Monday, December 24, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Article of Fr. Shay
A RENEWED WORLD
(Fr. Shay's columns are published in The Manila Times
and several other publications,
copy at no cost as is with acknowledgement)
Christmas and all it represents and stands for has to be redeemed. With the turning away of the western world from Christ and all he lived and died for, the spiritual meaning and value of Christmas has been lost to commercialism. Now children value more what they find in holiday socks than what they see in the Christmas manger, if they ever see one. They admire the twinkling lights more than understand the family that brought change and challenge to the world. A challenge to renew all humankind, bring dignity and equality to all, an end to hunger and disease, a world built on justice and truth. The festival that once celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, now celebrates the sum of all our possessions.
Many people wrongly measure themselves by what they own, possess and control rather than measuring themselves by their commitment and action in doing good for others. Christmas has become the worship of prancing reindeers and an obese man with a beard rather than the heroic self-sacrificing Jesus of Nazareth and all he stands for. We need to get back to basics.
Jesus brought into the world a whole new way of viewing the purpose and meaning of human life. It is a challenge for us to choose to serve others, to forget self and worldly ambition, throw aside the perverting desire for wealth, power, riches and to live with simplicity, compassion and care for those in dire need and not do it for a reward in this life or the next. Jesus called for the world to turn from oppressing and exploiting the poor and the weak and to do good, oppose evil ambitions, war, violence and the violation of people's rights. Christmas is a time to listen and respond to that call.
Although traditional Christian practice has waned in the western world and the great cathedrals and churches stand empty, the heroic values that Jesus taught and practiced continue to influence society, and are reflected in the lives of the good people of all religions that serve the poor and the downtrodden. Christmas has not been conquered, people just need to know and reflect on the words and action of Jesus Christ and understand His mission to be inspired. It's not a thing of the past. It's salvation for the poor and the oppressed in Chad, Sudan, The Congo, Bangladesh, the Philippines and for many millions of people around the world that cry and hunger for justice and peace, food and freedom.
There are heroic efforts being made by volunteers, relief workers, missionaries and all who serve, sacrifice and risk their lives to save and help others. Yes, evil abounds but virtue does also, we just have to know where it is and how to see and imitate it.
Christmas is about children above all. Starting with Jesus in the manger. There too, we see the parents, Mary and Joseph, peasants, poor and powerless. Yet the child who would challenge corruption, side with the poor and redeem the world, learned it from a mother of whom it was written that she would bring down the mighty from their thrones and lift up the downtrodden. In that humble birthing place, all human rights and especially women and mothers were exalted to their rightful places in the world. Only to be ignored for 2000 years thereafter.
The impoverished parents are the outcasts, the represent the asylum seekers, the migrants, the poor, the homeless, jobless and indigenous people. If Jesus and his parents stood at the immigration gates of the wealthy nations today, would they find asylum, a welcome, a safe refuge or a concentration camp and misery? When we see little kids behind bars, African mothers with starving babies in refugee camps, it becomes clear who are in need of redemption - those who pout them there and ignore their plight. We know that we have to embrace the meaning of Christmas as never before and get our life's priorities in order, putting people before parties, justice before jingles, right before wrong. We can be renewed this Christmas and make our community a better place for women and children. END
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Contact Fr. Shay Cullen at the Preda Center, Upper Kalaklan, Olongapo City, Philippines.
e-mail: preda@info.com.ph
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
PREDA Information Office
PREDA Foundation, Inc.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
(Fr. Shay's columns are published in The Manila Times
and several other publications,
copy at no cost as is with acknowledgement)
Christmas and all it represents and stands for has to be redeemed. With the turning away of the western world from Christ and all he lived and died for, the spiritual meaning and value of Christmas has been lost to commercialism. Now children value more what they find in holiday socks than what they see in the Christmas manger, if they ever see one. They admire the twinkling lights more than understand the family that brought change and challenge to the world. A challenge to renew all humankind, bring dignity and equality to all, an end to hunger and disease, a world built on justice and truth. The festival that once celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, now celebrates the sum of all our possessions.
Many people wrongly measure themselves by what they own, possess and control rather than measuring themselves by their commitment and action in doing good for others. Christmas has become the worship of prancing reindeers and an obese man with a beard rather than the heroic self-sacrificing Jesus of Nazareth and all he stands for. We need to get back to basics.
Jesus brought into the world a whole new way of viewing the purpose and meaning of human life. It is a challenge for us to choose to serve others, to forget self and worldly ambition, throw aside the perverting desire for wealth, power, riches and to live with simplicity, compassion and care for those in dire need and not do it for a reward in this life or the next. Jesus called for the world to turn from oppressing and exploiting the poor and the weak and to do good, oppose evil ambitions, war, violence and the violation of people's rights. Christmas is a time to listen and respond to that call.
Although traditional Christian practice has waned in the western world and the great cathedrals and churches stand empty, the heroic values that Jesus taught and practiced continue to influence society, and are reflected in the lives of the good people of all religions that serve the poor and the downtrodden. Christmas has not been conquered, people just need to know and reflect on the words and action of Jesus Christ and understand His mission to be inspired. It's not a thing of the past. It's salvation for the poor and the oppressed in Chad, Sudan, The Congo, Bangladesh, the Philippines and for many millions of people around the world that cry and hunger for justice and peace, food and freedom.
There are heroic efforts being made by volunteers, relief workers, missionaries and all who serve, sacrifice and risk their lives to save and help others. Yes, evil abounds but virtue does also, we just have to know where it is and how to see and imitate it.
Christmas is about children above all. Starting with Jesus in the manger. There too, we see the parents, Mary and Joseph, peasants, poor and powerless. Yet the child who would challenge corruption, side with the poor and redeem the world, learned it from a mother of whom it was written that she would bring down the mighty from their thrones and lift up the downtrodden. In that humble birthing place, all human rights and especially women and mothers were exalted to their rightful places in the world. Only to be ignored for 2000 years thereafter.
The impoverished parents are the outcasts, the represent the asylum seekers, the migrants, the poor, the homeless, jobless and indigenous people. If Jesus and his parents stood at the immigration gates of the wealthy nations today, would they find asylum, a welcome, a safe refuge or a concentration camp and misery? When we see little kids behind bars, African mothers with starving babies in refugee camps, it becomes clear who are in need of redemption - those who pout them there and ignore their plight. We know that we have to embrace the meaning of Christmas as never before and get our life's priorities in order, putting people before parties, justice before jingles, right before wrong. We can be renewed this Christmas and make our community a better place for women and children. END
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Contact Fr. Shay Cullen at the Preda Center, Upper Kalaklan, Olongapo City, Philippines.
e-mail: preda@info.com.ph
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
PREDA Information Office
PREDA Foundation, Inc.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Articles on Ecology
EARTH MEANDERS
Happy Holidaze Earth Scream
In the spirit of pointing out year-end holidays epitomize the
forces killing the Earth, let me share this vulgarity laced
appraisal of the state of being
Earth Meanders by Dr. Glen Barry
December 20, 2007
Earth Love
Wondering at the smell of wet Earth as the sun warms the tent.
In awe and a bit frightened of all things that crawl, run and
fly upon the Earth.
Practicing organic gardening and animal husbandry, knowing
where you food comes from even if your parents have to do the
killing. Squirting my little brother with goat's milk.
Earth. Lying on the beach watching meteor showers.
Experiencing the awe of wilderness. Primal. Scary. More than I
can handle. The way it has always been. And always should and
can be.
Simple rich living, this is my youth. And though I now "own"
this very same land, my awareness of the Earth's imminent
demise makes it very difficult to know peace and find the way
home.
Holidaze Destruction
How many ecosystems were destroyed to make your christmas
gifts this year? How much greenhouse gas was released and
violence done to workers, women and children for the designer
clothing and electronics that will be waste in a year?
Do your care that our crass consumerism -- yours, mine and our
neighbors -- destroys the Earth and all life? That we neither
know, nor belong to, ecology should trouble you, yet you have
turned your back, embracing inanimate things over creation.
Haughty, self-righteous super-sized consumers are a disease
upon the Earth. And frankly I am sick and fucking tired of it.
Why does beautiful, sacred creation have to end because of
sacrilegious, narrow-minded, self-serving and deadly economic
and religious dogma that grants the Earth little worth other
than when liquidated for resources?
Take your resource wars, intolerance, false superiority and
ill-gotten wealth and shove it up your asses. Go ahead and
worship the great pumpkin in the sky or whatever you want, but
only if you do not let millennia old hogwash stop humanity
from addressing nearly 7 billion humans devouring their
habitat.
Piss on false profits of all creeds. Strange how many faiths
teach to destroy creation for senseless consumption to
celebrate their messiah's birthday -- living in a manner that
assures their prophesies of an end of the world come true.
The root cause of humanity’s malaise is our inhumanity towards
the needs and suffering of other humans, life and the Earth.
How much longer can we pretend there are no limits to
humanity’s consumption, human numbers, and no imperative to
share the Earth's wealth?
As you eat delicacies from all corners of the world these
holidays and unwrap a pile of presents; think of those
starving and killed to satiate your insatiable appetite for
more of the Earth's bounty. Contemplate how your consumption
served up by corporations feeds this violent suffering and
destruction.
There has been a complete breakdown in humanity’s relationship
to the Earth, understanding of what it means to be alive and
our responsibilities to the ecological systems that make it
possible, and action equal and sufficient to achieve
solutions.
The human enterprise has expanded beyond its land and energy
base. The only way forward is to dramatically cut resource and
energy use, yet by doing so we will feel the full implications
of reduced consumption.
The alternative is to just ignore the situation and let full
collapse hit -- resulting in global death, mayhem, rioting,
murder and plunder. Like a cancer, unsustainable energy and
resource use must be excised now, before it kills the Earth.
Consume less or die. We will live more simply and reduce our
numbers or we will all die a horrific death. I am not overly
optimistic given global heating is destroying being and the
best human nations can do at Bali talks is agree to talk
some more.
Earth Scream
Fat politicians and the middle class sit with the Earth's
grizzle streaming from their chin this holiday season, selling
our children into hell on Earth for a few gifts. Where is the
outrage? And the action?
The world is dying. Humanity is a disease upon Gaia. The human
sickness fills natural ecosystems with our pus. Humanity is
already dead. It is just that the ecologically illiterate,
pleasure seeking rabble have not figured it out yet.
Scream. Of pain. As the Earth's water, air and land sources
are laid to waste. Where is the outrage? What shall we do?
Have another cocktail and open a present, or work tirelessly
to bring humanity back into the global ecological system?
There is a dearth of Earth leadership. Everything is dying.
Toxics pervade our very cells. The wind, rain and sun are no
longer assured, nor beyond human control.
The amazing hairless ape with the opposable thumbs that walks
upright does not even know not to shit where it lives. Its
civilizations and holiday rituals are built upon the slaughter
of life and the ecosystems that make life possible.
All of the Earth's ancient life is ripped asunder. There is
not a chance in hell that humanity can have a future when its
population continues to skyrocket and each human wants more
than the others. Where is the outrage? Where is the action?
Fuck civilization. Fuck you. You are the problem. So am I.
What to do? Where is the outrage?
Obsequious sycophant disciples of consumption daily drain the
Earth of her wondrous life juices. Will you and 7 billion
others change, and if necessary fight, to save creation and
stop the slaying of the Earth? Is there any hope or will
fleeting comfort win out over our needs from the Earth?
Happy Holidaze Earth Scream.
Happy Holidaze Earth Scream
In the spirit of pointing out year-end holidays epitomize the
forces killing the Earth, let me share this vulgarity laced
appraisal of the state of being
Earth Meanders by Dr. Glen Barry
December 20, 2007
Earth Love
Wondering at the smell of wet Earth as the sun warms the tent.
In awe and a bit frightened of all things that crawl, run and
fly upon the Earth.
Practicing organic gardening and animal husbandry, knowing
where you food comes from even if your parents have to do the
killing. Squirting my little brother with goat's milk.
Earth. Lying on the beach watching meteor showers.
Experiencing the awe of wilderness. Primal. Scary. More than I
can handle. The way it has always been. And always should and
can be.
Simple rich living, this is my youth. And though I now "own"
this very same land, my awareness of the Earth's imminent
demise makes it very difficult to know peace and find the way
home.
Holidaze Destruction
How many ecosystems were destroyed to make your christmas
gifts this year? How much greenhouse gas was released and
violence done to workers, women and children for the designer
clothing and electronics that will be waste in a year?
Do your care that our crass consumerism -- yours, mine and our
neighbors -- destroys the Earth and all life? That we neither
know, nor belong to, ecology should trouble you, yet you have
turned your back, embracing inanimate things over creation.
Haughty, self-righteous super-sized consumers are a disease
upon the Earth. And frankly I am sick and fucking tired of it.
Why does beautiful, sacred creation have to end because of
sacrilegious, narrow-minded, self-serving and deadly economic
and religious dogma that grants the Earth little worth other
than when liquidated for resources?
Take your resource wars, intolerance, false superiority and
ill-gotten wealth and shove it up your asses. Go ahead and
worship the great pumpkin in the sky or whatever you want, but
only if you do not let millennia old hogwash stop humanity
from addressing nearly 7 billion humans devouring their
habitat.
Piss on false profits of all creeds. Strange how many faiths
teach to destroy creation for senseless consumption to
celebrate their messiah's birthday -- living in a manner that
assures their prophesies of an end of the world come true.
The root cause of humanity’s malaise is our inhumanity towards
the needs and suffering of other humans, life and the Earth.
How much longer can we pretend there are no limits to
humanity’s consumption, human numbers, and no imperative to
share the Earth's wealth?
As you eat delicacies from all corners of the world these
holidays and unwrap a pile of presents; think of those
starving and killed to satiate your insatiable appetite for
more of the Earth's bounty. Contemplate how your consumption
served up by corporations feeds this violent suffering and
destruction.
There has been a complete breakdown in humanity’s relationship
to the Earth, understanding of what it means to be alive and
our responsibilities to the ecological systems that make it
possible, and action equal and sufficient to achieve
solutions.
The human enterprise has expanded beyond its land and energy
base. The only way forward is to dramatically cut resource and
energy use, yet by doing so we will feel the full implications
of reduced consumption.
The alternative is to just ignore the situation and let full
collapse hit -- resulting in global death, mayhem, rioting,
murder and plunder. Like a cancer, unsustainable energy and
resource use must be excised now, before it kills the Earth.
Consume less or die. We will live more simply and reduce our
numbers or we will all die a horrific death. I am not overly
optimistic given global heating is destroying being and the
best human nations can do at Bali talks is agree to talk
some more.
Earth Scream
Fat politicians and the middle class sit with the Earth's
grizzle streaming from their chin this holiday season, selling
our children into hell on Earth for a few gifts. Where is the
outrage? And the action?
The world is dying. Humanity is a disease upon Gaia. The human
sickness fills natural ecosystems with our pus. Humanity is
already dead. It is just that the ecologically illiterate,
pleasure seeking rabble have not figured it out yet.
Scream. Of pain. As the Earth's water, air and land sources
are laid to waste. Where is the outrage? What shall we do?
Have another cocktail and open a present, or work tirelessly
to bring humanity back into the global ecological system?
There is a dearth of Earth leadership. Everything is dying.
Toxics pervade our very cells. The wind, rain and sun are no
longer assured, nor beyond human control.
The amazing hairless ape with the opposable thumbs that walks
upright does not even know not to shit where it lives. Its
civilizations and holiday rituals are built upon the slaughter
of life and the ecosystems that make life possible.
All of the Earth's ancient life is ripped asunder. There is
not a chance in hell that humanity can have a future when its
population continues to skyrocket and each human wants more
than the others. Where is the outrage? Where is the action?
Fuck civilization. Fuck you. You are the problem. So am I.
What to do? Where is the outrage?
Obsequious sycophant disciples of consumption daily drain the
Earth of her wondrous life juices. Will you and 7 billion
others change, and if necessary fight, to save creation and
stop the slaying of the Earth? Is there any hope or will
fleeting comfort win out over our needs from the Earth?
Happy Holidaze Earth Scream.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
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