Where Charity and Love are, God is There

I was listening to my "PS - Celtic" radio station on Pandora this morning, and heard a song by Connie Dover called "Ubi Caritas". After a little research, I discovered that "ubi caritas" is the opening words to a Catholic hymn. Here is a YouTube video of the song:




Here are the words to the hymn in Latin:


Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.


Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Simul ergo cum in unum congregamur:
Ne nos mente dividamur, caveamus.
Cessent iurgia maligna, cessent lites.
Et in medio nostri sit Christus Deus.


Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Simul quoque cum beatis videamus,
Glorianter vultum tuum, Christe Deus:
Gaudium quod est immensum, atque probum,
Saecula per infinita saeculorum. 
Amen.


Here is the English translation:


Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ's love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.


Where charity and love are, God is there.
As we are gathered into one body,
Beware, lest we be divided in mind.
Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease,
And may Christ our God be in our midst.


Where charity and love are, God is there.
And may we with the saints also,
See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:
The joy that is immense and good,
Unto the ages through infinite ages.
Amen.

Abortion Doula - Killing With Compassion

Several times during my discussions with abortion rights supporters on Twitter I heard the term "abortion doula". I had never heard the term before, and didn't know what it was. Earlier today I came across a post on the Jill Stanek blog about abortion doulas. The post provided a link to an article on the New York Observer web site called "The Rise of the Abortion Doula". After reading the article, I discovered that abortion doulas work at abortion clinics, attempting to provide comfort and support to women who are in the process of aborting their unborn child, or who have just had an abortion. The abortion doula tries to convince the women that they made the right decision when they decided to kill their unborn child via abortion. The article doesn't use the terms "killing an unborn child" when referring to an abortion, however, but instead refers to abortion as "choosing not to take a pregnancy to term". It sounds much nicer that way, doesn't it?


Anyone who is pro-life who reads the article has to wonder how anyone can consider abortion doula work or any other work related to abortion a good thing, but it is obvious that some people do. The article features a class that trains people on how to become an abortion doula, and the training includes instruction on how to respond to a woman who has had an abortion who remorsefully says something like "I just killed my baby." The trainees are told to tell the woman that the abortion procedure is legal because "the fetus is not a baby, it just has the potential to be one." That statement pretty much sums up how people can justify abortion. They justify it by denying that the unborn is a baby, a living and distinct human being.


As I said in a previous post, people can refer to the unborn as a "potential human being", a "clump of cells", or whatever they want, but the undeniable fact remains that if a pregnancy is not terminated, a human being will be born. That "clump of cells" or "potential human being", if allowed to continue to develop, will be born a human being. Therefore, the termination of a pregnancy via abortion prevents a human being from being born. People can sugar coat it as much as they want, but the fact remains that abortion ends the life of an innocent human being. The killing of innocent human beings can never be justified, is not a good thing, and should be illegal.