St. Rose of Lima August 23

Saint Rose of Lima
Virgin
(1586-1617)


St. Rose of Lima is the patroness of Latin America and the Philippines. This South American Saint's real name was Isabel, but she was such a beautiful baby that she was called Rose, and that name remained. As she grew older, she became more and more beautiful, and one day, her mother put a wreath of flowers on her head to show off her loveliness to friends. But Rose had no desire to be admired, for her heart had been given to Jesus. So she put a long pin into that wreath and it pierced her so deeply, that she had a hard time getting the wreath off afterward. Another time she became afraid that her beauty might be a temptation to someone, since people could not take their eyes off her. Therefore, she rubbed her face with pepper until it was all red and blistered.

St. Rose worked hard to support her poor parents and she humbly obeyed them, except when they tried to get her to marry. That she would not do. Her love of Jesus was so great that when she talked about Him, her face glowed and her eyes sparkled.

Rose had many temptations from the devil, and there were also many times when she had to suffer a feeling of terrible loneliness and sadness, for God seemed far away. Yet she cheerfully offered all these troubles to Him. In fact, in her last long, painful sickness, this heroic young woman use to pray: "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Your love in my heart."

Many miracles followed her death. She was beatified by Clement IX, in 1667, and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, the first American to be so honoured. Her feast is celebrated 23 of August. She is represented wearing a crown of roses.

St. Rose of Lima,

Pray for us...

On Contraception...

I have not had the energy needed to write about all the things on my heart recently.

They are my heavy and deep thoughts that people who want to avoid controversy and pain don't want to read.

My blog started as a way to share with and educate people on being open to children in their marriage, hence the name, "Leslie on Life."

I truly believe contracepting in our marriages has a most damaging effect. I believe the lie of contraception is the root of the abortion industry as well.

Contraception contradicts what our marriages are supposed to be...a total giving of oneself in love to our spouse...

And Lord knows we need all the help we can get with being more loving to our spouses and shifting the focus off of ourselves and on to others...

Living a life without contraception in marriage is the definition of freedom to me. I desire for others to know of this freedom as well...

We know the roots of all our faiths are open to life. We know it was the invention of birth control that started to change our morals regarding life in the early 1900's.

Today 96% of American Catholics contracept in their marriages.

American Catholics are not receiving the truth or are simply rejecting it. And we know it has to do with both. Regardless of why there is an enormous problem in the Catholic Church regarding this life giving aspect of church teaching.

In our Protestant churches, people do a great job of abstaining from sex before marriage but many do not see a problem with contraception once they are married. What do Protestant preachers believe and teach on contraception? Are Protestant preachers practicing contraception in their own marriages? If so, how do they counsel their church members on family life within marriage?

What about our brothers and sisters outside of Christianity? What do their religious leaders teach regarding contraception?

And what do we do if we have a medical condition that endangers mamas from having more children? Are our husbands automatically sterilized or do we learn how to chart our fertility to postpone babies and trust that the Lord will take care of us and our families?

I constantly meet people who say to me, "I would love another child but my spouse is not open to another child." This would break my heart the day I would hear my husband say, "I'm sorry you desire another child but I'm not going to give you one."

So many thoughts to think of and to address...

So I will continue to work on the original intent of my blog...

Leslie on Life...