Planned Parenthood, Abortion Providers, Pro-Choice Advocates, Politicians, Women's Health Care Workers and Volunteers Summoned to Take God's Side and Abolish Abortion Worldwide

"Help that kills isn't help at all."  ~ True Love Leads To Life 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you, or anyone you know,

is in need of post-abortion help and healing,

please contact: 

 www.rachelsvineyard.org

God loves you!

"Forgiveness Is Its Daily Bread, And To Patience Is Love Wed"

Together, we brought to a close a significant chapter of our shared experience.  I quickly asked God for the strength to get through it. 

A story from the pro-life book God Moments III:  True Love Leads To Life (Joseph Karl Publishing, available fall 2012).   

"God, the Creator of Life, is pro-life.  Are you?"  ~ True Love Leads To Life 

In the second half of last year, God Moments II:  Recognizing the Fruits of the Holy Spirit was being edited one final time before heading off to print.  My sister Belinda had graciously given permission to include several of her beautiful poems in the book. She had been diagnosed with late stage 3 breast cancer two years prior, just days before her 46th birthday.

At that time, Belinda's medical team determined that aggressive treatment was necessary to try and save her life.  Immediately she began chemotherapy, and after her first treatment she almost died. That story was shared in God Moments:  Stories That Inspire, Moments to Remember and is presented again here as a backdrop for what followed two years later.

How Jesus Made His Way To His Beloved In Isolation

Living in imitation of the One who loved us first.

"This is what your Beloved says: I am your salvation, your peace, and your life; keep close to Me, and in Me you will find peace. Abandon the love of passing things and seek those that are everlasting. What else are the things of time but deceptive? And how can any creature help you if your Lord abandons you?

Therefore, leaving all creatures and worldly things behind you, do your best to make yourself pleasing to Him, so that after this life you may come to life everlasting in the kingdom of heaven." Imitation of Christ, 1.

In September 2009, I called my sister Belinda to wish her a happy birthday and during our conversation, she said that just the day before, her doctor informed her she had stage three breast cancer. The world as we knew it changed forever. Immediately she endured a hectic, week long battery of tests, meetings with her oncology team, and doctor visits.  For her and our mother, who accompanied her, it was a brutal test of mental and physical endurance.

Right after that, she began chemotherapy and went on medical leave.

During that first round of chemo, she developed a life-threatening infection, was admitted to the hospital, and was placed in isolation.  A few days later I dropped my children off at their schools and went to Holy Mass at our former parish. Toward the end of the Mass, our Lord told me to bring the Eucharist to my sister. After the final blessing,  I signed out a pyx and placed the Eucharist inside.

During the half hour journey to pick up my mother before going on to the hospital, I held on to the pyx and contemplated the fact that the Creator of the Universe was with me! At that moment I knew without a doubt that something amazing was going to happen. Something amazing was already happening!

Before entering Belinda's hospital room in the isolation section of the oncology unit, my mother and I put masks on to protect her from infection.  We walked into the room and into one of the most transforming moments I had ever experienced.  My suffering sister sat in a chair by the window. Immediately, before even a word was said, the three of us were united in a very powerful moment of shared sorrow.   We were also untied with our suffering Lord, who was with us.

After greeting one another in that profoundly sorrowful moment, I held the pyx out to my sister  and said, “Guess Who I brought with me?  I brought Jesus.” Belinda started to cry, and the incalculable Presence of God in the tiny white Host there in the isolation unit of the very large medical complex was so merciful.

As I hugged my sister I cried, too, and told her "We suffer with you, because we love you."

After receiving our Lord in the Eucharist, Belinda told me that she had called the chaplain that morning and asked him to please bring her Holy Communion.  However, because she was in isolation and he had been exposed to many people within the hospital that morning, he did not want to come into her room and endanger her health.

I said to her, "Belinda, Jesus was going to make it to you, one way or another."  He knew her heart's Desire, and made sure He was there with her when she needed Him most. 

After spending the afternoon with my sister, I took my mother home and remained with her a while.  She brought a letter in from her mailbox;  it was from her sister in Germany.  On the envelope there were four stamps, and each one had a red rose on it! My sister loved roses, and this was a sign from our beloved St. Therese of Lisieux that she was with us, too.

Jesus loves each one of us and wants to come to every one of us, no matter where we are.

 

Belinda's copy of Divine Intimacy, by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, 

was bookmarked in two places.  One of them was the chapter

Let Us Make Good Use of Time. 

 After Belinda finished her regimen of chemotherapy, she had surgery, which was followed by  radiation.  She went back to work immediately after completing the series of radiation treatments, but soon learned that the cancer had aggressively spread throughout her body.  She began treatment again, but it was apparent that without a miracle, she did not have much time left before she would enter eternity.  It was God's will was that she would be entering into eternity soon.    

One evening, I called her on the phone to chat. Earlier that day, I had been working on the final revisions to God Moments II.  During an earlier visit she mentioned that she had taken a book out of the library about writing poems, and had subsequently made changes to one of her poems.  That poem was in the manuscript, and so during our phone conversation, I asked her to tell me the changes.

I  put the phone down on the desk in my home office and picked up my pen. 

"True love is not made of sand, that's why, it withstands the test of time," she began.

As she read the poem, I  crossed out words and phrases, and noted her changes.  It was one of the most moving and meaningful experiences I have ever had.   

My sister was born a year and a half before me.  When we were little, our mother used to make us cute outfits and dress us as twins.  She was my only sister, my friend, playmate, and companion.  In adulthood she was a second mother to my three children and my confidant, a holy soul who understood the tremendous challenges of living a holy life in our modern era.

The changes she made to her poem were numerous, and so she read her poem back to me a second time.  As she did so, I silently cried, for so many different reasons.

Life is such a precious, priceless gift from God.  Sacrificial love is a tremendous gift of unfathomable worth, too.

After all the changes were made, she asked me to do one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. She asked me to read the poem back to her.

It was as if we were bringing to a close the end of a significant chapter of our shared experience.

And so I read her poem back to her, after quickly asking God to give me the strength to get through it.

"True love is not made of sand, that's why It withstands the test of time.  It does not fade like a rainbow does, Or the sun that dims at dusk.  

"For forgiveness is its daily bread, And to patience is love wed.  It is lasting, and never gives up, And it loves, it loves, very much.

"Its heart does not break for pity's sake, Or leave memories at wakes.  True love is not made of sand, that's why, It withstands the tests of time.

"Nor does it change like the seasons do, For it's genuine and true.  It is golden and will never rust, And it loves, it loves, very much.

"It does not fade like a rainbow does, Or the sun that dims at dusk.  True love is not made of sand, that's why, It withstands the tests of time." 2

God Moments II was published in October 2011.  Belinda entered into eternal life on December 14, 2011, on the Feast of St. John of the Cross, at the age of 48.  

There was so much more that Belinda had hoped to accomplish.  She always put the needs of others before her own and parting caused every member of our family profound sorrow.  Our consolations are that she had been properly loved and valued in return by her family and friends, her soul was prepared to enter into eternity, and that God's will was accomplished.   

Her beautiful book of poems was on display at her wake, where we heard many loving testimonials from family and friends who confirmed that her holy life had profoundly impacted the lives of many.  Those she loved and who loved her in return were given copies of God Moments II as a memorial of her beautiful life and legacy.

 The view from Belinda's bedroom, where she passed into eternal life, 

included the cross.

 United forever:

Belinda's family carries her mortal remains to a final resting place.

My entry in the funeral home's online guest book on Belinda's page read:

My beloved sister Belinda passed into eternal life on the Feast of St. John of the Cross. How appropriate, for she embraced her cross faithfully and heroically, and truly lived, loved, served, and suffered in imitation of Christ. We love our dear Belinda forever, and today are two days closer to seeing her again, in eternity. 

In a dream I had shortly before God called her home, Belinda was walking down a corridor. She was heading toward heaven, and my three children Andre, Nick, and Alyssa were walking by her side (she was a second mother to them). Belinda was leaving a trail of relics in her wake, and I collected them as we journeyed forward. A great many relics trailed behind her, of many different sizes and shapes. Some of the saints I knew, and others I did not.

Belinda is a very, very holy soul, who now lives forever among the saints. She is most willing to intercede on your behalf from the Beatific Vision, so consider her your sister and friend in heaven, and be sure to turn to her in times of trial, or for inspiration on your journey toward greater Divine intimacy. She continues to value being of service to anyone in need.

On behalf of her entire family, I thank you for all that you have done during her life and her illness to bring the love and mercy of Christ to us. Your kindness has imitated our most loving Savior, Who poured Himself out completely for each one of us. It meant a lot to her, and it meant a lot to us, which also meant a great deal to her because she always thought of other people first. 

Commensurate with the simple and holy way she led her life, we ask our dear friends who would like, to please have a Holy Mass said for Belinda Bondi at your parish. That would mean the most to us.

God is at work in you!

~Michele Bondi Bottesi & Family, Rochester Hills, Michigan

 

__________________

1. Thomas A. Kempis, The Imitation of Christ (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Corporation, 1993), p 100.

2.  Michele Elena Bondi, God Moments II:  Recognizing the Fruits of the Holy Spirit (Rochester, MI:  Joseph Karl Publishing, 2011), "True Love" by Belinda Bondi, p. 10. 

Abortion Providers, Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice Advocates Are Being Summoned to Take God's Side and End Abortion Worldwide

  "Help that kills isn't help at all."  ~ True Love Leads To Life

 

 

 "God, the Creator of Life, is pro-life.  Are you?"  

~ True Love Leads To Life

"If we do not teach people that abortion is wrong, 

others may convince them that murder is right." 

 ~ True Love Leads To Life

 

 

 

 

 God COMMANDED us,

"Thou shalt not kill."

Petition Christ for His Divine grace 

and for an end to 

the most colossal humanitarian disaster 

in the history of mankind.

"Love one another; as I have loved you..."

John 13:34

How is God at work in you?

"Are You Seriously Considering Having This Baby?

And Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."  ~Luke 1:38

 

A very touching story from the book God Moments III:  True Love Leads To Life (Joseph Karl Publishing: available fall, 2012).

By Father Benjamin Kosnac 

In the late 1960's, my parents lived in Bratislava, Slovakia, which at that time was Czechoslovakia and a Communist country.  Abortion was promoted by the government and provided as health care for free.   My Mom and Dad already had three sons, my brothers who were born two years apart.  

After having three babies in a short time span and being devout Catholics, they practiced what was an early form of Natural Family Planning.  When they learned that God had blessed them with a fourth child, they welcomed the news with an open heart. 

Since they already had three sons, my parents were eager to have a girl this time.  They used to make regular pilgrimages to Marianka, near Bratislava. Pregnant with their fourth child, at the next pilgrimage they asked God to give them a daughter.  However, God and Our Lady had a different plan.  It was a boy. Again. They named him Benjamin.

Tridentine Holy Mass on the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord

Celebrated by Fr. Benjamic Kosnac, January 2012

 
I was that fourth baby, born on November 21, 1969, The Feast Day of the Presentation of Blessed Virgin Mary, and am now a Catholic priest and pastor of Ss. Cyril & Methodius Slovak Catholic Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

   Fr. Ben prior to the next Confession, May 2012

Within five years, my  parents were blessed with a fifth child.  During the third month of that pregnancy, my mother visited her doctor for a prenatal checkup.  Instead of being given a maternity information booklet, as was the practice during her first four pregnancies, she was given an abortion consent form instead.

Bewildered, Mom asked if she had been given a new maternity booklet.  

Her doctor responded, "Are you seriously thinking about having this baby?  You already have four boys."

My mom replied simply but clearly: "Absolutely YES!  There will be no abortion. We don’t believe in it."

The doctor shrugged her shoulders and accepted mom's decision.

To the doctor's credit, she presented flowers to my mother during her next prenatal checkup to apologize for suggesting the abortion, and to express her admiration that mom was willing to have more children.    

During that fifth pregnancy, my parents went on the usual pilgrimage.  This time, they did not ask God for a girl.  They prayed instead for the well being of the baby.  Guess what was born? A girl! When their first daughter was born, my parents were so grateful to God for having granted their request, after they had welcomed the fourth son He had given them first.
  

They named my sister "Maria" in honor of our Blessed Mother.    

   

After Maria was born, Mr. and Mrs. Kosnac were blessed with their sixth child, another girl named Veronika. Today, Maria is 38 and has three sons, Veronica is 35 and has two children, and my parents are the proud grandparents of 17 grandchildren.

 "Thy will be done."

If you, or anyone you know,

is in need of post-abortion help and healing,

please contact:

www.rachelsvineyard.org

"God, the Creator of Life, is pro-life.  Are you?"

~True Love Leads To Life

Abortion Providers and Planned Parenthood Workers, Volunteers, and Supporters Invited to Take God's Side and End Abortion Worldwide

God, the Creator of Life, is pro-life.  Are you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Pro-life mothers say "Yes!" to God.

Pro-life fathers, grandparents, family members, 

friends, colleagues, 

health care providers, volunteers,

politicians, and voters do, too. 

Live, love, serve, and volunteer in imitation of Christ.  

How is God at work in you?

 

 

 

 

 

"If we do not teach people

that abortion is wrong,

others may convince them

that murder is right."

~True Love Leads To Life

 

If you (or anyone you know)

is in need of post-abortion help and healing

because you had an abortion(s),

helped someone have one,

participated in one,

encouraged someone to have one,

supported legalized abortion,
or voted for a pro-abortion candidate,

contact:

www.rachelsvineyard.org

God's love and mercy are available to every single person, 

without exception.

"Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy."

 ~ Matthew 5:7