OM MANI PADME HUM

We shall overcome!!

Preciousness to you all who help me....

delete

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" While still in the seminary, Fulton Sheen heard about the bold faith of a young Chinese girl who during a time of persecution of the Church in China gave her life for the Eucharist. This young girl made reparation in honor of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in a small church in China where the Eucharist had been desecrated by anti-Catholic soldiers. The little girl came back several nights in a row to sneak into the Church. There she spent about an hour in prayer and reparation for the Eucharist that had been desecrated. Each night she licked up a consecrated Host (remember in those days the laity did not receive the Blessed Sacrament with their hands). One night one of the soldiers saw her entering the church, and as she was receiving the last consecrated Host, the guard shot and killed her. Before his ordination Fulton Sheen said that, if this young girl could give her life in reparation for the Eucharist, he could spend at least one hour of each day in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. We know he kept to this. For example, once while visiting missionaries in a remote village in Africa, he arrived late at night and his first request was to be brought to their chapel so he could spend his hour."
- http://catholicexchange.com/2008/02/02/94685/

I EVEN CONTEMPLATE THIS SOME IN LIFE, ONE CAN DO IT AT AN ADORATION CHAPEL OR REALLY ANYWHERE. A few different versions of this story are on the internet but of course, it's the same story. I think about this girl when I go to Adoration, maybe we should pray there every single day.

The Rosary CD with DANA and Fr. Kevin Scanlon C.M.

"I listen to this CD so much I have to order a new one. I play it almost daily while doing my work and it has a very calming effect on me. Of course, I don't pray for any specific thing, only for God's will and hopefully no more trails (trials I think the reviewer means). This CD is very contemplative, and dare I say, sweet, in a way. I love the songs in between and praying with it has helped me immensely. Maybe it could help you too."- By eyelovemovies! "okannie61" (Amazon review)

One could not say it better. I do admit their are some other very fine Rosaries on CD to get but these voices are indeed very calming to listen to.

Well done to the Hmong

We in the US seem to hear a lot about a woman's right to choose. Have you compared the USA's abortion record to other countries? It is illegal in many like Brazil, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Argentina. It is very severely restricted in countries like Poland. Even Holland requires a 5 day wait. Germany requires the woman to get additional medical advice to apparently inform oneself about this act. Italy is doing well in that nearly 70 percent of doctors able to do abortions will not.

The Hmong refugees in the USA, Australia and France and those living in Southeast Asia largely refuse to get abortions.

http://www.biomedexperts.com/Abstract.bme/12746014/Abortion--it_is_for_some_women_only_Hmong_women_s_perceptions_of_abortion Though the perspective seems a bit suspect and is written by a Laotian I'd believe, not a Hmong, the underlying result seems properly stated that Hmong women do not engage in aborting their own.

Please note the Hmong child's cap above .... Well done to the Hmong.

Here again is a good quote:

"Calling in the Soul" (Hu Plig) is the chant the Hmong use to guide the soul of a newborn baby into its body on the third day after birth. Based on extensive original research conducted in the late 1980s in a village in northern Thailand, this ethnographic study examines Hmong cosmological beliefs about the cycle of life as expressed in practices surrounding birth, marriage, and death, and the gender relationships evident in these practices. The social framework of the Hmong (or Miao, as they are called in China, and Meo, in Thailand), who have lived on the fringes of powerful Southeast Asian states for centuries, is distinctly patrilineal, granting little direct power to women. Yet within the limits of this structure, Hmong women wield considerable influence in the spiritually critical realms of birth and death.Patricia Symonds situates her study within the landscape of northern Thai mountain life and anthropological perspectives on the Hmong, and then focuses on "Flower Village," telling detailed stories of births, marriages, and deaths. Recurring motifs emerge: the complementarity of women's and men's roles in daily life and in the otherworld, and their reversal at critical moments; the importance of the brother-sister relationship; the social and spiritual significance of the ceremonial clothing women create, especially their embroidered "flower cloth" and the ambiguously nuanced sev, or "modesty aprons," they wear; the endlessly cyclical nature of life, from birth to death to birth again; the importance of sound and silence at times of transition; the complex connections between the land of the living and the land of the dead.Hmong women's primary source of power in the patriline is their fecundity, through which they influence key spiritual aspects of the life cycle. This value and power is evident in the division of bride-price into two parts: "milk and care money," which compensates a woman's parents for her upbringing; and payment for the "birth shirt," or placenta, of the child the young wife will produce. Through provision of birth shirts for fetuses and of elaborately embroidered cloth shirts for the dead, women literally clothe the soul through cycles of rebirth.An epilogue and appendixes provide a discussion of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the Hmong of Thailand, cultural factors in HIV transmission, and strategies for containment; complete Hmong texts and English translations of "Calling in the Soul," and "Showing the Way," the chant which guides the soul of the deceased through the land of darkness and back to reincarnation in a new body in the land of light; Flower Village demographic information; and an account of a shamanic healing and outline of Hmong health care issues in the United States.Calling in the Soul will be of interest to sociocultural anthropologists, medical anthropologists, Southeast Asianists, and gender specialists.Patricia V. Symonds is adjunct associate professor of anthropology at Brown University. She is the coauthor (with Brooke G. Schoepf) of HIV/AIDS: The Global Pandemic and Struggles for Control." -

Calling in the Soul: Gender and the Cycle of Life in a Hmong Village

By Patricia V. Symonds

Please see these additional links concerning the evil of abortion: http://www.blackgenocide.org/ and http://www.dr-tiller.com/

Hmong culture

Thankfully, it seems the Hmong do not engage generally in the damaging destructive practice of abortion. A real evil of the US.

This is a change of pace for this blog but important to remember.

Shroud of Turin show, Sunday Night

Excerpt:

"His (Raymond Rogers who worked on the Shroud of Turin Project) story will be detailed in a new Discovery Channel special with the working title "Unwrapping the Shroud: New Evidence." The program will premiere at 10 p.m. Dec. 14."- http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2008/11/shroud-of-turin.html

For all, it does not seem to be adverse to the Shroud being an authentic relic. There is plenty that has been written on the internet about what this show may be about.

Our Lady of Guadalupe- "Every day is a gift" book

For December 12th, this passage is used:

"Who is this arising like the dawn, fair as the moon, resplendent as the sun, formidable as an army?" - Song of Songs 6:10 New Jerusalem Bible

"Who is this that comes like the dawn...as awe-inspiring as bannered trooops?"- Songs 6:10 (NAB)

" 10'Who is this that grows like the dawn,
As beautiful as the full ^(A)moon,
As pure ^(B)as the sun,
As ^(C)awesome as an army with banners?'" Songs 6:10 (NASB) (Bible gateway)

"Douay-Rheims Bible
"Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?" - http://bible.cc/songs/6-10.htm

I believe the NJB, 1st quotation is to my liking.

The Shroud of Turin and Our Lady of Guadalupe are certainly interesting "Sacred Images": we all know the image and yet, there are many renditions of the original.

http://mattstone.blogs.com/photos/aboriginal_icons/shepherds_visit_jesus.html

New book on "Our Lady of Kibeho" released Nov. 28, 2009

Book on Rwandan Marian apparitions to be released on anniversary

By Regina Linskey
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Like many stories from Africa, the story of Mary appearing to three young girls in Rwanda "wasn't told" beyond the continent, said best-selling author Immaculee Ilibagiza.

So Ilibagiza wrote the first English-language book about Mary's apparitions in the 1980s at an all-girls Catholic high school in the remote Rwandan village of Kibeho, the only Vatican-recognized Marian apparitions in Africa.

"Our Lady of Kibeho" was to be released Nov. 28, the anniversary of the first apparition in 1981.

Calling "Our Lady of Kibeho" "the most important book I will write," Ilibagiza told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview Nov. 20 that she can remember hearing about the apparitions from her father at the dinner table, a place where her close family gathered nightly to share the stories of the day and talk about religion.

"My dad said, 'You won't believe what happened; the Virgin Mary appeared to a girl in Kibeho,'" Ilibagiza recalled.

She said she learned the details of the Marian apparitions from family talk, village chatter and the tape recordings of the visionaries and Kibeho onlookers that the local priest recorded and played to his parish.

But Ilibagiza said she wasn't exactly thrilled at the time that another girl saw Mary before she did. That year, Ilibagiza's fourth-grade teacher had told her class the story of Our Lady of Fatima, and the young Ilibagiza made it her mission to become a visionary. Ilibagiza, her best friend and her best friend's little brother pretended to be shepherds, just like the Fatima visionaries, and prayed that Mary would appear to them.

Initially, the local Kibeho priest, villagers and even some members of the Ilibagiza family thought the first visionary, Alphonsine Mumureke, was a liar.

"In my heart as a child, I believed it 100 percent," said Ilibagiza.- (please see link http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0805917.htm )

Here is the book's page at http://www.amazon.com/Our-Lady-Kibeho-Speaks-Africa/dp/140192378X .

So far, I am not finding this book listed at Leaflet Missal, a popular Catholic faith bookstore. ( http://www.leafletonline.com/catalog/Home/HomePage.aspx?

ROSARY FOR AFRICA

Today commences the Rosary for Africa project.

I am a sinner, but I do try to pray daily, I walked into a Eucharistic Adoration Chapel and I saw a man from Nigeria. His head was bent down in prayer and it made me remember how at the health club I had I had a friend from Nigeria; however, I had not seen him there at the regular time of 6:00 pm when he seemed to always go in. I wondered if the news I had heard about the riots and trouble in Jos Nigeria might have had any effect on him (see link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200812090037.html ). In adoration, I resolved that I should say a Rosary for Africa. At times, I believe we can pray for Jesus to give us a sign if he hears us. Some radio stations are playing Christmas music currently, I was listening to a station and soon after, this song came on and it has moved me to consider taking up projects positive for the situation there.

It's Christmas time
No need to be afraid
At Christmas time, we let in light
And we banish shade
In a world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world
At Christmas time

If I could say a prayer

And pray for the other ones
At Christmas time, it's hard
But when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing
Is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom

Well, tonight thank God it's them
Instead of you

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
When nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

Here's to you - raise a glass for everyone
Here's to them, underneath that burning sun

Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
When nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
<br>
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow

Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

- Do they know it's Christmas in Africa   http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/t/the_echoing_green/do_they_know_its_christmas.html "Songwriters: Geldof, Bob; Ure, Midge;"