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I got these quotes from
Jim Caviezel's video (below). I think they should form part of my identity kit ... at least, I hope they will, one day.
I hardly know how to put it in words ... just ... you have to watch this video, you must watch this video. It is not the testimony of some religious fanatic but of a Hollywood star! Please find the time. |
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-----------------------------------LENT 2014
Dear brothers and sisters,
We are just in the middle of our Lenten journey which will lead us to the great joy of the Easter of our Lord Jesus Christ. During the past three Sundays, we have heard and meditated upon what was proposed to us in the Gospels:
The Temptations,
The Transfiguration, and
The Samaritan Woman at the Well.
These are three passages in the Gospels that provide a strong invitation to conversion:
Resisting the many temptations that arise daily and which we find difficult to resist;
Being transformed into new people, invited by Jesus to descend from Mount Tabor and to immerse ourselves in everyday life to rebuild, with our hands and with the witness of our lives, his Church and the world in which we live, by engaging ourselves with courage and in a concrete way to repair what is "broken" around us.
Asking Jesus, as the Samaritan woman did at Sychar, for the Living Water that the Lord offers, since He is "a spring of water welling up to eternal life".
During this Lenten season, we must make an effort to restore the rhythm and the style of who we are: true believers and true Franciscans who commit themselves to live as the children of God.
The theme chosen by Pope Francis for this Lenten Season is: “... though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Cor 8,9). And, in his Lenten message, the Pope continues by stating: "The Apostle was writing to the Christians of Corinth to encourage them to be generous in helping the faithful in Jerusalem who were in need. What do these words of Saint Paul mean for us Christians today? What does this invitation to poverty, a life of evangelical poverty, mean for us today?”
Brothers and sisters, what does this invitation to poverty, in the evangelical sense, mean for us, Secular Franciscans, youth and adults?
Today, we live in a time of distressing poverty, violence and war. How can we become transformed in order to have "a heartfelt compassion” (Col 3,12) ?
I strongly invite you to think about, to pray for, and to be close to those brothers and sisters of the OFS
Who can only eat once every two days and are absolutely without everything but the joy that comes from their faith and their hope;
Who, because of lack of means, are forced to have their children abandon their schooling;
Who do not have a place to live, as happens in Haiti and in the Philippines, where hundreds of thousands of people still live the consequences of the earthquake and of the cyclone;
Who are suffering from violence and from war, as in Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and in many other countries;
Who are killed, as were the 25 Secular Franciscans of the Central Africa Republic, all belonging to the same fraternity ...
Can you help?
My dear brothers, what will give us true freedom, true happiness and true salvation is a love full of compassion and tenderness, that is shared with generosity and with a spirit of doing without - not only without that which is part of our excess but also without that which is part of our essential – so as to alleviate some of the injustices that are suffered by so many of God’s children. We are confident that you will offer the fruit of your Lenten sacrifices to your National Councils so that they can send your contributions to CIOFS who will in turn offer these fruits of conversion to all those brothers and sisters of the OFS and YouFra who are in need. I think that, with this spirit of conversion and penance, of transformation of individuals and fraternities, we will be able to arrive at Easter in a way that is both serene and joyful, and which bears witness to those around us of the joy of having found the source of living water that quenches us eternally.
On behalf of all the brothers and sisters of the CIOFS Presidency, I greet you with great confidence and fraternal love, and I wish you a Happy Easter of Resurrection.
Your sister and minister,
Encarnación del Pozo
Minister General OFS
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RiflessjoniIR-RANDAN
 Ir-Randan huwa żmien ta' riflessjoni, żmien li nagħtu aktar spazju għal Alla fil-ħajja tagħna. Dan huwa żmien li fih nagħrfu jekk aħniex ngħixu sew jew le. Dan huwa żmien li fih inħallu d-dawl ta' l-Ispirtu ta' Alla jdawwal ir-riflessjoni tagħna. Dan huwa żmien li ngħidu mas-Salmista :
"Ikollok ħniena minni O Alla fi tjubitek,
fil-kobor tal-ħniena tiegħek ħassar ħtijieti."
Għax huwa Alla li jrid ikollu ħniena minna u jaccetta t-talba umli tagħna ta' ndiema. Il-mixja matul dan ir-Randan trid tkun mixja fit-talb, fis-sawm u fl-ubbidjenza ta' dak kollu li l-Mulej Alla sa jħejji għalina. Imma hemm bżonn li niftħu għajnejna, qlubna u ħajjitna. Dan iż-żmien hu deciżiv għall-ħajjitna, għax fih irridu nagħrfu t-triq li jridna ngħaddu minnha Alla. Jekk hemm bżonn, indawru r-rotta ta' ħajjitna lejha. Dan irid ikun żmien ta' konverżjoni, ta' tiġdid, imma fuq kollox irridu nagħrfu f'liema stat tinsab ir-relazzjoni tagħna ma' Alla. Għalhekk, dan huwa mument ta' grazzja kbira, għax il-Mulej sa jkollu ħniena minna. Hu sa jħassar il-ħtijiet kollha tagħna.
Mela ejjew "incarrtu qlubna, mhux ilbiesna, u nagħmlu ħbieb ma' Alla." F'dawn l-erbgħin jum irridu nuru x'insarrfu tassew fit-Talb, fis-Sawm u fil-Karita', għax dawn huma t-tlett armi li bihom irridu nikkumbattu l-ħażen li niltaqgħu miegħu. Jekk ma nkunux b'saħħitna spiritwalment, incedu ma' kull tentazzjoni li jkollna. Mela ejjew ħbieb, nimpenjaw ruhna bis-serjeta' biex f'dan ir-Randan kull meta jersaq ix-xitan lejna, inkunu nistgħu niġġieldulhu u nagħmlu kif għamel Ġesu', nirbħu żgur.
Godwin Vella Clark
Ministru Nazzjonali
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