WorldNetDaily: American Girl boycotted

WorldNetDaily: American Girl boycotted

I'm disappointed that American Girl didn't sever ties with Girls Incorporated in order to protect and affirm the worthy values it has promoted in the past. I agree a boycott is appropriate. It's not too late for American Girl to do the right thing and reassure its loyal customers that it hasn't permanenty drifted from its founding principles.

American Girl funds group advocating contraception for girls?

13 October 2005

To: Ellen Brothers, President, American Girl (ellen.brothers@americangirl.com)

Cc:
Bob Eckert, Chairman, Mattel (Jules.Andres@mattel.com);
Susan Jevens, Public Relations, American Girl (susan.jevens@americangirl.com)


Dear Ms. Brothers,

It has come to our attention that American Girl has associated itself with Girls Inc., providing funding for and promotion of several programs. However positive these particular programs may be, we believe American Girl has made a serious miscalculation in associating itself with this organization, whose philosophy seriously contradicts the traditional values of many who until now have considered themselves loyal customers and supporters of American Girl.

While the Girls Inc website supports some positive values, its message is poisoned by its promotion of contraception, abortion on demand, and a sexual philosophy at odds with Judeo-Christian values.

My family has been loyal customers of American Girl, but we can not continue to support American Girl or purchase its products so long as it continues to promote an organization whose motives and programs include elements so hostile to the authentic well-being of girls and families. Perhaps many of Your loyal customers likewise will feel alienated by AG’s apparent loss of vision, which threatens to damage its previously admirable reputation as a girl- and family-friendly business.

We heartily encourage and ask You to sever all ties between American Girl and Girls Inc.

We sincerely hope that American Girl will again live up to the high standards and worthy vision that we believe it was founded upon.

Best regards,

John and Connie Robin
...

References:

Girls Inc promotion of contraception and elective abortion:
http://www.girlsinc.org/ic/page.php?id=4.3.4

Girls Inc promotion of homosexuality among grade school girls:
http://www.girlsinc.com/ic/content/lesbianbisexualgirls.pdf"

Girls Inc and its targeting of black girls from single-parent, low-income families:
http://www.girlsinc.com/ic/content/GirlsandSexualHealth.pdf (page 6)

More information from American Family Association http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/10/afa/132005a.asp

Letting God Work

An excerpt from Letting God Work: An article by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, published on the occasion of the canonization of Josemaría Escrivá.

L'Osservatore Romano (special supplement)
6 October 2002

"Heroic virtue does not mean that the saint performs a type of “gymnastics” of holiness, something that normal people do not dare to do. It means rather that in the life of a person God’s presence is revealed—something man could not do by himself and through himself. Perhaps in the final analysis we are rather dealing with a question of terminology, because the adjective “heroic” has been badly interpreted. Heroic virtue properly speaking does not mean that one has done great things by oneself, but rather that in one’s life there appear realities which the person has not done himself, because he has been transparent and ready for the work of God. Or, in other words, to be a saint is nothing other than to speak with God as a friend speaks with a friend. This is holiness.

"To be holy does not mean being superior to others; the saint can be very weak, with many mistakes in his life. Holiness is this profound contact with God, becoming a friend of God: it is letting the Other work, the Only One who can really make the world both good and happy. And if, then, Josemaría Escrivá speaks of the calling of all to be saints, I think that he is actually referring to this personal experience of his of not having done incredible things by himself, but of having let God work. And thus was born a renewal, a force for good in the world, even if all the weaknesses of mankind will remain ever present. Truly we are all capable, we are all called to open ourselves up to this friendship with God, to not leave the hands of God, to not neglect to turn and return to the Lord, speaking with him as if speaking with a friend, knowing well that the Lord really is a true friend of everyone, including those who cannot do great things by themselves."

Have no fear of following Him.

"The era of missions is not over. Christ still needs generous men and women who will become messengers of the Good News to the ends of the earth.

"Have no fear of following Him. Share freely with
others the faith that you have received! ‘No believer
in Christ, no institution of the Church can be separate
from the supreme beauty of proclaiming Christ to all the people’."

- Pope John Paul II, Vatican City, Sept. 19, 2003.

The Feast of Corpus Christi -the Body and Blood of Christ

"For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed." John 6:56 DR.

Catholics hold that at the consecration during celebration of the Eucharist, bread and wine are changed into the actual Body and Blood of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. The appearances and properties of the bread and wine remain, but their "substance" -the stuff that made them what they were- no longer exists. What remains is Jesus Himself, actually and bodily present, but hidden under the appearances of bread and wine. There are many reasons why He chose to do this for us, but all the reasons boil down to His love for us and for His Father.

We know that appearances can be deceiving, and never is that more true than in the Eucharist. But why should God wish to deceive us by concealing Himself beneath the appearances of bread and wine?

He certainly doesn't wish to deceive, but rather to reveal the truth to us in the clearest possible way. Jesus is looking for followers who will trust His testimony more than the testimony of their own senses.

"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12 DR.
"...God is light, and in him there is no darkness." 1 John 1:5 DR.

Those who believe in Jesus more than they believe their own senses are illuminated by the light that Jesus brings. This light illuminates wonderful truths imperceptible to the senses but knowable by faith.

Today Catholics especially give thanks to Jesus for making Himself present to us in the Eucharist every day all over the world. We can come to Him, receive Him, eat His Flesh and drink His Blood, uniting ourselves to Him spiritually and bodily.

How great a privilege it is to receive the gift of faith which allows one to firmly believe and know this invisible yet stupendous truth: that He is with us... not only spiritually but in the Flesh, His Body and Blood mingled with our own in a daily or weekly renewal of His pledge of everlasting life.

Liturgical music: Table of Jelly Beans

In many of the places where we have attended Mass in suburban America, the music at Mass ranges from the sublime to the insipid, and from the beautiful to the appalling. (I'm not singling out any particular parish, but am commenting generally on what we've experienced over many years -since my childhood in the 1960's- at a number of different parishes in different dioceses.)

We don't want the music to distract us from Mass, nor to turn us into sour complainers, but too frequently we find the music really is intrusive or unseemly. And often it doesn't seem to be the skill or the dedication of the musicians that is lacking, but rather the choice of music that is the problem. Why? I don't know. I don't assume they think we're too stupid or shallow to appreciate anything better, but I really don't know.

Am I alone in this observation? Or perhaps do you too unavoidably observe some of these same patterns when you attend Mass?

Only infrequently do you sing any hymn written more than about 35 years ago, even though Christian music is known to have existed before 1970 ...so I'm told.

Classic traditional hymns, notable for their doctrinal content or musical beauty, are rarely used, as if they might be worn out and rendered extinct.

Hymns in Latin are sung about as often as hymns in Swahili.

Latin responses are not, shall we say, the preferred option, although the Church heartily encourages their use.

Rather than using the beautiful responsorial psalms provided in the missal, overused, saccharine tunes are employed.

The organ is avoided, or else plays second fiddle to the piano, guitar, tambourine, and drums.

Rather than sing any of a number of splendid, reverent "Alleluia!" settings before the Gospel, you are assaulted again and again with that raucous, reggae Halleluiah From Hell: "HAlle, HAlle, HAlle-LOOO-OOOO-YUH!". (Cue the tambourine and drums!) You call upon the mountains to fall on you -not much hope for that here in Illinois- and pray that this ordeal will (surely) abbreviate your visit in Purgatory.

On Pentecost or the Easter Vigil rather than sing (or read) the magnificent sequence of the day, such as, "Veni, Sancte Spiritus", the hymn either is omitted entirely or replaced with a pedestrian, low protein substitute.

During Communion, only on rare occasions are any of the great, classic Eucharistic hymns sung. -Yes, you guessed it... it's Table of Plenty, one more time!

Every attempt is made to pack two hymns into Communion time, in order to avoid any dangerous intervals of prayerful silence. The second hymn is frequently a solo performance.

Mass concludes with a Christian 'pop' song and a round of applause for the performers, which seems to trigger the general pandemonium that immediately erupts within the building.

What is mysterious to me is how many of these symptoms persist even in some parishes where you can find very orthodox, reverent, committed priests who generously pour out their lives for the good of the Church.

But it shouldn't really be necessary for Catholics to remain silent when over a long period of time they witness a pattern of illness take root in the liturgical life of their Church. The musical treasures of the Church are priceless, and form an enormous legacy capable of enriching the Church of today and tomorrow. But these works of art serve little purpose if they are not brought out of the closet and used to adorn the liturgy for the glory of God and the good of His people.

Years after most of today's contemporary hymns have been forgotten, having failed time's test of greatness, the musical pearls of enduring value will remain. Is it too much to ask that we remember that the Church's 2000 year history has bequeathed to us a splendid inheritance of such pearls? It's miserly not to use them for their intended purpose.

Invited to the resplendent banquet of the Lord's Table, we've been content for too long to stuff our faces with jelly beans and Coke while our souls starve for beauty. Let's ask our priests and musicians to please, pass the meat and potatos, the wine and milk and cheese, the bread and fruit and vegetables. Maybe later a little dessert and coffee would be nice. But no, thanks... no more jelly beans for me just now.

Do young people care about the Pope?

ARCHBISHOP EXPECTS 1 MILLION FOR 2005 YOUTH DAY
COLOGNE

Germany, MAY 13, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The archbishop of Cologne estimates that close to one million young people will participate in the 20th World Youth Day with Benedict XVI.
Cardinal Joachim Meisner said to the Spanish newspaper La Razon on Wednesday that there is reason to believe that participation will exceed the official estimate of 800,000.
"I think that now, as we are going to have two Popes -- one in heaven and the other on earth -- I am certain that one million young people will come," he said.
"Close to four million people went to Rome" for John Paul II's burial, "many of them young people." When "Habemus Papam" was announced upon the election of Benedict XVI, 80% of those present were youths, observed the cardinal. "I am convinced we can count on one million young people," he added.
"This day is not a ceremony of the Church in Germany, but a ceremony of the Pope. It is his World Youth Day. This year it is being celebrated under a specific theme -- the three wise men's worship of Jesus Christ," he continued.
"We have come to worship him" (Matthew 2:2), the theme of WYD 2005, "is a theme that allows the youths of each continent to cover ideally the itinerary of the wise kings, whose relics are venerated, according to a pious tradition, precisely" in Cologne "and to find, like them, the Messiah of all nations," said John Paul II in his message to young people in preparation for WYD.
We were "in a very difficult situation," said the cardinal, referring to the deteriorating health of John Paul II.

"We didn't know what would happen with the ailing Pope. What program could we offer him? A large program, then a smaller one, and then a very small one."
There has been a return "to the original large program," he said. "Everything is almost ready."

http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=56651

...

There must be many millions of youth and young adults who had and still have a deep affection -in many cases love- for Pope John Paul II. Only a small fraction of them managed to visit Rome for the unforgettable events following his death. Yet millions throughout the world, young and old, shared the sense of having lost a second father -or even an only father. As the Vatican Undersecretary of State Archbishop Leonardo Sandri told the world upon the Pope's death, "We all feel like orphans now".

Upon the announcement "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum; habemus Papam (I announce to you a great joy; we have a Pope)", many of these same millions felt that they had in a real way regained their father. Nobody thought he was really the same father, yet somehow, their father had nonetheless been restored to them.

God had kept His promise, had sent to them -to us- a gentle man with faith of granite who received from heaven the keys which his successor of happy memory had serenely surrendered with his final "Amen".

In Cologne, the youth of the world will recall their spiritual sonship and daughterhood to John Paul II, whom we saw cross that threshold beyond which only hopeful faith can see. Yet they will ardently embrace their new father in faith with a love and enthusiasm which the world will neither clearly see nor understand. For so many, to be near John Paul was to be near Jesus Christ. Somehow they intuitively know that Benedict likewise will guide them to that same holy place, in which echo the words of Christ's mother: "Do whatever He tells you."

I believe that the name "Cologne" for years will exude the too rare fragrance of hope, exhaled by a huge gathering of grateful Christians: God has greatly blessed His Church in sending us Benedict to shepherd His flock.

Archbishop Flynn says no to exploitation of Eucharist

ARCHBISHOP FLYNN WILL NOT ALLOW COMMUNION TO BECOME ‘BATTLEGROUND’
MINNEAPOLIS, USA, May 9 (CNA) - Minnesota’s Archbishop Harry Flynn has decided to take a stand against what he sees as a protest by a national gay and lesbian organization against Church teaching.
In a letter sent this week to the Rainbow Sash Alliance, the Archbishop said that he would not allow rainbow-sash wearers to receive communion in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, saying that, "It has become apparent to me that the wearing of the sash is more and more perceived as a protest against church teaching.”
The rainbow-sashers have opted to make this Sunday’s Pentecost celebration the center of a demonstration in a number of dioceses across the country.
Archbishop Flynn said in the letter to Brian McNeill, Minneapolis organizer of the Rainbow Sash Alliance that, "I am asking you to remove your sashes before you receive Holy Communion” and “I ask you to observe this sign of respect for the Eucharist not only in the Cathedral but in all our parishes. No one wearing the sash will be permitted to receive the Blessed Sacrament.''
McNeill said he was disappointed but that the group was determined to go up for communion, sashes and all. The group says that they “are publicly calling the Roman Catholic Church to a conversion of heart around the issues of human sexuality.''
The Church teaches that while the orientation to homosexuality is not itself sinful, acting on that orientation, is.
The Archbishop continued in his letter that: “The Vatican has communicated to me that it does indeed consider the wearing of the Rainbow Sash during reception of Communion to be unacceptable, a directive that I believe all Bishops will adhere to. “
"The criterion for reception of the Eucharist is the same for all — recipients must be in a state of Grace and free from Mortal sin. While the decision for that judgment rests with an individual Catholic's conscience, it has never been nor is it now acceptable for a communicant to use the reception of Communion as an act of protest,'' he said.

http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=56500

...

Some homosexual activists are not content merely to engage in homosexual acts, but also are obsessed with gaining the explicit approval of every segment of society. Therefore to them the Catholic Church, which for twenty centuries has denounced homosexual acts as immoral, must change its teachings. It is inconceivable to them that they themselves might change their behavior and embrace the teachings of Christ, or alternatively reject those teachings and honestly regard themselves non-Christians.

No, they self-centeredly prefer to claim center stage and make a show of their defiant dissent during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, a most sacred moment in which only Christ should hold center stage. Rather than make of themselves a sincere gift to Christ, submitting themselves to His mild yoke and lifegiving teachings, they would rather take the altar by force -not to receive but to take Communion- while professing their defiance toward Christ and His Church.

The intolerance which they ascribe to the Church in truth is only their own monumental intolerance toward those who believe what Christians have always believed: that sexual relations are beautiful, magnificent, and holy between -and only between- a husband and his beloved wife.

Congratulations and humble thanks to Archbishop Flynn for seeing through this shameful attempt of a few radicals to debase the Eucharist, and for acting with the fatherly and gentle firmness that is so becoming a bishop of the house of God.

(This commentary appeared in the May 20, 2005, issue of Catholic Explorer.)

China releases 7 priests from detention

STAMFORD, Connecticut, MAY 4, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Chinese authorities have released seven priests of the Diocese of Zhengding who were arrested April 27 while on a spiritual retreat with their bishop, says a U.S.-based watchdog group.
Joseph Kung, president of the Cardinal Kung Foundation, said that the priests in Hebei province were released from various security bureaus. No other details were given.
The priests belong to the "underground Church" which recognizes the Pope's authority but is not officially approved by Beijing.
They were on retreat in a village near the city of Jinzhou with their "non-official" Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo.
The prelate, a bishop since 1980, has spent some 20 years in prison.
Bishop Jia has been warned previously by the Public Security and religious offices not to engage in any religious activity.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=56333

_________________________________
The Chinese government's repression of the Catholic Church, and of Christians in general, is shameful and cowardly. But after seeing what brought about the collapse of communism in Europe in the 1990's, one can hardly be surprised that they can see the handwriting on the wall. People will not tolerate oppression forever. Nor can the light of Christ be concealed forever.

As Tertullian wrote, "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church."

College honoring Clinton declared 'no longer Catholic'

NEW YORK, USA, May 2 (CNA) - Marymount Manhattan College, which had ties to the Archdiocese of New York, was formally dropped as a Catholic institution Thursday, because it intended to give Senator Hillary Clinton an honorary doctoral degree.
The college will no longer be listed in "The Official Catholic Directory," which identifies Catholic institutions. "The decision to honor one of Congress's most outspoken and strident advocates of abortion rights was just the latest episode in a long history of secularization at Marymount Manhattan College," said Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society.
Reilly wrote to Edward Cardinal Egan of New York about the college, suggesting "immediate action to prevent scandal in the archdiocese." Reilly said the college's actions defied the "Catholics in Political Life" statement that was approved by the U.S. bishops in 2004.
Fania Tavarez, assistant to the vice-president for institutional advancement at the college, confirmed the ruling from the archdiocese. In a prepared statement, Tavarez defended the school as "an independent, non-sectarian, private liberal arts college.” She said students and staff are “very excited” to hear Clinton at the commencement exercises.
This is the fourth time since Pope John Paul II issued "Ex Corde Ecclesiae," the apostolic constitution on Catholic universities, that a bishop has declared a historically Catholic college or university to be no longer Catholic. The 1990 document gives local bishops the responsibility of determining whether colleges can be called "Catholic."
Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., was declared "no longer Catholic" by Egan in 2003, following a similar protest by the Cardinal Newman Society regarding New York’s Attorney General Elliott Spitzer.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=56312

________________________________________

To: contactus@archny.org

Dear Cardinal Egan,

I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation at your recent action clarifying that Marymount Manhattan College is no longer to be considered officially as a Catholic school. The school’s plans to honor Senator Hillary Clinton with an honorary degree are a disgraceful capitulation to a prominent disciple of the culture of death.

Thank you for your courageous yet measured steps to defend Catholic doctrine and prevent scandal.

Your son in Christ,
John Robin.

Brain-damaged firefighter speaks after 10 years

BUFFALO, USA, May 4 (CNA ) - On Saturday, Buffalo firefighter Donald Herbert, who has been in what many might call a persistent vegetative state for nearly ten years, suddenly began to talk.
In December of 1995, Herbert suffered severe brain damage when a roof collapsed on him while fighting a fire. Since then, he has been unable to carry on any meaningful conversation, recognize loved ones or see.
On Saturday, he began asking the nursing home staff where his wife and children were. When asked by a relative how he felt, Herbert replied, “I feel great.”
Advocates of Terri Schiavo, who died of a court-ordered starvation in March, are pointing to the Herbert case as evidence that she should have been given a chance to live.
Yesterday, The Buffalo News cited University of Buffalo professor Dr. Michael A. Meyer who said that although rare, cases like Herbert’s are encouraging.
"After that many years,” he said, “it's unusual to see that dramatic a change, but we do hear about it anecdotally." Family members are thrilled, but cautious while doctors are anxious to follow Herbert’s progress in the coming weeks.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=56348

______________________________________
I guess he's lucky his wife didn't decide to kill him before he regained conciousness. After all, 'who would want to live like that?'.

Things that Pope Benedict XVI will never do

Although Cardinal Ratzinger was elected the Successor of Peter not even two days ago, the media predictably has already begun foaming at the mouth with criticism of our new Holy Father, and with speculation about whether he is or is not too "rigid" to allow certain "reforms".

In response to some of the hot-button issues that are being bandied about in the media, the following is a short list of things that this Pope -nor any future Pope- will ever do. He will never change Church doctrine in order to give acceptance to:

elective abortion or euthanasia (or any other form of murder of the unborn, the elderly, the sick, the unwanted);
artificial birth control;
ordination of women;
human cloning;
fornication, adultery, or masturbation;
homosexual acts or same-sex marriage.

The Pope does not have the authority to declare something acceptable that is in fact intrinsically evil or contrary to the divine constitution of the Church. All of the above items have been clearly condemned infallibly by the Church as intrinsically immoral, except for the ordination of women. However, ordination of women is impossible because, as the Church infallibly teaches, the Church has no authority to ordain women because doing so is irreconcilable with the way Jesus constituted His Church.

One may or may not find persuasive the reasons offered to explain and defend any of these doctrines, but that's not really relevant. The fact remains that the Church holds these postions not as opinions, but as solemn doctrine. True Catholics willingly believe the solemn teachings of the Church.

To reject any of the Church's doctrines is to place oneself above the Pope, to whom Jesus gave final authority to decide doctrinal questions. To do so is to defy Jesus, Who gave final doctrinal authority to the Successor of Peter, and not to You and me. To reject this and still consider oneself "Catholic" is nonsense, and simply betrays a rejection or misunderstanding of the Catholic faith.

Believing something because it is persuasive does not require faith. Faith requires belief in what God has revealed precisely because God, Who is perfect Truth, has revealed it. God deserves our belief, even though His revelation can seem at times hard to understand. Because God is perfect Truth, the smartest, most logical thing in the world is to believe what He has revealed through His own Church.

The Catholic faith is not a buffet, where one can pick and choose the more appealing tidbits and reject those we find inconvenient or difficult to accept. One either accepts it whole and entire, or one does not. In between total acceptance and rejection is a no-man's land where truth can not abide, a land in which one can not offer God the total "yes" of faith which makes possible complete union with God.

Luminous

Upon the golden horizon arose the white sun,
luminous it dawned upon me.
I spoke its Name.
A stone rolled, a veil fell,
and all was made new.

All things new

All that was lost, restored,
in every wall a door,
a knot untied,
the flaming sword extinguished.

Thorns

I had pierced Him with
coldness and thorns,
sending Him away into the darkness,
clothed in silence and Blood.

Today He returned
and smiled upon me: Shalom!
I touched His hands,
placed my hand into His side,
kissed the wounds my eyes could not see.

He placed them within me,
thorns of joy softened with His Blood.

Good night, good death.

Why did God make us to grow tired and sleep each day? Perhaps in part He formed in us a daily reminder that we must die, that we must finally lie down and pass from this passing earth. Our hands must surrender the burdens and momentary joys that so consume us while the light remains. For night comes, when no man can work.

Each day is a life, whose fate depends upon crossing the threshold of sleep in the friendship of Him Who raises and lowers the curtain of day. The sun sets, the eye closes, the hand opens in farewell to the sinking shore of a dying world. Ahead, for him who has kept the promise of that red and terrible morning, a King awaits: "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master's house."

This morning I awoke with the world to that red and terrible morning. But some awoke in a different land. Someday we shall follow ...if we shall follow.

We'd better do it now.

Wanna get to heaven? Got some sins you're kind of attached to that you figure you or God will get rid of later? Let's think about that.

So there's a sin that's especially tough to kick. It's your "favorite" sin, because you keep having to confess it. You mean to turn your back on it, but you honestly suspect (or know) that you don't feel like eliminating it totally right now. Perhaps you assume that when you're older you'll be wiser, more virtuous, and will be able to kick it. Certainly by the time you die, you'll be able to turn away from it. If not then, a little stay in Purgatory will be sufficient to make you relinquish your remaining attachment to this sin. In any case, you've got your foot in Heaven's door, right?

Better think again.

If you've struggled with this sin for so long already, you can't know you'll ever be more able to reject it than you are right now. And on your death bed -if you hope to repent of it there- what makes you think you'll be able to do so sincerely, knowing that throughout life you cynically planned a "deathbed conversion"? Obviously an insincere conversion is not much of a conversion. Is it good enough? Feel lucky?

And Purgatory. Knowing that it's only for people who have actually died in God's friendship, free from mortal sin, this places a rather heavy responsibility upon us to make sure we don't fall into the sort of sin that will keep us from abruptly or gradually severing friendship with God. Even if we die in God's friendship, but without having fully turned away from our "favorite sins", what will it take to make us finally reject the poison and give ourselves totally to God, if we don't do so in this life? What sort of suffering, how terrible an understanding of our sin must we have? Must we see the ruinous shot of our sin defile and wreck and the pages of history until the collapse of time? Better to relinquish now our favorite sin while suffering is only part of a momentary life, than to require purification whose intensity and duration are not limited by the low ceiling of this mortal life.

If God wants us to "be perfect", as our Father in Heaven is perfect, it can only be because this is far, far better than our sanctification being completed after death. Have confidence in God's mercy, and in His ability and desire to save. But do not expect that what God demands of us in this life can be deferred without great danger and enormous cost.

Most importantly, have confidence in the ability of God's grace to help us truly abandon sin, even if many falls and much effort are required. God does not require the impossible.