Awful. In Canada a couple opted to have one of their unborn children killed for no other reason than that having twins just did not fit into the “perfect” life they had laid out for themselves (h/t Rebecca Taylor). From the National Post:

Like so many other couples these days, the Toronto-area business executive and her husband put off having children for years as they built successful careers. Both parents were in their 40s — and their first son just over a year old — when this spring the woman became pregnant a second time. Seven weeks in, an ultrasound revealed the Burlington, Ont., resident was carrying twins. “It came as a complete shock,” said the mother, who asked not to be named. “We’re both career people. If we were going to have three children two years apart, someone else was going to be raising our kids. … All of a sudden our lives as we know them and as we like to lead them, are not going to happen.”

She soon discovered another option: Doctors could “reduce” the pregnancy from twins to a singleton through a little-known procedure that eliminates selected fetuses — and has become increasingly common in the past two decades amid a boom in the number of multiple pregnancies….

The Burlington woman, however, says she has no regrets, and believes the option should be openly available to all parents expecting twins.

“I’m absolutely sure I did the right thing,” she said. “I had read some online forums, people were speaking of grieving, feeling a sense of loss. I didn’t feel any of that. Not that I’m a cruel, bitter person … I just didn’t feel I would be able to care for (twins) in a way that I wanted to.”

AAAHHHH!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!!?? Of course, this couple’s reason for killing one of their unborn twins, inconvenience, is the main reason women who are only pregnant with one child get abortions in general, and it perfectly illustrates what I said a few weeks ago: the culture of death is driven by that Original Sin that just won’t go away – human pride. By basing one’s life and morals according to the “magesterium of me” to the extent that even life itself is valued less than love of comfort and control.

Now, we all fall into pride from time to time. When things happen beyond our control we understandably feel helpless, vulnerable – weak. But instead of trying to regain control by forcing our own will, especially when that violates our own personal human dignity or that of another, in these situations it would be more beneficial to listen to the words of our Lord to St. Paul and his response:

“My grace is sufficient for you for power is made perfect in weakness. I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me, for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinth 12:9-10)

In this is true strength, that we learn to abandon our own will and embrace the will of God, even if it does not make sense to us. Then we will be sustained by the Author of all life, free from our own selfish pride and able to endure affliction, hardship, inconvenience with a smile. God knows what is best for us.

“The Lord is good because he often does not give us what we desire, in order to give us something we would prefer” -St. Jerome, Epist. ad Paulinum

That is, provided we are willing to see and accept it with the right attitude, trusting God in all things.

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The Beauty of Human Weakness