"What Is A Saint?"

It's short and simple, and it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever read. It was (of course) written by Dr. Peter Kreeft. Found at Catholic Education Resource Center:

Saints are not freaks or exceptions; they are the standard operating model for human beings.

Because, as Charles Peguy put it, “life holds only one tragedy, ultimately: not to have been a saint."

Saints are not freaks or exceptions. They are the standard operating model for human beings. In fact, in the biblical sense of the word, all believers are saints. “Sanctity” means holiness. All men, women and children, born or unborn, beautiful or ugly, straight or gay, are holy, for they bear the image of God.

Saints are not the opposite of sinners. There are no opposites of sinners in this world. There are only saved sinners and unsaved sinners. Thus holy does not mean “sinless” but “set-apart:” called out of the world to the destiny of eternal ecstasy with God...

I highly recommend you continue reading here.

Definition

I found this on A Conservative Blog for Peace, which is always a great read.

"What is ‘tolerant conservatism’?

Charity and discretion about people’s failings while at the same time not making excuses for those vices either.
Don’t ask, don’t tell, we give you your space and God forgives but we don’t teach that it’s not a sin."
(The man who coined the term? The Right Rev. Peter Robinson, Rector of St. Paul's Anglican Church, Prescott, AZ.)

I like this definition, except maybe for the "don't ask, don't tell" part. I need to think that bit over before I decide.

This weekend some core members of New Wave Femmes gathered to make signs for next weekend's Roe v. Wade memorial events in downtown Dallas. (There will be a memorial mass for the approximately 50,000,000 children killed in the U.S. since abortion was legalized in 1973, followed by a rally and a peaceful march to the federal courts building and back.)

It was a wonderful experience of fellowship for NWF, with probably too much wine. We spent hours discussing matters of faith, morals, womanhood, sex, hair dye, swearing, attractive monks, ghost hunting, bean dip, and more.

What came out of this evening of work and fun, other than attending Mass with a pounding headache, were some dynamic ideas about where New Wave Femmes is going and what the next year might have in store for us. Together we can do a great deal to help women and children, and the men who love them.

Later I'll be posting more about NWF, but meanwhile I am reflecting on the definition of "tolerant conservatism" and what it means for our organization.

While discussing what we should print on our signs for the rally and march, knowing that there will be press there and whatever we write might be on the 6 o'clock news, I found myself saying to the other girls: "Never apologize for telling the Truth." I want to capitalize truth because I do believe there is an objective Truth that exists independent of what (or whether) we think about it. While we want to be nurturing to people, to show them compassion and act always from love and kindness, we are only doing them a disservice if we lie to them.

That's why I like, for the most part, the term "tolerant conservatism" and the way it's defined. It is possible to love people and even understand why they do what they do without condoning it.

The New Eve

Every woman alive today was born on a battlefield.

The war is not between women and men, or women and the state, as "feminists" would have you believe. The war is between Good and Evil. It is a spiritual war.

Do not be fooled into thinking that Good and Evil are abstract, subjective concepts. They exist as surely as you and I exist. If they did not exist, we would not have conscience. We wouldn't know the difference between right and wrong in our hearts. But we do know, don't we? We know in our hearts it is evil to harm the innocent, good to help those in need. Good and Evil are real, and they are really at war, all around you, all the time. If you don't believe it, open a newspaper or turn on the TV.

I call on today's woman to be a warrior for Good, and it starts with being a rebel. We need to be rebels, not in the way the "feminists" would have us be, by denying our womanhood and our femininity, but in the most radical way possible.

G. K. Chesterton said, "The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice." It is as true today as it was a hundred years ago.

There is nothing rebellious about radical feminism. There is nothing revolutionary about immorality. Promiscuity, pornography, abortion: these things are the status quo. This is the age of the hook-up; we are expected to embrace casual sex, the denigration of our bodies and an "easy fix" for the "inconvenience" of pregnancy.

Women will not be respected until we respect ourselves. It's that simple.

I call on today's woman to embrace womanhood, not run from it. The most rebellious thing a woman can do today is refuse to be objectified by pornography and the advertising and fashion industries; refuse to be disrespected by the culture of promiscuity, contraception, and misogyny; refuse to be made complicit in the sins of the world by harming your body and soul and killing your children through abortion.

We will be treated no better than we treat ourselves. It's time to give ourselves the respect and care we deserve. Only then can we demand the same from the world. Only then can we call ourselves warriors, and begin to fight.