Italian President Giorgio Napolitano (1925- ) (right), with His Holiness Aleksei, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia (1929- )

In the opinion of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who is currently in Moscow on an official visit, ties between the Moscow Patriarchate and Roman Catholics became more intensive and substantial in recent months. At his meeting with Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and All Russia, Mr Napolitano expressed his belief that inter-religious dialogue is vital in the contemporary milieu. The MP agrees with Mr Napolitano’s opinion.

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy head of the MP Department of External Church Relations, noted, “Over the last year, relations between our churches reached a high level. There is a specific reason for that. We have a common mission in that we witness to the world about religious values and the need for a revival of spirituality in all believing Christian confessions. We share much in common, so we try to stand together to defend Christian values from those who would exclude them from the public square, not only in the West and in Russia, but, in all places, in fact. The dialogue should go on, for it is necessary for both of us. We must develop it, then, we could search together for answers to common problems. In particular, we must counteract the attempts to marginalise Christian beliefs, values, and ideals. We must oppose those who would restrict religion to private life and inner spirituality”.

A recent example of successful dialogue between Christian confessions occurred when Italy returned the podvorie (representation parish, i.e. a parish of a Local Church on the territory of another: editor’s note) of St Nicholas in Bari to Russian ownership. This was a significant event for the MP. Grand Princess St Yelizaveta Fyodorovna had the idea to build a church/pilgrimage complex in Bari to accommodate the many Russian pilgrims who came to Bari to venerate the relics of St Nicholas, one of the most revered saints in Russia. The complex was built to a design of the architect Shchusev, and it was financed by donations from believers, including Tsar St Nikolai II. But, the work was interrupted by the First World War and the Revolution. In 1937, the church complex and the surrounding land were handed over to the Bari city government.

Soon, in December, Rome shall host another event of major significance for Orthodox Christians. The church of St Catherine, the only Russian Orthodox parish in the Italian capital, shall be blessed in a solemn ceremony. The construction project began in the summer of 2003, although the idea of building an Orthodox church in a Catholic country was suggested by Archimandrite Kliment Vernikovsky in the late-19th century. The church is located on the grounds of the residence of the Russian ambassador, not far from the Basilica of St Peter in Vatican City.

As part of the inter-confessional dialogue, the MP is in the process of legally registering its parish in Rome. In turn, the MP is preparing to receive a group of Catholic cardinals in Russia. At the end of August, a delegation headed by Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the Archbishop of Milan, is due to arrive. After this, in early October, another delegation led by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the Archbishop of Naples, shall come to Russia as well. According to a source in the MP, “The Russian and Italian peoples share a common Christian heritage, rooted in the Apostolic tradition. Certainly, this legacy provides a sound foundation for the creation of sincere, heart-to-heart, relationships between the hierarchies, clergy, and laity of both confessions”.

18 July 2008

Milena Faustova

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=77467&cid=22&p=18.07.2008 (in Russian)

Editor’s Note:

What is on offer here by the MP is not church union; it is not an offer to share the chalice. Because of insurmountable problems caused by papal ecclesiology, that cannot be. Nevertheless, what is being proffered is important, and one would hope that Catholics would accept it. We offer a common front against the godless secular forces of the age, a common effort against the actions of the Evil One in the world. That is no small beer. However, this does not mean that we are going to accept the papal innovations any time soon (or later, for that matter). Benedict must understand that he is not the leader of all Christendom, that he must treat His Holiness Aleksei as an absolute equal.

If we keep focused, if we concentrate on what we hold in common, our relations shall be friendly and god-pleasing. Fences make good neighbours… but, never forget that a proper fence has a gate that the householder can open to let friends into the house for good fellowship. If we remember this, we shall do well, I think.

How is that for an encouraging and TRUE compliment toward you in Jesus Christ?!

I can imagine that there are some few of us who believe that a statement like that is true of us because we have prayed, gone to church, been baptized, do good works and share in other religious things. However, the bible is clear, no one is good except ONE, the Father, Son and Spirit! Psalm 14:3, Romans 3:12, Mark 10:18!

I can imagine a larger set of you struggling to believe a compliment like this because, in all honesty, you can pile up the evidence (beginning with something you have done or thought in the last hour!), that PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are NOT good with Jesus' goodness! For you, I have nothing less than the stunningly beautiful words of the Gospel from the Apostle Paul in Colossians 1:

"27 God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you [emphasis mine]; therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message."

So, we are all in somewhat of a dilemma, aren't we? On the one hand, to be embarrassingly honest, no matter how righteous we claim to be, there are bad things we think and do that we want no one else to see or know about!! Good Gravy - I KNOW that is true of me!! Yikes! This is a confirmation on how even our good is still tainted with things that aren't so good! This is what Paul was wrestling with in his argument in Romans 7:14-25!

On the other hand, we and others CAN observe good things going on with each other and there has to be an explanation for that, too! The explanation for all of this is the Gospel, or the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Because Jesus Christ is good, and he created and sustains everything and everyone, AND he entered our humanity in a special and mysterious way 2000 years ago, whatever happens to him, happens to you! This is why Paul says that when Jesus died, everyone died! 2 Corinthians 5:14! This is also why he says that when Jesus rose, everyone rose with him in the Father's grace! Ephesians 1:1-10! Do you notice in this passage how everything is given to us soley by God's grace, for free?! Even the faith to believe this is true is given to us freely through Jesus!!!

SOOOOOOO....Jesus is good, because he is God, and Jesus mysteriously lives in everyone. This is the Gospel! Therefore, everyone has REAL good in them because Jesus, Who is the ONLY source of Good, lives in them and shares his goodness with them! Therefore, YOU and I ARE FUNDAMENTALLY GOOD with the Goodness of Jesus, no matter what we think about it!!!

All of this was brought home to me recently in a powerful way! I was dating my two daughters a few weeks ago. We decided to go out to a local Chili's restaurant and have at it! I ordered one of my favorites, sizzlin' fajitas, and both girls ordered their hearts desire - a huge hamburger and some hot, hot, hot wings! Oh how delicious the food AND conversation was!

I asked them of them about their hopes and dreams! I looked them in the eye and told them that I loved and liked them - yet again! I told them that they were good and I was proud of them, and that I was proud to be their father! I told them that I appreciated that they were also good students because I had been a poor one early in life. I prayed before they were born that they would not inherit that poorness from me! The Father was gracious enough to answer that prayer by making sure I married a woman whose genes would have more influence over them in that area! :-)

I told them that the reason we were dating and sharing like we were was because my dad had passed this tradition on to me and my 4 brothers and I had loved every minute of it! I was determined to share this with my wife and children and pass it on (yes, Donna and I still date, too, after 17 years of marriage!) This got us on the subject of my father who had died 4 years ago, in February of 2004.

I asked each of the girls, starting with Jocelyn, the oldest, what they remembered most about him. Jocelyn, my very thoughtful child, searched her memories carefully and then stated, VERY ACCURATELY, "I remember bouncing on a mini-trampoline and paw-paw coming up to me and shadow boxing in front of my face! I also remember that he could quote a bible verse on any subject, at anytime, at will, and always did!!"  Ha-Ha!! How true! He was always known for 2 things: God and Boxing...and he could wear most people out with both!! :-) Just "Google": Rufus Brassell!

I then turned to my youngest daughter, Autumn, and asked the same thing. She thought for a moment and then uttered these words that put me in my personal dilemma on this subject, "I remember that he was as good and loving as you are!" Honest - I could NOT take those words in at first and thought I had misunderstood! I was almost afraid to ask for clarity but finally did. I said, incredulously, "What did you say?!" She then repeated just as firm and sincere, "Paw-Paw was as good and loving as you are!"

Well, I have never ever felt so GOOD and BAD at the same time in all of my entire life!! Ha-Ha! Understatement! Didn't Autumn know me after all of these 11 years, and how much improvement I needed to be a truly good and loving father? I am SURE she and Jocelyn both could dredge up a negative list a mile long about how truly bad I am, and I would have to agree! Sheeesh! There was no way she could have just said that! I had a hard time receiving it!

BUT, because of the Goodness of the Father, Son and Spirit, and their passion and insistence to share the Gospel with me REGULARLY, and Their helping me to share it with others, I was able to REPENT AND BELIEVE THIS GOOD NEWS quite quickly and say "Thank You!" The Father was so passionate to flood me with His encouragement that he inspired my eldest daughter, Jocelyn, to put an exclamation point on it all by saying "That's True!!"

We concluded our fellowship in the restaurant by ordering ONE huge dessert that we shared as THREE persons. :-) As we ate, I couldn't help but think again of our One God in Three Persons Who had graciously included me and Jocelyn, and Autumn, (AND DONNA, my wife, and THE WHOLE WORLD), in their Shared Relationship.

God was certainly at Chili's in a special way that day and, even though the dessert was admittedly good and sweet, I have to admit that receiving the Good News of Jesus' Goodness and Love in ME was even better and MUCH sweeter!!! I hope you eat plenty, too!! I promise there's nothing better!!

Meanwhile, in the same town lived a woman by name Pogala Tamakka, who was a staunch devotee of Rama. One day she was searching for her adopted child and reached Bhadragiri where she came upon the ant hill. She looked inside the ant hill and saw that there was a statue of Rama and Sita inside. In her elation on finding her Lord, she fainted. When she came to, she took the statues and also found her adopted child near her.

When she reached home, while sleeping, she saw sage Bhadran in her dream. He told her that a devotee of Rama would arrive at her doorstep and would build a temple for Rama. "Till then worship Rama in the open", he said. Tamakka also followed the advice of Sage Bhadran and did not build a shrine on her own for Rama.

A few years later, Gopanna, the Tahsildar of the Golconda Nawab Abdul Hassan Shah arrived in Bhadrachalam. Tamakka had a premonition that  Gopanna was the devotee mentioned by the sage in her dreams and she requested him to build a shrine for Rama.

Being a Tahsildar, Gopanna had a lot of tax money which people had given him to be paid to the Nawab. He uses that money to build a temple for Rama. The Nawab on finding that a temple had been built with the tax money, he jailed Gopanna in the Golconda fort.

A few days later, two men visited the Nawab and said that Gopanna had sent them to repay the tax money he had taken. The Nawab was surprised and went to meet Gopanna in jail. When he learnt from Gopanna that the Lord Rama himself had returned the money, he fell at the feet of Gopanna and apologised for his folly. Gopanna in turn fell at the feet of the Nawab saying that he had the good fortune of meeting the Lord in person. From that day he came to be known as Bhakta Ramadas.

(Bhadrachalam is a small town in Andhra Pradesh. The temple is in Khammam, en route to Hyderabad from Chennai. The deity here is known as Vaikuntaraman)

O cafenea din Amsterdam s-a transformat ieri in singura si Universala Biserica a Fumatorilor Domnului". Proprietarul localului a luat aceasta decizie pentru a ocoli legea, care interzice consumul de tutun in spatii publice.

Restrictia a intrat in vigoare de la 1 iulie si a afectat grav profiturile barurilor de fumatori. Pentru a remedia situatia, patronii de localuri au gasit o modalitate legala de a le permite clientilor sa-si aprinda tigara cand stau la un paharel. Au transformat cafenelele in biserici si au decretat fumatul un ritual religios.

Cor Bush a fost primul patron care si-a rebranduit cafeneaua in biserica. Potrivit spuselor sale, credinciosii venereaza aici o trinitate formata din fum, foc si scrum.  Localul sau, botezat Lindeboom, se afla in nordul Amsterdamului. Barul atragea in fiecare zi mii de clienti, insa multi au renuntat sa mai vina aici, dupa interzicerea fumatului in public. Patronul spera ca transformarea in biserica sa-i salveze afacerea de la faliment. O data cu aceasta schimbare, clientii vor fi si ei convertiti in enoriasi.

Fiecare credincios va primi un card de membru si va avea voie sa fumeze in interiorul cladirii. Persoanele fara card vor fi considerate clienti temporari si vor fi nevoite sa respecte restrictia antitutun. Alte zece cafenele din Olanda spun ca vor sa se ralieze aceleiasi religii. Bush spune ca va afisa pe fatada localurilor afiliate un banner cu urmatorul mesaj: "Comunitatea bisericii fumatorilor este libera sa fumeze pentru a-l slavi pe Dumnezeu si pacea din lume".

Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum

named and added to gallery #10,2008  at Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum

"Wingless Green Angel with a massive body"

acrylics 21"x18"

lisited in New Paintings  2008

Today's Keyword

within Museum paintings

human body forms

( excerpted)

latest contents: "human body forms "

<!--

related keywrods woman, man and woman,

-->

related keywords : human figurs , human faces, human portrait

]]> http://princemegajedi.wordpress.com/?p=86 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:14:28 +0000 princemegajedi http://princemegajedi.wordpress.com/?p=86 As I was getting ready to buy my full event ticket to Alive 08 today.  I was called and asked if I was willing to volunteer again.  I quickly said yes ( I filled out my aplication last November 2 months before my seziure) I am willing to do what it will take to help out again.  And That also means I do not have to spend the $133 for 5 day's of music as I get in free, just need to pick up garbage in the morning.  Now what is Alive 08 you ask?  It is the 21st annual CHRISTian Music fest.  5 Day's (including the free day next Tuesday) of CHRISTian Music and Speaker's.  A true Blessing for all who attend.  You can camp out in Clay's Park and go swimming and just have a great time with fellow CHRISTians.

On this day in 1290, King Edward I issued the Edict of Expulsion of 1290, formally exiling all Jews from Britain.  It is widely believed that the first Jewish communities arrived in the area with William the Conqueror in 1066.  All successive kings had to review the royal charter that allowed Jews to stay in England, and they were not granted any rights under the Magna Carta in 1215.  Because Jews were outside of Canon Law, they were allowed to loan money at interest, which the church forbade at the time, but which Judaism permits (between Jew and Gentile).  Because of this, however, the monarch could seize all available Jewish assets by calling it taxation, and the Parliament did not have to be convened for the monarch to do so.  

All of this lent to the anti-Semitic images of the greedy money changer, the wandering Jew, and the ritual murderer.  I believe it was in England at this time where the myth first surfaced that Jews must kill Christian children in order to use their blood to make matzah for Pesach.  Three years after the Magna Carta was implemented, England became the first European nation to force Jews to wear a badge identifying them as such.  In 1275, the Statute of Jewry completely outlawed usury and gave Jews fifteen years to adjust, though many other pursuits, such as agriculture, were completely closed to them.  King Edward returned from Glacony in 1289, and was deeply in debt.  On July 19 of the following year, he issued the Edict of Expulsion, and the Crown seized all Jewish assets, and made all debts to the Jews payable to the royal family.  The day the sheriffs were dispatched to offer the Jews their options (expulsion or execution) was made to coincide with Tisha B'av of 5050, the day which commemorates the destruction of the Temple.  

Interestingly enough, though Jews began to settle in England again in the 1640's, no royal decree has ever been issued striking down the Edict of Expulsion.  Though the British government has been asked to petition Queen Elizabeth II to issue a counter-decree, the British Foreign Ministry has said that there is no need to do so.  The Edict has not been cancelled, and is still listed among British legal documents.  

Sounds sort of ironic, but to the British Jews one can't help but ask:

L'shanah haba'ah birushalayim?

Christians have become political, judgmental, intolerant, weak, religious, angry, and without balance. Christianity has become a nice Sunday drive.  Where the living God, the Holy Spirit, an amazing Jesus, the love, the compassion, the holiness?  This type of life, how I yearn for that.

Any thoughts?

She is one of the most famous pentecostal singer in evangelical brazilian church.
She ministries praising God for decades and up to date she still sings praises to the Lord with her beautiful and inspired voice.
Listen, watch and enjoy.

Ela é uma das cantoras evangelicas pentecostais mais destacadas no meio evangelico brasileiro. No decorrer das decadas tem louvado ao Senhor com sua bela e inspirada voz...
Gente,
essa música é bonita D+ :

Pagina Virada .
Pagina Virada. Shirley Carvalhaes.
.
.
.
.
Click to visite her oficial website:
Visitem o website oficial da Shirley Carvalhaes:

http://www.shirleycarvalhaes.kit.net/
.
.
.
.
Listen to her voice.
Ouça mais algumas de suas lindas músicas e interpretações:

Esta bencao e para voce.
Shirley Carvalhaes - Esta Benção é Para voce!!!

Deus dara de volta tudo pra voce.
Shirley Carvalhaes - Deus dará de volta tudo pra você

Nao pare de adorar.
Shirley Carvalhaes - Não Pare de Adorar

EMOCIONANTE, esse remix e efeitos especiais:
A Paixao de Cristo - Ergue-se a Cruz (Shirley Carvalhaes).

( visite a sua webpage para saber as novidades http://www.shirleycarvalhaes.kit.net/ ).

Moscow, 17 July 2008 (Interfax):

Bishop Diomid of Anadyr and Chukotka, deposed from the episcopate by the Archpastoral Council, issued a statement where he declared Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and all Russia anathema. In this document, released on Thursday, Bishop Diomid also declared anathema Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, the head of the MP Department of External Church Relations, his predecessor in that post, Metropolitan Philaret of Minsk and Slutsk, “and all their predecessors, those who participated in the February 1917 Revolution, and all those of like mind with them”.

Bishop Diomid intends to declare the Diocese of Anadyr and Chukotka self-governing “in the resolution of dogmatic and canonical questions… we shall not be in subordination to a heretical hierarchy”. At the same time, he announced that the dioceses of Moscow, Smolensk, and Minsk, along with a number of church departments, were vacant as their heads were anathematised in his statement. In conclusion, the deposed Bishop of Chukotka “reserved to himself the duty to assume plenipotentiary powers as archpastor to lead the Orthodox flock in the vacant sees and departments”. That is, he actually declared himself the head of the Moscow Patriarchate!

Meanwhile, the MP issued a statement calling the declarations of the deposed Bishop Diomid “nonsense”, and it asked the faithful to pray that he come to his senses. “When God abandons and punishes a man, He deprives him of his reason. This is precisely what happened in this case”, Fr Vsevolod Chaplin, the deputy head of the MP DECR, said in comments on Bishop Diomid’s statement. In this case, he expressed regret that Bishop Diomid, “who began his way in the church as a sincere and believing man, abandoned church unity, a joyous church life, Christian witness, and openness to people of different faiths and persuasions in favour of the adulation of a small set of followers who suggest to him that he is the true spiritual leader of Russia”.

Turning to Bishop Diomid personally, Fr Vsevolod said, “Vladyki, this is false. You send a message to people where you deceive them and indulge the dark side of your soul”. He expressed the conviction that if Diomid entered into an open and frank discussion with his fellow bishops, it is still possible for everything to turn out well. “The door to repentance would be open, indeed, it was opened, and it is still open. However, unfortunately, Diomid flees ever farther from us. Today, he is at Cape Shmidt in northern Chukotka. Tomorrow, dear God, he will flee to some cave”, Fr Vsevolod complained.

In his opinion, if we are self-sufficient and believing people, with “burning conscience and zeal”, we can find a way to anywhere. “We should pray for Bishop Diomid, we should not rejoice maliciously, since the Lord makes miracles, and we should give Diomid a chance to confess, to change his mind, and come to repentance”, he said in conclusion. In his turn, Bishop Aleksandr of Baku and the Caspian Region reminded journalists that according to the canons only the First Hierarch of a Local Church, a Holy Synod, or the Archpastoral Council can declare a person anathema.

One of the main reproaches by Bishop Diomid towards the hierarchy is the participation of the MP in dialogue of the MP with other religions and other Christian confessions, which, in his opinion, besmirches the purity of Orthodoxy. Apropos of this, on Thursday, the sixth session of the Russian-Iranian commission on Islamic-Christian dialogue convened in Moscow. Turning to his fellow delegates in the course of his press conference, Bishop Aleksandr, the head of the Russian delegation, noted that both sets of clergy agree that Muslims and Christians would live together in the world without violating the law of their conscience. “It’s truly a great pity that there are those who are not pleased by our efforts in this direction. He does not realise that we are preventing a possible religious confrontation”, Bishop Aleksandr said, and he expressed the hope that the Lord would help Bishop Diomid “to realise his unfairness”.    

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=25521 (in Russian)

Editor’s Note:

One can only shake one’s head in sadness and dismay. Diomid is not alone, unfortunately. There are those who left the ROCOR in a snit after the reconciliation in Moscow and there are those living in a dream-world at SVS and Syosset. Right-wing or left-wing, it doesn’t matter to me. Both are distortions of the Body of Christ. It is time for all Russian Orthodox on this continent to unify, and the sadness is that there are those who prefer their own private notions to churchly unity. Again, sad in the extreme. How long must this last?

By the way, this is a text-book illustration of the schismatical mindset laid out in an excellent essay, The Psychology of Schism, by Deacon Jan Veselak. It is available on the ROCOR official website.

URL:

http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/engdocuments/enart_veselak.html (in English)

Memorial Church of Christ on-the-Spilled-Blood, Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg, 17 July 2008 (Interfax):

In the darkness in the early hours of Thursday, about 35,000 people took part in a religious procession in Yekaterinburg on the 90^th anniversary of the murder of the imperial family. According to the Diocese of Yekaterinburg, the procession was preceded by an all-night vigil at the Memorial Church of the Saviour on-the-Spilled-Blood, which is built on the precise spot where Tsar Nikolai and his family were martyred. There was not enough room in the church for all of the worshippers, many knelt in the street, and the area directly in front of the church was filled with a vast throng.

Exactly at midnight the bells rang out, and a liturgy was served by hierarchs of the MP, including those of the ROCOR. “Thousands of people received the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist on this night of prayer and repentance at this holy place of Christ, a place soaked with the blood of the martyrs. Pilgrims came from all over the globe, Orthodox Christians came here to the Urals to confess, receive absolution, and to ask forgiveness from the Holy Royal Martyrs”, a spokesman of the diocese told journalists. During the entire duration of the solemnities the Memorial Church was brightly illuminated by searchlights.

The services were broadcast in their entirety to the region, and those who could not enter the stuffed church prayed under the open sky. The liturgy concluded at 04.00, after which the bells rang out again, signalling the beginning of a religious procession to Ganina Yama. Thousands of people filled the streets of Yekaterinburg in the darkness of the pre-dawn morning, ready to walk the 20 kilometres (@12.5 miles) to Ganina Yama (the original burial site of the Royal Martyrs: editor’s note). Liturgy shall be offered in all parishes of the MP on Thursday on the feastday of the Holy Royal Martyrs.

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=25513 (in Russian)

Editor’s Note:

More people participated in this one event than there are in most American Orthodox jurisdictions. This is what we need. We do not need Metropolitan Councils, psychologists, “facilitators”, Fair Practises, “workshops”, boards of “eminent theologians”, Town Halls, or “American democracy” in our Church. We need the faith that moves mountains. The people of Yekaterinburg have it. We do not. Therefore, we must do what we must to get it.

Listening to words about life
The promise that life comes out of death
The idea that eternity is bigger than the cycle of days
The knowledge that the current cycle must pass

He speaks of what God makes new
He speaks of the opportunity to turn back the clock
Somehow, there is forgiveness, and restoration
Though, the past and the present are different moments

I hear about younger and older hearts
The flowing of ideas
The different passions
The different focus through maturity

The past is not lost,
The power of past injury diminishes
The eyes focus on hope
Time passes and the eyes focus on the moment

The comfort of the young is hope for future
Innocence and simplicity
The comfort of the old is experience
The richness and strength of the past

With age comes disappointment
The young look for things to happen now
Always waiting for the good
Yet missing the good that has already arrived

The older see and know the now
Seeing the past clearly
Knowing what it means to be three steps ahead
Running off the path by outrunning the light

So listening to the words from the grave
The hearer is reminded to slow down to the pace of life
Racing cannot rush the setting of the sun
Anger cannot change the flow of time

The heart grows warm hearing a gentle voice
The lips flash a smile,
The voice is speaking of the death of authors
And acknowledging that in time loss will be restored

Comfort comes over time
Heaven on earth is learning to be happy while waiting

Pray hard.  This is a rare moment and a unique opportunity.  It is one thing for a young person of growing faith to struggle daily in a secular world.  It is wonderful that they can come together with other young people of growing faith in their Churches and community... but to gather with so many, from so many different places and to be surrounded by the formal Church with our Holy Father focusing on them exclusively!  Outstanding!!!!  Just watching in on EWTN is inspiring but to be in the middle of that.  Can you imagine how many vocations to the priesthood, religious life and professional ministry will be inspired in these days?  Can you imagine how many young people will not just take a step closer in faith but huge leaps and bounds?  How many will begin to understand that their faith is not just a compartment of their lives but who they are and how they live?  How wonderfully renewing that will be for our parishes, communities and schools when these youth, now on-fire in a new or renewed way, come back into our embrace!  WYD is not just for the Youth it is for the Church universal.  We need the power of the Holy Spirit to send forth God's power and renew the face of the earth.  So PRAY!

Pray hard.  The theme for this WYD is taken from the Acts of the Apostles 1:8:  You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses --

Receive The Power

Can you imagine if only 10% of those that gather for the Mass -- 25,000 -- open their hearts, hands and heads to the Lord and Receive the Power of the Holy Spirit....!!!!!  Image 20%....30% or even 50%... why not all gathered?  God has the power!  And those gathered are youth ripe to listen and receive.  As the prayer goes: 

"Come Holy Spirit enkindle in us the fire of Your love.  Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created; And You will renew the face of the Earth." 

Isn't that what we as Catholic hope for?  Wait for?  Pray for?  ....thy Kingdom come.   Remember?  The Our Father.  We pray that line each week at Mass. 

So PRAY!  and pray hard.  Those gathered for World Youth Day, they are receiving a unique and life changing gift.  Pray for them that they will be open to receiving the Holy Spirit.  And pray for us that we can be open to receiving them when they return to bring the gift of God back to us.  i remain, your servant in Christ,

Theresa

Cathy is a busy single mom and frequently works on Sundays, thereby missing church a lot.  All of her co-workers know she is different, both because of her conduct and because of her frequent comments about her faith.  She gives what she can to the church and she spends Saturday mornings at the food pantry showing her daughter what it means to serve the poor.   She keeps mostly to herself as her time is very precious, but she always prays and reads the Bible before going to bed.  She never lets the worries of the day seperate her from God and she is always thankful for what God has given to her.

From the fellow church-goers perspective, Joe appears to be a much stronger Christian than Cathy, but is that really the case?  Does being a Christian mean that you adhere to the set of traditions popularized in America over the past 2 centuries or does it mean that in everything you do, you desire for your life to be a sweet aroma to God?

I spend a good portion of my life being religious.  Doing the things I'm supposed to do, just because I'm supposed to do it.  I went to church, I played the "good girl" didn't do anything I was not supposed to do.  But to know Him in a personal way, that is when I stopped searching.  To know Him personally is to be content.  I no longer have to search for something to fill the void.  He is everything to me.  I don't have to look in drugs, alcohol and other material possessions, because God is everything I need.  When I'm at that place, I can be content with my church, my work, my ministry.  I am learning a lot about myself through our relationship and I'm learning alot about the character of God. 

I love contentment.  You should try this relationship thing!

Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and all Russia called upon all Russians to ponder the lessons found in the Russian history of the early-20^th century so that they could give a clear-cut assessment to the tragic events that coloured the later events in our national life. The Patriarch said this on the eve of the 90^th anniversary of the horrific massacre of the imperial family and its servants in Yekaterinburg. There are still disputes in Russia over the personality of Russia’s last tsar, who was murdered by a Bolshevik firing squad in Yekaterinburg in the Urals in the early-morning hours of 17 July 1918. Some believe that he was weak-willed and too gentle to be a ruler of such a huge country. Others, on the contrary, confidently assert that Russia scored unprecedented successes in the economic and socio-political spheres in the reign of Tsar Nikolai II.

A majority of scholars are inclined to think that the peculiarities of the tsar’s style of government were the reason for the revolution and the subsequent events that determined the course of Russia for the next 80 years. However, simple Orthodox believers are convinced that the personality of Tsar Nikolai II and his style of governance are not sufficient grounds for the crime committed on that horrible July night when the Bolsheviks killed not only the tsar himself, but, also his wife, children, and servants. I