Blessed Herman the Lame
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Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us, and after this exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
You know this prayer, but do you know who wrote it?
Blessed Herman the Cripple, who was born with Lou Gehrig's disease, a cleft pallet and many other severe physical deformities more than 1000 years ago in 1013. His parents did not leave him to die, as so many would have been tempted at the time. In fact, they named him Herman which means “Fighting Man.” And a fighter he was. Crippled as he was physically, he had an iron will, was extremely intelligent and always cheerful. At seven years old he was taken to the Benedictine Monastery on the island of Reichenau, in Lake Constance to be educated and there he later became a monk and Abbot of the Monastery.
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It was not long before Herman’s brilliant mind made him a shining light in almost every field of study including, theology, mathematics, astronomy, as well as the Latin, Greek, and Arabic. Students flocked to him from all parts to learn from his scholarship, but also by the example of his virtue and his cheerful personality.
Herman wrote one of the most important histories of Western society from the birth of Christ to the 11th century.
On top of that he was a gifted poet, and composer, writing musical scores and many hymns. Finally, it may be mentioned that Hermann he constructed his astronomical and musical instruments. He was a true renaissance man.
Listen to one stanza from Alma Redemptoris Mater
Loving mother of the Redeemer, gate of heaven, star of the sea, assist your people who have fallen yet strive to rise again, To the wonderment of nature you bore your Creator, yet remained a virgin after as before, You who received Gabriel’s joyful greeting, have pity on us poor sinners.”
This Friday, January 22, marks the anniversary of the legalization of Abortion in America in 1973 that has resulted in the murder of almost 70 million children. Think of Blessed Herman, if he were conceived today, it is likely that his parents would have been encouraged by doctors, by friends and even by family members to abort him. Such is our pro-abortion eugenics minded culture.
But Blessed Herman was not valuable because he was brilliant – he was valuable because he was a human person made by God and made in the image of God and called to share in the life of God just as is every embryo in the womb because it is a very young human person.
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In 1997 St. Mother Teresa spoke to the United States saying:
“I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because Jesus said, "If you receive a little child, you receive me." So, every abortion is the denial of receiving Jesus -- is the neglect of receiving Jesus.
It is really a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts.
Jesus gave even His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion should be helped to love -- that is, to give until it hurts her plans, her free time, to respect the life of her child. For the child is the greatest gift of God to the family because they have been created to love and be loved.
The father of that child, however, must also give until it hurts.
By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. So that father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So, abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love one another, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
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Archbishop Hoser
On this same day when I was reflecting on the life of Blessed Herman the Cripple I read the message that Archbishop Henryk Hoser delivered to the United States. Bishop Hoser is the Bishop the Vatican placed in charge of Medjugorje where it is reported that Mary has been appearing since June 24, 1981. Here is a translation from his message in Polish: If the United States would make the commitment to protect the development of human life in all stages of existence, the United States will be saved. If your politics pushes you to devalue human life, especially by abortion, this effort against life will cause darkness to spread across the world, a darkness that scares us all.
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What can we do to end the scourge of abortion?
Time after time, in the course of appearing for almost 40 years in Medjugorje, Our Lady has given us the means to overcome the culture of death in our country – she repeatedly asked us to do two things to put an end to abortion, war and all the evils in the world: Pray the Rosary ever day! Go down through history and see for yourself that the Rosary has brought an end to wars, plagues, natural disasters and demonic forces – it can bring end to Abortion. God and Our Lady are no less powerful today. Our job is to pray it and spread it. I know you want to do something for Mary, I know you do not want to let her down. Ask the Holy Spirit to inspire you to share it with others.
Mary asked us to Fast, especially on Wednesdays and Fridays – but not only from food. In December 1983, Mary said: Before anything, abstain from television programs (Today she would probably say programs on the internet). They represent a grave peril for your families. After you have seen them you are not able to pray anymore. Fast from food and even more, fast from your screens.