Greetings to each and everyone of you.
This section for English-speaking viewers –
and all those enjoying the culture –
has developed over the months and is now offering materials of all kinds:
texts, images, poems, videos, etc.
It will continue to provide you with rich contents week after week.
This year from November 11th to the 15th, our Hindu friends, neighbours and colleagues are celebrating the feast of DIWALI, « the festival of lights ». The festival spiritually signifies the victory of good over evil.
Ahead of the feast, people clean and decorate their homes and offices. They light up lamps and candles inside and outside their homes and they take part in family prayers to LAKSHMI, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. A family feast follows with exchange of gifts. (Source Wikipedia)
« In Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery… They seek freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical practices or profound meditation, or a flight to God with love and trust. »
(Vatican ll document on The Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, no.2)
Every year, November 11 sees us ‘remembering’ – remembering the end of this tragedy of a terrible carnage: killing, maiming, destroying. Wearing the red poppy as a symbol of all those who gave their lives, we remember and we say: « NEVER AGAIN! »
And yet . . .
Who would say that PEACE has prevailed in all corners of our world? The daily news broadcast displays every day much violence, fighting, killing, unimaginable suffering of so many innocent people.
As a symbol of our yearning for a world where, at last, people will have learned to live together in peace, many have started wearing a white poppy. May PEACE prevail indeed!
« We chose November 8th, the day that Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered the existence of x-ray in 1895, as a day of action and awareness.
We hope to alert the world to the stunning medical, scientific and even artistic possibilities of medical imaging, the essential role of the radiologist as a part of the healthcare team in countless medical scenarios, and the high educational and professional standards required of all staff working in medical imaging. »
Source: Internet, CAR
On this day, we keep in our prayers all those undergoing radiotherapy and the professionals involved in caring for them.
November… We remember those who have left us, the loved ones departed to… the other shore…
« What is dying? I am standing on the sea shore. A ship sails and spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the ocean. She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her till at last she fades on the horizon, and someone at my side says, ‘She is gone’.
Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all; she is just as large in her masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her and just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination. The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, not in her.
And just at that moment when someone at my side says, ‘She is gone’, there are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up a glad shout, ‘There she comes’, and that is Dying. » Anonymous
A few days ago, the BBC newsletter online had an interesting article about a woman who had become a flight attendant. Ever since she was a young girl this is what she had wanted to be. Asked by her mother what thing in nature she would be if she could, without hesitation she replied: « A cloud because they are always moving and never stay the same. »
Keeping on moving, changing, becoming… ever more what we are meant to be.
LOST TIME
On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time
But it is never lost, my lord.
Thou has taken every moment of my life in thine own hands
Hidden in the heart of things thou art nourishing seeds into sprouts,
buds into blossoms, and ripening flowers into fruitfulness.
I was tired and sleeping on my idle bed
and imagined all work had ceased.
In the morning I woke up
and found my garden full with wonders of flowers.
Rabindranath Tagore
A special time of the year – a time of abundance, of plenty; a privileged period of harvesting all the good things, the happy memories, the fruitful encounters.
Indeed it is good to say: « THANKS BE TO GOD! »