It is enormously hard to watch a son or daughter suffer the misery of ulcerative colitis.

Like Mary, who watched her Son die horribly on the Cross, we stand at the foot of our own child’s cross, witnessing our loved one’s quality of life deteriorate and his or her body waste away.

Helpless and miserable, we beg God to take this awful curse away from them and put their burden on us instead.

And then come the relentless questions: Is God punishing me for something that I did or didn’t do? Could I have prevented this from happening? Why can’t I alleviate my child’s suffering?

First Things First

If this is how you feel, please also read my previous post, St. Jude & Ulcerative Colitis. 

Here again is the link to the website of the doctor whose protocol has worked for my own son, when medication helped made his symptoms worse.

http://www.drdahlman.com

He offers free downloadable reports for other conditions, such as Crohns and fibromyalgia.

Tap into the power of correct diet and supplements to reverse the symptoms of ulcerative colitis and then use the power of prayer in combating this autoimmune disease.

You don't have to be a helpless bystander!

Prayer
​
In his book Return: How to Draw Your Child Back to the Church Brandon Vogt sets out a game plan for achieving his stated goal. It begins with prayer, fasting and sacrifice.

I was struck with the similarities between what the author advocates and my own game plan when my son has a renewed ulcerative colitis flare.

(Please note, his flares are always the result of eating the wrong thing!)

​54 Day Rosary Novena

I cannot over-emphasize the power of prayer.

St. Paul said: “Rejoice at all times. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.… (1 Thessalonians 5:16 –18)” (My italics.)

Over the years I have learned to lean on Our Lady whenever I have a crisis in my life. The Mother of God intercedes most persuasively with her Son on our behalf.

She revealed the 54 day Rosary Novena to an incurably sick Italian lady, saying: “Whoever wishes to receive favors from me should make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary in petition and three in thanksgiving.” She promised to restore the lady’s health and did so.

To obtain a favor, pray consecutively 6 nine day rosary novenas (27 days of petition and 27 days of thanksgiving), reciting the mysteries in the normal order.

You can print out a Miraculous 54 Day Novena Card to keep with you to remind you to pray.

The hardest part about praying this novena is that you have to pray with thanksgiving in your heart for the last 27 days, EVEN WHEN YOUR PRAYER HAS NOT YET BEEN ANSWERED.

This is really tough! It takes enormous faith to persevere when you’re seeing no results.

I was in the final seven days of my first recitation of this novena (for a personal need) when I felt – rather than heard – a whisper telling me that my petition would be answered. I was given no time frame, but I believed that it would be answered, if only I were patient.

I trusted Our Lady and sure enough, what I had feared was impossible, came to pass not long afterwards.

Another time I was praying for my son, who was in the worst flare he’d ever experienced. He’d eaten the strongest possible Indian curry (somehow unaware that this was anathema to his intestines!) and his flare lasted for over two months.

Prednisone no longer works for him to bring down the inflammation. He became skeletal and suffered from a cough and cold that wouldn’t quit because his immune system was completely shot.

This was over Christmas and New Year last year (2015).

I began praying the 54 day Rosary Novena on 15th December, moving to the thanksgiving days on 9th January, with my son showing no signs of improvement.

It was hard, but I believed Our Lady would come through for him and my son finally agreed to go back on the supplements recommended in Dr. Dahlman's protocol which had worked for him before. (He'd been hoping not to need them.)

By 27th January, nine days before the end of the Novena, he sent me a text from work saying “I am substantially healed.” He went on to run the DC Marathon in March “to celebrate being healthy again.” You can imagine my tears of gratitude!

I am currently reciting the 54 Novena once more. My son once again ate something new that disagreed with his intestines and was flaring after a long time of having religiously stuck to his diet.

I was into the ninth day of the Thanksgiving phase when he reported feeling like his old self again, running with his dog and ready to go back to the gym. He now spends the whole night sleeping instead of rushing to the bathroom every hour.

Thank you, Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary!

Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

As well as praying for Our Lady’s help, we always have recourse to her Son. During both of my son’s flares I have prayed the Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The prayer ends with these words:

‘O Sacred Heart of Jesus, to whom one thing alone is impossible, namely, not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of Thee, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your tender Mother and ours.’
​
So there is no ‘conflict of interest’ here!

Prayer to St. Jude 

I have never stopped praying to St. Jude, who came through for me when my son was first diagnosed and led me to find the protocol that was going to bring him back to health (see St. Jude & Ulcerative Colitis). He prevented me from despairing at a time when it was hard not to be despondent.

These days I thank him for his continuing help and ask him to join Mary in interceding for my son’s return to health – and to the church. (Which is why I’m reading Return!)
 
Fasting 
​
Brandon Vogt writes in Return about ‘two other fruitful practices many parents ignore that can amplify the effects of prayer significantly….The first is fasting, and the second is offering up sacrifices.’ (p. 67)

He talks about different things to fast from. Not just abstinence from food, but also from things we enjoy – he cites binge watching TV and social media or from complaining or gossiping.

And when it gets difficult, we should pray, ‘Lord I am doing this for my child: please relieve him of his suffering.’
​
As soon as my son flares, I immediately give up alcohol and chocolate as well as going into serious prayer mode!

Offer Up Your Sufferings 

To quote Brandon Vogt again: “Just as Jesus accepted beatings, torture, and ultimately death on our behalf, offering his sacrifices for the sake of the world, so we must channel our much smaller pains and sufferings for the sake of our children.” (p. 71)

As I’ve mentioned, the last two times my son has flared, after many months of remission, have been through negligent eating.

Because he can control his symptoms through self-discipline, I see red when those symptoms return. “He could have prevented this – he’s making the whole family miserable!”

To top it off, he complains that I shouldn’t get upset. “It’s my disease,” he says, as if watching him suffer shouldn’t have an impact on me. I try to explain that as his mother it is impossible for me to be unaffected and I will always be looking for ways to help.

“Mum, I’ve got this, I don’t need you interfering!”

As you’ll already know, ulcerative colitis doesn’t bring out the best in the sufferer!

So I offered up my unhappiness at his unkind attitude for his sake. I talked to Our Lady, and told her that I knew she suffered much more for her Son than me for mine. I talked to Jesus about how my self-pity was not justified – He had much more reason to feel sorry for Himself that I did!

The next morning God and His Mother gave me back my son. He hugged me and we wordlessly made our peace. That was followed by the first night he slept through without having to go to the bathroom, and the next day was able to go running without fear of an accident.
​
On the evening of Thanksgiving Day we took his dog for a long walk in the dark and had a wonderful chat.

The prayers and fasting and offering of sacrifices have taken effect and I want all mothers (and fathers) out there to know that they DO have the power to help their children, through the grace of Jesus, His Mother and the saints.

Have faith and help your child follow a protocol like the one I mention to bring their digestive system back into balance and keep it there. This requires a huge lifestyle change but will ultimately make them much healthier with a stronger immune system.

​God has given us the tools - let's use them!

Related Articles

- Ulcerative Colitis: A Natural Approach

- St. Jude & Ulcerative Colitis

- One Man's Ulcerative Colitis Diet

- A Different Kind of Milk

The world is ready for a fictional hero with ulcerative colitis!

Riding Out the Devil is the first book in my trilogy about Jack Harper, a horse trainer with UC.

Download your FREE copy at ​Hilary Walker Books!

This country has produced two presidential candidates who make it very hard to want to vote in this election. As a well-meaning Christian you may well feel that you shouldn’t vote because the choices are so awful.

But, as the British statesman Edmund Burke famously said: ““All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

We truly are in a position to prevent the triumph of evil.

Do I Have to Vote? 

In an election where one of the major candidates is virulently anti-Christian (and specifically anti-Catholic) while the other publicly defends Christian values, surely we cannot refuse to vote because of our personal feelings about the individuals who represent each side?

Here is what Pope Pius XII had to say when Catholics went to the polls in 1948 to vote for or against the Communists in Italy:    (from “The Moral Obligation of Voting” written by the Rev. Titus Cranny, S.A, M.A, S.T.L in 1952 as quoted in All Catholics Have a Moral Obligation To Vote Against Hillary Clinton )

“Everyone has to vote according to the dictates of his own conscience. Now it is evident that the voice of conscience imposes on every sincere Catholic the necessity of giving his own vote to those candidates or to those lists of candidates, which offer them truly adequate guarantees for the protection of the rights of God and of souls, for the true good of individuals, of families, and of society, according to the laws of God and the Church’s moral teaching.”
 
Rev. Cranny writes:

“Thus, Pius XII eloquently points out that it would be a mortal sin for one to abstain from voting under circumstances where a party hostile to the Faith, in this case clearly Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party, wish to gain control of government and harm the Church.”

Remember Christ’s words:

"Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me (Matthew 12:30).”
​
If we don’t vote for Christ we are voting against Him and cannot call ourselves Christians.

​

Jesus versus Prevailing Opinion​

Today’s culture is based on how people feel about issues on a given day: we are urged not to ‘hurt people’s feelings’ or ‘show intolerance.’

If someone wants to flout the laws of God we are told to stand by and let them, rather than upset them by pointing out what they are doing is morally wrong and will lead to perdition, instead of happiness as they mistakenly think.

“My child, don't reject the LORD's discipline, and don't be upset when he corrects you (Proverbs 3:11).”

Christ didn’t care about people’s feelings. He cared about their souls and where they were headed when they die. He wanted them to gain everlasting life, not merit the everlasting misery of hell.

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36)”

Progressivism and power are the antithesis of truth and morals. Doing ‘what feels good’ and looking after number one are the very same things the people did in Noah’s time before the floods came. They laughed at the crazy man building the huge boat – that is, until the heavens opened and God poured His wrath on His wayward people.
​
We can be assured that if this country doesn’t turn back to God, He will turn His back on us.

   Intrinsically Evil Actions Must ALWAYS Be Rejected

Most people agree that evil must be stopped.

But the agreement ends when defining what is and what is not evil.

Abortion 

Selective Outrage

Each year around 35,000 people die in gun violence in this country and there is a huge outcry, as well there should be.

Every year over 1 million babies die in abortions in America, yet this murder of innocent children passes for acceptable behavior.

What is the reason for this selective outrage? Why is it bad for people to be shot to death but O.K. for babies to be butchered to death?

What is the moral difference?

The Right to Choose

A woman may claim to have rights over her own body (even though our bodies were given to us by God, Who is the only Being with any rights over them) but she cannot claim to have rights over another human being.

Just because that human being is growing inside her doesn’t mean that she is morally justified in deciding whether that baby should live or die. God created that baby, and only God has the right to decide.

Why is it considered double homicide if a pregnant woman is murdered with her baby inside her, yet abortion is not considered homicide in this country? Morality aside, where is the logic?

Choosing to murder a baby is still murder. Period.

Remember Christ’s words:

"'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' (Matthew 25:40)”

Thus, whatever you do for the least of these our brothers and sisters you do TO Jesus.

We are made in the image of God and when we kill babies we are murdering His Son all over again. It’s that simple.

Christians cannot vote for a party which condones abortion at ANY stage of pregnancy.

Mercy Killing

To make murdering our senior citizens, or those who are terminally ill, acceptable to those of a sensitive nature, the term ‘Mercy Killing’ has been coined for it.

We put our pets ‘to sleep,’ the argument goes, so why not put people ‘to sleep’ when they’re old or in pain? We’re being ‘merciful.’ We’re being 'compassionate.'

That way we can get rid of all those who place financial burdens on our families and society as a whole. Let’s make old and terminally ill people feel selfish if they don’t agree to be killed so we can have their money.

Old age and suffering are part of God’s plan for humanity. It’s up to God to decide whether we live or die, whatever our circumstances on earth, not the government’s.

Telling an old person that he or she is a drain on society and should therefore, in all good conscience, consent to being murdered, is morally reprehensible.

Would you allow a party that sanctioned such behavior to get into power?

Treatment of the Vulnerable 

Speaking of the then most vulnerable members of society, Mahatma Ghandi  famously said:

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

He cannot possibly have foreseen the moral regression and poverty of spirit of today’s America.
​
I offer a more modern rendering:
​
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its unborn babies, sick and old people are treated.”
​

Same Sex Marriage 

The Moral Argument

Marriage is between a man and a woman, for the purpose of procreation and forming a family unit which mirrors the Holy Family (and by extension the Holy Trinity). A homosexual relationship is against God’s natural law.

This doesn’t mean that Christians are called to reject gays and lesbians. Not at all. We are to love the sinner but not the sin, for we are all sinners.  We are to embrace the person but not his or her immoral acts.

Here's a different example of the this.

Should theft be legalized for people who can’t control their urge to steal?

Are we being hateful when we say it’s wrong for a kleptomaniac to take another’s property?

Are we intolerant if we say that kleptomania is bad? If someone wants to steal your car should you say “Oh, go ahead, that’s fine by me,” rather than (oh, horror!) be intolerant of their behavior?

Of course not, you say. God said ‘thou shalt not steal.’ 

While we should feel compassion for someone with a compulsive urge to steal, we shouldn’t condone their acts of theft!

The same goes for homosexual acts. Here are some Scripture readings to clarify God’s standing on the issue.

Leviticus 18:22: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."

Leviticus 20:13: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

Romans 1:26-27: "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet."

1 Corinthian 6:9: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind."

God is intolerant of the sin, not the sinner.
​
We all sin and are called to repentance: gays and lesbians are no more excused from indulging in sin than the rest of us. God has no tolerance for any sin.

​The Negative Impact on Children

Catholic adoptive agencies are being forced to close their doors because they are not allowed to place children in adoptive homes only where there is a natural family unit of married mother and father.

Consider how this is affecting children who badly need foster or adoptive families to take them.

Putting aside the psychological damage to children placed in same sex homes, they are being led astray from God’s law and the chance to lead authentic Christian lives.

Here is what is happening in D.C alone, but is being repeated all over the country:

“In Washington, DC, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington—which has provided support to children and families for over eighty years—had a partnership with the District of Columbia for its foster care and public adoption program. However, in 2010, a law redefining legal marriage to include two people of the same sex took effect in the District. The District then informed Catholic Charities that it would no longer be an eligible foster care and adoption partner. Why? Because, as a Catholic organization, Catholic Charities was committed to placing children with married couples so that each child would have the experience of a mother and a father.”  (From Catholics 4 Trump.)
​
We have a duty to confront this evil in our society.

​Don’t Waste your Vote 

Don’t waste your vote on a party that won’t get into power. It’s the same as sitting idly and watching evil triumph.

In Conclusion 

St. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.” Elsewhere, he exhorts us to:  “Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers (Ephesians 6:18).”

Say your rosary, ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for us with her Son and stop the rising Godlessness in this country.
 
“The face of the LORD is against evildoers,
                To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
                And delivers them out of all their troubles
                                                     (Psalm 34:16-17).”
 
Be bold and count among the righteous in blocking the power of the evildoers.
 
“O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble;
            You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear
 
“To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed,
            So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror
                                                     (Psalm 10:17-18).”
 
Be humble that your prayer may pierce the cloud of God’s anger against the hedonism of this country.

​And vote for Christ!

Further Reading 

All Catholics Have a Moral Obligation To Vote Against Hillary Clinton

What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality? 12 Scripture Verses About Gay Marriage