There is a ritual on Holy Saturday night that never fails to move me to tears. After burning a bonfire outside and lighting the Pascal Candle, everyone enters the dark church. The main celebrant carries this symbol of Christ’s death and Resurrection and the lowers it so an altar server can light his own candle. From this single candle, the light spreads as each person turns to light candles all around them.
Soon the church is suffused in a warm light, comforting candle light. All is quiet as the priest slowly walks up the aisle to the main altar, chanting the ancient words,
” Christ is the Light of the World”
The state of the global community cannot be blamed on others because society is not some vague, esoteric entity that cannot be changed. Real, living, breathing people make up society. They can decide to affect humanity by loving each other, especially the weak, unborn or elderly as much as they love themselves. Each personal act of kindness affects all of humanity just as each act of violence and death weakens the fabric of society and strikes at the core of each man, woman, and child.
Mother Theresa understood this basic truth when she said,
I had never heard that quote from Mother Theresa, but I love it. Sometimes, I question the decision I made to leave academia and stay home to raise the kids. That quote came by at the perfect moment, just when I needed some reassurance. Thank you, Melanie!
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a word heard in my heart
YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE HELPING
BUILD MY CHURCH ON EARTH
WITH ALL YOUR RUNNING AROUND.
YOU ARE NOT HELPING ME
YOU ARE HINDERING ME,
ALL I WANT
ALL I NEED
IS FOR YOU TO STAND AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS
AND ALLOW THE FIRE OF MY SON’S LOVE
TO TRANSFORM YOU INTO HIS PRESENCE ON EARTH.
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Once Watchman Nee stumbled upon a famous evangelist in a back-water village in China. He lamented,
“You are wasting your talents here!”
She responded,
” If this is where God wants me, then this is where I will be have the most affect in the world for His Kingdom”
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“What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family”. I love that words. Thank you 🙂
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