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| St Lawrence Giving the Wealth to the Poor, painting by Palma il Giovane, 1581-1582. |
The National Treasure
St. Lawrence, whose feastday is August 10th, was asked by the Roman Prefect to gather together the treasures of the Church and submit them to the Roman government. When confronted in this manner, he gathered together all the poor and the forsaken, telling the Roman Prefect that these poor and forsaken are the true treasures of the Church. For that, he was sentenced to Martyrdom by fire. It is also devoutly believed that he, in humor (an aspect of joy), told his executioners to turn him over because he was already done on one side.
The story of St. Lawrence producing the "true treasures of the Church" has been on my mind as of late. There is an attempt going on to require women to register for the draft. There is a quote from the linked article:
“By reforming the Selective Service to be gender-neutral based registration, we draw on the talents of our entire nation in the time of a national emergency,” [Rep. Chrissy] Houlahan said. “The current male-only registration sends a message to women not only that they are not vital to the defense of the country, but also that they are not expected to participate in defending it.”
This is a dangerous and insidious lie. Women are vital to the defense of the country without having to register for the draft. If both men and women are drafted during a national emergency or for a state of war, what will happen to our children? Will they be left to themselves? Will they be cared for? By whom, by the state? Put in foster homes? Making both men and women register for the draft is dangerous because it leaves the care and education of our children entirely in other people's hands. I am reminded of a quote by the Venerable Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty:
The Most Important Person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral — a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby's body... The angels have not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God's creative miracle to bring new saints to Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creature; God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation... What on God's good earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother?
Maybe it is time we follow in the footsteps of St. Lawrence and gather together our grandmothers, our mothers, our wives, and our daughters, and all go to the steps of Capitol Hill and say, "These are the true treasures of our homes and our Country, these are the reason we are willing and bold to fight, so that we may put an end to the evil before us in order to defend what is behind us: our homes, our children, our mothers, our wives, our daughters. We choose to fight in order to defend them, and to prevent them from having to experience the horrors and evils of war." Of course, we cannot do that because to go to Capitol Hill right now would be to witness a defense in preparation of war: there are still fences topped with concertina wire and guarded by the National Guard.
Chivalry and truth are not dead among the common citizens, but it is evident that they are dead among the ruling elite, that elite which seeks to destroy the family by any and every means possible, including the UN's "Sustainable Development Goals" and the requirement of women to register for the draft. The family is what they aim to destroy because the family is what Satan aims to destroy.
We must resist this evil of their requirement of women to register for the draft. It is unconscionable for us to remain silent in the face of this evil. We may not be able to physically be at Capitol Hill in order for us to show our representatives our true treasures, but we definitely should contact them: speak up, speak out, and then also storm Heaven with prayer. John Stuart Mill once wrote, “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” Let us not be among such cowardly "good men", but let us be courageous. Silence is not an option for truly good men.
We are not telling women that they are unimportant for national defense, but that they are very important precisely where they are. Whether they are homemakers or have chosen some other profession (and yes, homemaking is a profession), then they must serve faithfully wherever they are. That is where they serve the best in a national emergency. Such women are vital for national defense, and they know their worth — they do not need a political elite to tell them their worth by voting to require them to register for the draft.
