Archive | March, 2013

Put yourself in their shoes. Look at the world through their eyes.

22 Mar

Obama israeli flag

from U.S. President Barack’s Obama speech to Israeli university students in Jerusalem on Thursday, March 21, 2013

– on script –

But the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, their right to justice must also be recognized. (Cheers, applause.) And put yourself in their shoes. Look at the world through their eyes.

It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of their own (Cheers, applause) living their entire lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements, not just of those young people but their parents, their grandparents, every single day. It’s not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished. (Applause.) It’s not right to prevent Palestinians from farming their lands or restricting a student’s ability to move around the West Bank (Applause) or displace Palestinian families from their homes. Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer. (Cheers, applause.) Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land. (Applause.)

– off script –

But I — I’m going off script here for a second, but before I — before I came here, I — I met with a — a group of young Palestinians from the age of 15 to 22. And talking to them, they weren’t that different from my daughters. They weren’t that different from your daughters or sons.

I honestly believe that if — if any Israeli parent sat down with those kids, they’d say, I want these kids to succeed. (Applause.) I want them to prosper. I want them to have opportunities just like my kids do. (Applause.) I believe that’s what Israeli parents would want for these kids if they had a chance to listen to them and talk to them. (Cheers, applause.) I believe that. (Cheers, applause.)

Obama Palestinian flag

There is a video clip of this sction of the President’s speech at the CBS new website. 

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respectfully, Mr. President

21 Mar

obama israel visit 2013 statement

Below is the letter from the Justice and Peace Commission of the Assembly Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land to the US President Obama for his first visit in Israel, West Bank and Jordan. Barack Obama arrived in Israel on Wednesday, his first visit as US president. He will visit Bethlehem tomorrow, Friday, March 22, 2013.

The President of the United States

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
USA

Dear Mr. President,

We, the heads of the Catholic/Christian Churches in Jerusalem, welcome you wholeheartedly on your forthcoming visit to Israel and Palestine. On this occasion we would like to draw your attention to some major problems that deeply affect the Christian presence in these countries.

In this year, the Palestinian people are living for 46 years under Israeli military occupation. The plight of the Palestinian Christians is the same as that of the Palestinian People as a whole, and as a consequence everything that affects the Palestinian people also affects the Christians.

In the occupied Palestinian territories, among the numerous violations of international law by the Israeli authorities we mention only a few: illegal Israeli settlements, a permit regime which restricts severely access to the Holy places for Muslims and Christians alike, expropriation of privately owned Palestinian land for settlement expansion and the construction of the separation barrier (like in the present case of the valley Cremisan), etc.

Statelessness, endless family unification procedures and the rejection of the registration of children as well as the limited possibilities to expand due to few granted building permits in East Jerusalem violate basic human rights of the Palestinians and force them into displacement, migration and exile.

The majority of the local Christian population being part of the Arab population in Israel, they are as such subjected to an ongoing, hidden policy of discrimination and are treated as second class citizens in the fields of education, job opportunities, property ownership, local municipal services, etc.

Though the Christian Palestinian presence plays an important role in this Holy Land: it gives a large contribution in the fields of education, healthcare and social services, their absence will have catastrophic consequences especially with the rise of the fundamentalists on both sides. Thus every effort should be made to preserve the Christian presence in the Holy Land, and to have it flourish in the future so that hope is not lost. The oppressive and discriminatory policies by the Israeli government constitute a violation of the protection of a religious minority which is specifically underlined by international law.

We urge you, in your position as President of the United States of America, to require from the State of Israel to respect international law and to stop all illegal policies targeting the Palestinian population of the Holy Land; this would be the best way of contributing to preserve and protect the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

Most Respectfully,

Justice and Peace Commission, Assembly Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land

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As previously posted, I sent an email to President Obama and signed an online petition against the building of the Wall in the Cremisan Valley.

 

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And I said, “Maybe not!”

21 Mar

Pope Francis seems to like a good laugh and seems to like getting other people to laugh.

Don’t you wonder what they were really saying to each other?

You’re good! Real good!

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in Arabic at the “Beginning of the Petrine Ministry” Mass

20 Mar

Pope Francis x 30 Arabic prayer

Let us pray for government leaders.

May almighty God, by his wisdom, enlighten their minds and lead them to help build the civilization of love.

We pray to the Lord.

Lord, hear our prayer.

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Francis the Humble

19 Mar

Pope Francis x 21

When we journey without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord, we are worldly: we may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord.

Be merciful to souls who come to you. They need you. Mercy, mercy, mercy.

Let us never yield to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day; let us not yield to pessimism or discouragement: let us be quite certain that the Holy Spirit bestows upon the Church, with his powerful breath, the courage to persevere and also to seek new methods of evangelization, so as to bring to Gospel to the uttermost ends of the earth.

At your disposal you have the means to hear and to give voice to people’s expectations and demands, and to provide for an analysis and interpretation of current events. Your work calls for careful preparation, sensitivity and experience, like so many other professions, but it also demands a particular concern for what is true, good and beautiful. This is something which we have in common, since the Church exists to communicate precisely this: Truth, Goodness and Beauty “in person.” It should be apparent that all of us are called not to communicate ourselves, but this existential triad made up of truth, beauty and goodness.

We ask for the grace of never tiring of asking pardon, for He never tires of pardoning.

Let us not forget this word: God never tires of forgiving us, but we sometimes tire of asking Him to forgive us. Let us never tire of asking.

We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness! Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!

Pope Francis x 29 holy card

In order: to the Cardinals Electors; to the Confessors in St. Mary Major Basilica; to the College of Cardinals; to 5,000 journalists and media; to the parishioners of the parish of St. Anna in the Vatican; to the crowds at the Angelus; at the Mass for the Beginning of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome

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like a parish priest – his first Sunday

18 Mar

Pope Francis x 27 blessing kid and nun

What I really like about Pope Francis is that he reminds me of a parish priest. He loves being with the people, the real people.

On his first Sunday as Pope he celebrated Mass at St. Anne, the local parish church.

His first Sunday Mass was not celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica, but in the tiny parish church of residents and workers of Vatican City.

During the Mass he spoke warmly and simply of God’s mercy, “We ask for the grace of never tiring of asking pardon, for He never tires of pardoning.”

After Mass he was outisde the church, greeting everyone who had been at Mass – just like a parish priest!

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only at St. Andrew

17 Mar

Pope Francis x 28 holy card

The Holy Spirit and the Cardinals cooperated divinely. 

As my mother would have said, “Pope Francis is just what the doctor ordered.” Or more appropriately in this case, “He is just what the Divine Physician ordered for his Church.”

We passed out home-designed and commissioned prayer cards.

As we imagined Pope Francis with his head bowed, after requesting that we pray for him, we prayed, “Lord, make Pope Francis an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let him sow love … for it is giving that he receives; it is pardoning that he is pardoned; and it is dying that he is born to eternal life. Amen.”

The prayer cards were a hit! From our little church 1,400 prayer cards went out – for continued prayer and for gifting to others.

Pope Francis x 26 english tweet

1 Tweet

Following 8

1,991,949 Followers

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poor and for the poor

16 Mar

How I would like a church that is poor and for the poor.

Francis of Assisi is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and guards creation.

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first, I ask you this favor

15 Mar

And now I’ll give you my blessing…

but first – first, I ask you this favor:

before the bishop blesses his people,

I ask that you pray to the Lord that he might bless me:

the prayer of the people, seeking God’s blessing for their bishop.

In silence, please pray over me….

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So, what do you think about Pope Francis?

15 Mar

Pope Francis waving

How did you react when you heard the announcement? What did you think when you first saw him or heard him or read about him? What do you like about him? Do you think he will be a good Pope?

Please join in the conversation. Click “Leave a Comment” below. Write your thoughts, feelings, reactions. Read what others write.

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