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"Live in harmony with one another... If possible, as much as it depends on you, live peacefully with all"
Rom 12:16,18 |
Le blog de la Bergerie Un blog Catholique et bilingue, franco-américain, sur la foi, les Saintes Ecritures, la religion et la culture, et pour renforcer l'amitié entre nos deux pays. Articles, observations & cogitations on the faith and the world, in French and in English but with faith as the common language |
"Per te sciamus da Patrem, noscamus atque Filium, teque utriusque Spiritum credamus omni tempore."
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April May 2008 - Sharing the faith… in English: Beyond Left and Right: Awaiting the Pope’s Next Encyclical. The tired categories of Left and Right, which we associate with Liberal (or Progressive) and Conservative, originated in the French Revolution, and have long outlived their usefulness. They are way too clunky to capture the complex political opinions that most of us make up as we go along, these days. Read more here on GodSpy.com
What do we do when those whom we love no longer share our faith, our deep values, and our morals? Suppose, to use a very common example, as a parent you have lost
your own children in terms of practicing your faith. Your own children no longer go to church, no longer pray, no longer observe the church's rules (especially as
these pertain to sex and marriage) and view your own faith practice as either a naiveté or a hypocrisy. You have argued with them, fought with them, and tried in
very way to convince them, but to no avail. Eventually you arrive at the unhappy truce you live today: you practice and they don't. One of the deepest bonds
of all between you has been broken. Moreover, you worry about them, living, at least so it seems, godless lives. What can you do? Obviously you can continue
to pray and live out your own life according to your own convictions, hoping to challenge them with your life more than with your words. But you can do more.
You can continue to love and forgive them and, insofar as they receive that love and forgiveness from you, they are receiving love and forgiveness from God.
You are part of the Body of Christ and they are touching you. Within the incredibly mystery of the incarnation, you are doing what Jesus asks of us when he says:
"Whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven."
If I understand windsurfing correctly, Why Catholics and Protestants Don't
See Eye to Eye. Very interesting article on the different worldviews
of Catholics and Protestants, based on their differences in faith, in
living and understanding their faith. That's the first layer of the story.
The main points of the article are interesting (analogical vs. linear)
and the conclusion are very positive and encouraging (we should build
bridges between us so we can better work together). But there is more
than it first seemed. I realized the article was written by an ex Protestant
who is now Catholic (Praise the Lord!) and right there you can see another
layer appearing, you can see that he would have a personal reason for
articulating the different faith traditions in such a reconciling manner.
But there is more! There is an unusual twist to this situation because
he is one of the exception to the rule, he is married (Anglican Priest
can be married) and, after he had converted to the Catholic Church, he
got a dispensation from the Church to become a Catholic Priest although
he had a wife and family. I would say that this brings us to the deeper
and more complex layers 3, 4 and 5 all at once! I am referring to the
gift of celibacy, the primacy of our own judgment vs. holy obedience and
the mystery of the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, who chose to come to
us as a male human, as a defenseless baby, as a loving son and a chaste
man. But the Church in her wisdom knows when and how to welcome her exceptional children. God does not call the "equipped", God equips the "called"... What constitutes a church? Is it like-minded individuals, gathering on the basis of mutual compatibility? This is a very common misunderstanding, but gathering as church has little or nothing to do with liking each other or finding others with whom we are mutually compatible. The group of disciples that first gathered around Jesus were not individuals who were mutually compatible at all. They came from very different backgrounds and temperaments, had different visions of what Jesus was all about, were jealous of each other, and were, as scripture tells us, occasionally furious with each other. They loved each other, in the biblical meaning of that phrase, but they did not necessarily like each other. Too often, we are disappointed in church because we find there such a diverse and motley collection of persons, some of whom do not like us and whom we would never pick to be our friends. We got to church looking for friendship or ideological soul-mates and, often, do not find them. This does not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with the church, merely that we have false expectations. To be in apostolic community, church, is not necessarily to be with others with whom we are emotionally, ideologically, and other-wise compatible. Rather, it is to stand, shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand, with them, hear a common word, say a common creed, share a common bread, and offer a mutual forgiveness so as, in that way, to bridge our differences and become one common heart. Church is not about a few like-minded persons getting together for mutual support, it is about millions and millions of different kinds of persons transcending their differences so as to become a community. (Ronald Rolheiser, the Holy Longing).
A small
and simple FAITH AND POLITICAL POWER.
The third temptation. Its true content becomes apparent when we realize that throughout history it is constantly taking on new forms.
The Christian empire attempted at an early stage to use the faith in order to cement political unity. The Kingdom of Christ was now
expected to take the form of a political kingdom and its splendor. The powerlessness of faith, the earthly powerlessness of Jesus
Christ, was to be given the helping hand of political and military might. This temptation to use power to secure the faith has
arisen again and again in varied forms throughout the centuries, and again and again faith has risked being suffocated in the
embrace of power. The struggle for the freedom of the Church, the struggle to avoid identifying Jesus' Kingdom with any political
structure is one that has to be fought century after century. For the fusion of faith and political power always comes at a price:
faith becomes the servant of power and must bend to its criteria. ‘The Father of the World’—The Pope at the U.N.
"To the delegates and staff whom he addressed, his words were a reminder of, or for some, an education in why they were
working at the UN in the first place. This is why the UN exists; this is what all the juridical and bureaucratic structures are
meant to serve: the integral human person with an intrinsic dignity rooted in the transcendent, and the common good.”
Read the whole article on "the father the world"
here on Godspy.com
In an effort to establish a bridge,
Pope Benedict uses the angle of wisdom and reason (here again, one more
time) when articulating his worldview to the people who might (or might
not) be un-believers, knowing that believers will be inspired too (as,
hopefully, they should). He is very good at doing this type of gentle,
intelligent and reasonable invitation, and he is going to do it again
and again, as long as it takes, because that is what it is, an invitation
and one should never tired of extending a hand to the other in front of
us. The special Web site (uspapalvisit.org)
created by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for Pope Benedict
XVI’s April 15-20 visit to the United States will live stream the events.
See a video of Pope Benedict XVI addressing the people of the US in English
(for the most part). It is very moving to hear his voice, his accent.
There is a certain physical frailty which comes through in the video which
I had not realized just by looking at pictures. He is 81 years old! But
his ability at multi language shows clearly and most of all, his gentleness,
his steadfastness and his clarity of intention: he is here to deliver
a message, to gather us around him, to witness and to lead; he is a great
teacher, he is our spiritual leader, he is the Pope! And God has blessed
us with terrific leaders in our recent history of the Church. This is
definitively a blessed moment in time. First for DC and NY, but then for
all of us watching and listening, paying attention and praying too. How I wish I could be
there... But I'll pray that his vist be most fruitful for all of us, believers
and seekers, traditional or progressive, may this be a window of opportunity
to come one step closer and put into practice the commandment of loving
God and loving our neighbor.
See the video here. Since I can't be there on the East Coast, I will follow him by prayers: Thomas Merton. All
nature is meant to make us think of paradise. Woods,
fields, valleys, hills, the river and the sea, the clouds travelling across
the sky, light and darkness, sun and stars, remind us that the world was
first created as a paradise for the first Adam, and that in spite of his
sin and ours, it will once again become a paradise when we are all risen
from death in the second Adam. Free Tibet! When created minds do see God's substance, the very substance of God himself forms their understanding, but then something more than their nature is needed to predispose them to such sublimity: what we call a light of glory. The brightness of God will illuminate her, namely the community of those who see God. The function of this created light is not to make God's substance understandable (that it is of itself) but to strengthen our understanding in the way skills and other dispositions strengthen our ability to do things. It is not a medium through which God is seen but something enabling us to see him immediately…. The light makes the creature like God. The more such light there is in the mind, the more perfectly the mind sees God. And those who have the greater love have the more light. Greater love causes greater desire and desire is in itself a predisposition making man fit to receive what he desires. So those who love more will see God more perfectly and be more blessed. (P 28 Summa Theologiae, Saint Thomas Aquinas. A concise translation, edited by Timothy McDermott).
Probably the word most often used in the contemporary scene is the word freedom. If the sick talk most about health,
because health is endangered, may it be
that the modern talk about freedom means that we are in danger of losing it? It is indeed possible while we fight to keep our enemies from binding chains
to our feet, we become our own enemy by binding chains to our souls. What I am trying to say is there are two kinds of freedom; a freedom from something
and a freedom for something. An external freedom from restraints and an internal freedom of perfection, a freedom to choose evil and a freedom to possess
the good. This inner freedom the typical modern man does not want because it implies responsibility and therefore is a burden. Freedom is ours to give away.
Each of us reveals what we believe to be the purpose of life by the way we use that freedom. "Brain Dead" Man Saved from Organ Harvesting. 48 days after Zack's accident, the young man returned home, walking on his own two feet. Read this amazing and miraculous story here found on the Catholic Exchange site. ‘Deliver us, Lord, from the fear of the enemy.' Dorothy Day often quoted the Psalms. In January of 1967 she said in The Catholic Worker, “‘Deliver us, Lord from the fear of the enemy.' That is one of the lines in the Psalms, and we are not asking God to deliver us from enemies, but from the fear of them. Love casts out fear, but we have to get over the fear in order to get close enough to love them.” (Found in the Houston Catholic Worker here A Muslim journalist was baptized by Benedict XVI at Saturday's Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Read this amazing and very courageous conversion story and remember to pray for Magdi Cristiano Allam: here on Catholic On line.
2008 Jan. Feb. March here 2007 September to December here 2007 May to August here 2007 Jan. to May here 2006 Sept. to Dec. here |
avril mai 2008 - Le partage de la foi… en français: ROME, le 13 mai 2008. le Code de droit canon. Le Concile Vatican
II n’a pas été le seul moment décisif de l’histoire de l’Eglise catholique
au XXe siècle. Un autre tournant important a eu lieu un demi-siècle auparavant,
avec le pontificat de Pie X. C’est ce qui ressort d’un imposant essai
en deux volumes qui vient de sortir en Italie, sous le titre “Chiesa romana
e modernità giuridica“. Ecrit par un expert très connu en droit ecclésiastique,
Carlo Fantappiè. Il est consacré à une entreprise grandiose du pape Giuseppe
Sarto, le nouveau Code de droit canon. On retient de Pie X sa bataille
acharnée contre les catholiques “modernistes“. On le décrit généralement
comme le pape de la restauration et des anathèmes. Cela n’a pas été le
cas. De nouvelles études examinent ce pontificat sous une lumière nouvelle,
beaucoup plus constructive et innovatrice. Sa célèbre encyclique “Pascendi
Dominici Gregis“ contre les modernistes, par exemple, dont on a fêté le
centenaire en 2007, a abordé avec prévoyance des sujets qui sont encore
d’actualité et centraux dans la vie de l’Eglise… ![]() La beauté et le calme d'une promenade en foret, la douceur du temps, le printemp en fleur, l'arboretum de Jeli en Hongrie.
L'Ascension : "Vous serez mes témoins jusqu'aux extrémités de la terre" Agir dans la société est en effet indispensable. Mais en cohérence avec la démarche chrétienne : des chrétiens qui tourneraient en rond dans leurs griefs et doléances, criant au scandale quand on les contredit (voire quand on les diffame), ce serait anti-évangélique. Ce serait vouloir supprimer les contradictions et rêver d’une société « favorable » : une société dont la pression sociologique s’exercerait en faveur des chrétiens plutôt qu’à leur détriment. Cette société « favorable » serait une machine à trahir l’évangile. Alors qu’une société hostile est une pépinière de saints. Lire plus ici. Un pari pour la joie: l'Arche de Jean Vanier.
Vanier était personnellement frappé par les qualités de ceux qu'il s'était senti appelé a aider. Il était frappé aussi de les voir en transformer d'autres
venus travailler avec lui. Il semble que proportionnellement aux limites de leur capacité de raisonnement, ces gens soient riches en dons de cœur. Ces
dons du cœur sont précisément ce dont a tant besoin une société technique qui devient de plus en plus dure. La vision de Vanier est passée du souci de
ce que la société pouvait faire pour les handicapés au souci de ce que les handicapés peuvent faire pour la société. La promesse de la resurrection!
NOUVEAUX DANGERS POUR LA FOI.
Question : En lien avec la perte de sens du christianisme dans une société
sécularisée, vous avez évoqué un tout nouveau danger pour la foi encore
totalement sous-estimé : la possibilité d'une subtile dictature
de l'opinion antichrétienne. Réponse : Je crois que c'est un vrai danger.
Ce n'est pas qu'on persécute publiquement les chrétiens : ce serait vieux
jeu et inconvénient. Non, on est tout a fait tolérant et naturellement
ouvert a tout. Mais il y a des choses sur lesquelles on est d'autant plus
catégorique et qui sont exclues, et qui sont alors cataloguées
de fondamentalistes même la ou il peut s'agir de foi authentique. Je pense
qu'on peut arriver a une situation ou la résistance doit s'organiser,
face a la dictature d'une tolérance qui n'est qu'apparente et qui met
hors circuit le scandale de la foi en la déclarant intolérante. Ici apparaît
vraiment au grand jour l'intolérance des " tolérants ". Le Petit Prince et le renard.
Mes passages préférés du discours du Pape à l'ONU: Les principes fondateurs de l'Organisation
- le désir de paix, le sens de la justice, le respect de la dignité de
la personne, la coopération et l'assistance humanitaires - sont l'expression
des justes aspirations de l'esprit humain et constituent les idéaux qui
devraient sous-tendre les relations internationales. Comme mes prédécesseurs
Paul VI et Jean-Paul II l'ont affirmé depuis cette même tribune, tout
cela fait partie de réalités que l'Église catholique et le Saint-Siège
considèrent avec attention et intérêt, voyant dans votre activité un exemple
de la manière dont les problèmes et les conflits qui concernent la communauté
mondiale peuvent bénéficier d'une régulation commune. Cela est d'autant
plus nécessaire dans le contexte actuel où l'on fait l'expérience du paradoxe
évident d'un consensus multilatéral qui continue à être en crise parce
qu'il est encore subordonné aux décisions d'un petit nombre … L'action
de la communauté internationale et de ses institutions, dans la mesure
où elle est respectueuse des principes qui fondent l'ordre international,
ne devrait jamais être interprétée comme une coercition injustifiée ou
comme une limitation de la souveraineté. À l'inverse, c'est l'indifférence
ou la non-intervention qui causent de réels dommages.… La promotion
des droits de l'homme demeure la stratégie la plus efficace quand il s'agit
de combler les inégalités entre des pays et des groupes sociaux, quand
il s'agit aussi de renforcer la sécurité. En effet les victimes de la
misère et du désespoir dont la dignité humaine est impunément violée,
deviennent des proies faciles pour les tenants du recours à la violence. Acte
d'Esperance :
Lettre de saint François Xavier à un Jésuite de ses confrères, écrite de Goa et datée de mars 1549.
" Soyez prompt et empressé pour les tâches basses et obscures afin de pouvoir apprendre à être humble et de croître toujours en humilité.
Soyez aimable et de bonne humeur avec tous sans exception. Evitez la raideur et la maussaderie car un visage morne empêchera bien de gens
de s'approcher de vous et de profiter de vos conseils." Lire la suite (et à mediter!)
ici sur le site missel.free.fr. Quel drôle de jeu de cache-cache quand la Torche Olympique est passée dans ma ville ! J'ai pris des photos et j'ai voulu soutenir ceux qui souhaite un Tibet Libre. Si je blâme le régime communiste chinois pour avoir bafoué les droits de l'homme et pour tourmenter les croyants, j'ai aussi beaucoup de respect pour le peuple chinois et leurs aspirations et je prie pour que tout ce brouhaha autour de la Torche et tout ce charivari avant les Jeux soient transformer, par la grâce de Dieu, en un moment bénis, pour le Tibet, pour la Chine, pour nous tous, a l'est comme a l'ouest. Que l'esperance et la paix et l'amour du prochain soient les vrais gagnants! Voir mes photos et mes commentaires (en anglais) ici . Reconnaître la présence de Dieu . Exercer le corps; Entraîner la respiration; Entraîner l'écoute; Dieu se cache aux endroits les plus improbables; et un poeme sur "Chacun son nombril" (à la manière de Péguy) ici sur le site: Un Moment sacré . Il y a plus de bonheur a donner qu'a recevoir " Rappelle-toi que si un rien fait souffrir, un rien peut aussi faire plaisir...Lire la suite ici sur le site: "les petits du Seigneur". "Ne croyez pas ceux qui vous disent que la jeunesse est faite pour s'amuser. La jeunesse n'est pas faite pour le plaisir, elle est faite pour l'héroïsme" (Paul Claudel) Les dangers de la vie chrétienne pour un jeune catholique en 2008 : le compromis ! Lire la suite ici sur Notre Dame des Neiges. Soutenir les chretiens en Irak. Proposée par Pax Christi France, l'opération oecuménique d'information, de sensibilisation et de soutien aux Chrétiens d'Irak, appelée "Pâques avec les Chrétiens d'Irak", est animée en partenariat avec Justice et Paix, la Fédération Protestante de France, l'Oeuvre d'Orient et Chrétiens de la Méditerranée ici.
On est moins vulnerable
2008 de janvier à mars here 2007 de septembre à décembre ici 2007 de mai à aout ici 2007 de janvier à mai ici 2006 de septembre à décembre ici Le référenceur des meilleurs sites catholiques francophones |
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