A HUGE thank you to Maurice Lange for sharing these spiritually enriching reflections with us.

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” — (Isaiah 2:4)

 

REFLECTION: “We will move…” Remember a time when you moved. Moving is rarely easy: it involves sorting, packing…and letting go. Pope Leo has called us throughout his Message to be “collaborators in God’s work of renewal”. Renewal requires movement, thus a letting go. A releasing of former perceptions, habits, understandings – so that the new in “renewal” may emerge.

During this very recent Season of Creation: where did you move from and to?

 

ACTION: This Season of Creation has been completed, and, our work continues.

> What swords and which spears within our own perspectives need ongoing transformation into that which is lifegiving?

> Why not become the change you wish to see in the world?

> Your moving on animates others in ways you’ll never know.

>Your walking courageously along such a path of renewal fosters Christ’s peace becoming more evident in all of Creation.

 

“We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone… A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal.” (Laudato Si #202)

 

FULL REFLECTION: https://bit.ly/4jzTDD8

 

Visit the Presentation Sisters, US Province’s WEBSITE: https://bit.ly/4yVPDAN

The human embryo created by God is indeed sacred because it is a human person in its earliest stage. Sadly, the embryo is being threatened more and more and killed by many.

 

The embryo is made by God with the cooperation of a married woman and man in the Sacrament of Marriage. The main purpose of marriage is to give new life to our world as the married couple increase their love for one another. It is God who gives the soul in the embryo. This is confirmed in the word of God that we have read for years in Psalm 139:13-16, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

 

Sadly, the embryo is being destroyed more and more in various types of abortion. Abortion presently is the major cause of death each year in our country. According to reputable sources there are at least 1.1 million every year. More than 65% of those deaths are caused by abortion drugs sent through the mail with little to no medical oversight. In addition to ending the lives of babies, abortion pills are dangerous for the mothers who take them. These pills have been found to cause four times as many complications as surgical abortion. Each Parish should have well prepared people, especially women who can reach out and access parents who might be contemplating abortion or have had an abortion in the past. Compassion is at the very heart of this mission, because care for these mothers and babies are given hope and a future. The Human Embryo Created by God is Sacred 

 

Pope Leo XIV in his wonderful Encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, explores the foundation and principles of our understanding and appreciation of human life, especially human dignity which forms the basis of Catholic Social Doctrine as well as for the good of all humanity. Pope Leo stressed “that the dignity of every human being that having been willed, is created and led by God” and is unchanged and fixed – with God-given features of human nature. This comes from our being created in the image and likeness of God.

 

This does not mean, however, that our grasp of the depths of human dignity, of its contours and dimensions, or of the ethical demands that the recognition of that dignity entails, does not need to develop and mature. Precisely because it comes from our being created in the image and likeness of God, human dignity always remains an important measure, a mystery to be contemplated and plumbed more deeply.

 

READ FULL STATEMENT: https://bit.ly/48kAtKo

 

THREE PART HARMONY FARM FALL FEST

 

Come for the fall foraging, seed saving, art, food, and music!

“The Mining and Faith Reflections Initiative (MFRI) looks to a global mining sector that contributes to a just, dignified and flourishing life for all people and ecology. It supports global faith communities and convenes courageous, trusted dialogue encouraging continued transformation in the mining sector to ensure it serves the needs of humanity and ecology now and into the future.”

 

(Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI)

 

PROGRAM REPORT: https://bit.ly/4iwISQM

 

WEBSITE – Mining and Faith Reflections Initiative: https://mfri-global.org/

 

WEBSITE – International Council on Mining and Metals: https://www.icmm.com