I am sure it is SPRING wherever YOU are... The world rises up and celebrates the blessings that the Earth provides us...
For three days I am attempting to post something on the blog... But I am being interrupted... Hopefully I will be able to have this completed to day...
One of the emails included the line; "I hope next Easter we will celebrate world peace...!"
Wouldn't that be wonderful...?
But, please do not hold your breath... Humans are still greedy and run after profit... Humans are narcissistic essentially...
So do not hold your breath... but please to not hesitate to work for world peace...
I am listening to Holy Mass and spiritual chants right now... and all is peaceful inside and around me... and I am thinking about the more than 60 million displaced people who have a tent... piece of canvas on their head... and trying to survive... I am thinking of the millions of women who are walking miles to bring water to their families... and I am thinking of the men who are at war and are killing other human beings...
But... thinking does not help anyone... action counts...
I hope men will stop the killing and we will have globalized PEACE...
They say; "May PEACE be with you...," I hope they mean it too... I hope they work for it too...
Easter for PEACE and HARMONY...
Indeed, may peace and Salam and Shalom... be with you...
***
While I was working on the blog... I received an email... a friend wrote couple
of lines... and it took me few years back... I remembered Ross,
the chaplain at my school chatting with me... Ross knew my friend too...
He was our colleague... we had dined and drank with
him... many times... But he always was shy and introvert... and very peaceful... So people, women too, took advantage of him...
My
friend wrote...
| Hi... Happy Easter. Sorry, I am in some tricky time in my life. I read your blog. I am enjoying it. Great reflections and Ross. How we miss HIM! |
Ross
told me once that we can simplify our lives or if we want we can
complicate them too... The "tricky times..." in our lives
are created by us... and the solution of the trick lies deep inside
us... If we want we can solve it... and if we want we can prolong the
agony as long as we desire... All is within our reach and we
determine the path ahead...
It is Easter and I hope my friend finds peace of mind and determines to solve his "tricky" situation... I know that he is smart enough to be able to cut the Godian Knot... I hope he will be willing to use his wisdom as his sword and cut all the knots drowning him in "tricky" trips of mind...
It is Easter and I hope my friend finds peace of mind and determines to solve his "tricky" situation... I know that he is smart enough to be able to cut the Godian Knot... I hope he will be willing to use his wisdom as his sword and cut all the knots drowning him in "tricky" trips of mind...
Alexander the Great attempted to untie the Gordian Knot... He could not... So he drew his sword and cut it ...
I hope my friend does the same too...
***
And the Holy Week...
60 million people are refugees or internally displaced... in the world... and statistics indicates that we are witnessing the largest globalized, world-wide forced displacement since World War II...
The factors which are primarily contributing to the migration... are the same... They never changed... since the times of Jesus and Mohammad and the ancient Gods of Greece and Rome and Egypt...
Wars and internal conflicts and persecution... also policies adopted by governments such as forces conscription... lack of health care... and jobs and education... also natural forces like droughts and unchecked exploitation of natural resources and contamination of rivers and lakes ... in general, the down grading... degradation of the environment...
The Middle East, the Horn of Africa (Somalia and Eritrea...) and Central Asia... are the main contributors to people's migration... But unlike the myth... most of the displaced people remain in or near their home counties... hoping against hope that they will return to their homes soon enough and cook and be happy... again... These people are satisfied with their very meager belongings and they live a simple life... ONLY if the rich and powerful of the world live them ALONE...
The 60 million displaced people is our collective shame...
The Global Village must be able to stop the agony of forced migration... otherwise we will long for another Alexander the Great... cutting the Gordian Knot... by unconventional ways...
***
Ross was a very spiritual person... It did not matter at all where he was expressing his spiritually... and later in his life he had began to visit various downtown churches... He wanted to be close to the educated people near the university where one could talk uninhibited and discuss the "tricky" knots which were grinding ones existence and bothering his being... For him it did not matter which denomination the church belonged to... Ross was not sectarian... and, he did not appreciate the dogmatic rule of the Organized Church... He did not shy away from critiquing the dogmas and accepted traditions... That's why some did not like him and others did not tolerate him...
He always challenged the dogma and the ossified traditions of the churches... whenever they did not make sense to him... and he walked away... so as not to paddle and waddle in the mud...
Ross would have loved Pope's Maundy Thursday pilgrimage to the prison... He would have followed Pope's example the year after... at Easter...
Ross loved to rebel against the dogmas... which imprisoned the soul and the mind... which essentially lacked any human logic...
Ross loved to rebel against the dogmas... which imprisoned the soul and the mind... which essentially lacked any human logic...
In
a brief, unscripted homily, the Pope told the young inmates that
everyone, including him, had to be in the service of others.
“It
is the example of the Lord. He was the most important but he washed
the feet of others. The most important must be at the service of
others,” he said.
The
Pope visited a prison in Rome
and knelt down in front of 12 inmates... six men and six women, to
wash, dry and kiss their feet...
| 12 refugees participated in the ritual, including three Eritrean Coptic Christian migrants, four Catholics from Nigeria, three Muslims from Mali, Syria and Pakistan, and a Hindu man from India. As is reported, several of the migrants then wept as Pope Francis knelt before them, poured holy water from a brass pitcher over their feet, wiped them clean and kissed them... |
The Pope's Message...
***
I do not particularly appreciate Organized Religion...But also, I am not blind to good deeds by people...
On Maundy Thursday the Pope shattered few of the dogmatic traditions of the Church... and I am very happy for it...
On Maundy Thursday the Pope shattered few of the dogmatic traditions of the Church... and I am very happy for it...
The Pope broke new ground and cracked more the glass ceiling of bigotry and ignorance... By washing the feet of Muslims and Hindus and Copts and Evangelicals... he demonstrated much more than just humility... He embraced the down trodden and preached inclusion of ALL... despite their faith and race and gender...
The Church cannot be ONLY for some privileged men... in riches and glitter... The Church, like governments, belongs to the people and the Pope has lit the candle to show the way...
The Pope is attempting to make Organized religion more relevant and also more humane...
The "Traditionalists" by criticizing his attempts are upholding the ossification of religion and transforming Christianity into a dogma which excludes the people and upholds the privileges of the few.
Muslim-Jihadists are bombing and maiming... but they are not showing the way out of the current Global turmoil... Maybe the humility of the Pope... Maybe embracing the downtrodden and his inclusive gestures will enlighten ALL "Traditionalists" and open up the Church for all...
***
Another
friend wrote... "It was snow day... things froze everywhere
and the school day was cancelled... but I went to nthe
school anyway..."
My friend concluded
his email... "Immigrants have come here to work..."
I thought about his sentiment... Ross would have loved it...
..................
..................
Some Syrian refugees are training in Germany for the Olympics... They hope they will be selected to participate in the Olympics...
"In the water," she says, "there is no difference if you are a refugee or a Syrian or German."
Yusra Mardini, 17, was one of the million-plus refugees who headed for Europe last year, fleeing her native Syria in a boat stuffed with about 20 others... When the engine died and the vessel started taking on water, she and her sister jumped overboard. Together they swam and pushed the boat for three and a half hours until it reached Lesbos in Greece... safely. Now Mardini, who found refuge in Germany, is among 43 migrant athletes looking to compete in the Rio Olympics this summer. I hope she will succeed... I hope the Easter lilies usher in PEACE...
***
It is Easter... and the Peace of Humanity maybe with you...
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