance Policy


The Obama Administration has mandated that all health insurance plans must cover “women’s health services” including contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing medications as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Up to this time, Franciscan University has specifically excluded these services and products from its student health insurance policy, and we will not participate in a plan that requires us to violate the consistent teachings of the Catholic Church on the sacredness of human life.
Additionally, the PPACA increased the mandated maximum coverage amount for student policies to $100,000 for the 2012-13 school year, which would effectively double your premium cost for the policy in fall 2012, with the expectation of further increases in the future.
Due to these changes in regulation by the federal government, beginning with the 2012-13 school year, the University 1) will no longer require that all full-time undergraduate students carry health insurance, 2) will no longer offer a student health insurance plan, and 3) will no longer bill those not covered under a parent/guardian plan or personal plan for student health insurance. The current student health insurance plan will expire on August 15, 2012.
We encourage you to decide how you are going to provide for accidents or illnesses requiring visits to physicians, health clinics, or the hospital emergency room while you are a student here. As always, our Health Center on campus will be staffed by a certified nurse practitioner Monday – Friday during normal business hours. No insurance is necessary to receive basic health-related services at the Health Center, and the visits cost only $5 at the time of service. However, if you are referred off campus for further lab testing, physician specialists, X-rays, etc., you will be responsible to pay for those services.