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White Greater Double THIS, THE EIGHTH DAY from that on which we kept the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is the Octave properly so called; whereas the other days were simply called days within the Octave. The custom of keeping up the principal Feasts for a whole week is one of those which the Christian Church adopted from the Synagogue. God had thus spoken in the Book of Leviticus: "The first day shall be called most solemn and most holy: you shall do no servile work therein … The eighth day also shall be most solemn and most holy,...

White Semidouble LET US CONSIDER how our Blessed Lady, having arrived at the house of her holy cousin Elizabeth, rendered her every possible service with the greatest love, favored her with the sweet and holy conversations, assisted at the glorious Birth of St. John the Baptist, and at length returned home to her humble dwelling at Nazareth. But that we may the better enter into these divine mysteries, let us again listen to the Seraphic St. Bonaventure: “When, therefore, her time was expired, Elizabeth gave birth to a son, whom our Lady took up, and with all diligence did...

White Semidouble LET US CONTEMPLATE the sentiments of profound respect and maternal tenderness, which fill the soul of our Blessed Lady, now that she has conceived Jesus in her chaste womb: he is her God, and yet he is her Son. Let us think upon this wonderful dignity bestowed upon a creature; and let us honor the Mother of our God. It was by this mystery that was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias: Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son; and that of Jeremias: The Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth; a Woman shall...

White Double of the First Class (with an Octave) AT LENGTH, on the distant horizon, rises, with a soft and radiant light, the aurora of the Sun which has been so long desired. The happy Mother of the Messias was to be born before the Messias himself; and this is the day of the Conception of Mary. The earth already possesses a first pledge of the divine mercy; the Son of Man is near at hand. Two true Israelites, Joachim and Anne, noble branches of the family of David, find their union, after a long barrenness, made fruitful by...

Read/print the novena here.

The Department of Health and Human Services has published a draft of a new strategic plan that states in its introduction that life begins at conception. The personhood of the unborn child is central to the abortion debate — as even the justice who wrote the landmark Roe v. Wade opinion has acknowledged — because, if established in law, it would nullify a “right” to abortion. The largely overlooked HHS strategic plan for 2018-22 states the agency “accomplishes its mission through programs and initiatives that cover a wide spectrum of activities, serving and protecting Americans at every stage of life,...

The Word of God tells us within the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not kill". If this Nation, which professes in the Constitution and in the Pledge of Allegiance, "One Nation Under God", continues its genocide of the unborn (which at conception is a human life per Holy Scripture), I believe The Almighty will unleash upon the United States disaster enough to wipe out every infant slaughterhouse and every city in which they are located. President Trump has the ability to use an Executive Order banning all abortion, and build centers across the nation to take care of women from conception...

A stunning explosion of zinc fireworks occurs when a human egg is activated by a sperm enzyme, and the size of these "sparks" is a direct measure of the quality of the egg and its ability to develop into an embryo, according to new research from Northwestern Medicine. The discovery has potential to help doctors choose the best eggs to transfer during in vitro fertilization (IVF), the scientists said. This is the first time the zinc sparks have been documented in a human egg. "This means if you can look at the zinc spark at the time of fertilization, you...

Human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg, scientists have shown for the first time, after capturing the astonishing ‘fireworks’ on film. An explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception. Scientists had seen the phenomenon occur in other animals but it is the first time is has been also shown to happen in humans.

Human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg, scientists have shown for the first time, after capturing the astonishing ‘fireworks’ on film. An explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception. Scientists had seen the phenomenon occur in other animals but it is the first time is has been also shown to happen in humans. Not only is it an incredible spectacle, highlighting the very moment that a new life begins, the size of the flash can be used to determine the quality of the fertilised egg. Researchers...

Human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg, scientists have shown for the first time, after capturing the astonishing ‘fireworks’ on film. An explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception.

March 25th is Good Friday *and* the Feast of the Annunciation. Talk about a powerful moment for reflection... We couldn't help but notice that the Feast of the Annunciation fell on Good Friday (of all days!) and wanted to share Mike's thoughts on the coincidence... if you believe in such things as coincidence. This week is the holiest week of the year. Through the Passion, suffering, death and resurrection of Our Blessed Lord, the curse of Adam is undone. Our Lord provides the path to salvation through the cross so that we are no longer permanent exiles from Paradise. This...

"Spirit-Given Faith Greets the Savior" (Luke 1:39-56) We're coming near the end of Advent, and it's time to greet the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ--not only at Christmas, but also when he comes again. Are you ready? Are you prepared? How will you greet him? Our Gospel reading today shows us how to greet him when he comes. In faith. What does that mean, "in faith"? And where does that faith come from? We'll find that out, too, as the word of the Lord comes to us today, under the theme, "Spirit-Given Faith Greets the Savior." In the Holy...

One of the secular left’s latest windmills at which to tilt is America’s fanciful “rape culture.” There is a universal ethos of violence against women, as they imagine it, that stems from a millennia-old global patriarchy chiefly derived from religion in general and Judeo-Christianity in particular (another of their pet nemeses). Paradoxically, these “progressive” Don Quixotes actually believe in said “rape culture,” something that, outside of Islam, does not exist, while they disbelieve in their Creator, Christ Jesus, who both did and does exist. Exhibit A, of course, is the now-debunked UVA fraternity gang-rape hoax concocted in the disturbed minds...

Life Begins in the Womb “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5, ESV) Every Christian living in the United States is confronted with a question. Is abortion permissible? Abortion is lawful. Many people consider it a viable alternative to an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy. Many of the people who espouse such a belief are intelligent and appear to be well informed. Regardless of a person's social status or level of education, that person is still subject to truth....

The next frontier of feminism isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Last week, NBC News reported that Facebook and Apple are adding a rather pricey benefit to their health-care packages in order to attract and retain female employees: up to $20,000 in egg-freezing coverage, which can be used for non-medical reasons. Currently offered to Facebook employees as a surrogacy benefit and being rolled out as a fertility benefit for Apple employees starting in January, egg freezing may seem at first glance like just another line item on the list of perks employees of Silicon Valley enjoy. But women who...

Day 1: Sperm joins with ovum, to form one cell smaller than a grain of salt. The new life has inherited 23 chromosomes from each parent, 46 in all. This one cell contains the complex genetic blueprint for every detail of human development – the child’s sex, hair and eye color, height, skin toneDays 3 – 4: The fertilized egg travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where the lining has been prepared for implantationDays 5 – 9: During this time, the fertilized egg implants itself in the rich lining of the uterus and begins to draw nourishment.Days 10...

I'm no fan of third-party reproduction. Anybody who reads my writings or who has watched any of the three documentary films I have produced on the topic knows that these arrangements in my view are fraught with medical, ethical, and legal problems that affect women and the children they produce in negative ways. Take the breaking news of Baby Gammy in Thailand: The surrogate mother was carrying twins for the intended parents and did not know until late in her pregnancy that Baby Gammy had Down syndrome; allegedly the parents did not want the disabled child and asked the surrogate...

It saddens me to know couples in their late thirties trying unsuccessfully to conceive. The notion that it is easy to conceive at any age under 40—and perhaps beyond that—has taken firm, but mistaken, hold in our culture. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recently published a meta-analysis concluding that women’s fertility begins to drop significantly at 32 and drops rapidly at 37. This study reaffirms a similar 2008 statement by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.Most have not heard of these studies. Many who know the general concept discount it. The broad postponement of parenthood rests on...

Some common contraceptives can kill embryos, not just keep them from forming.This is not an article about the morality of contraception. This is an article about a very specific scientific question: What happens to embryos formed while the mother is using modern methods of contraception? This information is of importance to some women choosing contraception. And, unlike 20 years ago, today’s science has much to say about the conditions that embryos face when they are formed in women using contraception. All methods of contraception can fail to prevent a recognized pregnancy. Statistics on how often a method permits a recognized...