Thursday, October 9, 2003

Hopefully Pope will Win Nobel Peace Prize



He deserves it for his bold and prophetic stand against war earlier this year.



From Pope, Brazilian president tipped for Nobel Prize -DAWN - International; 27 September, 2003

Wednesday, October 8, 2003

Pope--Every day on earth is a new gift



From Agenzia Giornalistica Italia - News In English:



"A tenacious and indomitable Pope today said that 'every day of our pilgrimage on earth is a new gift,' but ultimately he had to give in to fatigue, which was accumulated in the pilgrimage yesterday to Pompeii. John Paul II appeared in this way to the faithful who had gathered in Saint Peter's today for the general audience. The Pope was forced to skip some passages of the catechises in Italian, which introduces the cycle of the Vespers Liturgy. There was long applause, like an affectionate hug, from the 15,000 people in the piazza during the longer and longer pauses taken by the Pope. "
Shocking!







At first I thought this was some spoof of someone spoofing Arnold's groping...but it is his in-laws.



They say the best way to know what your wife will look like when she is older is to take a look at her mother. I think its the full head of blonde hair that makes it hard to look at her for too long. Reminds me of the old morality posters.
Arafat Suffers Heart Attack



Also has Parkinson's???



From Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Arafat has suffered heart attack, admits aide:



"Yasser Arafat has suffered a mild heart attack but the Palestinian leadership has sought to keep his health problems secret for fear it will 'create panic'.



The 74-year-old Palestinian president, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease, disappeared from public view last week and re-emerged at the weekend looking extremely ill. His face was pale and pinched, he had lost weight and he was almost inaudible. He had trouble standing for more than a few minutes at a time. "
Thoughts from the Great Father Schmemann



While flying down to South Carolina last week, I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the diary of Father Alexander Schmemann--who I think is probably the greatest spiritual writer in the last century. One of his entries gave me a lot to think about. Let me paraphrase his thought and add to it a bit.



God created everything that is as good. The devil introduced a problem and posed this to Adam and Eve. "Did God really say..?" Evil is seeing the goodness of God as a "problem." Jesus redeems creation by reintroducing the intention of God over and against the "problems" posed by evil. Therefore when Jesus encounters the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he terms them as foolish when they interpret the events of Good Friday as unnecessary and not what they had "hoped" for. He tells them that these events were necessary and part of God's plan for good--the salvation of many!



How do you and I see the events and the people of our daily life? Do we perceive the goodness of God or is everyone around a "problem"?



Soon to be "Blessed" Mother Teresa was known to encounter the poor as "Christ" and not as a bum or "problem". Social Workers often had a problem with her because of her disinterest in doing anything to aleviate "problems". Once when she was to speak at a world conference to end hunger, she found a man begging for food at the entrance of the auditorium and took him and fed him--never speaking that day. The people attending the conference weren't really interested in ending the hunger of the man they had all passed, she was.



Tied into this perceiving the good in all, through the eyes of Christ, is Christian joy. True followers of Christ our joyful, they are not downcast bemoaning what could have been--they believe that victory is ultimately there and they pray that God's will be done in all things and they believe that it will be done on earth as it is in heaven. They see the events of their lives as not accidential occurences but meaningful events that are moving them often inspite of themselves and their sins to where God wants them to be.



I told a friend of mine, a bishop, that the sign of the healthiness of a religious community, movement, or individual priest in his diocese was the level of "joy" that they exhibit in their lives.



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Tuesday, October 7, 2003

Speaking of Prophets...in this case Prophetess





Amy in the midst of the Bucs/Colts game last night announced when the Colts were trailing 21-0 that the Colts would win the game. Final score in overtime...(with a lot of help from the referees, I might add) 38-35...Colts!



I'm of the firm belief that people that are highly intuitive have this gift of foresight that is especially powerful when they are not all that conscious of it. In other words they just blurt it out without a lot of censoring.