609 BC... ...The armies of Babylon were devastating the countryside of Judah. One by one the towns and villages of Judah were falling under the control of the Babylonians. Surely God's chosen people, what was left hiding in Jerusalem, thought that the Lord would protect them regardless of past indiscretions. Even though now the people of Judah were going through the motions of respect for the Lord through rituals and custom, this should have been enough to assuage God Himself to forgive them of their long years of idolatry and infanticide. Long years of prosperity, territorial pettiness, recession into pantheism, and disregard for the promises of the Covenant handed down to Moses allowed the people of Judah to be of the world instead of God. The great prophet Jeremiah forewarned the twelve tribes of Israel but to no avail. Finally, with Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar's armies ready to lay siege to the walls of Jerusalem the people of Judah listened to the prophet's Jeremiah words which today we call the Temple Sermon: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: `This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.' (Jeremiah 7:3-4) AD 2006... ...City of Houston Councilwoman Carol Alvarado is the darling of the up and coming 'Hispanic' political community. Many expect her to run for mayor or even state politics. Known for her political savvy and bounce back-ability she claims to be an avowed Catholic who attends Sunday Mass at St. Alphonsus. "For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers for ever. (Jeremiah 7:5-7) Miss Alvarado is a friend of immigration reform and many other politically correct social causes. Yet she is a proud board member of Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas. So proud of being a board member of these abortion mills that she has it posted twice! One on her personal website and the other on her political website. "Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Ba'al, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, `We are delivered!' -- only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, says the Lord. Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these things, says the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. (Jeremiah 7:8-14) Miss Alvarado, if you are such an avowed Catholic, why then do you participate in the shedding of innocent blood? Our shared Catholic faith specifically states, "You shall not kill." (Exodus 20:13). What part of "You shall not kill" do you not understand? Since you don't know much about our Catholic faith, let's revisit the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) on abortion: 2271: Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae, "by the very commission of the offense, and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society. 2270: Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; (Jeremiah 1:5) Back to 609 BC... ...the prophet Jeremiah prophesized the demise of Judah and the beginning of the Babylonian exile of the Jews. "For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the Lord; they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. And they have built the high place of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter: for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere. And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and none will frighten them away. And I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste. (Jeremiah 7:30-34) Miss Alvarado, how Catholic are you now? By the mere fact that you are a board member of Planned Parenthood of Houston and southeast Texas the blood of innocents are on your hands. The death of untold thousands of children stains your conscience. You are contributing to this century’s greatest slaughter of people. The people you explicitly seek to serve.