Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

[BarbTherese]

TWO FRONT WAR

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-it-not-a-good-idea-to-fight-a-war-on-two-fronts#:~:text=If you fight on two,weak fronts in vulnerable areas.

Edited October 18, 2023 by BarbTherese

[BarbTherese]

Religious aspect of the Israeli Hamas conflict, and what under lies it.

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/news/religious-aspect-israel-palestine-conflict

 

 

        

Truly in depth interview with Sr Ruth Burrows OCD

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2012-03/prayer-god-s-work

Quote

 

Every year, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams commissions a book for the Anglican Communion to read during Lent. This year he asked Ruth Burrows—known as Sister Rachel in her Carmelite community—to write a book on how to know God. Williams noted that Burrows's book Guidelines for Mystical Prayer changed his own life more than 40 years ago. Her Lenten book for 2012, Love Unknown, is about prayer and the Christian life. Her other books include To Believe in Jesus and Essence of Prayer.

What has been the greatest challenge for you in living the contemplative life and living in community?  MORE on above link

 

 

[BarbTherese]

  

[BarbTherese]

The Carmelite Monastic Vocation (from Quidenham Monastery)

https://quidenhamcarmel.org.uk/

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[BarbTherese]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin initially aimed to destabilize multiple European nations.

   

 

However, due to Ukraine's staunch resistance, Putin now finds himself in a position where he has to seek alliances with North Korea and Iran.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE https://www.dagens.com/news/putin-is-forced-to-humiliate-himself

As these crises are unfolding, in my book it is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alone that has any political integrity.

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China has significantly ramped up its nuclear capabilities, according to a new Pentagon report according to BBC.

The report reveals that China now has an estimated 500 nuclear warheads, marking a 25% increase from last year's count of around 400.

READ MORE HERE https://www.dagens.com/news/pentagon-announces-country-in-significant-nuclear-buildup

 

[BarbTherese]

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-where-are-the-worlds-ongoing-conflicts-today/

[BarbTherese]

Hymns are prayers in musical form.  The words can carry the intellect and the music the spirit with our lifting of heart and mind in a heartfelt "glance towards Heaven" (Definition of St Therese Lisieux for Prayer).

Putin was hoping that the Hamas Israeli war would draw the USA from Ukraine.  The USA has a bigger financial investment and return in Israel than in the Ukraine.  Hence the arms shipment Ukraine was expecting has been halved and sent to Israel. 

[BarbTherese]

What is Hamas? What you need to know about the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/10/hamas-israel-conflict-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-hamas.html

A ground offensive by Israel into Gaza now seems inevitable. The big question is what comes next https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/23/israel-hamas-war-what-next-if-israel-embarks-on-a-gaza-ground-assault.html

 

[BarbTherese]

 

 

The Destruction of Sennacherib

BY LORD BYRON (GEORGE GORDON)

The Assyrian (or the enemy)came down like the wolf on the fold,

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;

And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,

When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

 

   Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,

That host with their banners at sunset were seen:

Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,

That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

 

   For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,

And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;

And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,

And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

 

   And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,

But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;

And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,

And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

 

   And there lay the rider distorted and pale,

With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:

And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,

The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

 

   And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,

And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;

And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,

Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

[BarbTherese]

 Thank you so much for prayer.  The doctors discovered I am immune to the antibiotics normally used to treat my infected leg.  They increased the dose as a starting point and already I am getting relief from pain and my leg has started to dry out.  It is such a jolly release!

   

 

   

 

[BarbTherese]

I put the entry into the wrong place.  For latest news go to today's entry into "Private Vows/Spirituality".

[BarbTherese]

HOW BRITAIN BEGAN THE EUROPEAN BETRAYAL OF WARTIME PROMISES IN THE MIDDLE EAST:

 

     

[BarbTherese]

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"But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." https://www.compassion.com/poverty/suffer-the-little-children.htm#:~:text=But Jesus called them unto,in no wise enter therein."

 

There can come a time when The Spirit leads one into darkness, a place one does not want to go......but choice has been taken away.  One has no choice but to walk in the darkness in either trust in The Lord, or the complete lack of trust in Him.  One must choose - either or - and only in the ballpark of trust or lack of trust.

[BarbTherese]

THE WAY OF THE CROSS

There is a little verse I learnt in Primary School: "All for Thee, Sacred Heart of Jesus, O My Saviour, it is all for Thee".  Whenever I was suffering small or large, that was the verse that came to my mind and heart, to my lips.  It meant that I was nailed to The Cross with Jesus.  Nailed to His Cross and poured forth in His Sacred Heart in Love and Mercy for all His Father gifted Him; namely CREATION.  I was suffering to be poured out in Love and Mercy without exceptions for all.   Hence, I can state that most of my life I have been nailed to The Cross of Jesus.  Rare are the days I was not suffering in some form.

There is no magic in my little learned verse, it merely expresses poetically, the disposition of my heart and mind, of my soul.  You can do precisely the same with your own sufferings and difficulties; even make up your own little verse.

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Avoid M Scott Peck's book on the Road Less Travelled.  It is the Prosperity Gospel in a veiled form.  I don't think he even recognised this as the author of the work.  Suffering, to be suffering, is not alleviated.  If it is alleviated it is difficulty.  That is how I would express it anyway.  And our difficulties can be offered too to Jesus on His Cross. A soldier who looses both legs during war is not given both actual legs back.  He suffers.  He might get artificial legs and come to terms with his disability making his suffering, actual difficulties major or minor.d

Notice in St Paul, it is not until he is about to be martyred that he is gifted understanding and supernatural vision into his future in Heaven and what supported him completely out of his sight in all his years of suffering.  This is not revealed to him until he writes to his beloved disciple, Timothy, days before his death.

                             

[BarbTherese]

Trump trial: "In danger of imploding"  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/28/trump-fraud-trial-public-opinion

         

Edited October 28, 2023 by BarbTherese

[BarbTherese]

 

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/28/israel-hamas-war-live-israeli-bombings-intensify-as-gaza-goes-dark