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This is a radio broadcast about the culture of death in society and the need to counter it with a culture of life. The host discusses the warnings given by Pope John Paul II and Pope Paul VI about the destructive path our world is on. They emphasize the importance of believing, praying, and living the gospel to bring about change. The host also mentions the miracles of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the conversion of an abortionist in Medjugorje. They discuss the pressures on women to have abortions and the lies society tells about motherhood. The host urges listeners to enlighten others and live joyfully to show the value of life. They highlight the importance of generosity and helping those in need, such as donating to the Smile Train to help children with cleft lips. Overall, the message is to live the gospel of life and counter the forces of darkness in society. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ You're listening to Radio Maria, a Christian voice in your home. We now bring you Marian Apparitions with Mary Piper. Welcome, everyone. It's a pleasure to always be with you, but especially as we celebrate the birth of Christ. And we look forward to his second coming. What a glorious time to be here on earth. God has chosen us for this time. In our different places around the world, wherever you may be listening, God has chosen you, you to be born to live and to believe and to help others to believe as well. We are his messengers. Yesterday was the feast day of St. John the Apostle. What an amazing apostle he was. Evangelizer, writer, you know, whatever it was that God asked him to do, he did. And he did it to the best of his ability, cooperating with the grace that God gave him. He had many unique experiences that Christ allowed him into that inner circle of the apostles. And he also lived the longest. And that means he endured without his fellow apostles and Christ and the Blessed Mother for many, many years suffering and bringing the world to come to know and love Jesus as he did, the daily beloved apostle. And we are like that. We are the beloved disciples standing there at the foot of the cross. Whatever season of life this is for you, we all have our crosses. Some are very obvious, others not so obvious. Some that we carry in our bodies, some in our hearts that go deeper than any physical pain could ever go. Well, today we're talking about one such thing, and that is the culture of death that pervades in our society. But the good news is we are here to counter that culture of death and bring about a culture of life, to be light to the dark world. And why would God put us here in this time and this place? Well, for this time we were made. For this time we will be given the graces to help to turn around the culture of death into a culture of life. Pope John Paul II, he warned, he saw all this way before his time. Many of the popes are very prophetic and given very special graces and the ability to see different things that are developing in our different cultures around the world will lead us maybe to a path of utter destruction. And Pope Paul VI was such a man, so was Pope John Paul the Great. And we need to look at some of the things that they warned us about and how those are so unfortunately coming true in our own days. But with each time, this is the Blessed Mother when she appears, with each time they give us a warning of maybe death and destruction and what path we're on. They also give us a remedy. And so it is the remedy that has always been there, and that is to believe, pray, and live the gospel. And when we do that, my friends, the culture of life bubbles up from us and it spills into the next family, the next family, into our parish life, into the communities, into the world. And that's how we change the world, one soul at a time, starting with our own. And so today we're going to talk and go more into the culture of death, the miracles that have happened to bring about a culture of life where it seemed impossible. One of those would be Our Lady of Guadalupe. And also the miraculous, amazing conversion of an abortionist who went to Medjugorje and had a profound experience, not just an enlightenment of her heart that what she was doing was wrong, but a graphic vision that helped her to really see the true reality of what was happening, what she herself was doing. As one person can cause so much death and destruction, we will find that we too can cause much joy, much life, and to do the will of God. And when we do that, my friends, then God works miraculously through us. Even if we've committed the worst sins, and maybe many who are listening, perhaps you know of beloved ones who have committed the sin of abortion, and many of them do not know. We are raising kids to believe that abortion is an option, and not only an option, but a preferable option. And corporations now, I just read an article about how corporations are pressuring their women who are pregnant to abort their child so that they can further their careers. And they entice them with all kinds of benefits in order to kill their own child. So we are living in times that we never thought would ever happen. At least I never thought so. And I grew up in a time where women lived with very strong careers, with everything, and you could always be a mom, so don't worry about it. Well, that was a lie, because many of my friends could not become moms because they waited so long. We didn't know the biology, the science behind the rhetoric that was out there. And so we need to warn and enlighten, bring light into this darkness, into these lies, bring truth into these lies, and into the life of young people so that they understand what is at stake and what the cost is. Many people don't know what the cost is, and many people don't want to know. So we have to pray, we have to believe, we have to pray, and we have to live the gospel of life. That's what it is, my friend, a gospel of life. So we have come to see that those who are the forces of darkness, those who wish to depopulate the earth are being very aggressive these days, some obvious ways and some not so obvious ways. The truth will come to light at some point, and many people will be devastated. But at this point in time, even though they're getting more and more brazen and bold with what they're proclaiming and what they're planning and telling us, on websites and even in their speeches, we can hear them actually talking about their plans to depopulate the world. And so it has kind of come around full circle where, here's God who created man for the earth, who put us here and told us to be fruitful and multiply. Now we have men who are standing up and saying we need to not be fruitful and pushing all kinds of different ideologies on us to depopulate the earth. And they're being very successful, especially with all the many ways that they inundate our young people with the gospel of death and the allure of things that are just fleeting, things of this world. And many times convincing people, especially the young, that it's okay to be spiritual, but you don't have to be religious. You don't have to play by all the religious rules and things like that. Not realizing these young people that when we don't believe the commandments of God, when we don't live them and we don't pray, well, then our hearts and our minds become dark and it gets harder and harder to know the truth. And even if we do know deep down the truth of what abortion is or sterility or the desire not to ever have kids because they're too much of a burden, so we'll just have dogs and cats and take care of them and put them in cages when they're inconvenient. These are things that are happening out there, my friends. And we need to help people to understand in, well, the most convincing way is to joyfully live your life and to let people understand how joyful it is to have children, even though, of course, there are days that are ups and downs, but to know that life without children is empty. Life with only one or two children can be very empty, especially when we realize later in life that we could have had more children and yet we chose not to by contraception or doing things even beyond that because many people are using abortion as contraception. And so that's been going on for a very long time. And you may be surprised to learn that many times it is not just the young people, but there are people who maybe have a baby that's very unexpected and they've already got their 2.5 kids or whatever it might be, whatever their ideal was and their plans for the future and retirement and vacations and, you know, big houses and things like that, so they can't afford another child. So even though they've had several, they choose not to have the current child. And yet we are called to be generous. We open up our hearts and our lives to the gift of life. And so we forget, because we don't hear it very often, how precious babies are, how precious each life is, no matter what stage, even those that have disabilities, those who require a lot of extra care because of their illness or because of the way they're born or whatever it might be or the circumstances. And yet we are called to live the gospel of life, to help those who need our help. If we have been blessed with health, if we have been blessed with wealth, if we have been blessed with children, we need to repay that in many different ways. One of the ways that recently we did as a family is we donated to the Smiles campaign, which is, I think it's the Smile Train. And it's for babies, especially in other poorer countries, that are born with cleft lips. And so for $250, that helps with the cost of a surgery to correct a smile. And so, you know, not only does it correct the smile, but it helps that person to live a more normal life, a life where many times in especially poorer communities, these people are ostracized and abused and things like that because they have this cleft lip and this terrible deformity. That can be fixed for $250, my friend. I know a surgeon, a plastic surgeon from Cincinnati, who went on a medical mission with us, and that's what he did. He said, you know, I spend most of my days helping good-looking people try to look better with a lot of unnecessary surgeries. And yes, they do look better, but do they really need that? And then I see these children and these adults who have gone through their life with this deformity that I can help them with. And so every year, he takes a few months out of his practice to go to these different countries and to donate his service and his know-how and his skill to help this individual to not only to be able to smile and to correct the abnormality, but also to feel loved and worth. And that, my friend, is one thing that we can do for everyone with our own smiles. That's what Mother Teresa always said. You can change a life by a smile. And so how we live that life, what we believe, and how that belief is portrayed is something that we are all called to examine. And on a secular level, we all are doing that, right? This week, many people, to make their New Year's resolution. Well, I'm going to challenge you for your New Year's resolution. Are you going to bring life back into this world? As Mother Teresa said, love them back to life. So who is it that you can love back to life? Life in the church, life in the sacraments, life in your family. You know, who can you take into your heart and your home to help them feel the worth and dignity that they have as a child of God? Because many people don't know about that. Many children of God are being aborted on a daily basis. And, you know, do we believe that or do we not do anything about that? You know, we can believe it. We can know the facts. But if we're not praying for an end to abortion, if we're not living the gospel of life by being open and generous to the children that God wants to send our way, if we're not helping those who are having a hard time with supporting their children, especially with the economy going so terribly right now, many people need our spiritual and corporal works of mercy to help bring about that culture of life, to give them that extra reassurance that being open to life, even though it may be difficult, is also the right thing to do and what God calls each and every one of us to do. We can help make that happen. There are many that are working against that, and working against it openly, even those who call themselves Catholic, who are not pro-life. They would be pro-death because they're promoting abortion, and abortion not just in the early stages of life, but abortion all the way and sometimes even after the baby is born. They're also supporting euthanasia, so you have something wrong, you're depressed, you're not being a fruitful member of society, you're too old, you're too sick, whatever it might be, they deem that you are worthless, and that go ahead, we'll pay for your euthanasia. That's what different companies, different insurances around the world are doing right now, and it's picking up steam. So if it may not be in our part of the world right now, then maybe it is, because euthanasia in different states has been voted in. And so what can we do? We can fight this culture of death, and we can turn it and stave off the terrible darkness that is enveloping our country. As Pope John Paul II said, freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought. Well, life is primary, and we cannot fall for the rhetoric of depopulation, because we are at a point right now, quite frankly, where we face the death of humanity. And that's the philosophy of many of these powerful people who have control of the world right now, or are fighting for control of it. You know, our birth rates are so low right now across the world that we actually have been giving predictions of an impending population collapse, and the low birth rates will be the real problem for the world's future. So they're saying, so we're populated, and we decrease it because mankind is what is destroying the earth, just our very presence, or the fact that we breathe is destroying the planet. And so with that, so many people have decided not to have children, and with abortions and other means and contraception. And so this low birth rate, we're not even replacing ourselves. And so we need to realize that this population collapse is very real, and the overpopulation, it was always a myth. You know, now the people who first proposed that we were overpopulated have said that they made up the statistics, they made up the numbers, and yet everybody grabbed onto them and kept repeating them. and make people understand that there is an impending population collapse if we continue on this trend. And these are from statisticians who do this all the time, and before, you know, they sometimes exaggerated things to go with their ideology and their view of the world. And so, you know, we need to look at that. Who is putting forth these numbers and calling for, you know, a depopulation? Because they're dead wrong. And they're creating programs and conditions that are, including economic conditions, that are forcing us to cut back, to not be generous in giving our time, our energy, and our talents to others. And so that in itself perpetuates the depopulation. You know, it strongly appears that they intend to eliminate vast numbers of people and stop most births in order to drastically and rapidly reduce world population. They are propagandizing everyone on a massive scale, in the media, in schools, and from all government agencies, to falsely believe that the world is doomed unless there are far fewer humans. So this is from LifeSite News, and they have a big article on it, and it goes much in more detail what all the different things they're doing, the alleged false overpopulation claims, and what they want to do about that, and what they are doing, and what has become very, very effective. The real and far more dangerous problem is the massive decline in human birth rates that is leading to a real, not too distant, future population collapse that will threaten humanity like nothing we have ever seen in the past. So many people for many years that knew about this have already predicted a demographic winter for decades. And LifeSite News obviously has put many articles out throughout the years trying to warn us and trying to help us to turn around the culture of death into the culture of life, the culture of the gospel of Christ. And so we are the light in these dark times. I'd like to go, if you have never heard this story, I'd like to read you a story about an abortionist who has a terrifying vision in Medjugorje, and she converts on the spot. And this is the power of Our Lady to bring truth into the world one person at a time and the effect that it can have. In 2011, an unlikely group of non-religious abortionist doctors found themselves visiting the most active Catholic apparition site in the world, Medjugorje. That in itself is a miracle, my friend. One of the doctors, a gynecologist in her 60s, had personally performed thousands of abortions. But her life suddenly changed after having a supernatural vision on Apparition Hill. The group was led by Valentina, a young woman from Ukraine. She had had her own conversion experience while visiting Medjugorje for the first time in 2007. And since then had been leading pilgrimages there. Inspired by Blessed Mother Teresa, Valentina had also dedicated herself to serving the sick and the poor. Her work got her connected with her local medical community, which led to her inviting the group of doctors to Medjugorje. An important part of their time in Medjugorje was climbing to the top of Apparition Hill, one of the first places Mary is said to have appeared to the child visionaries in 1981. Today there is a large cross on the spot, along with a statue of Mary. That's when something incredible happened. This is the words of the doctor now. I had scarcely put my foot down on the hill, the abortionist later explained. Then everything changed before my eyes. The rocks disappeared. The hill was suddenly covered with the bones and skulls of all the babies I had aborted over 40 years. Look at these hands, she cried out, stretching out her hands before the group. Here are the hands which killed an entire city. With that, the doctor was done with abortions. Many of the other doctors in her group also had conversion experiences. In all, Valentina has taken somewhere around 400 abortion doctors to Medjugorje in the last few years. Whatever you make of the visions in Medjugorje, stories of conversions are always something to celebrate. Pray for the conversion of abortionists. So what an amazing story. What an amazing conversion. Sometimes we are so blinded by the things that we do on a daily basis, like this doctor, thinking that she was doing good. If you read her follow-up story, she did think that she was helping women. She thought she was helping families, you know, by killing their children. And all it took was stepping one foot onto Aperishon Hill, a holy site, for the blinders to come off, so that the Lord could show her, this is truly what you have been doing. She performed thousands of abortions. As she herself said, you know, that it was, she said, here are the hands which killed an entire city. So many of us have, probably most of us, have abortionists in our own city. That we have been praying on the sidewalks for many years and hoping, against all hope, that they'll be shut down. And in many cases, our prayers have been answered and they have been shut down. And now, with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we are seeing many, many more states trying to pass different heartbeat laws. So that if a heartbeat can be a detective, then you cannot perform an abortion. And so, we are making great strides after all these years of praying. You know, God has answered our prayers and has worked through us, as well as things like this. You know, huge amounts of conversions, you know, which means huge amounts of babies have been saved. But there's always someone to take it to place, right? We always know that, where, you know, in many of these cases, there are many, especially here in the United States, where they're really promoting this in the medical schools. You know, in fact, with the political meanings of many medical boards, if you are not for abortion and are not willing to perform them, you may find it very hard to become an OBGYN or a family practice. You know, if you're a pharmacist and you refuse to give out birth control pills, well, you may not be a pharmacist. In many locations, they don't allow that. And there's not too many free-standing pharmacologists around now that you can go to support them. So, how can we turn this around? Well, first, we have to believe. We have to believe that what Jesus said was correct. And that is, for man, this is impossible, but for God, all things are possible. So, when we believe that and we start to live the life that believes that, then God can do amazing things with the grace that he gives us. When we fully cooperate with that grace, amazing things happen. And, you know, prayer. Prayer, of course, is the beginning of everything. Our whole life should be a prayer. And so many people have been praying rosaries after rosaries. They've been, you know, sidewalk counseling. They've been, you know, talking to groups of children, of adults, of school-age kids, you know, whatever they can do to help stem this tide of abortion or killing. And as we all know, the front has moved to not just babies, but now the killing of older adults through euthanasia, as well as those deemed not worthy to live. And who makes that determination? Well, my friends, we need to do more. We can always do more. And as you're considering all your different resolutions to make yourself a better person, to look better, to feel better, to whatever it might be, to rise in your career, whatever it might be, put family first. Put prayer first. Put God first. And when you put God in the first place, as our Blessed Mother has said over and over again, miracles happen. So let's do that this year, in 2023. Put God in the first place. Put life in the first place. Do everything we can to support life, to bring about a culture of love, of life, of joy, because that's what the Lord wants us to do. And that's what we're all called to do. Wherever we are with whoever crosses our path, there are so many simple ways that we can truly bring about a culture of life, because life is precious. It is the most precious thing that God gives us. And we need to not only protect it, but we need to live that life. And we need to help others to live the joyful life. Knowing God and feeling His love and His protection and His mercy, those are the things that bring about a culture of life when we live the gospel. I see we're at the bottom of the hour. We're going to take a break. And this is one of my favorite songs. Larry is so kind to always find the great songs for us that go with what I'm talking about. And so let this song just steep into your soul. Close your eyes and just know that precious life is something that we need to celebrate, we need to protect, and we need to continue to fight for. This is Mary Piper with Marian Apparitions. I'll be back right after this song. Lord, You are more precious than silver. Lord, You are more costly than gold. Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds. And nothing I desire compares with You. And who can weigh the value of Your will? Oh, who can judge the worth of who You are? Lord, who can count the blessings of loving You? Who can say just how great You are? How great You are. Lord, You are more precious than silver. Lord, You are more costly than gold. Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds. And nothing I desire compares with You. Oh, Lord, You are more precious than silver. Lord, You are more costly than gold. Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds. And nothing I desire compares with You. And nothing I desire compares with You. And nothing I desire compares with You. You're listening to Radio Maria, a Christian voice in your home. We now return to Marian Apparitions with Mary Piper. Welcome back, everyone. That's one of my favorite songs. And, you know, we have to remember what is most precious to us. Well, Christmas was just a few days ago. We're still celebrating it for the next, for the octave of Christmas. We're right in the middle of it. And today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. And so all during the month of December, we honor the Christ child, the infant Jesus. And so we just celebrated his birth. And it's a joyous time. The whole world celebrates. Maybe not the birth of Jesus, but they celebrate Christmas. And we need to bring back all that it means. We need to celebrate it in these next, you know, nine days. And, you know, help people understand what Christmas is truly about and who it is about. And to magnify the infant, not the darkness. When we magnify the infant Jesus, then, well, then the culture of life prevails. The reminders of the Holy Innocents and all the things I've talked about the first half start to fade. The darkness can get the best of us sometimes. And so, you know, we let negativity prevail. And things especially, things start going downhill for us personally or the world. Or we hear, you know, tragedy after tragedy. It kind of takes a momentum in our souls even. And sometimes we heed it. And that's because we tend to magnify the darkness. But when we look at our Blessed Mother, she gives us the remedy for that, as always. You know, if we have illness, bad luck, job issues, money problems, family difficulties, accidents, instead of magnifying God, we talk about them all the time. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't recognize them. But we obsess on it and play it over and over. We can't sleep because we're tortured and we're anxious. You know, depression medication, anxiety medication is through the roof right now. And even among young people who shouldn't be carefree, but pretty carefree, right? But even young children who are worried. So what do we do about that? What in whom do we place more faith in? The disease or the person who created the body and hence can cure any illness. The one who created the world and can solve anything that occurs in it or all the circumstances that are affecting our life right now. It is important to recognize, to isolate and squash any evil. No question. And too often we kind of forget about that, right? We forget to turn to prayer. We might obsess and we might talk to people over and over about our plight and the bad karma, what do they call all those different things now, right? Instead of turning to the one who has the power to help us. So obsession is something that, well, many exorcists talk about, right? You may not be possessed, but you might have an obsession. And so when we become obsessed with evil, when we become obsessed with, you know, the darkness in our life or all around us, then we fail to see the light. And we become too immersed in, you know, a controversy, the political scheme, the ways of our country. And it's like using a magnifying glass and all the details go out of proportion and we're consumed, we're stung, we lose our peace, we're full of anxiety. So if we follow the Blessed Mother and let ourselves magnify the Lord, look what can happen. When we magnify God instead, that infant in the manger that we've been talking about and we've been singing the songs, when we praise him, this is our greatest descent. In fact, today I heard someone talk about Anna, who was in the temple praying night and day, fasting night and day, and she used that as worship. And so we normally think of fasting and constant prayer as being a form of sacrifice, and it is, but it's a form of worship. And so do you see how we can look at the exact same thing different ways? You know, life, a child, can be a burden or can be a joy. You know, it's all in how we look at it. Do we look at it through the eyes of God, or do we look at our situation or people through our own eyes that are limited, that are confused, that are weakened, that are influenced by the world? And we know who is in the world, right? So we need to put God first, and that's why he is our greatest descent. God is larger than anything that we could ever imagine. You know, that's why David and Goliath, when we trust in God, even little things, impossible odds, whatever our Goliath is, is, you know, instantly dispelled. With work, of course. But that's why our Blessed Mother in Medjugorje, she talks about our five smooth stones that she gives us to conquer any Goliath. And this applies to the culture of death. That is a Goliath, my friends, impossible odds, many people trying to combat it. But God, in his own time, his own wisdom, in his own way, combats it in many ways that we never see or hear about. How many of you were hearing the story of the abortionist and all the other abortionists who were brought up there by one girl who went back, who had a conversion experience, and felt called to bring abortionists to Medjugorje? As health care, right? Well, we all know it's not health care, but she brought them. They had conversion experiences, continued to tell their stories, continued to influence other doctors, other abortionists, and who knows how many babies have been saved because of that. So God works in mysterious ways, and when we magnify him, he can take anything, and he can, you know, can quell all our fears. He can turn any situation around. Or if he allows that situation to continue, he will bring about a greater good. That we know. When we believe, we pray, and we live, that is what happens. So we have to do our part. We can't entertain the negative or what it will happen, you know, that broken record that goes over and over in our minds, and we let things eat away at us until pretty much they consume us. There will be no end if we allow that. Instead of a magnifying glass, instead of a microscope assessing over every dark detail in our life and all the things that have gone wrong, we need to look up. We need to not look inward, but we need to look outward and up to God. Maybe use a telescope instead. Look at your problem through the wide end of it so your problem appears small and distant. Soon that will be a reality. Well, how can that be, right? Because God on high created everything. All is under his domain. And it is a great test of life to see if we can abandon our troubles and suffering and ourselves to him as did Jesus from Bethlehem to Calvary. When we do, we move the mountain. The Lord breathes our way, we ascend. Perhaps better put, his power intensifies around us. And when we have the momentum of God on our side and we see that he is truly alive and active in our life, everything is different. And so it can be difficult down here on earth. But remember, we are not made for earth, my friends. We are made for more. We are made to be instruments of God here on earth so that we can all live together one day with him in heaven. And then, my friends, as they say, no eye has seen or ear has heard, but God has prepared for those who love him. So if we don't love him, how can we ever attain the heights of heaven while we're here on earth? We can't. And that's why we have to go through tests and temptations of life as we do. And as we meet each of those challenges with true belief in God, by praying and living the gospel, well, that is how we overcome. And that's how we make our way up that ladder to heaven. So, you know, we all have bad news. You know, we all have the trials and tribulations that are normal. And sometimes we even have those that are not normal, that are devastating. Last week we buried at our parish two people who are very devout believers and very active in our parish who were in their 50s who died from cancer. And yet their families had this underlying joy despite the sadness. Why? Because they had no doubt that their loved ones were true believers, that they believed in God, and that each of them miraculously had petitioned the Blessed Mother and had been given a reprieve. Even when the doctors said, you know, there's nothing more we can do, they kind of didn't go into remission, but there was like all of a sudden a hold on the cancer taking over their body. And the doctors couldn't really explain it, but they were able to spend a good six months to a year, and they were able to actually, you know, join back with their families in regular activities, in regular church. Both of them we saw just a few weeks before they were overcome by cancer and breathed their last here on earth. They were at Holy Mass and saying how thankful they were for all the time, the extra time that God had given them to enjoy life and to live that life and to make sure, and both of these such faith-filled people, they made sure that their families knew that there is a God, there is a heaven, and that one day we will all be back together if we live the life that God has for us here on earth. And so that's how we maintain joy in the midst of suffering is because there is really no finality of the disease of death because we know that God has overcome that. Born a little baby, he grew, he showed us how to live, how to love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls. And then he showed us how to suffer and to not make it a suffering that was wasted, but a suffering that is redeeming. All of us are meant to share in that suffering of Christ and that redemptive suffering. So not only our own souls are redeemed, but those in our families and our friends and all those who have no one to pray for them. We know the power of that suffering. And so that brings us joy in the midst of that suffering. Even though there's no human reason or rationality behind it, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our suffering has worth because we're uniting it to the sufferings of Christ on that cross. So, you know, there's so many things that happen in the world that we cannot foresee. And, you know, especially in our times, the darkness is becoming darker all the time. But as an evangelist once pointed out, this actually happened to his mom, who was diagnosed with a disease, a life-threatening, and actually did claim her life. She was given five weeks to live. She pushed aside an obsession with the dark finality of that disease, of that diagnosis, and she filled her home with healthy, smiley photographs of herself and stepped into the role of victor instead of victim. So these are the things that we remember. These are the things that all of us left behind that we remember and that give us the strength to do what those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith, as we always say. You know, what they do, we can learn from. I remember when my own father was dying, he said, I taught you how to live, and now I'm teaching you how to die. And he taught us how to die with great faith and love and happiness and joy. And so we, too, my friends, can bring about a culture of life, even at the darkest last minutes of our life, and God will do great things through us and for us as he reaches out to those that we love who maybe have lost hope, who maybe no longer believe. So, you know, sometimes we don't really understand the impact that we can have to save a life. And so we need to continue believing, praying, and living the gospel of life and spreading that joy wherever we go. A simple smile, doing as this mom did to fill our house with many pictures of her smiling and laughing and remembering all of the great times that they had together as a family. That is what will hold all of us that are left behind together. She said, I have cancer, stage four, and I figured if I'm going to die, it's God's will when I die. And so we need to have that same attitude that even if people are taken from us unexpectedly, as there are many now dying suddenly unexpectedly at very young ages, that we know that if we live a good life and others see that life in us and that we proclaim the greatness of God, if our soul magnifies the Lord, just as our blessed mother said in the Magnificat, if we live a life where our soul magnifies the Lord, then our day of death will be a day of life, not only us into eternal life, but for all those left behind, all our friends and our families who will say she led a good life and we believe that we will see her again. So sometimes it gets a little murky down here, my friends, and different feast days bring us up because we remember all the great heights that St. John the Apostle yesterday and then today we commemorate the Feast of the Holy Innocence. And so it's a more sad and somber feast day, but yet it's an opportunity to remind ourselves that it is time, time to live the gospel of life as never before. In 2023, support any effort that you can to do legislation that promotes life. Make sure that you vote for people who will support only life. My dad was very big into politics and things like that and very astute when it came to politics. And his bottom line was that if a politician does not support the right to life, then they really don't care about the rights of the person, no matter what that right is. They might say that they do, but in the end, if they do not support the right to life, the most basic right, then what else can they really support that will benefit the human being and the human soul? And that's my guiding principle, my friends. Whenever it's a candidate that I'm looking at, if they don't support the right to life, then do they really support the right of the worker? Do they really support whatever it might be that they're talking about? You know, if they don't support the right to life, then what do they truly support? And so we need to help those who are courageous and accept the life that is given to them, no matter how difficult it might be. We need to support moms and dads and families and help them in their times of difficulties because we all fall on hard times, and some in very dire circumstances. You know, help them to get the help that they need if we can't help them personally. You know, we have St. Vincent de Paul who pays a lot of rent, also helps with diapers and food and clothing, and there are so many generous people, and hopefully you are some of those generous people who support these organizations that can help people to have the necessities they need to live a good life and to help others themselves. And so there are many ways that we can look at improving our life in this coming year, 2023, but how wonderful it will be when everything's said and done, when God shows us our life in review, when it's our time to leave this world. How wonderful it will be when we look back at 2023 and God shows us all the times that we helped to support the culture of life, that we brought back the culture of life and light into the darkness, that we gave those without hope, meaning, purpose, and the help that they needed to stand on their own, that we helped others to see the light of Christ in everything that we did, that we brought others to Christ right into the heart of Jesus, and there they found everything they needed to live a good life and to make it to heaven. 2023 can be an amazing time for all of us, but only if we purposely set out to do that. It won't just happen by accident. The defeat of Roe v. Wade didn't happen by accident. It took a herculean effort on our part and a great amount of grace from God to make this all happen at just the right time, and so we don't know what lies ahead in 2023. We know there will always be difficulties, but let us celebrate the joy of Christmas throughout the year. Let us always look at the Christ child. Know that he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and that the Lord and giver of life will be with us in our darkest days and in our most joyous days. Just as he was with his mother Mary, we too can help bring about a culture of life. Our Lady of Guadalupe, well, she appeared right at the high point, they say, of a culture that was steeped in all kinds of great material wealth, but also spiritual poverty because they sacrificed their own children, their own lives to make-believe gods so that they could maintain their wealth and their prosperity. Well, my friends, that's happening today. All we have to do is look around and see, what are we sacrificing? And what are we giving up? What precious things that God wants to give us are we not open to receiving? How many families are being devastated right now because the scourge of abortion is affecting them? We never know, friends, who is sitting next to us in the pew. We never know what troubles they might have, but we can pray for them, and we can believe and ask the Lord to help them, and we can live that gospel of life, of encouragement, of the sacraments. We can help them to find their way back to church, back to sacraments, back to God, and God will take care of the rest. We are here in an amazing time, a time of depopulation. All we need to do is populate the earth to be fruitful and multiply with the love of God, and when we do that, my friends, the world will change, and amazing things will happen. Miracles will come the order of the day because the darkness will be gone, the light will shine, and God will reign, and that He has promised us. So, if we play by God's rules and not those of darkness, if we look up and not down, if we look up at the star, the guiding star that the three wise men came to follow, if we look at the way Joseph and Mary raised their eyes in the glory that came, we can do this, my friends. We can magnify the Lord, and He will be our God and our Savior, and this will be a culture of life. This is Mary Piper with Marian Apparition. We'll be back again next week. Until then, God bless.