I Am Still Near

I Am Still Near

Death has taken me from this world, and through we are apart, I am still near.

All that we meant to each other remains true, in trust and faith, have no fear.

Keep me always close to your heart!

For I leave with you what no one can steal, a treasure chest of precious, happy memories;

the tender, love-filled moments we shared, as well as the challenging times that brought us closer together.

When you are in need, speak to me, call my name.

I will come to you with wisdom and light to fill your soul with peace, and to guide you in the pathways that lead to life forever with our Loving God.

I also offer you this sacred promise: when I am home in God’s embrace, whenever you call on me, I will still be present to you,

for neither death nor grave can break the bonds of love that we on earth once knew.

Padre Pio Foundation of America

Closing of the Month of Holy Souls

Please always remember to pray for the holy souls in purgatory. 

The Prayer of St. Gertrude is one of the most famous of the prayers for the souls in purgatory:

"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."

St. Gertrude the Great was a Benedictine nun and mystic who lived in the 13th century. According to tradition, our Lord promised her that 1000 souls would be released from purgatory and allowed into God’s Presence each time this prayer is said devoutly:

There is great joy as well as pain for the souls in purgatory. Joy for they know for certain they are bound for heaven, but pain because they are not there yet, and must undergo purification. Purgatory has been described as a “cleansing fire” that burns away the sins on our souls. St. Paul wrote those of being saved “yet so as through fire” (1 Cor 3:15), and whether or not the soul endures a literal fire, its purification does involve suffering.

The most famous scriptural reference concerning these prayers comes from the Old Testament where it is called “a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins” (2 Macabees 12:46). If everyone who dies goes immediately to Heaven or to Hell, then this verse would be nonsense. Those who are in Heaven have no need of prayer, "that they may be loosed from sins"; those who are in Hell are unable to benefit from such prayers, because there is no escape from Hell, since damnation is eternal. Thus, there must be a third place or state, in which some of the dead are currently in the process of being "loosed from sins."

On a side note, Martin Luther argued that 1 and 2 Maccabees did not belong in the canon of the Old Testament, even though they had been accepted by the universal Church from the time that the canon was settled by Catholic popes and Catholic bishops in the 4th century. (Yes it was the authority of the Catholic Church who decided what books belonged in the Bible.)
Since Martin Luther threw both books of Maccabees out of his Protestant Bible during the sixteenth century Reformation, most Protestants today don’t recognize Maccabees as scripture. But remember, he also threw out the book of Revelation and James, thought they were added back in by his followers after his death. (By what authority you might ask did he have to do this, and what would prevent anyone from removing books from the Bible today?)
In the First Book of Samuel 31:13, the survivors fasted for the dead, which makes no sense if the deceased were not in a place where that penance (fasting) could do some good for them. In Matthew 12:31, Jesus told the parable about blaspheming the Holy Spirit (not believing that the Holy Spirit can save you, no matter what – the sin of despair), and said that anyone who does blaspheme the Holy Spirit "will not be forgiven in this age or the age to come" (Matthew12:32). Since sins aren't forgiven in Hell, and those in Heaven are already forgiven for their sins, then this one statement indicates another place after death where sins can indeed be forgiven.

Many of the Fathers of the Church, such as St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom, considered prayers for souls in purgatory to be essential.

Once you die you are either saved or not saved. If you have suffered greatly in this life, or during your death, that pain and suffering alleviates your purgatory time, if it was done for Christ, and not wasted in anger at God. All purgatory does is to detach you from your love of sin, and to pay your debt to God for all of the sins that you have committed while alive on earth. This is directly analogous to someone who robs a bank and then asks for forgiveness. While the bank president will probably forgive him, the thief still has to give back the money and pay his debt to society through prison time. Remember - nothing unclean or defiled shall enter Heaven (Revelation 21:27).
The Catholic Church has always taught that Purgatory does exist. It is not a second chance to be saved, but rather, a place of cleansing for the already saved before entering into heaven. Once you die you are either saved or not saved. People who die with unexpiated sins or the attachment to sin on their souls go there, and are cleansed in the purifying fire of Purgatory for a period of time. Once they are purified, they go to heaven and enjoy the Beatific Vision forever. We can help those in Purgatory by praying for them, saying rosaries for them, offering up our sufferings here on earth for them, and most powerfully of all, having Holy Masses said for them.

Some will try to tell you that the word “Purgatory” is not mentioned in the Bible. This is true, and yet it does not disprove the existence of purgatory or the fact that belief in it has always been part of Church teaching. The words Trinity and Incarnation are not in Scripture either, yet those doctrines are obviously taught in the Bible.

Scripture clearly teaches that purgatory exists. Prayers for the dead and the doctrine of purgatory have been part of the Catholic Church, founded by Jesus Christ, for over 2000 years. It was not the Catholic Church that added the doctrine of purgatory. Rather, any change in the original teaching has taken place in the Protestant churches, which rejected a doctrine that had always been believed by Jews and Christians.

So please always remember to pray for the holy souls in purgatory every day. What a beautiful gift for these very special souls!

Love Being Catholic

Top 10 Manly Christmas Gifts for 2013

Top 10 Manly Christmas Gifts for 2013

by Dr Taylor Marshall

http://taylormarshall.com/2013/11/top-ten-manly-christmas-gifts.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+taylormarshall+%28Dr.+Taylor+Marshall+%7C+Canterbury+Tales%29

The Swing at the End of the World

Take a Seat on the Swing at the End of the World

http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2013/11/27/the_swing_at_the_end_of_the_world.html

Beer-Tapping Physics

Beer-Tapping Physics: Why A Hit To A Bottle Makes A Foam Volcano

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/11/20/246390302/beer-tapping-physics-why-a-hit-to-a-bottle-makes-a-foam-volcano

Darth Vader for your GPS

Darth Vader now available on your TomTom GPS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2ljFfL-mL70

To conclude the Month of Holy Souls

To conclude the Month of Holy Souls . . .

A Prayer For My Deceased Loved Ones

Merciful God, I pray that my relatives and friends who have died are with you now in heave.

Lord Jesus, by your agony, by your sweat of precious blood shed again on the cross, you offered salvation to all humanity.

I ask for salvation for my family, my friends, for everyone who is near and dear to me.

May my deceased loved ones spend eternity in heaven with you and your angels and saints.

Amen

Trinity Missions

Nov 30: Why is St. Andrew the patron saint of Scotland?

About the middle of the 10th century,^{[citation needed]} Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland. Several legends state that the relics of Andrew were brought by divine guidance from Constantinople to the place where the modern town of St Andrews stands today (Gaelic, Cill Rìmhinn).

The oldest surviving manuscripts are two: one is among the manuscripts collected by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and willed to Louis XIV of France, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, the other in the Harleian Mss in the British Library, London. They state that the relics of Andrew were brought by oneRegulus to the Pictish king Óengus mac Fergusa (729–761). The only historical Regulus (Riagail or Rule) whose name is preserved in the tower of St Rule was an Irish monk expelled from Ireland with Saint Columba; his dates, however, are c 573 – 600. There are good reasons for supposing that the relics were originally in the collection of Acca, bishop of Hexham, who took them into Pictish country when he was driven from Hexham (c. 732), and founded a see, not, according to tradition, in Galloway, but on the site of St Andrews. The connection made with Regulus is, therefore, due in all probability to the desire to date the foundation of the church at St Andrews as early as possible.

St. Andrew, carving c.1500 in the National Museum of Scotland

Nov 30: Happy St. Andrew's Day

November 30:  St. Andrew – Apostle & Martyr

The New Testament states that Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter,^[3] by which it is inferred that he was likewise a son of John, or Jonah. He was born in the village of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. Both he and his brother Peter were fishermen by trade, hence the tradition that Jesus called them to be his disciples by saying that he will make them "fishers of men" (Greek: ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων, halieĩs anthrōpōn).^[4] At the beginning of Jesus' public life, they were said to have occupied the same house at Capernaum.

The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrewby Caravaggio

The Gospel of John states that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, whose testimony first led him, and another unnamed disciple of John the Baptist to follow Jesus. Andrew at once recognized Jesus as theMessiah, and hastened to introduce him to his brother.^[5] Thenceforth, the two brothers were disciples of Christ. On a subsequent occasion, prior to the final call to the Apostolate, they were called to a closer companionship, and then they left all things to follow Jesus.

In the gospels, Andrew is referred to as being present on some important occasions as one of the disciples more closely attached to Jesus.^[6] Andrew told Jesus about the boy with the loaves and fishes (John 6:8), with Philip told Jesus about the Greeks seeking Him, and was present at the Last Supper.^[7]

Crucifixion of St. Andrew.

Eusebius in his church history 3,1 quotes Origen as saying Andrew preached in Scythia. The Chronicle of Nestor adds that he preached along the Black Sea and the Dnieper river as far as Kiev, and from there he traveled to Novgorod. Hence he became a patron saint of Ukraine, Romania and Russia. According to tradition, he founded the See of Byzantium (Constantinople) in AD 38, installing Stachys as bishop. According to Hippolytus of Rome, he preached in Thrace, and his presence in Byzantium is also mentioned in the apocryphal Acts of Andrew, written in the 2nd century; Basil of Seleucia also knew of Apostle Andrew's mission in Thrace, as well as Scythia and Achaia.^[8] This diocese would later develop into the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Andrew is recognized as its patron saint.

Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion at the city of Patras (Patræ) in Achaea, on the northern coast of the Peloponnese. Early texts, such as theActs of Andrew known to Gregory of Tours,^[9] describe Andrew as bound, not nailed, to a Latin cross of the kind on which Jesus is said to have been crucified; yet a tradition developed that Andrew had been crucified on a cross of the form called Crux decussata (X-shaped cross, or "saltire"), now commonly known as a "Saint Andrew's Cross" — supposedly at his own request, as he deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus had been.^[10]"The familiar iconography of his martyrdom, showing the apostle bound to an X-shaped cross, does not seem to have been standardized before the later Middle Ages," Judith Calvert concluded after re-examining the materials studied by Louis Réau.^[11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_the_Apostle

Why Aren't Catholics Having Funerals For Their Dead?

Fewer Catholics schedule funerals for their dead

Posted on 29 November 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A tip of the biretta to Pewsitter for this piece from the Worcester Telegram:

Bishop McManus worried that some omit funeral Masses

WORCESTER — Bishop Robert J. McManus is expressing concern that Central Massachusetts Roman Catholics are not scheduling funeral Masses for their dead.

This month, he sent a pastoral letter to Catholics in the Diocese of Worcester, urging them to include a Mass in funeral preparations for their beloved dead. [I looked for it at the diocesan site, but didn't see it.  Maybe one of you...]

The sending of the letter coincides with the church’s traditional commemoration, in November, of the deceased.

The bishop’s missive has been read from church pulpits or included in parish bulletins.[Excellent.]

“I’m extremely concerned because of the growing practice of Catholic families in not providing their deceased with a Mass of Christian burial,” said Bishop McManus in an interview with the Telegram & Gazette.

Bishop McManus said the official funeral rites of the church include three parts: the wake, the Mass and the commitment service at graveside.

He said that during the Mass,that the family has a chance to pray for the dead, asking God to forgive the decedents’ sins and to welcome them into heaven. [It is a spiritual work of mercy to pray for the dead.  It is a corporal work of mercy to bury the dead.]

“There’s a presumption today that everybody gets to heaven,” Bishop McManus said. “I don’t think that people should think that’s a given.” [There it is!]

Bishop McManus said the diocese has not taken a formal survey of how many families are taking spiritual advantage of a funeral Mass but added that the numbers are substantially down.

“All you have to do is open up to the obituary page in the morning,” Bishop McManus said. “It’s filled with members of Irish, Polish, and other ethnic groups that have his been important elements of the local church. You look at the obituary and there’s no funeral Mass scheduled.”

He said many of the deceased probably wanted funeral Masses scheduled for them but that the children, or others in charge of funeral arrangements, did not do so because they themselves are not practicing Catholics.  [New Evangelization anyone?]

“There are a lot of people who have turned away from the church,” Bishop McManus said.

He said that, before the Second Vatican Council, about 80 percent of Catholics attended Mass. He said that percentage is now between 25 and 30 percent.

“That’s a substantial drop-off,” Bishop McManus said.

He said it’s important for individuals wishing for funeral Masses to let their desires be known, possibly in a will or by alerting family members.

For the deceased who do not get funeral Masses, the bishop said he’s asked their pastors to remember those individuals in memorial intentions.

Kevin Mercadante, the president of Mercadante Funeral Home and Chapel, estimated that at least 30 percent of the Catholic funerals that he’s been associated with, over the past ten years, do not involve Masses.

Mr. Mercadante blamed the drop-off on the growth of secularism and the fact that newer generations of Catholics just don’t go to church.

“They believe in God, they believe in First Communion, and the meaning behind the (religious) holidays,” said Mr. Mercadante. “They just don’t go to church.” [Well... then do they really believe? Or have they also been subtly taught over the decades through what they experience in church that going to church isn't important?]

He said the cost of a funeral Mass do not factor in on the decision. Mr. Mercadante said the average cost of a funeral Mass is about $300 and diocesan officials said pastors often waive fees for those that can’t pay.

“Years ago, Sunday was a family day with everybody going to Mass and then enjoying the day together,” said Mr. Mercadante. “That doesn’t happen anymore. Instead of Mass, there are Sunday morning soccer games. And some parents have to work the day to make ends meet.”

A while back I had a Requiem Mass in the older, traditional form.  Most of the people there had never been to one or hadn’t been for many years.  After Mass many people told me how moving and impressive the rite had been.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/

How Hillary Will Win in 2016

There is a candidate lurking for a 2016 run that could change our nation’s history forever, and not in a good way. I am going to go on record with a prediction here and I honestly hope I end up with egg on my face.

It is my belief that a 3rd party candidate is being hand-picked and/or groomed as we speak. This is not just a normal 3rd party candidate that will get 1-2% of the vote. I believe this candidate will be more like Ross Perot and seriously complicate the election while guaranteeing that Hillary Clinton will become our next president.

It’s time for a reality check. We need to look no further than the recent Virginia Governor’s race.

It was not necessarily the strength of McAuliffe that defeated Ken Cuccinelli. It was more thepresence of a third party (Libertarian) candidate named Robert Sarvis, who was able to gain 6.5% of the popular vote. Most of those votes came from Cuccinelli and thus guaranteed a McAuliffe victory.

I do not fault Sarvis or the Libertarian Party for competing in this election and trying to win, but people need to understand that most third party votes will come from the GOP, at least until third party candidates from the hard left (Socialist Party, Communist Party, etc.) start to become more relevant.

OK, now here’s the point… Do you not think that the democrats know what happened in Virginia? Do you not think they took notes?

Do you not think that Hillary Clinton will use this same strategy to win an election in 2016?

Of course she will use it. Some say that her and Bill invented it.

The 2016 race is shaping up to be more than Clinton versus “To Be Announced” Republican. It is shaping up to be Clinton and some third party useful idiot versus that unnamed Republican. And that is a combination that is going to be difficult, if not IMPOSSIBLE, to beat.

Read more: http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/11/2016-presidential-candidate-one-talking/#ixzz2m5plk7vk

America's Kristallnacht

November 19,2013 Was America’s Kristallnacht

History is almost always best understood in retrospect. Only on rare occasion are we able to see events and immediately identify them as historical milestones. Most of these are harbingers of trouble in the making.

On the night of November 9th and 10th,1938,following orders from their Fuhrer Adolph Hitler, Germany’s Nazis (who had steadily moved in a heretofore deliberate but low-key manner against the Jews) removed their masks and took their attacks to the streets. Under what had become the “Law of the land,” they burned the Jews’ synagogues, shops,and homes. They rounded up 30,000 Jewish citizens and put them in “legally maintained” death camps. Germany’s Nazis brushed aside all pretense of being civilized people who could be dealt with rationally.  This savage attack is called Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass.

After their Kristallnacht, the Nazis stepped up their attacks on Jews and anyone else they hated. No amount of “worldwide condemnation” swayed them in the slightest.

There was not a peep from Germany’s media, which by that time had either joined the Nazis, become frozen in fear, or had been murdered for opposing them.

The Nazi’s Kristallnacht led to the murder of those whose continued existence was deemed not cost-effective. Anyone with a physical or mental defect was sent to a camp by completely legal “Death Panels.” Although Hitler was given power by a bare plurality in 1933,after Kristallnacht, anyone who wasn’t with them was an enemy who had to be destroyed; no one but Nazis had any rights. Hitler ran the courts, had the guns, and did everything according to “the law of the land.” He was answerable to no one because all his moves were “legal.”

On November 19,2013,Americans experienced our “Night of Broken Glass” when the Democrats in the Senate decided that laws and procedures in place for hundreds of years are not as important as fulfilling the wishes of their Fuhrer. Their changes to our Senate’s rules means the Democrats have committed America’s Kristallnacht. They have cleared the way to use “the law of the land” to destroy our Constitution, which is the only barrier between us and 1938 Germany.

To ensure the success of his eugenic, fake “healthcare” program, Barack Obama can now follow the “law of the land” and thin us out by cutting off life support for the weakest and most vulnerable among us. He can import millions of new Democrat voters to take the place of “legally” eliminated Americans. They will vote to ensure that their own parasitical presence in America becomes “the law of the land” forever.  America’s Fuhrer can now use Hitler-like fiats to “LEGALLY” ascend to the position of dictator.

There are, of course, those who will laugh at this notion. But when you hear their cackling, ask them who has their allegiance–the Constitution or Barack Obama.  The answer will speak volumes.

http://www.exposeobama.com/2013/11/29/november-19-2013-was-americas-kristallnacht/

Today in History: Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado

On this day in 1864, peaceful Southern Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians are massacred by a band of Colonel John Chivington's Colorado volunteers at Sand Creek, Colorado.

The causes of the Sand Creek massacre were rooted in the long conflict for control of the Great Plains of eastern Colorado. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 guaranteed ownership of the area north of the Arkansas River to the Nebraska border to the Cheyenne and Arapahoe. However, by the end of the decade, waves of Euro-American miners flooded across the region in search of gold in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, placing extreme pressure on the resources of the arid plains. By 1861, tensions between new settlers and Native Americans were rising. On February 8 of that year, a Cheyenne delegation, headed by Chief Black Kettle, along with some Arapahoe leaders, accepted a new settlement with the Federal government. The Native Americans ceded most of their land but secured a 600-square mile reservation and annuity payments. The delegation reasoned that continued hostilities would jeopardize their bargaining power. In the decentralized political world of the tribes, Black Kettle and his fellow delegates represented only part of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes. Many did not accept this new agreement, called the Treaty of Fort Wise.

The new reservation and Federal payments proved unable to sustain the tribes. During the Civil War, tensions again rose and sporadic violence broke out between Anglos and Native Americans. In June 1864, John Evans, governor of the territory of Colorado, attempted to isolate recalcitrant Native Americans by inviting "friendly Indians" to camp near military forts and receive provisions and protection. He also called for volunteers to fill the military void left when most of the regular army troops in Colorado were sent to other areas during the Civil War. In August 1864, Evans met with Black Kettle and several other chiefs to forge a new peace, and all parties left satisfied. Black Kettle moved his band to Fort Lyon, Colorado, where the commanding officer encouraged him to hunt near Sand Creek. In what can only be considered an act of treachery, Chivington moved his troops to the plains, and on November 29, they attacked the unsuspecting Native Americans, scattering men, women, and children and hunting them down. The casualties reflect the one-sided nature of the fight. Nine of Chivington's men were killed; 148 of Black Kettle's followers were slaughtered, more than half of them women and children. The Colorado volunteers returned and killed the wounded, mutilated the bodies, and set fire to the village.

The atrocities committed by the soldiers were initially praised, but then condemned as the circumstances of the massacre emerged. Chivington resigned from the military and aborted his budding political career. Black Kettle survived and continued his peace efforts. In 1865, his followers accepted a new reservation in Indian Territory.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/-sand-creek-massacre?et_cid=57479712&et_rid=704938710&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.history.com%2fthis-day-in-history%2f-sand-creek-massacre

Gut Check: The Pro-Choice Revolution

Gut Check: The Pro-Choice Revolution by Greg Gutfield

. . . And then there's iTunes. Do not underestimate the freedoms we have gained from our iPods. Imagine, when you were young, someone told you that you can carry your entire record collection in a metal crate smaller than your front shirt pocket - and not only that - you can hold everyone else’s record collection too. And you can skirt around such noxious stuff like Dave Matthews or Maroon 5.

Now imagine if iTunes had been run by the government. This is how I see it:

To enjoy my recently repurchased Marshall Crenshaw's song "What Do You Dream Of", I'd have to pay for an additional 19 songs I do not want -- in order to help pay for someone else's desire to listen to Ke$ha. Or worse, Enya. The iPod would come with a mandated airbag, and it would be the size of a baby's head, and weigh 45 lbs. It would require that 34 percent of the music I purchase be polka. It would probably start overheating after an hour of use, break down, and give you thyroid cancer. 

But as a reasonably compensated guy, the government believes that my desires for my music would require purchasing other music I don't want, and I'd have to subsidize the musical choices belonging to some old guy I don’t even know. 

And chances are all the music would suck (think Dave Matthews and Maroon 5). It would all cost more and satisfy less -- which is what happens when choice is replaced by coercion.

My point: just as civilization is moving toward an endless fragmentation allowing for options beyond our wildest expectations, President Obama believes the opposite course is "the right thing to do.” It is his warped version of progress. It's no different than a young man staring at the advances in medicine and thinking, "No thanks, I'll take the newt's tail and onion powder for my cancer." Ancient Chinese secrets no longer are acceptable medicine -- except with Obamacare -- what’s retro is now progress.

It's like choosing to eat raw meat, even when you know fire’s been invented and works reasonably well under certain circumstances. That's what Obama is doing. He's staring at a Ferrari V4i, and thinking, "No thanks, I'll take this penny-farthing."

It's dumbfounding how dumb this is. How can you look at the pro-choice revolution -- reflected in Amazon, travel websites, online menus, and new car service apps, all wonderful things that expand freedom by expanding options -- and think, "We really need to limit what people can get with health care -- for that helps others."

Because, as you know, there are so many examples of how limiting your choice helps people.

Actually, we have NO examples regarding the efficacy of limiting choice. 

I see no way out of -- but only around -- big government. Meaning, choice means getting a doctor via an app -- and it's a guy who's willing to do the work for cash. The same way I see a driver picking you up after a text through an app -- a burgeoning market of doctors will develop who will see you on the sly, for a couple hundred bucks. It'll be like the back pages of the Village Voice, or Craig's list -- but they treat disease instead of give it to you.

So, you can be depressed over Obamacare, because it's worth being depressed about. But it can't win. Not against the human, creative mind and its desire for options. Sooner or later it will collapse, and then people will have the freedom to choose -- the way health care should have been from the start. In the meantime, I’m getting ribs. 

Greg Gutfeld is a mainstay on Fox News as co-host of The Five and the host of Red Eye. He's also the NY Times best-selling author of The Joy of Hate: How to Triumph over Whiners in the Age of Phony Outrage. His new book Not Cool, is now available for Pre-order. For more from Greg check out his official site or follow him on Twitter.

How to Achieve Self-Control and Emotional Stability

But does Odin really hear our prayers?

Does prayer help us resist temptation? Talking to God boosts self-control and emotional stability, claims study

• People turn to prayer 'as a coping response to the high demands in life' and are rewarded with an increased ability to resist temptation
• Previous findings have shown that when people try to control their emotions, the risk of aggressive outbursts and binge drinking rises

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2515637/Does-prayer-help-resist-temptation-Talking-God-boosts-self-control-emotional-stability-claims-study.html#ixzz2m4PWjGLQ 

Convention of the States - Restoring Federalism

Reps from various states are meeting on December 7 to discuss amending the US Constitution to return power to the states stolen by the federal government.

Many are using Mark Levin’s 11 proposed Liberty Amendments as their guide to restoring sanity in Washington, DC . . .

Idaho lawmakers aware that there is interest at the state level in amending U.S. Constitution

State legislators from across the country will soon be gathering in northern Virginia to discuss the possibility of amending the U.S. Constitution. Some legislators in Idaho report that they’re aware of increased discussion about such an undertaking.

“I definitely heard about this idea, yes,” said Rep. Steven Harris, R-Meridian. Harris told IdahoReporter.com that he frequently receives email from constituents, many of whom reference “The Liberty Amendments,” a book from author and constitutional scholar Mark Levin. “People seem to be motivated by the book, but I get plenty of messages in all directions on this issue. Some that favor, and others that oppose the idea of amending the U.S. Constitution.”

Levin’s book details a specific section of the U.S. Constitution that he believes puts a check on big government. Article V provides two paths to amending the Constitution. One is through two-thirds of both chambers of the U.S. Congress, followed by ratification by three-fourths of the states. The other begins at the state level, where two-thirds of all the legislatures ask Congress to call “a convention for proposing amendments.”

In the latter scenario, states would send delegates to this convention to propose amendments to the Constitution. Then, three-fourths of the states would have to ratify any amendments approved by the convention, either by a vote of the legislatures or through special ratifying conventions.

As a precursor to a “convention for proposing amendments,” Wisconsin state Rep. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, has undertaken the task of organizing a meeting of state legislators from across the nation for next weekend.

“On Dec. 7, we’ll be gathering at Mount Vernon, the home of President George Washington,” he explained, adding his intent for next month’s meeting is to “start a movement of the states that would give voters hope that the government still gets its power from them, and not the other way around.”

Kapenga said that the U.S. Constitution stipulates that there be a balance between the powers of the individual state governments and the federal government. “Few will deny that the balance of power has shifted significantly toward the federal government over the course of time,” he explained. “We have a broken system that transcends political parties and voters are frustrated.”

According to Kapenga, every elected member of every state legislature in the country received an email invitation to next month’s meeting at Mount Vernon. His goal is for each state to send a “bipartisan delegation” of three individuals. Harris says he doesn’t recall receiving an invitation, but finds the process to be intriguing.

Similarly, Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, told IdahoReporter.com that he doesn’t recall receiving an invitation to the December meeting, but acknowledged that constituents contact him about the constitutional amendment process.

“I wouldn’t say that I’ve gotten much in the way of original material about this,” Goedde said. “Usually people are cutting and pasting somebody else’s information about it. But I think it’s important to maintain the rights that are entailed in the U.S. Constitution. I think we do serve people better in Boise than my counterparts do from Washington, D.C.”

Rep. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, told IdahoReporter.com that he likes the idea of amending the U.S. Constitution, but not for the reasons that Kapenga suggests. “The dysfunction of the federal government is now so complete that our country faces some significant and very real dangers. For this reason I have come to favor an Article V constitutional convention.”

Burgoyne listed several types of amendments to the U.S. Constitution that he’d like to see: These include amendments to require balanced budgets except in times of war and other emergencies; a presidential line item budget veto; amendments recognizing the principle that it is not $1 one vote, but one person one vote; amendments to prevent the gerrymandering of congressional districts; and amendments to prevent political parties from exercising governmental-like powers to control voting and elections.

“I do not think that the relative constitutional powers of the states and the federal government are out of balance when the Constitution is properly read and applied,” Burgoyne said.

Kapenga says that about 90 state legislators have committed to attending next month’s meeting at Mount Vernon, and he is still hoping for more. He was uncertain, however, whether or not any Idaho legislators will be attending.

http://www.idahoreporter.com/2013/idaho-lawmakers-aware-interest-state-level-amending-u-s-constitution/