SPARE ME YOUR FAKE PLANTS IN CHURCH - THEY ARE AN INSULT TO GOD

Read this and weep:

² 'Speak to the Israelites; say to them, "When any of you brings an offering to Yahweh, he can offer an animal either from the herd or from the flock.

³ "If his offering is to be a burnt offering from the herd, he must offer an unblemished male; he will offer it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, to make it acceptable to Yahweh.  (Lev. chapter 1, verses 2 and 3, and on and on for four more chapters.)      

I have written about this before: http://365newthoughtsperyear.blogspot.com/2010/12/fake-christmas-trees-yuk.html.  I have since had more thoughts about it and I am convinced that it is time that you should hear it again coming from a deeper part of me and in a slightly different context.
I am of the conviction that what we place in church, before the altar and around the community of the faithful is not "decoration."  It is a part of the sacrifice.  The plants that we offer to the Father who accepts our sacrifices should be the best, without blemish.  We should offer them from the deepest part of our adoring hearts to the Father who offers us His Son on the very altar before which we are placing our humble sacrifice.   I invite you to read the first chapters of Leviticus and appreciate the numerous types of sacrifice that are ennumerated there.  These different sacrifices cover the very same reasons why we pray and why we offer sacrifices.  We do it to atone for our sins, sins of all kinds.  We sacrifice to help others in prayer and in some tangible way.  Offering  flowering plants are a direct sacrifice from us that has repercussions on the community.  They make the environment more prayerful.  We offer sacrifice to thank God for all that He gives us.  For all these and many more reasons to sacrifice, we are bound to give nothing but the best, unblemished creature gifted to us by our Father Himself.   
I therefore present these humble thoughts to you.  Do not let anyone get away with "decorating" the worship space with imitations of God's personal gifts to us.  God's gifts are meant to be offered back to Him in prayer.  After all, we wouldn't want to imitate Cain, now, would we?  
When you read Leviticus you'll notice how often the words "... a smell pleasing to Yahweh" are repeated.   Now that excludes fake stuff.  We should all remember that.

DON'T CRY AT MARY'S FUNERAL, FOR SURE

DON'T ABANDON LIFE,
ENRICH IT!

 Let me greet you all in the Risen Lord.

I have been remiss in my exhortations to you.  It is because I am busy responding to the demands of a company for which I do some time consuming work. That's gainful work  
€ 'n $ and such :-) !  

Then, there's God's work. Stuff like a study of Genesis on Monday night, Acts on Wednesday night and on Tuesday night we have a gathering of those who have strayed and are coming back to the Mother of their youth.  there's more, but I won't bore you.
I have placed this here because it is somewhat related to my feeling that there should be no crying at Catholic funerals, least of all, not at mine.  
Enjoy Mary's poem and especially heed the advice in the lasat two lines.  Those of us who move on, and we all do, do so after spending a life of offering and giving and preparing and hoping.  Do us a favor.  Stash your handkerchief and get to work picking up where we have left off.  God will love you for it.

THE STARS OF THE SKY, THE GRAINS OF THE BEACH SAND

La foi naît de l'appel de Dieu. Personne ne peut prendre le crédit pour la foi  et la conversion.personnelles. Ce n'était pas Abraham qui a pris l'initiative de partir ou d'inventer une nouvelle façon de servir Dieu. Ni Dieu l'a-t-il inviter avec une proposition qu'il pouvait contester avec sa propre opinion. Dieu l'a appelé à l'impératif et c'est de la même manière que les prophètes et les saints glorieuses ont été appelés.
C'est de cette façon que Dieu les a libérés. En conséquence du péché, tous les êtres humains naissent et vivent dans la terre étrangère du péché. La plénitude de notre réalité personnelle n'est pas fondée sur Dieu aussi longtemps que nous ne sommes pas en communion avec Lui. Nos religions et nos idéologies qui sont les produits de notre culture ne nous permettent pas de dépasser les limites d'un monde que nous faisons par et pour nous-mêmes, selon la mesure de nos propres ressources. Afin que nous puissions tirer pleinement conscience de notre appel, il est nécessaire que Dieu nous appelle et que nous acceptions l'invitation à sortir du cercle fatal.

La foi nous met au service de la volonté de Dieu, qui est de sauver l'humanité. Il est possible que pour un moment Dieu nous attire avec une faveur personnelle, mais sous peu, il nous insère dans ses projets à la fin de sauver le monde. Afin de suivre le Christ et faire partie de son peuple élu, il est nécessaire de croire aux promesses que Dieu a faites à son peuple. Dieu nous a prédestinés à être le levain et la lumière du monde.

La foi exige une rupture. Elle nous oblige à regarder de l'avant sans nostalgie de la chaleur et le confort du sein maternel. Les êtres humains se développent en surmontant «crise» après «crise» dans la vie. Ils quittent leur famille, vont travailler, se marient ... La foi nous donne la force de faire face à ces ruptures avec optimisme et nous amène au point où nous pouvons affronter de plus douloureuses. Ce processus nous permet d'entrer plus profondément dans le service de Dieu. La foi est le plus grand moyen par lequel les humains grandissent dans la maturité.

La foi d'Abraham nous enseigne la différence entre l'homme terrestre qui construit sa vie selon les normes de la sagesse humaine et croit qu'il sait où il va, et la personne de la foi qui cherche les signes de Dieu afin de voir où Dieu veut que la voie à suivre doit être. Pour toute une vie, l'homme de foi est un errant, un pèlerin cherchant une justice supérieure, la justice pure et une plus grande perfection que celle qui est le produit de confection purement humaine.

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FAITH –

Faith is born of a call from God.  No one can take the credit for personal faith and conversion.  It was not Abraham who took the initiative to leave or to invent a new way to serve God.  Neither did God invite him with a proposal that he could contest with his own opinion.  God called him in the imperative and this is the same way that the glorious prophets and saints were called.

It is in this way that God freed us.   As a consequence of sin, all humans are born and live in the foreign land of sin.  The fullness of our personal reality is not grounded in God for as long as we are not in communion with Him.  Our religions and our ideologies as products of our culture do not permit us to transcend the limits of a world that we make by and for ourselves according to the measure of our own resources.   In order for us to take full conscience of our call, it is necessary for God to call us and that we accept the invitation to escape the fatal circle.

Faith places us in the service of God’s will which is to save humanity.  It is possible that for a moment God attracts us with a personal favor, but then he inserts us into His specific projects to the end of saving the world.  In order to follow Christ and be a part of His Chosen People, it is necessary to believe in the promises that God made to His people.  God destined us to be the yeast and the light of the world.

Faith requires a breaking away.  It obliges us to look forward without yearning for the warmth and comfort of the womb.  Humans grow by overcoming “crisis” after “crisis” in life.  They leave their family, go to work, get married… Faith gives us the strength to confront these ruptures with optimism and brings us to the point where we can confront more painful ones.  This process allows us to enter more deeply into the service of God.  Faith is the greatest medium through which humans grow into maturity.

The Faith of Abraham teaches us the difference between earthly human who construct their lives according to the standards of human wisdom and believe that they know where they are going, and the person of faith who seeks the signs of god in order to see where God wills the path forward to be.  For an entire life, the person of faith is a wanderer,  a pilgrim seeking higher righteousness, purer justice and greater perfection than that which is the product of purely human confection.

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La fe nace de una llamada de Dios. No se puede tomar el crédito por la fe personal y la conversión. No fue Abraham quien tomó la iniciativa de salir de su tierra o de inventar una nueva manera de servir a Dios. Tampoco Dios lo invitó con una propuesta que podría disputar con su propia opinión. Dios lo llamó en el imperativo y es de la misma manera que los gloriosos profetas y los santos fueron llamados.

Es de esta manera que Dios nos liberó. Como consecuencia del pecado, todos los seres humanos nacen y viven en el país extranjero del pecado. La plenitud de nuestra realidad personal no se basa en Dios por el tiempo que no estamos en comunión con él. Nuestras religiones e ideologías como nuestros productos de nuestra cultura no nos permiten trascender los límites de un mundo que hacemos por y para nosotros mismos de acuerdo a la medida de nuestros propios recursos. Para que podamos tomar conciencia plena de nuestra llamada, es necesario que Dios nos llama y que aceptamos la invitación a salir del círculo fatal.

La fe nos pone al servicio de la voluntad de Dios que ha por fin de salvar a la humanidad. Es posible que por un momento que Dios nos atrae con un favor personal, pero luego nos inserta en sus proyectos específicos a fin de salvar al mundo. Con el fin de seguir a Cristo y ser una parte de su pueblo elegido, es necesario creer en las promesas que Dios hizo a su pueblo. Dios nos predestinó a ser la levadura y la luz del mundo.

La fe requiere una ruptura. Esto nos obliga a mirar hacia adelante sin anhelo de la calidez y el conforte del seno maternal. Los seres humanos crecen mediante la superación de "crisis" después de "crisis" en la vida. Dejan su familia, van a trabajar, se casan ... La fe nos da la fuerza para aguantar estas rupturas con optimismo y nos lleva al punto en que podemos enfrentar las más dolorosas. Este proceso nos permite entrar más profundamente en el servicio de Dios. La fe es el mejor medio a través del cual los seres humanos se convierten en su madurez.

La fe de Abraham nos enseña la diferencia entre los hombres terrenal que construyen sus vidas de acuerdo a los estándares de la sabiduría humana y creen que saben a dónde van, y la persona de fe que busca los signos de Dios con el fin de ver dónde Dios quiere indicar el rumbo a seguir.  Por toda una vida, la persona de fe es un errante, un peregrino que busca mayor justicia, justicia más pura y una mayor perfección de la que es el producto de confección meramente humana.

FAITH, NOT FOR JUST A YEAR, BUT FOR A LIFETIME

Faith is born of a call from God.  No one can take the credit for personal faith and conversion.  It was not Abraham who took the initiative to leave or to invent a new way to serve God.  Neither did God invite him with a proposal that he could contest with his own opinion.  God called him in the imperative and this is the same way that the glorious prophets and saints were called.

It is in this way that God freed them.   As a consequence of sin, all humans are born and live in the foreign land of sin.  The fullness of our personal reality is not grounded in God for as long as we are not in communion with Him.  Our religions and our ideologies as products of our culture do not permit us to transcend the limits of a world that we make by and for ourselves according to the measure of our own resources.   In order for us to take full conscience of our call, it is necessary for God to call us and that we accept the invitation to escape the fatal circle.

Faith places us in the service of God’s will which is to save humanity.  It is possible that for a moment God attracts us with a personal favor, but then he inserts us into His specific projects to the end of saving the world.  In order to follow Christ and be a part of His Chosen People, it is necessary to believe in the promises that God made to His people.  Godz destined us to be the yeast and the light of the world.

Faith requires a breaking away.  It obliges us to look forward without yearning for the warmth and comfort of the womb.  Humans grow by overcoming “crisis” after “crisis” in life.  They leave their family, go to work, get married… Faith gives us the strength to confront these ruptures with optimism and brings us to the point where we can confront more painful ones.  This process allows us to enter more deeply into the service of God.  Faith is the greatest medium through which humans grow into maturity.

The Faith of Abraham teaches us the difference between earthly human who construct their lives according to the standards of human wisdom and believe that they know where they are going, and the person of faith who seeks the signs of god in order to see where God wills the path forward to be.  For an entire life, the person of faith is a wanderer,  a pilgrim seeking higher righteousness, purer justice and greater perfection than that which is the product of purely human confection.

IMMORTALITY

NO CRYING AT MY FUNERAL

IMMORTALIDAD

No se pare en frente de mi tumba llorando ...

Yo no estoy allí.

  Yo no duermo.

Soy mil vientos que soplan.

Yo soy un destello de diamante en la nieve.

Yo soy la luz del sol sobre el grano maduro.

Yo soy la lluvia de otoño suave.

Cuando te despiertas en la mañana, silencioso,

Yo soy la punta rápida

   de las aves tranquilas volando en círculos en un cielo azul.

Yo soy la estrella suave que brilla  por la noche.

No se pare en frente de mi tumba llorando ...

Yo no estoy allí.

Yo no murió.

Yo vivo con el Señor Resucitado

Non stare in piedi alla mia tomba piangendo...                            

Io non sono lì.

Non dormo.

Io sono mille venti che soffiano.

Io sono un luccichio di diamante sulla neve.

Io sono la luce del sole sul grano maturo.

Io sono la dolce pioggia autunnale.

Quando ti svegli al mattino silenzioso,

Io sono la corsa rapida degli uccelli gettandosi in volo

  Tranquillo, girando, girando.

Io sono il splendore della luce morbida

  delle stelle di notte.

Non stare in piedi alla mia tomba piangendo ...

Io non sono lì.

Non sono morto.

Io vivo con il Signore Risorto.

IMMORTALITÉ

Ne reste pas debout par ma tombe en pleures ...

Je ne suis pas là.

Je ne dors pas.

Je suis mille vents qui soufflent.

Je suis un éclat de diamant sur ​​la neige.

Je suis la lumière du soleil sur le grain mûr.

Je suis la pluie douce de l'automne.

Lorsque tu te réveilles dans le silence du matin,

Je suis la ruée rapide  des oiseaux qui s'envolent, puis  tracent des cercles languides au raz des nuées.

Je suis doux et je brille comme une étoile dans la nuit.

Ne reste pas debout par ma tombe en pleures ...

Je ne suis pas là.

Je ne suis pas mort.

Je vis avec le Seigneur Ressuscité.