(My) Quote of the Day

A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: 'Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?' We must always consider the person. 

Pope Francis

Photo of the day

Quote of the Day

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. 

Buddha...

Beauty 

Don't forget to step outside of your busy routine and enjoy the beauty surrounding us. A joyous heart and a joyful mind are powerful and creative. The moment you spend admiring beauty and taking it in, will pay you back in being more effective and productive in your busy world.

This is my Pope!

Pope Francis addressed the recent revelations in the Catholic Church abuse scandal in a letter to the people of god. I know there are no words that can make the past undone, heal the pain or console anyone affected by the perpetrators within the church. Nor can it silence the critics or the enemies of the church. What happened is terrible! For me, the greatest guilt lies with the enablers. The leaders of the church that rather hid the problems for the wrong reasons and therefore allowed it to continue over many decades if not millennia. It hurts to be betrayed by the very same church that you want to follow, that you expect spiritual guidance from. It is like a family tells you he loves you and at the same time he betrays you. This is the little Judas in all of us.

I do think that Pope Frances found the right words in his most recent letter. I know we can argue about this, but again, there are no words that can undo what happened or heal the wounded. All we can do is to look forward and make sure we work on a much better future and do everything can do prevent anything like this from happening again.

Below is an excerpt from this letter that I feel is the heart of his message. The whole letter can be found in many places on the Internet. Here is one such location:

https://www.abc57.com/news/pope-addresses-latest-sexual-abuse-claims-in-letter

Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to the People of God

"If one member suffers, all suffer together with it" (1 Cor 12:26). These words of Saint Paul forcefully echo in my heart as I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons. Crimes that inflict deep wounds of pain and powerlessness, primarily among the victims, but also in their family members and in the larger community of believers and nonbelievers alike. Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient. Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated. The pain of the victims and their families is also our pain, and so it is urgent that we once more reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection of minors and of vulnerable adults.

Dreaming at Sunset

Courtesy of Annamaria Franz

From my favorite Artist - Annamaria Franz

Tranquility

Here is a link to a great post on Seth Godin's blog

https://seths.blog/2018/08/making-it-political/

Peace – an elusive dream

thoughts from 5/14/2018

Today is one of these days were my soul is in uproar. I feel like a can hear the cries and screams of hundreds, if not thousands of Palestinians that suffer as a result of a premature and selfish political decision. More than 50 have died so far.

The US decided to move the Embassy to Jerusalem. Whether it was consciously or not, it was a provocative move. Everyone who knows a little about the history of the Far East would know this. Everyone knows that such a move will create violence and despair among the people living in Palestine.

Leading up to this day there were many statements that this would lead to peace. Even some of the US politicians mentioned today that the move of the embassy increases the chances of a peace agreement. These are illusions that show how far removed many of our politicians are from the people they are supposed to represent.

How do we explain the more than 50 lives that were lost?  Lives of human’s individuals that had a future and could have contributed so much to society. More than 50 mothers lost a son or daughter. You can only imagine their pain. Their children will never come back home. No one endures more pain than mother that lost her child. More than 50 fathers will wait in vain for the sons or daughters to come home. Brothers and sisters will have to realize a void in their lives. Friends a relatives will have to go to funerals and try to understand the insanity of the events of today.

And all the while our politicians will outdo each other with statements that explains what happens and the victims will be vilified. They will continue to point fingers at each other, stoke the confrontation and fire of hate and the end nobody will learn from the events, nobody will show compassion for the lives lost, and the mothers, fathers, siblings and friend will be left alone with their pain, except a few tokens of compassion if it serves ones goals.

Peace, a very powerful word, but what do we really mean when we use this work. Peace can mean the absence of violence, or the absence of confrontation. For others it just means an uninterrupted life of your own design. According to Wikipedia peace is a “concept of harmony and the absence of hostility”

Let’s view peace as a space in which the individual can live his or her life based on his or her values. In this space the choice is up to the individual. Moral, which is an individual value and result of personal choices, can live within this space without any competition, except the struggles of the individual itself. In this space the inhabitant is in control of his or her needs.  The individual within is in charge of how to live the life in harmony. Since the individual is in total control the only hostility could come from within.

If more than one individuals want to live in this space called peace, challenges will arise. Because all humans are individuals with an independent mind, differences will jeopardize the harmony in the space called peace. As a matter of fact, if we insist on the individuality of all human beings, no two humans can live in complete peace and harmony. However, if individuals have a strong desire to live in peace and are willing to give up some of their individualism, multiple humans can live in peace. It requires a strong desire on all involved to make this happen. Love is a great catalyst towards achieving this goal.