Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Journeys End






Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.



We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.


You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.



Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.






Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. George Bernard Shaw





The single biggest problem in communication iis the illusion that it has taken place.  George Bernard Shaw




Pilgrims of Paris
We heard a call and turned our hearts toward home.
We were pulled by Spirit
Each one a thread of different color and texture.
We gathered in circle, entering the mystery from different points.
We moved, slowly, cautiously, with open hearts.
We walked along the path, sometimes alone, often with others.
We brushed shoulders, we followed, at times we moved aside,
To stand still in our own silence.
We shared stories, laughter, prayer, good wine.
We always were moving to the center of the labyrinth,
Mine, yours, ours.
And now,
We the Pilgrims
Leave our circle.
Like Ariadne, we carry our thread along as we leave,
to begin a new journey,
To a new center.
Amen                                           ( John Callahan)





Sunday, June 9, 2019

Among the Amish

Amish Community

Amish, also called Amish Mennonite, member of a Christian group in North America, primarily the Old Order Amish Mennonite Church. The church originated in the late 17th century among followers of Jakob Ammann.






History And Church Structure

Jakob Ammann (c. 1644–c. 1730) was a Mennonite leader whose controversial teachings caused a schism among his coreligionists in Switzerland, Alsace, and southern Germany.
Following Jesus’ example, he introduced foot washing into the worship service and taught that church members should dress in a uniform manner, that beards should not be trimmed, and that it was wrong to attend services in a state church.



The Amish began emigrating to North America early in the 18th century; they first settled in eastern Pennsylvania, where a large settlement remains.
Most traditional Amish are members of the Old Order Amish Mennonite Church. In the early 21st century there were about 250,000 Amish living in more than 200 Old Order Amish settlements in the United States and Canada; the largest were located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas.
 Their settlements are divided into church districts, autonomous congregations of about 75 baptized members. If the district becomes much larger, it is again divided, because members meet in each other’s homes. There are no church buildings. Each district has a bishop, two to four preachers, and an elder; but there are no general conferences, mission groups, or cooperative agencies.




Beliefs And Way Of Life

Humility, family, community, and separation from the world are the mainstays of the Amish. Everyday life and custom are governed by an unwritten code of behaviour called the Ordnung, and shunning (Meidung) remains an integral way in which the community deals with disobedient members. In formal religious doctrine, the Amish differ little from the Mennonites.



Religious services are conducted in High German, and Pennsylvania Dutch (seePennsylvania German)—an admixture of High German, various German dialects, and English—is spoken at home and at religious services. The services are held on a rotating basis in family homes and barns. A large wagon, filled with benches for the service and dishes and food for the meal that follows, will often be pulled to the host’s property. In most Amish homes a special place is reserved alongside the Bible for the Martyr’s Mirror, a book chronicling Amish history and honouring the many Amish, Mennonite, and Anabaptist forebears who died for their faith.
The Amish are best known for their plain clothing, most of it self-made, and nonconformist lifestyle. Men and boys wear broad-brimmed black hats, dark-coloured suits, straight-cut coats without lapels, broadfall pants, suspenders, solid-coloured shirts, and black socks and shoes. Their shirts may fasten with conventional buttons, but their coats and vests fasten with hooks and eyes. Men grow beards after they marry but are forbidden to have mustaches.



 Old Order Amish women and girls wear bonnets, long full dresses with capes over the shoulders, shawls, and black shoes and stockings; their capes and aprons are fastened with straight pins or snaps. Amish women never cut their hair, which is worn in a bun, and they are not allowed to wear jewelry of any kind. The Amish attire, which is essentially that of 17th-century European peasants, reflects their reluctance to change, their respect for tradition, and their interpretation of biblical strictures against conforming to the ways of the world (e.g., Romans 12:2).





Farming
The Amish are considered excellent farmers, growing and storing the majority of their food and purchasing in stores only staples such as flour and sugar. The Old Order Amish refuse to use most modern farm machinery, preferring the sweat of their brow over the ease of modern conveniences. What modern machinery they do use will often be operated not by electricity but by an alternative power source. 





Saturday, June 8, 2019

"Touchdown Jesus"

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME





'Touchdown Jesus'






Hesburg Library

The “Word of Life” mural on the Hesburgh Library, commonly known as “Touchdown Jesus” because of the raised position of Christ’s arms and its location directly behind the north end zone of the football stadium, was unveiled May 7, 1964, at the library’s formal dedication (the building had opened without fanfare the previous year). 





The mural has stood the test of time, and today is one of the nation’s most recognizable collegiate monuments and a main attraction for visitors to campus. Designed by artist Millard Sheets, the mural measures 134 feet high and 68 feet wide, and is composed of some 6,700 individual pieces of granite that form 324 panels. 






As suggested by Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., president emeritus of Notre Dame, the mural’s theme incorporates saints and scholars throughout the ages. “It’s like a kaleidoscope of personalities that make up the history of Christianity and pre-Christianity as well. It’s very rich philosophically and theologically,” Father Hesburgh said. Inspired by a passage from the first chapter of John’s Gospel, the mural depicts Christ the Teacher amid images of prophets and historical figures in Christianity in ascending order, with classical and Old Testament scholars near the bottom and Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance figures at the top. 





It was not the original intention for the “Word of Life” to become an athletic metaphor, but most agree that the mural’s status in popular culture is a pleasant fringe benefit. “Thinking of this as Touchdown Jesus was just not in my mind, or anybody else’s for that matter,” Father Hesburgh remembers. “And it’s become a kind of nice, friendly familiar name for this beautiful piece of art. “






Wednesday, June 5, 2019

A Journey


If we cannot imagine a time when the poor will hear good news, when the captives will be released, when the blind will recover their sight, and the oppressed will go free (cf. Luke 4:18), then we will be overwhelmed by the poverty, suffering, and injustice of our world.  If we cannot imagine a time when God’s will is done on earth as in heaven, then to pray the Lord’s Prayer is an exercise in futility.  








FROM FINDING NEMO TO FINDING PATO