Recherche

image-i-nations trésor

death

All Souls’ Day – 2nd November

1 novembre 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: achievement, afraid, death, eventuality, faithful, happy, Italian painter Raphael, Jesus' words, masterpiece, Mt.24:46, new life, painting, shore, transfiguration

November 2nd returns every year, of course.
And every year, too, it brings back to our minds the recollection that, one day,… we will leave this abode of ours.
We will cross to… the other shore and start, yes, a new life.

Some are much afraid of this happening.
Some say they don’t care.
Others do their best not to think of the eventuality.

Yet… the eventuality, nay the reality of this happening, will not go away.
How will we live this experience of… passage, of transformation?

It is said that the Italian artist Raphael’s last word was simply: “Happy”.
The very word of yesterday’s gospel message as we celebrated the Feast of all Saints.

It is reported that, as he was dying of fever (malaria) and exhaustion, Raphael kept working at the face of Christ in his painting of The Transfiguration.
A fitting way of being faithful to Jesus words:
“Blessed is that servant whose master returns and finds him doing his work” (Mt.24:46).

Will we deserve this blessing ourselves?
Our occupation need not be a work of art or an exceptional achievement.
The only ‘masterpiece’ that the Lord expects from each one of us is faithfulness in using to the full the talents he has given to us – only this but… all of this!

Note: Another reflection on a different theme is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/commemoration-fideles-defunts-2-novembre-annee-a/

 Source: Images: Pinterest   Wikipedia
 

 

 

 

International Overdose Awareness Day – 31 August

31 août 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Uncategorized
Mots-clés: Australia, awareness, crimes, death, drugs, overdose, Penington Institute, substance abuse, symptoms

International Overdose Awareness Day is a global campaign that works towards preventing overdose, reducing the stigma associated with it, and providing support to families and loved ones of overdose victims. The unofficial awareness day is observed every year on August 31.

The day was established in 2001 by Australians Sally J. Finn and Peter Streker as a way to commemorate those who have lost their lives to overdose, and to support the loved ones whose lives have been affected by drug abuse.

Since 2012, the responsibility of organizing International Overdose Awareness Day has been taken over by the Penington Institute, an Australian non-profit health organization. Despite its Australian roots, the day is now observed all over the world.

Recognizing Symptoms of Overdose

Medical professionals define overdose as the accidental or intentional use of a drug or a substance such as alcohol or a narcotic beyond the recommended dosage. An overdose can have serious consequences, with effects ranging from mild disorientation to seizures, brain injury, and death.

Part of International Overdose Awareness Day’s agenda is to spread information about how to detect signs of substance abuse and overdose, and what to do when encountering a person who may be having an adverse reaction to a drug. Disorientation, agitation, difficulty in breathing, and vomiting can be signs of overdose and should not be ignored.

A Global Problem

Overdose is an increasing global problem. A 2014 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that about 183,000 people succumb to overdose around the world every year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an American public health organization, drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States.

A vast majority of overdose deaths occur due to opioid abuse. Opioids are a class of drugs that reduce the intensity of pain by interacting with proteins called opioids found in the human brain, spinal cord, and other organs. Opiates include illegal substances like heroin, as well as legally prescribed medication such as oxycodone, codeine, and morphine.

Serious Consequences

Overdose is not the only consequence of drug dependence. In many parts of the world, the shared use of needles and drug injecting equipment can make users vulnerable to hepatitis C and HIV. According to UNODC, an estimated 13% of all drug users globally live with HIV.

Drug trafficking and drug-related illnesses and crimes can also negatively affect families and communities. One of the main purposes of International Overdose Awareness Day is to help reduce the stigma surrounding overdose by talking about it and by bringing attention to the fact that substance abuse and drug overdose is preventable.

Source: Text: time and date.com Image: The Globe and Mail

World Day of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis -21 June

21 juin 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: ALS, atrophy, brain, cells, death, muscles, neurological disease, respiratory system, spinal cord, symptoms

What is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare group of neurological diseases that mainly involve the nerve cells (neurons) responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movement. Voluntary muscles produce movements like chewing, walking, breathing and talking. The disease is progressive, meaning the symptoms get worse over time. Currently, there is no cure for ALS and no effective treatment to halt, or reverse, the progression of the disease.

ALS belongs to a wider group of disorders known as motor neuron diseases, which are caused by gradual deterioration (degeneration) and death of motor neurons. Motor neurons are nerve cells that extend from the brain to the spinal cord and to muscles throughout the body. These motor neurons initiate and provide vital communication links between the brain and the voluntary muscles.

Messages from motor neurons in the brain (called upper motor neurons) are transmitted to motor neurons in the spinal cord and to motor nuclei of brain (called lower motor neurons) and from the spinal cord and motor nuclei of brain to a particular muscle or muscles.

In ALS, both the upper motor neurons and the lower motor neurons degenerate or die, and stop sending messages to the muscles. Unable to function, the muscles gradually weaken, start to twitch (called fasciculations), and waste away (atrophy). Eventually, the brain loses its ability to initiate and control voluntary movements.

Early symptoms of ALS usually include muscle weakness or stiffness. Gradually all muscles under voluntary control are affected, and individuals lose their strength and the ability to speak, eat, move, and even breathe.

Most people with ALS die from respiratory failure, usually within 3 to 5 years from when the symptoms first appear. However, about 10 percent of people with ALS survive for 10 or more years.

Source: Text: NIH Images: Dramstime.com, Fact Retriever

 

 

Good Friday, Year A

14 avril 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 'man of sorrows', death, for us, innocent, Is.52:13 – 53:12, Jesus on the cross, news bulletin, prestige, privileges, selfish tyrants, suffering, torture, trial, unjust political system

Looking at the cross, not just a wooden piece or a silver cross, but beholding Jesus crucified, so many thoughts and feelings can come to us.
Taking part in the celebration of Good Friday, we respond with prayers, songs, and gestures, trying to express something of what we experience.

Pondering over the words used by the prophet Isaiah and those of the gospel text, is somehow… overwhelming:
“Disfigured, despised, rejected, pierced through, crushed, burdened, struck.  »
« A man of sorrows,” is the way Isaiah summarizes his description (Is.52:13 – 53:12).
 
“Betrayed, arrested, denied, abandoned, arrested, put on trial, scourged, crowned with thorns and… crucified,”  is the multi-faceted picture the four accounts of the gospel present us with.

He was innocent, the victim of those in power, religious leaders as much as – if not more than – political rulers craving for the prestige and privileges that were theirs and fearing to lose them.

I pause and think of the news bulletin bombarding us with… similar pictures in some way…
The war victims subjected to nerve gas, the starving children, the helpless mothers mourning so many deaths, the men innocent by-standers tortured and beheaded…
The pictures follow one another, shocking, appalling, exposing our helplessness, if not… our indifference.

They, too, are innocent people suffering from an unjust political system whose power is that of selfish tyrants craving for domination.

 The question arises: What is the difference?

HE DID IT FOR US…

Source: Image: virtual-independence.blogspot.com

World Cancer Day – 4 February

4 février 2017
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: cancer, death, détection, disease, opportunity, prévention, spread, treatment

On February 04, 2017 World Cancer Day (WCD) is observed to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. This health awareness day is led by theUnion for International Cancer Control, a global consortium of more than 470 cancer-fighting organizations in over 120 countries.

The aims of WCD are to help save millions of preventable deaths each year by raising awareness and education about cancer, and pressing to governments across the world to take action against the disease. The day is a key opportunity for everyone affected by cancer to work together to ensure that world leaders stick to the promises they made at the UN Summit in relation to reducing the impact of cancer.

Cancer is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the body through the lymphatic system or bloodstream. Not all tumors are cancerous.

Significantly, the number of cancer cases and related deaths worldwide is estimated to double over the next 20 to 40 years. With the greatest increase in low and middle income countries, those least equipped to cope with both the social and economic impact of the disease.

Source: Text & Image: Cute calendar

Symbols
There are different symbols that are used to help promote the fight against different types of cancers. For example, the pink ribbon is a global symbol of breast cancer awareness, while the orange ribbon is associated with child cancer awareness. Another example is the daffodil, which the American Cancer Society sees as a symbol of hope that people share for a future where cancer is no longer a life-threatening disease.

Source : Text : timeanddate.com

World AIDS Day – 1st December

1 décembre 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: AIDS, awareness, death, diagnosis, discrimination, disease, education, health, HIV, prejudice, stigma

WHAT IS WORLD AIDS DAY?
World AIDS Day is held on the 1st December each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day, held for the first time in 1988.

WHY IS WORLD AIDS DAY IMPORTANT?wad-header-logo
Over 100,000 people are living with HIV in the UK. Globally there are an estimated 34 million people who have the virus. Despite the virus only being identified in 1984, more than 35 million people have died of HIV or AIDS, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.

Today, scientific advances have been made in HIV treatment, there are laws to protect people living with HIV and we understand so much more about the condition. Despite this, each year in the UK around 6,000 people are diagnosed with HIV, people do not know the facts about how to protect themselves and others, and stigma and discrimination remain a reality for many people living with the condition.

World AIDS Day is important because it reminds the public and Government that HIV has not gone away – there is still a vital need to raise money, increase awareness, fight prejudice and improve education.

Source:  Text & Image: World Aids Day

32nd Sunday of the Year, C

4 novembre 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 2 Maccabees 7:9-14, alive, death, eternal life, God's promise, matter of life and death, promise, resurrection, Sadducees

the-catholic-catalogue”I promise you, I will…” A promise – we may be the one speaking the words. Or, someone else may be assuring us that he will do something for us, she will carry out something on our behalf. If the person speaking is trustworthy, we can hope that we will get what is promised. If he or she is reliable, we may expect that we will obtain whatever we have been told would be done or given.

What if the promise is given by… God? Yes, God makes promises, amazing promises, wonderful promises – so wonderful that we may think that… it is too good to be true. On the other hand, a promise made by God not being fulfilled is… unthinkable!

The 1st reading of this Sunday (32nd, Year C: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14) shows us people who have been “relying on God’s promise,” and this to the point of waging their life on it! The book of Maccabees tells the story of seven brothers (we meet four of them in this text ) who are faithful to God to the point of death because they are absolutely convinced that they will live again.

Yes, in this text of the Old Testament we see appearing this extraordinary belief in an afterlife. The second brother says it clearly: “The King of this world will raise us up… to live again for ever.” The words of his brother, the fourth one to speak, proclaim the same faith: “Ours is the better choice, to meet death at men’s hands, yet relying on God’s promise that we shall be raised up by him.”

 We could say that this Sunday presents us with… a matter of life and death – a serious matter if ever there was one! And the promise of God is reaffirmed by Jesus himself when challenged by the Sadducees (gospel reading Lk.20:27-38): “God is the God of the living; for the him all men are in fact alive.”

 Are we, alive? Really so? And are we convinced that we can be alive beyond death, if only we rely on God’s promise? It is, indeed, a matter of life and death!

Source: Image: The Catholic Catalogue

 

 

                     

Good Friday, C

25 mars 2016
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: death, giving one's life, Jesus'story, Life

 meme-bible-john-greater-love-1342022-galleryOn this Good Friday, a short reflection only as I believe human words should take away from the impact of God’s word.www.cathedralmountainlodge.com

A few months ago, during summertime, the news broadcast told the sad story of two young people who had gone canoeing on a river.
Suddenly, an undercurrent started to rock their canoe – they both knew they were in trouble.
The boy threw to the girl the only life jacket in the canoe telling her to put it on.
She did and it saved her life. The boy was carried far away and his body was found only a few days later.

The young woman, remembering her boyfriend, kept repeating: “He gave his life that I may live…”

Today, looking at Jesus on the cross, every one of us can say the same words… in all truth…

Source: Images: www.cathedralmountainlodge.com    jesus-story.net