Sunday, November 4, 2018
Twenty-Fourth
Sunday after Pentecost (31st S
Ord Time)
ORPHAN SUNDAY-DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME
ENDS
Acts,
Chapter 14, Verse 8-10
8 At Lystra there was a
crippled man, lame from birth, who had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking, who
looked intently at him, saw that he had the faith
to be healed, 10 and called out in a loud voice,
“Stand up straight on your feet.” He jumped up and began to walk about.
Paul and Barnabas worked many signs and wonders. Yet
the crowds focused on the healers rather than the source of the healer’s power,
our loving God, and in turn treated the apostles as gods not hearing or
receiving the faith. Pagans have trouble seeing except with the eyes. Paul
stresses it is folly to worship men as gods and emphasizes the one living God
who created all things and revealed himself through creation.[1]
Most
people would say that as modern people we do not worship men and women as gods
as the Greeks and Romans of Paul’s time. Yet, on reflection; think; for some FAME
is a god or POLITICS is. To some money, power and glory is their god’s. It is
interesting to note Plato wrote about this. I was intrigued by Plato’s Book
“Republic,” which argues that those who are stronger in any society, the
rulers, control education and socialization through legislation and
enforcement.” The reason for my intrigue was I just recently worked in an
all-girls college prep and I had some difficulty in the inconsistencies there
that were not congruent with my honor system. Yes, I agree the educational
system does favor the wealthy. In addition, I have recently been reading a book
“How rich people think” it was very insightful in how middle-class values and
thought process are perpetuated in schools. I was also fascinated by Plato’s
psychology or theory of the soul. Having recently interned in a urban high
school with a high diverse student population I seen that it fundamentally
catered to students desires which were of what he classified as appetitive; food, drink, sex and the
money with which to acquire them. I reflected on this school in relation with
the all-girls college prep which was a good example for catering to Plato’s spirited psyche; honor, victory, and a
good reputation. Fortunately, then I became acquainted with a smaller private
catholic school which was a good example for Plato’s rational ones which pursues knowledge and truth; this school has
had several students recently enter the religious orders. It was fascinating to
note that these three schools by their educational day to day approach had
found their own educational niche. One taught the money lovers, one taught the honor–lovers
and one taught the wisdom–lovers. From
my experience many public schools are teaching to the money lovers and are not successful because students according to
Plato have not been trained to socialize their appetites and they are not
virtuous to any degree and act simply on their whims. I think that this was the
situation that Principal Joe Clark found himself in the movie, “Lean on me” and
he took the actions he needed to moderate the appetites of students then he
educated them through physical education, a mix of reading and writing, dance
and song as advocated by Plato. My philosophy would be to help students rise to
their potential and cater to all three of Plato’s psyches. In addition, I
believe schools should help students break the cycle of poverty and help them
get on track or be aware of the cycle of wealth and reach their true potential.
I believe it would be interesting to explore the idea of creating a “Cycle of
Educational Poverty” to see ways we are perpetuating poverty through
education.
|
Cycle of Poverty
|
As
you see our educational systems and media systems has left most of our children
lame from birth; today like Paul you can do something about it with your vote.
GOSPEL. Matt, xxiv.
15-35
At
that time Jesus said to His disciples: When you shall see the abomination of
desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy
place: he that readeth, let him understand. Then they that are in Judea, let
them flee to the mountains. And he that is on the house-top, let him not come
down to take anything out of his house: and he that is in the field let him not
go back to take his coat. And woe to them that are with child, and that give
suck in those days. But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the
Sabbath. For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from
the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless those days
had been shortened, no flesh should be saved; but for the sake of the elect
those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say to you: Lo here is
Christ, or there, do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and
false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive
(if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you beforehand. If
therefore they shall say to you: Behold, He is in the desert, go ye not out;
behold, He is in the closets, believe it not. For as lightning cometh out of
the east, and appeareth even into the west: so, shall also the coming of the
Son of man be. Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be
gathered together. And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun
shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall
fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be moved. And then shall
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of
the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven with much power and majesty. And He shall send His angels with a
trumpet, and a great voice: and they shall gather together His elect from the
four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of
them. And from the fig-tree learn a parable: when the branch thereof is now
tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So, you also,
when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the
doors. Amen, I say to you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these
things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass
away.
Explanation: “The abomination
of desolation,” of which Christ makes mention, is the desecration of the
temple, at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, when it was profaned in
the most frightful manner, by robbery, murder, conflagration, and the setting
up of idols about forty years after the death of Christ. While the Jewish
population were perishing, the Christians, following the warning of Christ,
fled over the mountains to the city of Pella. Thereby Jesus would indicate how
great the danger would be should they be obliged to fly in winter, or on the
Sabbath-day, on which they were forbidden to make a journey of more than five
hundred paces.
True
religion is taking care of widows and orphans
Orphan Sunday is a time to stand up for the orphans of the world.
In truth, there are likely no more vulnerable human beings in the entire world
than those thousands upon thousands of children in this world who have no
mother or father, due to all sorts of tragedies that have occurred in their
lives, ranging from accidents, to sicknesses, to war. Whatever the reason,
orphaned children need our help in any way we can offer it.
Over the years, many different churches and organizations have
hosted events they called, “Orphan Sundays” in an effort to raise awareness of the
orphans in our areas, their problems and needs. The Christian Alliance started
their own version of Orphan Sunday back in, when a American visitor to Africa
Gary Schneider attending a church service in Zambia was moved by the pastor’s
call to care for the numerous orphans in a local community plagued by hunger
bordering on starvation, poverty and AIDS. At that time especially, children
who were orphans were in a particularly terrible situations, as they were often
left to fend for themselves, a thing that no child is prepared to do. Because
of this, many children’s entire lives became jeopardized, as they had no way to
make enough money to got to school in hopes of getting an education and a
decent job in the future. Even though the locals attending the service were
mostly extremely poor themselves, at the end of the service, many of them
stepped forward to offer their support, some even giving away their own clothes
or shoes to help the children. Moved by this display of generosity, Schneider
decided to help Zambian leaders take care of the Zambian orphans by getting the
word out about this new practice, and it spread like wildfire. By 2003 these
efforts had spread to the United States. The Christian Alliance honors the
Zambian church Schneider had visited for the gift of Orphan Sunday and the
inspiration they gave people all over the world to care about the orphan; in
fact, Orphan Sunday is often called, “Zambia’s gift to the world”. Nowadays,
the Christian Alliance includes more 150 respected ministries, and Orphan
Sunday is celebrated in thousands of churches across the globe in over 50
nations.
How to Celebrate Orphan Sunday
The best way to celebrate Orphan Sunday is find something you
can do for the sadly fatherless and motherless children the Zambians have been
doing their best to look after for all these years. And it doesn’t stop there!
Though Zambia is where the whole event started, it is definitely not the only
place in the world where we can find orphaned children—there are children who
have lost their parents in every community that could use your help. Orphan
Sunday is your opportunity to rouse church, community and friends to God’s call
to care for the orphan. Each Orphan Sunday event is different, depending on who
it’s led by—the believer in any local church, along with their priest or
pastor, get together to decide what actions they could take stand to benefit
their local orphans as well as orphans worldwide. Events range from sermons on
God’s heart for the orphan, whose plight Christians believe is especially
important to, to fundraisers, live concerts, and even to foster family
recruiting.
Fear the LORD, your God, and keep, throughout
the days of your lives, all his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on
you, and thus have long life.
National Vocation Awareness Week will be
celebrated November 4-10, 2018. Please ask Our Lord for more dedicated,
holy priests, deacons and consecrated men and women. May they be inspired
by Jesus Christ, supported by our faith community, and respond generously to
God’s gift of a vocation.
The first Sunday in
November marks the end of Daylight Savings Time in the US. On this day,
clocks are set back 1 hour, except for Hawaii and parts of Arizona which do not
observe DST.
Daylight
Saving Time Ends Facts
The dates for DST to
begin and end were set forth by the US Congress in the Energy Act of 2005.
Arizona, Hawaii, and four US territories (Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and
the U.S. Virgin Islands) do not observe Daylight Savings Time. Research suggest
that daylight savings time is related to a rise in heart attacks, while the end
of daylight savings time saw a slight decrease the first three days after the
time change.
Daylight
Saving Time Ends Top Events and Things to Do
·
Replace
the batteries on smoke and carbon dioxide detectors.
·
Put
the emergency winter
kit back in the vehicle.
·
Begin
preparing for the coming holidays.
·
Make
sure outdoor lights are in working order.
·
Put
reflectors on bikes so that vehicles can more easily see you as it gets dark
earlier.
The Dogma of Purgatory is too much forgotten by the
majority of the faithful; the Church Suffering, where they have so many
brethren to succor, whither they foresee that they themselves must one day go, seems a strange land to
them. This truly deplorable forgetfulness was a great sorrow to St. Francis de
Sales. “Alas!” said this pious doctor of the Church, “we do not sufficiently
remember our dear departed; their memory seems to perish with the sound of the
funeral bells.” The principal causes of this are ignorance and lack of faith;
our notions on the subject of Purgatory are too vague, our faith is too feeble.
In order, then, that our ideas may become more distinct and our faith
enlivened, we must take a closer view
of this life beyond the tomb, this intermediate state of the just souls, not
yet worthy to enter the Heavenly Jerusalem.
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a
father. And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will
only stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so
you will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in
the end you will be a more worthy soul."
111. Without holy purity one cannot persevere in the apostolate.
Daily Devotions
·
Spiritual Warfare
Day FIFTEEN
[1] The Collegeville Bible Commentary
[2]Goffines Devout Instructions, 1896
[5]Schouppe S.J., Rev. Fr. F. X.. Purgatory
Explained (with Supplemental Reading: What Will Hell Be Like?)
[6]http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/the_way-point-1.htm
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