Rejoice heavenly powers, sing choirs of angels. The Exultet still rings in my ears as does the silence of so many American Catholics in this time of consternation. The president seems callous in his recent decisions to limit the rights and voice of those to whom he paid lip service to in the past. Was the Catholic vote merely a means to an end? Does the money of Planned Parenthood speak louder than the voices of Catholics? I am bothered that many Catholics seem complicit, at least he must think so, because of their silence. Certainly Christ went quietly to the cross, but he also turned over the money lenders' tables.
  Where do we stand? Obviously a large block of Catholics voted for him. Obviously he has several prominent Catholics surrounding him. Have they lost their voice? Sing chiors of angels! End the lip service to those who value life in a seamless, consistent format, whose conscience embraces more than a few issues. If abortion were our only concern then perhaps I could see his political indiffernce. What's one issue, right? What he fails to see and we fail to tell him is that it is ONE ISSUE -- life itself, in all its manifestations, in all of its stages, in all of its dignity.
  Let not our silence be interpreted as indiffernce. Let our silence not be interpreted as complacancy. Speak up. Pray up. Let our voices be one with theirs as we sing.

Many groups choose this time of year to fast, which brings focus on a tradition and discipline that knows no religious practice boundaries. What are the benefits of fasting? Why do so many practice it? Is there something within the human spirit that recognizes the need for such a discipline? Why would the mind choose something so basic to the physical human as the focal point for self-discipline? This question of fasting has often intrigued me, because food, like air and water are so essential to us. If you examine the three (air, food, water), all are used to discipline the body. Air, and by natural progression, breathing, is used in prayer and meditation to calm and control, regulate and expand and ultimately focus thought and attention. Food, and by natural progression, eating, is used to clear the mind, so to speak, in some cases, by eliminating certain foodstuffs which might cloud or tire the mind as well as slow the body (that extra 20 lbs of fat – and I’m not talking about the head) and to place the will above the baser desires of the body. Denying or limiting food helps to focus the will toward the larger goals of spiritual discipline. Water is the interesting one. On the one hand it is rarely if ever – I have yet to discover a regime which limits or eliminates it, but the world is young – denied the body and is often used instead of another food or drink. Still as a means of discipline it is also used to focus the person to purity of mind and purpose. Drawing one outside one’s self. This is the purpose of fasting. By focusing the mind and the body away from its own selfish needs, fasting expands the soul to (ironically I guess) become all that it can become. Think on Ghandi, Joel, Jesus in the desert, John Wesley. Fasting is also paired with something else and is rarely a discipline on its own. Blending fasting with prayer and meditation, the combination of fasting with charity (or as known in some disciplines, almsgiving), and in many cases the mix of all three explains the place and necessity of fasting. By expanding the inner soul outward (not just interiorly), the soul learns the power of prayer and meditation to expand it further, and drives one to the charity and peace given when the soul ceases to focus only upon itself. True enlightenment, then, seems to come from this discipline of fasting. Not harsh and dangerous self-punishment, but discipline and peace rising from reducing one’s self to the essential of spirituality – the surrendering of the baser aspects of the will to the shall we say, more enlightened will.