hello

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.

 

31st Sunday of Year B

When the word ‘commandment’ is mentioned Christian people spontaneously think of the 10 commandments.
They are part of our Christian heritage and model – or should model – our day to day living.
Of course, we have inherited them from our Jewish ancestors for whom they were the basis of their Covenant with God.

But for them, there was another commandment, just as exacting, strictly as binding.
They were repeating the text daily – the very text which we find in the 1st reading of this Sunday
(31st Sunday of Year B – Dt.6:2-6).
That commandment was expressed in a single word: LISTEN !
 
In our modern world, listening has multiple ‘over-tones’, could we say.
Taking into oneself sounds and voices, shouts and cries, rap or more traditional music –
all this is part of the listening activity.
What about listening to… silence?!
Some year ago, famous lyrics invited us to do so…

And are we ‘at-tuned’ to God’s voice?
Can we even use this expression of a God-Spirit whose voice is not encompassed in decibels?
The biblical message is repeated to us again and again:

“Listen…
Let these words I urge on you today be written on your heart…”
 
So, God’s words are meant to reach more than our ears but especially our hearts.
And what is the message our heart is meant to “keep and observe”?
“You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.”
 
“Listen, keep and observe” – today’s message, message for every day…

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at:  https://image-i-nations.com/31e-dimanche-de-lannee-b/

Source: Image: RF123.com
 

30th Sunday of Year B

Let us imagine for a moment that someone would tell you: “God is calling you.”
What would your reaction be?
Many people would possibly think: “What does God want from me?”
But should the question not rather be: “What does God want FOR me?”

This thought came to me as I read the gospel of this Sunday 
(30th Sunday of Year B – Mk.10:46-52).
This text presents us with the scene of the blind man of Jericho named Bartimaeus. 
Hearing from the crowd that Jesus is coming, he shouts asking Jesus to have pity on him.

Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him here’.
So they called the blind man.
‘Courage,’ they said ‘get up; he is calling you’.”
 
Many of us often suppose that God wants something from us –
prayers, good deeds, sacrifices, offerings of different kinds.
How many of us, thinking of God’s call, would immediately conclude:
’God wants to give me something!’

Yet, this is the deep meaning of God calling us:
he wants to provide us with his gifts.
He wants to shower on us blessings of all kinds.
We often speak of God’s ‘grace’ forgetting that he is a ‘gracious’ God –
a God so generous that we have never finished discovering all the wonders he has worked for us!

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at:  https://image-i-nations.com/30e-dimanche-de-lannee-b/

Source : Images : mdevega.blogspot.com   youtube.com

World Polio Day – 24 October

World Polio Day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis. Use of this inactivated polio virus vaccine and subsequent widespread use of the oral polio virus, developed by Albert Sabin, led to the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988. As of 2013, GPEI had reduced polio worldwide by 99%.

Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines. Polio can be prevented through immunization. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, almost always protects a child for life. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free.

Source: Text: WHO  Image: Actu.fr

 

 

29th Sunday of Year B

There are some Scripture texts which are… easy and comforting to hear, or to read.
There are others which are difficult to… accept because they are quite demanding to put into practice.
There are others still which are difficult to BELIEVE because it seems that… they are just too wonderful!

The 2nd reading of this Sunday (29th Sunday of Year B – He.4:14-16) belongs to this last category.
The author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us:

“It is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us;
But we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin.”
 
Is it not e x t r a ordinary to have, yes to have, such a God “feeling our weaknesses with us.”
A God who is so… human!

He has been tired and thirsty.
He has known the pain of betrayal by a friend.
He has tasted the bitterness of rejection by his own people.
He has experienced the failure of having his followers move away from him.
He has anticipated with anxiety what was to happen to him.
He has felt the terrible suffering of being savagely beaten and crucified.

When we feel rejected and abandoned…
When we experience loneliness and are misunderstood…
When suffering seems unbearable and anxiety overwhelming…

Then… the moment has come to repeat, or simply hear in the depth of ourselves:
‘He has known what it is’, and to surrender to him
the pain, the evil, the wickedness even, that we are struggling with…

Surrender to him… our selves.
Nothing is as powerful to calm our anxiety and restore serenity.

Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/29e-dimanche-de-lannee-b/

Source: Image: youtube.com

World Food Day – 16 October

 World Food Day is annually held on October 16 to commemorate the founding of the United Nations’ (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Each year has a different theme.

The FAO aims to raise levels of nutrition across the globe, improve agricultural productivity at all levels, enhance the lives of rural populations and contribute to the growth of the world economy. It also provides assistance to countries changing their agricultural policy, to aid regions out of famine situations, to help implement appropriate technology and facilitate a neutral environment to discuss issues around food production.

At the FAO’s 20th session in Rome, Italy, in November 1979 the conference called for the observance of World Food Day on October 16, 1981, and on the same date each year. The UN General Assembly ratified this decision on December 5, 1980, and urged governments and international, national and local organizations to contribute to observing World Food Day. World Food Day has been held each year since 1981.

Source: Text: www.timeandate.com Image: Inside News

28th Sunday of Year B

We are used to hearing about and speaking of the TWELVE apostles of Jesus.
But was it not possible that the group could have counted… thirteen apostles, or even fifteen?

There is a text in Luke’s gospel (Lk.9:59-61) where we see Jesus calling some people who are not ready to follow him.
And today’s gospel text (28th Sunday of Year B – Mk.10:17-22) shows us another scene where, again, Jesus invites a young man to follow him but… this call is not answered.

The young man wanted a better life, a life closer to God and more faithful to him.
But his existence was already filled with too many things, with too many of the rewards that wealth can provide.
He was not ready to part with all his riches…
We are told: “He went away sad.”

The sadness of holding on to what should be given up…
The regret of not being able to let go…
The heaviness of heart that is clinging to what should be abandoned…
The sorrow of being attached to what causes slavery…
The misery of being possessed by one’s possessions…

A bitter taste: that of delusion, thinking that one is what one has…
A person has become what he/she owns when so much more is offered…

May we overcome such a temptation and be spared such a fate.

Note: another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/28e-dimanche-de-lannee-b/

Source : Image : lds.org

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day – 12 October

The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance is pleased to announce the theme for World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2018: Palliative Care – Because I Matter.

This theme was selected following an open consultation with people directly affected by serious illness, WHPCA members and supporters, and global hospice and palliative care advocates.

We chose ‘Because I Matter’ as this year’s theme, because it centres on the lived experience of people affected by serious illness, looking at what matters most, including the often-overlooked financial impact of palliative care needs on individuals and households. The theme also contains elements of human rights and justice, asking: If I matter, then why am I not getting the care I need?

This year is the centenary of Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the modern hospice movement. So it is fitting that this year’s World Hospice and Palliative Care Day theme draws its wording from her iconic quote: ‘You matter because you are you and you matter until the end of your life’.

Source: Text: www.whpca.org Image: Marty’s Pharmacy and Compounding Center

 

World Sight Day – 11 October

World Sight Day (WSD) is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. World Sight Day 2018 is on 11 October 2018.

2018 is the sixth year of the WHO Global Action Plan and IAPB encourages our members and partners to continue with our rolling theme:

Universal Eye Health

This year, the ‘Call to Action‘ for World Sight Day is: Eye Care Everywhere.

  • 1.2 Billion people need #glasses to see better.
  • More than 75% of visual impairment is avoidable.
Source: Text & Image: IABP

World Day for Decent Work – 7 October

Workers from around the world will be holding activities to mark the 11th World Day for Decent Work on 7 October.

This year’s global theme, “Change the Rules”, highlights the deeply entrenched injustice of the global economic system alongside shrinking democratic space and deteriorating labour rights in many countries, documented in the ITUC Global Rights Index.

“The rules are stacked against working people, and that is why we have unprecedented and destructive levels of economic inequality and insecurity while a small number of global conglomerates like Amazon amass incalculable riches for a very few. There is enough wealth in the world to meet the challenges of our time – creating decent work for all, ensuring universal social protection, tackling climate change and all the other things that need to be done to ensure that people can live in dignity on a sustainable planet. But the rules need to change. And to achieve that, we need to build workers’ power. The World Day for Decent Work is an important milestone on the way to the ITUC World Congress in Copenhagen in December, where we will finalise an ambitious and comprehensive trade union agenda for change and economic renewal,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

“Since the inaugural World Day for Decent Work in 2008, tens of millions of people have taken part in activities in more than 100 countries to celebrate the achievements of trade unions, to pay homage to those who have sacrificed so much on the front lines of struggles for democratic rights and freedoms, and to advance the cause of social and economic progress which benefits all instead of the privileged elite. This year again, unions and other progressive movements will mobilise around 7 October to show our determination to reclaim democratic space and overhaul the rules of the global economy through organising, campaigning and advocating for a better world.”

With the presidential election in Brazil taking place on 7 October, unions will be stepping up the demand for former President Lula to be released from prison. Lula was unjustly sentenced to a 12-year prison sentence and, while he was by far the most popular candidate, prevented from standing in the election.                                                                                                                                                                 

Source: Text: www.ituc-csi.org Image: giortazei.græ

27th Sunday of Year B

The son of a king, or the daughter of the President of a country, do not hesitate to speak of their parents and their siblings.
They speak with pride of their family and (usually) they are not ashamed to mention their origin.

Strangely enough, to this day, I have never heard anyone boast – rightly so! – that he/she, is the son, or the daughter, of… God!
A smile must appear on your faces, you who are reading this text…
Has this thought never come to your mind? – for this is what we are as Christians!

This reflection came to me as I read the 2nd reading of this Sunday (27th Sunday of Year B – He.2:9-11).
Speaking of Christ, the text says:
“He openly calls them (men and women = us) brothers.
 
Another translation speaks in stronger words with the affirmation:
“Jesus is not ashamed of calling them brothers.”
 
If he recognizes us as his own siblings, why do we not do the same?…
The thought for this day………

Note: Another reflections is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/27e-dimanche-de-lannee-b/

Source : Image : sotdaz.org