July was an extraordinarily busy month, filled with good and bad: I had loads of family face time with relatives living abroad and had especial fun with the kiddies; but I also experienced great frustration in the workplace. It, however, pales in light of what has happened around the world.
The MH17 plane crash in Ukraine caused by a missile firing it down was hideous, as was the brutal persecution and eviction of Christians in Iraq followed by the wanton destruction of historic monuments. The incessant fighting going on in Gaza; the bombing which has claimed the many lives of mostly children is equally unforgivable.
All this senseless killing of civilians whose only crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. How is it that in the name of territorial power, we humans can justify the slaughter of innocent people? Worse yet, when we drag God into the fight, claiming we are doing all this in His name.
We conveniently forget that life is sacred and that no religion teaches violence and killing as a permissible or righteous means to an end. It's insanely delusional to think otherwise.
Christian, Jew, Muslim, if we profess that God is the centre of our lives, how then can we kill, destroy or condone what is happening right now in our midst? No one is right when a life is taken. Everyone is wrong when an act is death dealing.
What are we teaching our children? That you should hate someone just because they are different, because they see God differently? Did God not create each of us different and unique? Therefore we are teaching our children to hate their own brother and sister. This is the biggest distortion of God's truth.
Jesus came so that we all may have life; He came to end divisions between Jew and Gentile. He came to teach us a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.
It's all about love because God is love and if we love God, we must love our neighbour, even the stranger who just moved into the neighbourhood who looks, acts and talks funny.
In an interview with Argentine weekly Viva, published July 27, Pope Francis shared 10 tips for bringing joy, happiness, into life, they are, in brief:
1. Live and let live.
2. Be giving of yourself to others.
3. Proceed calmly; to have the ability to move with kindness and humility, a calmness in life.
4. To have a healthy sense of leisure.
5. Sundays should be holidays.
6. Find innovative ways to create dignified jobs for young people.
7. Respect and take care of nature.
8. Stop being negative.
9. Don't proselytize; respect others' beliefs.
10. Work for peace.
We cannot like everyone we meet. We will have deep and wide disagreements, diametrically opposing views from others. We will hurt others as others will hurt us, sometimes even with malicious intent. Through all this, we must work toward some sort of unity in diversity for we all live on one earth, in one world.
Let's not forget that every time someone is killed, a void in the universe is created, an irreparable one. No one deserves to die before his or her time, especially a child whose potentiality has not been given time to mature.
All life is sacred. Let's recognize this and work towards maintaining the sanctity of life by stopping the killing. Work for peace.
NB Father Ronald Rolheiser posted an article on August 18 that articulates the Pope's 10 tips better. Have a read: http://ronrolheiser.com/en/#.U_U-lH8ayK0
The MH17 plane crash in Ukraine caused by a missile firing it down was hideous, as was the brutal persecution and eviction of Christians in Iraq followed by the wanton destruction of historic monuments. The incessant fighting going on in Gaza; the bombing which has claimed the many lives of mostly children is equally unforgivable.
All this senseless killing of civilians whose only crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. How is it that in the name of territorial power, we humans can justify the slaughter of innocent people? Worse yet, when we drag God into the fight, claiming we are doing all this in His name.
We conveniently forget that life is sacred and that no religion teaches violence and killing as a permissible or righteous means to an end. It's insanely delusional to think otherwise.
Christian, Jew, Muslim, if we profess that God is the centre of our lives, how then can we kill, destroy or condone what is happening right now in our midst? No one is right when a life is taken. Everyone is wrong when an act is death dealing.
What are we teaching our children? That you should hate someone just because they are different, because they see God differently? Did God not create each of us different and unique? Therefore we are teaching our children to hate their own brother and sister. This is the biggest distortion of God's truth.
Jesus came so that we all may have life; He came to end divisions between Jew and Gentile. He came to teach us a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.
It's all about love because God is love and if we love God, we must love our neighbour, even the stranger who just moved into the neighbourhood who looks, acts and talks funny.
In an interview with Argentine weekly Viva, published July 27, Pope Francis shared 10 tips for bringing joy, happiness, into life, they are, in brief:
1. Live and let live.
2. Be giving of yourself to others.
3. Proceed calmly; to have the ability to move with kindness and humility, a calmness in life.
4. To have a healthy sense of leisure.
5. Sundays should be holidays.
6. Find innovative ways to create dignified jobs for young people.
7. Respect and take care of nature.
8. Stop being negative.
9. Don't proselytize; respect others' beliefs.
10. Work for peace.
We cannot like everyone we meet. We will have deep and wide disagreements, diametrically opposing views from others. We will hurt others as others will hurt us, sometimes even with malicious intent. Through all this, we must work toward some sort of unity in diversity for we all live on one earth, in one world.
Let's not forget that every time someone is killed, a void in the universe is created, an irreparable one. No one deserves to die before his or her time, especially a child whose potentiality has not been given time to mature.
All life is sacred. Let's recognize this and work towards maintaining the sanctity of life by stopping the killing. Work for peace.
NB Father Ronald Rolheiser posted an article on August 18 that articulates the Pope's 10 tips better. Have a read: http://ronrolheiser.com/en/#.U_U-lH8ayK0
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