The reason the photo has that name is 1) Greg walked to Mtskheta couples weeks before we walked together and went to Svetickhoveli, via this road 2) Monanieba (Repentance) has a part where an older women asks if the road she is on leads to a church. After hearing that it does not, she says: "what is the point of a road, if it does not take you to a church"...

The Most Rev. Joseph R. Cistone, Bishop of Saginaw, celebrated Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Saginaw on Feb. 18. To mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, Catholics receive ashes on their foreheads as a sign of repentance and mortality. The ashes come from blessed palms that were distributed last year on Palm Sunday and later burned.

 

The Church emphasizes the penitential nature of Lent and Catholics who are between the ages of 18 and 59 are called to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, meaning they should eat only one full meal and two smaller meals without eating between meals. Also, all who are 14 and older are called to abstain from eating beef, pork, poultry and food made from animal fat on those days and all Fridays during Lent.

I think in Simon's list of 50 best Suffolk churches, Woolpit comes in at number 31. It is now that I remember that I cannot remember why I should go to Woolpit on what would be the last of the EA church visits this year, as Mum was home and in the care of the district nurse, and there was nothing else we could do, not in actions, money or time given. She really has to stand on her own two feet now.

 

Anyway; Woolpit.

 

I decided to go, and after looking on the map I saw that with some create route planning, I could go down the 143, then double back and join the A14 eastwards before turning south down our old friend, the A12.

 

On the way I did also visit Stowlangtoft, which was a wonderful church, a church filled with wonderful things that seemed to hang together as a whole. Woolpit would have to be something special to trup St George.

 

And it nearly did. Nearly. Woolpit is a picture perfect village, all timber framed buildings, narrow lanes and impossible to park in. I drove through it finding a kind of space just past the church. I could see from the tower and building it was a church on which the Victorians had been very busy.

 

Most glorious is Mary's roof; double hammerbeam adorned with 208 angels one of the wardens told me. It had been counted several times during a dull sermon. Or two.

 

The wardens were building the crib for Christmas, so were using a pallet as a base, or something like that. I didn't see it finished, but Ken Bruce was booming out from a radio, preaching the Gospel According to Popmaster to all who would listen.

 

The angels in the roof and on the walls of the church are indeed impressive, as is the rood screen, but not sure if they are original. There are carved pew ends aplenty, but to my eye, not as well carved or as old as at Stowlangtoft. I could be wrong. But I snap a few anyway.

 

But I received a warm welcome here, and it is a fantastic church for me.

 

-----------------------------------------

 

2008: Woolpit is a village which I often visit, and it is always a pleasure to go into the church. But the entry for St Mary was one of the last on the original Suffolk Churches site, making its appearance in late 2001. In fact, I think it was the last of the old-style entries. I was getting a bit wordy by then.

Woolpit was one of the longest entries, and this wasn't just because there is so much to see. I went off at a great tangent about the meaning of medieval iconography, and how it survived the Reformation. It certainly got some thoughts clear in my own head, even if it confused other people. I actually wrote the entry in the back of an old exercise book sitting outside a café on the Cote d'Azur in southern France. Reading that back, it seems a little pretentious, but I really was there. Here in Ipswich on a frosty February evening, I can't help remembering the heat as I scrawled in the pad.

 

I've left the original entry almost entirely as it was, apart from the removal of one absolute howler, which I won't mention. I am not sure if Woolpit still has a Sunday market, and I am sure that someone will tell me if it has not. Paul Hocking is no longer Rector of Woolpit, but to my eyes the church continues to go from strength to strength, feeling at once busy and at the heart of its community, the still centre of a busy village. I like it very much.

 

2001: The clear blue waters of the Mediterranean swirl around my legs, then past me, buffeting the rocks along the silver beach. Millions of tiny flecks of mica swarm through the current, washed out of the hills of Southern Provence. They shine for a fraction of a second with all the light the high summer sun can give, a universe caught in a moment; then turn, disappearing, making of the water a shimmering skein, an ancient memory.

 

The sea is at the start of all European civilisation. Here, history wells about me. I think of Europe, and the fragmentation of nations. I think of the Balkans, and the Reformation, and the same water surrounding, tending, isolating. I think of time passing.

 

A week before, I'd been standing in the cool nave of the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, Woolpit - or at least, that is what it probably was once, back then. Today, it is dedicated simply as 'St Mary', in common with the majority of Suffolk's medieval churches, among which it is one of the finest, some say. This is mostly by virtue of its beautiful porch, and extraordinary angel roof.

 

But is that true? For there are those who love this church that, perhaps, never look up at the porch or roof. Is it the plethora of 15th century bench ends that captures the imagination? Or could it be Richard Phipson's outrageous 1850s tower and lacy spire, straight out of the Nene Valley, its evangelistic slogans around the side in a Victorian equivalent of Piccadilly Circus neon? It ought not to work, and yet it does. Or is it that supremely articulate view to the east, perfect of proportion despite the stripping away of its medieval liturgical apparatus? Above all else, and above most others, this is a church with presence.

 

It was the bench ends that I was thinking of as I immersed myself out of the intensity of the Provencal sun. A number of questions occured to me, as they have done on other occasions, in other churches. Who made them? What did they mean by them? And how did they survive the iconoclasms of the Protestant Reformation? Here in Southern Europe, I thought I might have found some answers.

 

Woolpit, then. It is perhaps the most perfect of all Suffolk villages. Not sleepy, and chocolate boxy, but to actually live in. Its shops and pubs are arranged around the pleasant village square, and Phipson's crazy spire towers above them. Woolpit still has its school, and you wouldn't need to get in the car every time you needed a loaf of bread, as you'd have to do in some of Suffolk's more famously picturesque villages, like Kersey and Tuddenham. And Woolpit has its Sunday market, beloved of hundreds of non-sabbatarian junk-hunters each week.

 

Further, Woolpit has its mythology; the two green children, who climbed out of the ground, speaking a strange language and afraid of the sunlight. The boy died soon after, but the girl grew up and married; she learned to speak English, and told of St Martin's Land, from where she and her brother had emerged. There are holes in the ground around Woolpit, quarries where bricks were made in the 19th century. But perhaps there was once something much older, for every Suffolk schoolchild knows that the name 'Woolpit' is nothing to do with wool, but with the wolves that once lived in the pits here...

 

So, it is a well-known village. It is because of this as much as anything about St Mary itself that makes this church so well-known to people who haven't heard of the even more interesting and beautiful church of St Ethelbert, Hessett, barely three miles away.

 

Your first sight of St Mary will be Phipson's crazy spire, visible from miles away, and quite unlike anything else in East Anglia. Suffolk is a county where spires are rare enough, anyway. From the far side of the Gipping valley you can see this one and two others, piercing the soft harvest mist in autumn. They are Phipson's equally absurd Great Finborough, and the 1990s blade of St Peter and St Mary, Stowmarket. There are only about a dozen more in the whole of the county. The excuse for this one was that the tower was struck by lightning in 1852, bringing down the previous lead and timber affair (presumably like the one at Hadleigh). The font is contemporary with the tower, suggesting that the old one was destroyed by the fall.

 

In the 1950s and 1960s, the artist John Piper produced a series of screen prints of aspects of Suffolk churches; for most, he used the fine perpendicular tower, ramifying it in bold Festival of Britain primary colours. But for Woolpit, he chose the porch, because it is Suffolk's finest. Cautley thought it the best in all England. It is two-storey, 15th century, contemporary with the nave. Mortlock tells us that they were both built by wealthy Bury Abbey, who owned the living here. As at Beccles, it rises way above the south aisle, tower-like in itself.

 

A rood group of niches surmounts the shields of East Anglia above the door. More flank them. Mortlock says that the work began in the early 1430s, and the niches were filled by a bequest of 1473, suggesting that the porch was forty years in the making. The south aisle and chancel are slightly earlier, the north aisle slightly later, so it is the nave that promises us great things, and doesn't disappoint.

 

You step into cool darkness, and look up. It is breathtaking. This is Suffolk's most perfectly restored angel hammerbeam roof. It may not have the drama of Mildenhall, the exquisiteness of Blythburgh, the sheer mathematics of Needham Market, but it shows us in detail more than any other what the medieval imagination was aiming at. From the still, small silence of the church floor below, you look up into a great shout of praise. Here are hundreds of figures, both angelic and human. The profusion is ordered, as if some mighty hymn were in progress.

 

Paul Hocking thinks that it is a representation of the Te Deum Laudamus: We praise thee, O God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord... To thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens, and all the Powers therein. To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth... The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee, the goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee, the noble army of Martyrs praise thee...

 

I know this, because he told me so. I was busy photographing bench ends when this very enthusiastic American bounced in with another visitor, and gave him a whistlestop tour of the church, describing the details with great knowledge and understanding. Solicitously, he talked to me afterwards about what I was doing, and asked me if I'd met the Rector of Woolpit yet. I said that I went out of my way to avoid Rectors wherever possible. He laughed, and replied that, on this occasion, I'd failed, because he was, in fact, the Rector.

 

After I'd coughed miserably, and he'd laughed again, we had a long chat, uncovering a few mutual aquaintances. He described the roof, which he has obviously spent a lot of time exploring. He pointed out the way the wall posts contained Saints, some with apostolic symbols, some with books, and some with martyr's palms. There are angels on the hammerbeams above, and bearing symbols below. John Blatchly counted 128 angels alone. Some of the shields have letters on them. Are they an acrostic, as on the east chancel wall at Blythburgh? Do they indicate individual Saints? The great Henry Ringham completely restored this roof in 1862, but Mortlock thinks that one of the angels is not his, and I agree - you'll find it in the south west corner. Paul Hocking argues that the restoration was nowhere near as complete as has been made out, and that many features are original.

 

Henry Ringham also restored the range of bench ends, by duplicating some of the medieval ones, as he did at Great Bealings and Tuddenham St Martin. All are rendered with his customary skill. If Ringham did restore this roof, then the imagery must have been destroyed at some point. One instinctively thinks of William Dowsing, the Puritan inspector of the churches of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, who progressed across the counties during the course of 1644. His delight in the destruction of angel roofs was matched only by that at the destruction of stained glass.

 

And Dowsing did visit this church. He arrived here in the afternoon of February 29th 1644. It was a Thursday, and he had come here across country from Helmingham, where he had found much to do. He also planned to visit Beyton that day, but in the end stayed overnight at the Bull hotel, and inspected All Saints there in the morning. He then rested for the weekend - the following week, he had a busy tour of southern Cambridgeshire ahead of him.

 

Dowsing records in great detail what he found to do at each church. In the case of Woolpit, the angel roof is the Dog That Didn't Bark: My Deputy. 80 superstitious pictures; some he brake down, and the rest he gave order to take down; and three crosses to be taken down in 20 days. 8s 6d. There are only two possible reasons why Dowsing doesn't mention the roof. Either he didn't notice it (extremely unlikely) or it had already been destroyed. This second option seems certain; mid-Suffolk was a strongly protestant area, and nearby Rougham, which clearly had a similar roof, was not visited by Dowsing, but was vandalised even more comprehensively than Woolpit. Most likely, the destruction at both churches dated from a hundred years earlier, although it is possible that the Rougham and Woolpit congregations had been puritan enough in the 1630s to do it to their own churches themselves.

 

Beneath the roof, the church is broad, its two aisles giving room for the panoply of medieval liturgical processions. At the east end of the south aisle was once the shrine of Our Lady of Woolpit, a site of medieval pilgrimage in connection with a nearby holy well. Apart from the front rows, many of the benches appear to be in their original positions. Some of the bench ends are 15th century, others are Ringham's 19th century copies. I wandered around the medieval bench ends, running my hands over them, crouching down and engaging them, face to face. For anyone educated in a Marxist or Weberian historical tradition, as most of my generation were, interpreting the less-obviously liturgical or theological features of a medieval church is fraught with difficulties. One possibility is to do a Cautley, and try not to interpret them at all. But it is more fun to try to do so, don't you think?

 

The bench ends of Woolpit are remarkable for their abundance. They are not representations of sacraments, virtues and vices as at Tannington and elsewhere, or Saints as at Ufford and Athelington. They are almost all non-allegorical animals, although not the art objects we find at Stowlangtoft, or the mysterious beasts of Lakenheath. Perhaps a good comparison is the similar body of work at nearby Combs. Indeed, although they do not appear to be from the same workshop, it is likely that their creators knew of each others' work. There are dogs, with geese hanging from their mouths, and another which may be a cat with a rat or lizard. There are lions and bears, and a chained monkey, and birds in profusion. So who did them, and why are they here?

 

There is one school of thought that says that they are simply there to beautify the church, and that they were made by local craftsmen doing what they were best at. If they could do lions, they did lions. If they could render a decent rabbit, then that is what they did. And so on.

 

But I think that there is rather more to it than that. On my journey down through France, I had spent an afternoon in one of my favourite towns, Autun, in Burgundy. One of the reasons I like Autun is its 11th century Cathedral of St-Lazaire; this is Lazurus, raised by Christ from the dead, and until the 18th century his relics were venerated at a shrine here. St-Lazaire is most famous for its great tympanum above the west door, generally recognised as one of the greatest Romanesque art treasures in the world, and with International Heritage status. It was created during the middle years of the 12th century, and shows the Last Judgement. To emphasise Christ's majesty over all the world, it features all manner of beasts, domestic, wild and mythical.

 

Throughout the Cathedral, animals infest the famous capitals, which tell the Gospel story. Abbe Denis Grivot, in his Un Bestiaire de la Cathedrale D'Autun (Lyon, 1973) argues that the 12th century creators of all this filled it with animals to echo the final verse of the 150th Psalm, the crowning point of that great sequence of hymns of praise: Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord!

 

Standing in the nave at Autun, I instantly recalled Paul Hocking's words about the roof at Woolpit, when he said he thought it was a representation of the Te Deum Laudamus. The Te Deum is one of the canticles; another is the Benedicite, traditionally sung through Lent: Oh all ye Works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise him and magnify him for ever... O ye whales, and all that move in the Waters, bless ye the Lord... O all ye Fowls of the air, bless ye the Lord... O all ye beasts and Cattle, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever!

 

Could it be that the bench ends at Woolpit, and elsewhere in Suffolk, were intended to reflect and represent the praise defined in the canticles and psalms? Both would have been central to the liturgy of the medieval Catholic church. Perhaps the bench ends of Woolpit are liturgical and theological after all.

 

How would a carpenter, or group of carpenters, go about creating a set of benches like the ones at Woolpit? Who were they? Almost certainly, they were locals. They might have been itinerant jobbing carpenters, but I don't think so. The bench ends at adjacent Tostock are clearly by the same hand. But those at nearby Stowlangtoft and Norton are not, and a third hand seems to be responsible for those at Combs, as I previously mentioned. I do not think that the mutilated ones at Rougham and Elmswell are either; they were probably from the same workshop as each other.

 

So, we have a conscious attempt by skilled members of a community to create a hymn of praise in carved oak, by representing as many beasts as they felt capable of making. Where did they get their ideas from? They would have had no problems with oxen, cocks, conies - these were all around them, in their daily lives. The person who carved the hunting dog here was very familiar with it. Perhaps it was his own. What about monkeys and lions? These are more problematic. In medieval bestiaries, exotic creatures had fabulous legends attached to them, which gave them a theological symbolism.

 

But this symbolism doesn't usually seem intended when we see them on bench ends. Sometimes they are rendered accurately, but more often wild animals are fairly imaginary; I think particularly of Barningham's camel, and Hadleigh's wolf. It isn't enough to say that the carvers could have seen pictures of exotic beasts. This is fairly unlikely. Probably, the ordinary people of Woolpit never saw a book other than the missals, lectionaries and hagiographies used in church.

 

They might have seen pictures of lions and monkeys in wall paintings, either in other churches or here at Woolpit. They might have seen them carved in bench ends, for the same reason. In fact, the representation of wild animals varies so much as to suggest that this is not the case - compare, for example, the lions of Combs with those of Stowlangtoft. Probably, they were created in the imagination from descriptions and attributes in stories. But I think that there is a strong possibility that the woodcarvers of Woolpit did see lions and monkeys in real life.

 

Here in Catholic Southern Europe, there are many remote small towns which, by virtue of being so very far from each other, take on a rich and complex life of their own. Even small villages have their shops, their craftsmen, their tradespeople; they replicate a situation that existed in Suffolk until well into the 19th century, and in some cases beyond, before the great industrialisation and easy transport swept it away. Further, there are traditions here still that we have lost. Whenever I come here, I am fascinated by the itinerant entertainers, who move from village to village, giving a single performance befre moving on. This must also once have been true of England. The thing that fascinates me most is the multitude of small family circuses.

 

Many of them seem to be of Italian or Romany origin; all family members have multiple roles, from the oldest grandparent to the youngest child, selling tickets, doing acrobatics, being the straight men to the clown (who is typically Grandpa). They all put up the tent before the performance, and take it down afterwards. They move on, through the remote hills of Provence and the Languedoc, performing on village greens, wastegrounds, the corners of fields, even traffic islands.

 

As I say, I am fascinated, and can rarely resist them, even though I am shocked, even appalled, by the easy cruelty to animals. Performing animals are still often chosen for their curiosity value, if you can call running around in a circle to the crack of a whip 'performing', poor things.

 

The choices are strange indeed; camels and zebras often feature; I have seen an old bear on a chain, and at one circus in remote Languedoc a hippopotamus of all things - it caught bread thrown by the crowd. There was no safety fence between the seats and the ring, no Health and Safety Executive to penetrate these lost valleys. I do not know if such circuses existed in medieval Suffolk. But I think that they probably did. Suffolk is a maritime county, and exotic animals were widely known and exhibited in medieval Europe. Before the Protestant Reformation cut us of from the mainland, clerics and merchants thought of themselves as European, and travelled widely - English sovereignty was a hazy concept at best, and 'Britishness' was still centuries away from being formulated as an idea. People owed allegiance to their village, their parish, and their lord, not to the Crown and Parliament in London.

 

Were the woodcarvers of Woolpit and Tostock remembering this? A circus visit, perhaps back in their childhood? Exotic animals rendered inaccurately, to be sure, but with an enthusiastic nostalgia for that exciting moment in their lives? Was there a lion? A monkey, or a bear? How much more powerful if they also knew the fabulous legends about the beasts - and had seen them in real life!

 

Some of the carvings at Woolpit are allegorical. One shows a monkey dressed in monk's robes. This, I think, is a joke at the expense of the itinerant friars who went from parish to parish, preaching repentance in the streets. They were sanctioned by the Pope, but were beyond the jurisdiction of the local Bishop. They didn't always go down well with the local Priest and congregation, who considered the Friars nosey and hypocritical. A monkey is often a symbol of foolish vanity - hence, a Friar thinking he was better than anyone else. What better way to make the point than to slip him in as one of the creatures praising the Lord?

 

How did they survive? But why should they have been destroyed? We make the mistake of thinking of the Puritans as vandals. But the more you read about William Dowsing, the more he emerges as being a principled, conservative kind of chap, despite his clearly flawed and fundamentalist theological opinions. He had no reason to destroy animal bench ends. They weren't superstitious - even Dowsing didn't think Catholics worshipped animals. If he didn't think they were meant to represent the canticles, he wouldn't even have considered them religious. Amen to that.

 

So much for the 17th century. What about the 19th? St Mary is one of the most enthusiastically restored of Suffolk's churches, despite its survivng medieval detail. But it was done well. Mortlock thought that the 19th century pulpit was the work of Ringham - but the brass lectern is pre-Reformation, a fine example. The rood screen dado panels have sentimental 19th century Saints on them, that may or may not duplicate what was there before. They are actually very good, particularly the gorgeous Mary of Magdala. They have their names painted on the cross beams for the less hagiologically articulate Victorians - from left to right across the aisle they are Saints Barbara, Felix, Mary of Magdala, Peter, Paul, Mary, Edmund and Etheldreda. It is unlikely that Saint Felix would have been on a medieval roodscreen, and Mary almost certainly wasn't - it would have relegated her to a position of no more importance than the others. If it reflects anything of what was there before, it was probably St Anne with the infant Virgin.

 

The top part of the screen was renewed in 1750, and dated so. The gates are probably a Laudian imposition of 120 years earlier, as at Kedington. This may suggest that, by the time of Dowsing's visit, the chancel was being used for some other practical purpose. Above, high above, set in the east nave wall over the chancel arch, is one of the wierdest objects I've seen in a medieval church. It was installed in the 1870s, and is clearly meant to echo the coving of a rood loft. Goodness knows what it actually is, but it is painted in garish colours, and inscribed with texts. In one of those moments where Cautley and credibility part company, he describes anyone who doesn't think it is a genuine medieval canopy of honour as 'stupid'. I suppose that it has a certain curiosity value.

 

The three-light window above it would have given light to the rood. The east window contains one of Suffolk's best modern Madonna and child images which was made by the artist Ian Keen for the King workshop in the early 1960s. Ian Keen was also responsible for the beautiful St Margaret in St Margaret's church in Norwich, and for the memorable window of St Francis with a labrador at Somerleyton near Lowestoft.

 

I turned back westwards, past a superb medieval bench end of the three Marys. This is a delight, and you'd travel to London to see it if it was in the V&A. Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary the mother of James and Mary of Magdala huddle together, perhaps on the morning of the Resurrection. One of them has a lily of the Annunciation. One head is destroyed - but was it vandalised? Or is it the result of carelessness, the wear and tear of the centuries? Would 17th century puritans have destroyed it if they'd seen it?

 

Dowsing rarely mentions bench ends, so perhaps few were left by then anyway. So how could it possibly have survived the violent zeal of the 16th century Protestants, battering the Church of England into existence with their axes, pikes and bonfires? How, even after the 1540 edict of Edward VI which ordered the destruction of all statues and images of Saints, especially those of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is it still there at all?

Still more questions than answers, I suppose. I dived beneath the water, and there was beneath me a restless current, shifting and reshifting the silver sand into unique patterns, the work of millennia, still changing, never the same.

 

- le Rayol Canadel, Cote d'Azur, August 2001.

 

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/woolpit.htm

BREAKING: New Book on #AnnCoulter – Joker: Ann Coulter Unplugged – at bit.ly/2TttHtF.

  

Joker: Ann Coulter Unplugged is the definitive (holistic) exposé of polemicist and Alt-Right icon Ann Coulter.

 

Joker: Ann Coulter Unplugged is available at www.coulterwatch.com/joker.pdf.

 

Joker examines her words, actions, and worldview with startling observations and shattering conclusions. Joker explores her personal and professional agenda and the motivating factors which animate them. Joker reveals how Coulter came to become the person that people either love or hate and it reveals her impact in America and in the world.

 

From where do the contradictions and conundrums in Coulter’s life, work, and worldview arise? What are her (and their) emotional, psychological, and spiritual roots and what are the resulting political, cultural, and spiritual ramifications for America and the world?

 

Joker answers these questions and so much more.

 

A Pastoral Letter on the Iraq War From the Collegium of Officers of the United Church of Christ

Category: Religion and Philosophy

  

..>

..> Written by Collegium of Officers

June 22, 2007

 

Call for an End to the Bloodshed: Sign the Petition to End the Iraq War

 

"God expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry."

(Isaiah 5.7)

 

The war in Iraq is now in its fifth year. Justified as a means to end oppression, this war has imposed the new oppression of terror on the people of Iraq. Justified as the only way to protect the world from weapons of mass destruction, this war has led to the massive destruction of communal life in Iraq. Justified as a means to end the rule of terror, this war has bred more terror. Every day we look for justice, but all we see is bloodshed. Every day we yearn for righteousness, but all we hear is a cry.

 

Thousands of precious American lives have been lost; thousands more have been altered forever by profound injuries. We grieve each loss and embrace bereaved families with our prayers and compassion. Tens of thousands more innocent Iraqi lives are daily being offered on the altar of preemptive war and sectarian violence. They, too, are precious, and we weep for them. In our name human rights have been violated, abuse and torture sanctioned, civil liberties dismantled, Iraqi infrastructure and lives destroyed.. Billions of dollars have been diverted from education, health care, and the needs of the poor in this land and around the world. Efforts to restrain the real sources of global terrorism have been ignored or subverted. Trust and respect for the United States throughout the world has been traded for self-serving political gain. Every day we look for justice, but all we see is bloodshed. Every day we yearn for righteousness, but all we hear is a cry.

 

We confess that too often the church has been little more than a silent witness to evil deeds. We have prayed without protest. We have recoiled from the horror this war has unleashed without resisting the arrogance and folly at its heart. We have been more afraid of conflict in our churches than outraged over the deceptions that have killed thousands. We have confused patriotism with self-interest. As citizens of this land we have been made complicit in the bloodshed and the cries. Lord, have mercy upon us.

 

In the midst of our lament we give thanks - for pastors and laity who have raised courageous voices against the violence and the deceit, for military personnel who have served with honor and integrity, for chaplains who have cared for soldiers and their families with compassion and courage, for veterans whose experience has led them to say, "no more," for humanitarian groups, including the Middle East Council of Churches, who have cared for the victims of violence and the growing tide of refugees, for the fragile Christian community in Iraq that continues to bear witness to the Gospel under intense pressure and fear, for public officials who have challenged this war risking reputation and career. The Gospel witness has not been completely silenced, and for this we are grateful.

 

Today we call for an end to this war, an end to our reliance on violence as the first, rather than the last resort, an end to the arrogant unilateralism of preemptive war. Today we call for the humility and courage to acknowledge failure and error, to accept the futility of our current path, and we cry out for the creativity to seek new paths of peacemaking in the Middle East, through regional engagement and true multinational policing. Today we call for acknowledgement of our responsibility for the destruction caused by sanctions and war, thereby, we pray, beginning to rebuild trust in the Middle East and around the world. Today we call for repentance in our nation and for the recognition in our churches that security is found in submitting to Christ, not by dominating others.

 

To this end may we join protest to prayer, support ministries of compassion for victims here and in the Middle East, cast off the fear that has made us accept the way of violence and return again to the way of Jesus. Thus may bloodshed end and cries be transformed to the harmonies of justice and the melodies of peace. For this we yearn, for this we pray, and toward this end we rededicate ourselves as children of a loving God who gives "light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

  

..> John H. Thomas Linda Jaramillo Edith A. Guffey José A. Malayang Cally Rogers-Witte

..>

 

Endorsed By:

 

..> Douglas E. Anders

South Central Conference

 

Jim Antal

Massachusetts Conference

 

Charles P. Barnes

Rhode Island Conference

 

Geoffrey A. Black

New York Conference

 

Charles Buck

Hawaii Conference

 

Char Burch

Missouri Mid-South Conference

 

Stephen C. Camp

Southern Conference

 

Nick Carter

Andover Newton Theological School

 

Marja Coons-Torn

Penn Central Conference

 

Davida Crabtree

Connecticut Conference

 

John R. Deckenback

Central Atlantic Conference

 

Timothy C. Downs

Southeast Conference

 

Roddy Dunkerson

Nebraska Conference

 

David R. Gaewski

Maine Conference

 

John M. Gantt

Central Pacific Conference

 

Mary Susan Gast

California, Nevada Northern Conference

Stephen C. Gray

Indiana-Kentucky Conference

 

David M. Greenhaw

Eden Theological Seminary

 

David Hansen

Kansas-Oklahoma Conference

 

Lark J. Hapke

Southwest Conference

 

Don Hart

United Church Foundation

 

Phil Hart

Ohio Conference

 

Jane Heckles

California, Nevada Southern Conference

 

Susan Henderson

Vermont Conference

 

Jane Fisler Hoffman

Illinois Conference

 

Randy Hyvonen

Montana-Northern Wyoming Conference

 

Jim Langdoc

Illinois South Conference

 

Koloman Karl Ludwig

Calvin Synod Conference

 

Alan N. McLarty

Penn West conference

 

William McKinney

Pacific School of Religion

 

Kita McVay

United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities

Alan C. Miller

Penn Northeast Conference

 

Gene E. Miller

South Dakota Conference

 

Mark Henry Miller

Pacific Northwest Conference

 

F. Russell Mitman

Pennsylvania Southeast Conference

 

David S. Moyer

Wisconsin Conference

 

Rich Pleva

Iowa Conference

 

Riess W. Potterveld

Lancaster Theological Seminary

 

Tom Rehling

Rocky Mountain Conference

 

C. Jack Richards

Florida Conference

 

Dan Romero

California, Nevada Southern Conference

 

Gary M. Schulte

New Hampshire Conference

 

Karen Smith Sellers

Minnesota Conference

 

Wade Schemmel

Northern Plains Conference

 

Susan Thistlethwaite

Chicago Theological Seminary

 

Kent J. Ulery

Michigan Conference

“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.- John the baptist when speaking of Jesus Christ, Matthew 3:11

ChroniclesofCSLewis.com

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BREAKING: New Book on #AnnCoulter – Joker: Ann Coulter Unplugged – at bit.ly/2TttHtF.

  

Joker: Ann Coulter Unplugged is the definitive (holistic) exposé of polemicist and Alt-Right icon Ann Coulter.

 

Joker: Ann Coulter Unplugged is available at www.coulterwatch.com/joker.pdf.

 

Joker examines her words, actions, and worldview with startling observations and shattering conclusions. Joker explores her personal and professional agenda and the motivating factors which animate them. Joker reveals how Coulter came to become the person that people either love or hate and it reveals her impact in America and in the world.

 

From where do the contradictions and conundrums in Coulter’s life, work, and worldview arise? What are her (and their) emotional, psychological, and spiritual roots and what are the resulting political, cultural, and spiritual ramifications for America and the world?

 

Joker answers these questions and so much more.

 

The Most Rev. Joseph R. Cistone, Bishop of Saginaw, celebrated Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Saginaw on Feb. 18. To mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, Catholics receive ashes on their foreheads as a sign of repentance and mortality. The ashes come from blessed palms that were distributed last year on Palm Sunday and later burned.

 

The Church emphasizes the penitential nature of Lent and Catholics who are between the ages of 18 and 59 are called to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, meaning they should eat only one full meal and two smaller meals without eating between meals. Also, all who are 14 and older are called to abstain from eating beef, pork, poultry and food made from animal fat on those days and all Fridays during Lent.

photo by Ian Lynas

Two years before Ken Williams passed away, the Inter ACCO1810A was still the mainstay of the school run and is shown after a repaint in the bus park in the centre of Lismore and about to return to Minyon and Repentance Creek in 1997.

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

 

Romans 8:28

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

   

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

 

Romans 8:28

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

  

Romans 8:28

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

  

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

By the breath of God ice is given, And the broad waters are frozen.

 

Romans 8:28

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

 

I had extremely low self esteem for pretty much all of my life. I was very overweight, and no matter what I did, I could never be happy with myself. No matter how I dressed myself, no matter how little or how much makeup I wore, I completely loathed looking in the mirror, and I cried very often about how ugly I thought I was.

ChroniclesofCSLewis.com

Blogpost about a children's song telling the story of a little strumpet... (?)

 

Critique discussion.

The same religious nuts from last year were back again. I'm not quite sure this is the crowd to demand repentance from.

 

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Standing on Trailtrow Hill, Repentance Tower formed part of a chain of defense posts which warned against English raiding parties who crossed the border.

 

This three-storey tower house was founded by Sir John Maxwell of Terregles in the mid 16th century.

 

In 1548 an English force challenged the Douglases at Durisdeer, who were under the charge of Sir John. The night before the battle, he had been bribed to change sides in exchange for the hand of Agnes Herries and the title Lord Herries. His treachery, however, cost the lives of 12 of his kinsmen, who had been held at Carlisle Castle as hostages, one of which was his 12-year-old nephew. Maxwell was said to have built the tower as a sign of his remorse.

 

Another version of the tale has it that Repentance Tower was so-called because Lord Herries built Hoddom Castle out of stones from Trailtrow Chapel.

Today's a rainy holiday here in Japan.

I dunno what holiday, and obviously not Maundy Thursday.

So lazy to go out and shoot coz it's pouring outside and very windy.

So dark and gloomy and boring here in my room.

Maybe today's the best time for repentance...

  

Images from the Prelude to Repentance, featuring Dr. Eugene Fracek at the 2014 Annual Conference Session. Iowa Conference photos by Arthur McClanahan

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, 18 where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.

 

Romans 8:28

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

   

Come, fill the Cup, and dream in the Fire of Spring

The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:

The Fairy of Time has but a little way

To fly--and Lo! the Fairy is on the Wing

 

Nice On large

Benin. West Africa.

Ouidah

 

The Slave Route

 

A monument called Zomachi, which symbolizes repentance and reconciliation, is especially poignant. There, every January, descendants of both slaves and slave merchants request forgiveness for those who perpetrated the injustices.

wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102011169

Standing on Trailtrow Hill, Repentance Tower formed part of a chain of defense posts which warned against English raiding parties who crossed the border.

 

This three-storey tower house was founded by Sir John Maxwell of Terregles in the mid 16th century.

 

In 1548 an English force challenged the Douglases at Durisdeer, who were under the charge of Sir John. The night before the battle, he had been bribed to change sides in exchange for the hand of Agnes Herries and the title Lord Herries. His treachery, however, cost the lives of 12 of his kinsmen, who had been held at Carlisle Castle as hostages, one of which was his 12-year-old nephew. Maxwell was said to have built the tower as a sign of his remorse.

 

Another version of the tale has it that Repentance Tower was so-called because Lord Herries built Hoddom Castle out of stones from Trailtrow Chapel.

Housed in the Palau Nacional (built for the 1929 exhibition), the National Museum of Catalan Art is home to a remarkable collection of Romanesque and Gothic works.

 

Many works from the Romanesque period depict images of hell, no doubt intended to scare the observer into repentance.

Ebot Paul is a firiend Djapi met in the Asylum proceediure in Austria year 200. When on a day, visiting Paul, Djapi having become a Muslim on the Two Years Destiny Road Journey, ever met most of the Africans, who still remained Christians as Djapi was aforetime. Therefore, it was permanently a serious matter between Djapi and them. For at Regular Prefixed times of Prayer, Djapi must vanish for the sake of Prayer. So was throughout along the time, Djapi's Conducts and Habits among the Africans friends. Djapi then Discovered and Found at Paul house, a "SMALL QUR'AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION". Though Paul was Christian, he but has the Qur'an with him, but Using it not. Djapi himself, though Muslim, had just a french translation one. Born and grew in the Cameroonian French part, though went to School, which "BILINGUAL", Djapi's "ENGLISH SPEAKING", was one of the poorest. The "STRANGENESS", will be that, since Djapi left Cameroon, English became the most "SPOKE LANGUAGE" worldwide. Djapi then began slowly to adjust himself gradually, and moreover mixed with the Nigerian who spoke but only "BROKING ENGLISH"; WHICH COMMON IN THE WHOLLE OF Africa. With them, Djapi had long time together, and every day learning from them some "VOCABULARIES". Hence, has gone to school, thence the grammary was not a very big trouble. Djapi then found unnecessary to Paul having the Unsed Qur'an. Of this Reason, they spoke a while about Religion, and Paul said to have visiting more than one Religion but in vain. Paul is Christian and used to go to Church. Paul found no problem on giving the "NOBLE HOLY QUR'AN" TO Djapi. Actually, Djapi took the "HOLY QUR'AN", but never ever had the "SPECIAL BLESSED TIMES and MOMENTS TO READ or STUDY/LEARN IT, THOUGH INTENTIONALLY WAS Djapi's WILL and PLAN OF COLLECTING THE "HOLY BOOK". TRULY IS TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED and RECOGNISED Djapi's "HINDSIGHT" BIHIND THE MATTER. ON December, 05/2002, when Djapi landed unto Austrian Prison, then become the time to "LEARN and STUDY THE HOLY BOOK". Djapi will then been brought to the Idea, by "PRINCESS DIANA, who, VISITING Djapi UNDER INVESTIGATION PERIODS, WILL CALLED ON Djapi's ATTENTION and MIND" saying out of Sorrow-Pity for Djapi : "Djapi, IT WILL BE BETTER TO You, TO BE READING SOME NEWSPAPERS or ANY MAGAZINES ON PURPOSES TO MAKE Yourself BUSY and AVOIDING USELESS-NEEDLESS-WASTES THOUGHTS. Luckily, ALLAH/GOD'S "PREDESTINATIONS HAD ALREADY MADE Djapi WELL PREPARED IN TIMES OF DIFFICULTIES, HENCE GREW INTO. TWO WEEKS IN DETENTION, Djapi THEN SOUGHT THE HEP OF Lady DIANA, ASKING and REQUESTING FROM Lady Diana, TO TRY and SENT TO Djapi Unto Austrian PRISON, THAT "SMALL QUR'AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION", WHICH LAID UNTO Djapi'S LUGGAGES. Lady Diana DID IT and Djapi "RECEIVED" THE VERY BOOK BY September ENDING.

INSPIRED, Djapi BECAME MARVELLOUSLY-MIRACULOUSLY-MYSTERIOUSLY-WONDERFULLY "THIRSTY OF KNOWLEDGE (Q:18:60)". Djapi WANTED TO "KNOW THAT WHICH Djapi KNEW NOT and WHICH GUIDES and LED Djapi UNTO PRISON": THEREFORE, Djapi "READ REPEATEDLY THREE GOOD TIMES THE NOBLE HOLY QUR'AN, EACH TIME , MAKING AN ASTERIC NEAR THE VERSE ON WHICH Djapi EARNSTLY-HONESTLY-REALLY TURLY ACKNOWLEDGED and RECOGNISED TO HAVE COMMITTED THESE VORBIDDEN THINGS". TTHE IMPACTS and CONSEQUENCES WITHIN Djapi WERE THAT. EVRYDAY, IT WAS AS BURNING UNTO Djapi's HEART. FOR SO MANY and MUCH WERE THE VERSES ABOUT THAT Djapi DID, WHICH ALLAH/GOD HAD VORBIDDEN. AT THE END OF THE THREE TIMES LECTURES and MOSTLY WHEN Djapi BEGAN THE "JUST-REAL -TRUE LEARNING and STUDYING, Djapi DISCOVERED and FOUND THAT, THOSE VERSES WHICH CAUSED-MOTIVATED MUCH PAINS {(Q:8:64),(Q:29:2)}, BECAME Djapi'S "BLESSEDNESSES DISCOVERED and FOUD HEURISTICALLY", with which AT THE END OF Djapi'S PRISON TERM, Djapi HAD "STORED (Q:94:1) ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM (Q:17:106); ABLE TO MAKE OF Djapi AN "INTELLECTUAL", WHICH Djapi WASN'T GOING UNTO PRISON: THESE KNOWLEDGES WERE DISCOVERED and FOUND BY Austrian Lady Andrea, who were to meet Djapi AFTER THE PRISON AS A "HOLY/SAINT", WHICH Djapi WASN'T AT THE FISRT TIME BEFORE PRISON THY MET PROMPTLY. SO WILL SAINT DJAPI CHARMED and SEDUCED Lady Andrea WITH SUCH "A GREAT KNOWLEDGE", PROVING-POINTING-SHOWING-SOTING OUT PERFECTLY SAINT DJAPI'S "RECEIVED KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM {(Q:2:26),(Q:2:269),(Q:2:245),(Q:6:108),(Q:7:12),(Q:8:29),(Q:96:6),..}

OUT OF THE PRISON, Djapi'S LIFE HAVE BECOME THAT "BEHIND REPENTANCE". FEW WERE THE PEOPLES ABLE TO "COMPRHEND and UNDERSTAND" SAINT DJAPI'S "REPENT LIFE {(Q:9:105),(Q:17:110),(Q:29:69),(Q:41:25)}". Paul is he that REALLY and TRULY STANDS IN SAINT DJAPI'S REPENTANCE DIFFICULT LIFE=NEW BEGING UNTO SPRITUAL WORLD and LIFE=SPRITUAL GROWTH=VERY DIFFICULT LIFE LEVELS/PHASES/STAGES/STEPS BEHIND REPENTANCE.

HENCE "FOR GOOD, NO OTHER REWARD OTHER THAN GOOD (Q:55:60)", SAINT DJAPI ONLY PRAY TO ALLAH.

"His GRACE METAPHYSICIAN GREEN MARTYR SAINT DJAPI".

"ye are nor have nothing without Repentance".

Good Luck!

A text study session, discussing Islamic and Jewish sources on the theme of 'repentance'.

 

The 'Healing Abraham's Family' journey to Faradis, Zichron Yaakov and Haifa, September 14, 2014. 40 East Jerusalem Palestinians and 40 Israeli Jews and Arabs joined for a day of 'being human' - touring, eating, praying - together. In the aftermath of the recent war, and ongoing tensions in Jerusalem, this day inspired us and all we met along the way, not to give into the fear and separation.

 

Hosted by the Abrahamic Reunion.

The Best Quran Recitation in the World Extremely Amazing Surah At Takwirs By Qari Jaber Al-Mahmud LIKE | COMMENT | SHARE | SUBSCRIBE ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Subscribe to QuranRecitation Channel for Unlimited Video 🇹🇻https://goo.gl/6e1FqG ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Surah at-Takwir (The Covering Up) This ‘makki’ Surah has 29 ayaat. The Holy Prophet (S) said that the person who recites this Surah will be happy on the day when the book of deeds of people will be opened. Whoever wishes that Allah (S.w.T.) should show him His Mercy on the Day of Judgement should recite this Surah. Recitation of this Surah is especially good for the eyes. It improves vision and removes any ailments of the eyes. Benefits of the recitation of the chapters of the Holy Qur’an The Verse “Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim” If we were to give an exhaustive account of the benefits of the recitation of “Bismillah…” we would need more than a single volume to do justice to it. Apart from being part of every chapter in the Holy Qur’an (except the chapter of repentance [Surah at-tawba]), it is also the most oft repeated verse in the Holy Qur’an. The Best Quran Recitation in the World Extremely Amazing Surah At Takwirs By Qari Jaber Al-Mahmud Quran Recitation, Quran Recitation Really Beautiful by Child Amazing Quran Recitation Surah Al-Qamar, Quran Recitation Most Beautiful, he Most Beautiful Quran Recitation, Quran Recitation Really Beautiful Amazing Crying, Recitation Really Beautiful Audio, Quran Recitation Really Beautiful Audio, Quran Recitation Really Beautiful mp3, Quran Recitation Really Beautiful Voice, The Best Quran Recitation in the World Extremely Amazing Surah At Takwirs By Qari Jaber Al-Mahmud It is narrated in Tafsir al-Burhaan that the Holy Prophet (S) has said that when a person recites “Bismillah...” then five thousand ruby palaces are built for him in Jannah Each palace has a thousand chambers made of pearls and in each chamber has seventy thousand thrones of emerald and each throne has seventy thousand carpets made from special fabrics and upon each carpet is seated a Hur-ul-Ein. A person asked for the condition necessary to get this great reward and the Holy Prophet (S) replied that the person should recite the “Bismillah…” with conviction and understanding. The Best Quran Recitation in the World Extremely Amazing Surah At Takwirs By Qari Jaber Al-Mahmud Beautiful Audio, Quran Recitation Really Beautiful Audio, Quran Recitation Really Beautiful mp3, Quran Recitation Really Beautiful Surah Mulk, Quran Recitation Really Beautiful Voice, Quran Recitation Really Beautiful by Child The Best Quran Recitation in the World Extremely Amazing Surah At Takwirs By Qari Jaber Al-Mahmud The Holy Prophet (S) has also said that when a believer will have to cross the Pul-e-Siraat on the Day of Judgement, and he will say “Bismillah…” then the flames beneath him will start dying down until Jahannam will cry out, ‘O believer, pass through quickly, your presence is causing my fire to die out !’ It is also mentioned that recitation of “Bismillah…” with a loud voice is from the signs of a true believer. Imam Ali Ridha (a.s.) said that “Bismillah…” is very close to the chosen name of Allah (S.w.T.) [Isma A’adham]. ▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۞۩ ↘Watch More↙ ۩۞ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ►►Amazing Quran Recitation Emotional crying Surah Al Aadiyaat bit.ly/2n30JEQ ►►Beautiful Quran Recitation Soft Emotional Surah Al Qadr bit.ly/2o16nqi ►►Quran Recitation Really Beautiful Amazing Crying Surah Az Zalzalah bit.ly/2ozuAlF ►►Beautiful Quran Recitation Emotional Crying Surah Abasa bit.ly/2nQhYs4 ►►Beautiful Quran Recitation Really Amazing Crying Surah Al-Hashr goo.gl/vSlWHw ►►Quran Recitation Really Beautiful by Child || Most Emotiona Heart Touching ll Surah Al-Mujadila goo.gl/MdVvUt ►►Quran Recitation Really Beautiful by Child Amazing Quran Recitation Surah Al-Qalam. goo.gl/B96XnX ►►Quran Recitation Really Beautiful Voice Surah Al-Muzzammil. goo.gl/V8hFYr ►►World's Best Quran Recitation Really Amazing Recitation by Child Hafiz Surah Abasa. goo.gl/HSRxIW ►►Quran Recitation The Most Soft Quran Ricetation Surah Al-MumtahanahQuran Recitation Really Beautiful Surah Ash-Sharh For Kids. goo.gl/jEJwJm ►►Quran Recitation The Most Soft Quran Ricetation Surah Al-Mumtahanah. goo.gl/mkdSp8 Enjoy and Stay Connected With US!! Like us on Facebook ift.tt/2mw4PU5 Follow us on twitter.com/QuranRecitatio4 Circle us on G+ ift.tt/2np9rJE Find us on ift.tt/2mw55CE

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New King James Version (NKJV)

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

 

Romans 8:28

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

   

A text study session, discussing Islamic and Jewish sources on the theme of 'repentance'.

 

The 'Healing Abraham's Family' journey to Faradis, Zichron Yaakov and Haifa, September 14, 2014. 40 East Jerusalem Palestinians and 40 Israeli Jews and Arabs joined for a day of 'being human' - touring, eating, praying - together. in the aftermath of the recent war, and ongoing tensions in Jerusalem, this day inspired us and all we met along the way, not to give into the fear and separation.

 

Hosted by the Abrahamic Reunion.

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.

 

Romans 8:28

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

 

The Most Rev. Joseph R. Cistone, Bishop of Saginaw, celebrated Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Saginaw on Feb. 18. To mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, Catholics receive ashes on their foreheads as a sign of repentance and mortality. The ashes come from blessed palms that were distributed last year on Palm Sunday and later burned.

 

The Church emphasizes the penitential nature of Lent and Catholics who are between the ages of 18 and 59 are called to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, meaning they should eat only one full meal and two smaller meals without eating between meals. Also, all who are 14 and older are called to abstain from eating beef, pork, poultry and food made from animal fat on those days and all Fridays during Lent.

مَّنْ خَشِيَ الرَّحْمَٰنَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَجَاءَ بِقَلْبٍ مُّنِيبٍ ⭐ Who feared the Most Merciful unseen and came with a heart returning [in repentance]. .🔸🔹🔸 لا يظهر صدق التقوى والخشية إلا حين تكون في الخلوة ! مع نقاء القلب 🍃🌸 فاحرص الا يراك الله في خلواتك إلا على طاعته🍃🌸 اللهم ارزقنا خشيتك في الغيب والشهادة.. 🍃🌸🍃 🔸🔹🔸 #تأملات_قرآنيه_Quranic_Reflections

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.

 

Romans 8:28

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

 

009.018 The mosques of Allah shall be visited and maintained by such as believe in Allah and the Last Day, establish regular prayers, and practise regular charity, and fear none (at all) except Allah. It is they who are expected to be on true guidance.

 

Al-Qur'an, 009.018 (At-Tawba [Repentance, Dispensation])

 

The Most Rev. Joseph R. Cistone, Bishop of Saginaw, celebrated Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Saginaw on Feb. 18. To mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, Catholics receive ashes on their foreheads as a sign of repentance and mortality. The ashes come from blessed palms that were distributed last year on Palm Sunday and later burned.

 

The Church emphasizes the penitential nature of Lent and Catholics who are between the ages of 18 and 59 are called to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, meaning they should eat only one full meal and two smaller meals without eating between meals. Also, all who are 14 and older are called to abstain from eating beef, pork, poultry and food made from animal fat on those days and all Fridays during Lent.