John, Chapter 11, Verse 3-5
3 So the sisters sent word to him, saying,
“Master, the one you love is ill.” 4 When Jesus
heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son
of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and
her sister and Lazarus.
Martha, Mary and Lazarus
were three home runs of Christ. They were loved by Christ not because of their
wealth but by the fact they knew that all wealth is really just on loan from
the Father and that we are to use our wealth to build the kingdom. You cannot
love God and money. When our Lord was raised up on the cross we see that our
true wealth is in him and until we come to our own natural end we should use
our wealth to bring truth, beauty, and love to our communities and families.
The Mass is a reenactment of the death
of our Lord. It is thought-provoking to contemplate that Pilates notice above
Christ’s head, was printed in three languages Hebrew, Latin and Greek. These
three cultures in a sense represented the characteristics of God. The Hebrew’s
were Gods people and represented the good
of man and brought the idea that the person was created by God and is more
valuable than the universe. Latin the language of the Romans brought the idea
that truth is the highest value and
the Greek culture brought the idea of beauty
being the greatest value. In Christ’s death is represented all three values.
That a good God died for man; true to the end; and His shame was turned by love
to beauty.
We must put our “Trust” in Him for He is the “Resurrection and the
Life.”
The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem[1]
The Military and Hospitaller Order of
Saint Lazarus is one of the orders of chivalry to survive the downfall of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem and the attempts by the Crusader knights to win control of
the Holy Land from the forces of Islam. In theory the Order remained a military
one, but with the exception of a brief period in the 17th century it played no
military role after 1291. The Order of Saint Lazarus is one of the most ancient
of the European orders of chivalry. At the very least it dates back to the time
of the Crusader knights. From its foundation in the 12th century, the members
of the Order were dedicated to two ideals: aid to those suffering from the
dreadful disease of leprosy and the defense of the Christian faith. Today the
Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem is an
international self-governing and independent body, having its own Constitution;
it may be compared with a kind of electoral kingdom. According to the said
Constitution the Order is nonpolitical, oecumenical or nondenominational, as
its membership is open to all men and women being practicing members of the
Christian faith in good standing within their particular denomination. Its
international membership consists of Roman-catholic, Anglican, Protestant,
Orthodox, United, Old Catholic, New Apostolic and other Christians, upholding
with their lives, fortunes and honor the principles of Christianity.
Traditionally it is organized as a Christian Chivalric Order. The Order is
registered in London in accordance with the laws in England. It is both a
Military Order of Mercy and a Hospitaller Order dedicated to the care and
assistance of the poor and the sick. Its aim is to preserve and defend the
Christian faith, to guard, assist succor and help the poor, the sick and dying,
to promote and maintain the principles of Christian chivalry and to follow the
teachings of Christ and His Holy Church in all its works. With the exception of
the present Teutonic Order ("Deutscher Orden") the Order of Saint
Lazarus is today the smallest of the orders of Christian chivalry. It is made
up of approximately five thousand members in the five continents. The Order
sees itself as an oecumenical Christian order whose genesis goes back to the
Holy Land, to the crusades and to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
German-American Day[2]
German-American Day celebrates German culture and
heritage in the United States. This holiday also serves to remember 13
German families from Krefeld, Germany that fled religious oppression in
Germany. On October 6th, 1683, these families established Germantown,
Pennsylvania, the first distinctly German-American settlement. In the centuries
that followed, more than seven million more German-speaking immigrants arrived
on the shores of the US and as of 2010, over 20% of the US population claims
German ancestry. In 1983, on the 300th anniversary of Germantown, President
Ronald Reagan declared October 6th as German-American Day. President
Reagan officially declared German-American Day four years later in 1987. Today,
German-American Day, a celebration of German culture, identity and heritage, is
celebrated annually on October 6th.
German-American
Day Facts & Quotes
- · The current population of Germantown, PA is 26,563 inhabitants.
- · Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa are now home to the largest number of German descendants in the US.
- · After the Second World War, around 375,000 Germans immigrated to the US. In the 50s and 60s alone, around 786,000 Germans immigrated to the US.
- · Albert Einstein was a German immigrant, a Jew who opted to remain in the US when the Nazi party came to power in 1933.
- ·
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything
. - Albert Einstein
German-American
Day Top Events and Things to Do
- · Read some popular stories by German writers including Hansel and Gretel, The Trial and The Man Without Qualities.
- · Spend some time learning more about the religious oppression in Germany in 1683 in order to further understand why the founding 13 families fled the country and arrived in Philadelphia.
- · Enjoy a glass of mulled wine. It is a common drink found at Christmas markets all through Germany.
- · Enjoy a German movie. Some of our favorites: Victoria (2015), Land of Mine (2015) and Downfall (2004).
- · Learn more about the Nazi Regime from WW2 in order to better understand how the population of German-Americans grew so quickly around that time.
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