‘Do not be afraid that your life will have an end; be much more afraid that it will never have a beginning’
–The Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801 – 1890)
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EDSA PRAYER FOR PEACE
Lord Jesus, we come to you in our need. Create in us an awareness of the massive forces of conflict that threaten our world today. And grant us a sense of urgency to activate the forces of goodness, of justice, of love and of peace.
Where there is armed conflict, let us stretch out our arms to our brothers and sisters. Where there is abundance, let there be simple lifestyle and sharing. Where there is poverty, let there be dignified living and constant striving for just structures. Where there is selfish ambition, let there be humble service. Where there is injustice, let there be atonement. Where there is despair, let there be hope in the Good News. Where there are wounds of division, let there be unity and wholeness.
Help us to be committed to the building of your kingdom, not seeking to be cared for but to care; not expecting to be served but to place ourselves in the service of others; not aspiring to be materially secure but to place our security in your love.
Teach us your spirit, for it is only in loving imitation of you, Lord, that we can discover the healing springs of life that will bring about new birth to the earth and hope for the world. Amen.
Our Lady, Queen of Peace. Pray for us.
Courtesy of Our Lady of Peace
Shrine, EDSA
(From www.cfcglobal.org.ph/home.htm)
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It Begins at Home
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
‘The world is upside down because there is so very little love in the home. We have no time for our children; we have no time for each other; and there is no time to enjoy each other. That is why there is so much suffering and so much unhappiness in the world today. Everybody seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for what is bigger and better and greater, and mothers and fathers often do not have time for each other, let alone their children. In the home begins the disruption of the peace of the world.’
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Pope Benedict to the Bishops
of Switzerland, 9 November 2006
‘I often hear it said that people today feel nostalgia for God, spirituality and religion, and that they begin to see the Church as a possible interlocutor from which something may be received in this regard . . . However, what people find very difficult are the ethics the Church proclaims. I have long reflected upon this matter, and I see ever more clearly how, in our time, it is as if ethics have divided into two parts. Modern society is not simply ethic-less but has, so to say, “discovered” and claimed another aspect of ethics which, in the Church’s announcement over recent decades . . . has not been sufficiently emphasized. This includes the great themes of peace, non-violence, justice for all, care for the poor and respect for creation.’
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Oldest Great War (1914-18) Veterans Meet
Henry Allingham was born in England on 6 June 1896 and Robert Meier on 10 March 1897. They fought on opposing sides in the First World War but met for the first time on 29 October last year when they laid a wreath at the Great War memorial in Witten, Germany. These two men, each the oldest person in their respective countries, greeted each other as long-lost brothers. One British reporter noted, ‘For long minutes their hands remained as if welded together’.
More than 65,000,000 soldiers were mobilized in ‘The War to End all Wars’, as the Great War / First World War was described. Conservative estimates put the death toll of soldiers at around 7,300,000 and the number of wounded at more than 27,000,000. Actual figures may be much higher. The vast majority of these were young men in their teens and early 20s. It was also the last major war where civilian casualties were in a minority, though countless ordinary people were displaced.
You can find more details and a photo of the two men laying
a wreath together at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6100524.stm
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The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because philosophy is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.’
–John W. Gardner, US Secretary of Health Education and Welfare 1965-68
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Points of Light
By Thomas Merton
In the old days, on Easter night, the Russian peasants used to carry the blest fire home from church. The light would scatter and travel in all directions through the darkness, and the desolation of the night would be pierced and dispelled as lamps came on in the windows of the farm houses, one by one. Even so the glory of God sleeps everywhere, ready to blaze out unexpectedly in created things. Even so His peace and His order lie hidden in the world, even the world of today, ready to re-establish themselves in His way, in His own good time: but never without the instrumentality of free options made by free men.
The weeks from Easter to Pentecost are weeks of tremendous Christian joy: the joy of knowing that the Lord is risen to everlasting life, and the incredible joy of sharing his resurrection through baptism.
Consider the immense joy of possessing the Eucharist, food from heaven; the joy of living with our minds lifted to the supernatural world; the deep realization that we have divine life and can live supernaturally; and the joy of being witnesses in this world to the Risen Christ.