Tag Archives: death

Inheritance

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“It is finished.
Into Your Hands,
I commend my spirit.”
The Tree of Eden,
Poison swallowed,
By the Tree of Golgotha.

Christ, the New Adam,
Mankind begun anew,
Fellowship restored and more.
Freed from the husks of pigs
Returned to the Father’s House.
Witness the death of Death.

Lay Your Head upon my lap,
That I may hold You,
Rock You,
Cradle You in my arms.
I arrange Your Hair,
And wash the Blood,
Clinging to You,
Mourning over You,
As Mother Mary.

Open side of Jesus
Receive me.
Hide me,
In the cave of Your Heart.
I throw off my idols.
My sin is finished,
Nailed to Your Cross.

“It is finished,”
My war against You,
The burden and the price,
Life born in Your dying,
And swaddled in faith’s dark night.

The Church born
From Your pierced side.
As a fountain for the Ages,
Spilling forth
The wine of Crushed Grapes.

New Day!
Eternal Spring!
“Into Your Hands,
I commend My Spirit.”
Love has the last word.

Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Facing Boko Haram, Nigerians ‘storm the heavens with prayers – Prayer in time of Distress

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Facing Boko Haram, Nigerians ‘storm the heavens with prayers’ :: Catholic News Agency (CNA).

Prayer in time of Distress

Prayer in time of Suffering

Passion

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xICON_The_CrucifixionBloody sweat,
Pillar and scourge,
Bloody body,
Crown of thorns,
Bloody head,
Bloody face,
Hammer and nails,
Cross,
Bloody hands
Bloody feet,
Pain upon pain,
Thirst and abandonment,
Death and sword,
Broken heart,
Pierced heart,
Blood and Water,
All that Blood,
Washing me.

©2013 Joann Nelander

Nigeria: Islamic jihadists abduct 30 teenagers : Jihad Watch

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Here is a salient passage on this issue from a Shafi’i manual of Islamic law:

When an adult male is taken captive, the caliph considers the interests … (of Islam and the Muslims) and decides between the prisoner’s death, slavery, release without paying anything, or ransoming himself in exchange for money or for a Muslim captive held by the enemy. (Umdat al-Salik o9.14)

A revered Islamic jurist, Al-Mawardi, agrees with ‘Umdat al-Salik:

As for the captives, the amir has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first, to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale or manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. (Al-Ahkam As-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance), 4.5)

“Nigeria: 30 teenagers abducted in northeast,” AGI, October 26, 2014 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

(AGI) Maiduguri, Oct 26 – A large group of teenagers, as well as numerous 11-year-old girls, were kidnapped in Nigeria on Sunday, with Boko Haram the most likely culprit. “The insurgents grabbed young people, boys and girls, from our region”, said Alhaji Shettima Maina, the village elder of Mafa.

“They took all boys aged 13 plus, and all girls aged 11 or more. According to our information, 30 young people were abducted in the last two days”, he said. . .

READ MORE via Nigeria: Islamic jihadists abduct 30 teenagers : Jihad Watch.

Fr. Benedict Groeschel passes away at 81 :: EWTN News

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Father Benedict Groeschel. Credit: EWTN.

This is my fond memory of Fr. Groeschel.  He was a mensch.

via Fr. Benedict Groeschel passes away at 81 :: EWTN News.

Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, author, former EWTN host, and one of the founders of the Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, passed away at 11:00 p.m. on Oct. 3. He was 81 years old.

“The Catholic Church and the Franciscan family lost a giant today,” the friars said in an Oct. 4 statement, expressing deep sadness at Fr. Groeschel’s loss as well as relief “that God has set him free from the physical and mental suffering he has experienced over the past decade.”

Fr. Groeschel was one of eight Capuchin friars in New York City who helped found the Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in 1987. The community is committed to poverty and evangelization.

Known for his love of the poor, he founded the St. Francis House for the homeless and Good Counsel Homes for pregnant women in crisis. He also directed Trinity Retreat House in Larchmont, New York, and taught at the Dunwoodie seminary.

In addition, he became known as an author and preacher. For more than 25 years, he appeared on EWTN, hosting “Sunday Night: Live with Father Benedict Groeschel,” among other programs.

“The world knew Father Benedict as a priest, teacher, evangelist, retreat master, and a steadfast defender of and advocate for the Catholic Church that he loved so much,” the friars said, adding that while his religious family saw these traits, “we were also blessed to know him as a father who cared for each of us, a father who was always accessible when we needed him and always glad to see us when we came to visit.”

“Fr. Benedict was a brother and a father to everyone he encountered,” the friars continued. “In a world often overwhelmed with darkness, he was a man filled with hope, a hope that he shared with both the rich and poor alike.”

via Fr. Benedict Groeschel passes away at 81 :: EWTN News.

#Albuquerque is Stilling Willing to Take Innocent Life

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First Reading for this day – 2 MC 7:1, 20-31

What has God said to both Jews and Christians in Maccabees about life?  (Some Protestants do not have Maccabees in their Bibles, but they should note that the Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah, was enjoined upon the Jews to be celebrated only in Maccabees. John 7 tells of Jesus going up to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast. So Jesus concurred with the Jews and honored the injunction of Maccabees as given by His Father and recorded in holy writ.)

2 MC 7

“Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother,
who saw her seven sons perish in a single day,
yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.
Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage,
she exhorted each of them
in the language of their ancestors with these words:
“I do not know how you came into existence in my womb;
it was not I who gave you the breath of life,
nor was it I who set in order
the elements of which each of you is composed.
Therefore, since it is the Creator of the universe
who shapes each man’s beginning,
as he brings about the origin of everything,
he, in his mercy,
will give you back both breath and life,
because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law.”

The response of this heroic woman’s son before his life was ended in accordance with an unjust law is also worth noting:

She had scarcely finished speaking when the youth said:
“What are you waiting for?
I will not obey the king’s command.
I obey the command of the law given to our fathers through Moses.
But you, who have contrived every kind of affliction for the Hebrews,
will not escape the hands of God.”

Our laws do not excuse us before God this day or on our particular judgment day, so our choices matter for our eternity.  What we choose to do with our freedom matters in life and in death.  Therefore it is incumbent upon us to choose wisely and form our consciences as though our eternity depends on it.