Charles Gesner van der Voort (1916-1991) had started his career in Rotterdam, at Holland-China Trading Company (HCHC). In 1938, he went to Shanghai for the firm. The Japanese interned him, and most other Dutch nationals, from 1943-45. In camp, he met his wife Nancy and they married after the war. After a leave in The Netherlands, they returned to the Orient, where Charles continued to work for HCHC in Hong Kong.

Royal Dutch Library has a great site for retrieving printed matter, especially newspapers. Several registrations of trade marks were found in Nederlandse staatscourant (Dutch State Gazette), accompanied by a drawing of the trade mark (Delpher.nl).

Hotz s'Jacob was one of the organisations which preceded Holland-China Trading Company, which was founded in 1903. One of the main products it traded was cotton clothing, produced in the East of the Netherlands, Twente.

The caption reads:

"14449

Naam van den inzender:

De firma Hotz s'Jacob & Co., te Rotterdam.

Soort der waren:

Katoenen manufacturen.

Dagteekening waaronder de inschrijving heeft plaats gehad:

23 januari 1900.

Het merk vertoont in een lijst, gevormd door gouden ruiten op blauwen grond, een Chinees, zittende op een rots met de voeten in het water, de rechterhand uitgestrekt naar een breeder wordenden golf, die uit het water ten hemel stijgt en waarin allerlei visschen, amphibieen en schelpen zijn afgebeeld. Een ander ligt geknield in biddende houding achter hem. De achtergrond wordt gevormd door een heuvelachtig terrein met boomen."

Courtesy Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Royal Dutch Library), Nederlandsche staatscourant, 1 February 1900

This trade mark was also registered in Hong Kong. The 19 January 1901 Hongkong Government Gazette reads:

"The trade marks ordinance, 1898

Application for Registration of Trade Marks.

Notice is hereby given that Messrs. Hotz S'Jacob and Company have, on the 26th day of September 1900, applied for the registration in Hongkong, in the Register of Trade Marks the following Trade Marks:

...

5. The figure of a Chinaman sitting on a rock with his feet in the water. His right hand is stretched out pointing to a woman kneeling beside him as if supplicating him a waterspout with all sorts of fishes, shells, &c.

...

in the name of Hotz S'Jacob and Company, who claim the be the sole proprietors thereof. The Trade Marks are intended to be used by the applicants in the respect of the Cotton Piece Goods of all kinds in Class 24.

Facsimiles of the Trade Marks can be seen at the Office of the Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong and also at the Office of the undersigned.

Dated the 12th day of November, 1900.

Wilkinson & Grist,

Solicitors for the Applicants,

70, Queens Road, Hongkong."

This trademark was transferred to Holland-China Trading Company in 1904.

The Hongkong Government Gazette, 12 August 1904:

"Government notification. - No. 567.

Notice is hereby given that Mrssrs. Hotz s'Jacob & Company have by assignment transferred their nineteen (19) trade marks (15 registered on 20th March, 1901, in respect of Cotton piece goods of all kinds in class 24; 1 registered on 29th November, 1901, in respect of Condensed milk, cocoa and chocolate in Class 42; and 3 registered on 29th November, 1901, in respect of Sewing cotton on spools or reels in Class 23) to the Holland-China Handels Compagnie (Holland-China Trading Company) of Rotterdam in the Kingdom of Holland.

By command,

F.H. May,

Colonial Secretary.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 11th August, 1904."

Courtesy Hong Kong University Library, lib.hku.hk/database/

Kot Abdullah is a small village located some 42 kms on Narowal Murideke road. A 5 km village road in North West direction connects Kot Abdullah to village Kotli Maqbara. Further half kilometer northeast of Kotli Maqbra, a magnificent Octagonal Mughal edifice raised from ground having four minarets on each side. This edifice is Mausoleum of “Abdul Nabi”. Like all other historical buildings in country same vandalism found here. The story of ignorance and negligence towards historical heritage. A marvelous Architecture but it is almost collapsing right now.

Aown Ali is a key member of Oriental architecture for Pakistan, Aown in his article, Who lies Beneath Kotli maqbr? That is written:

“This beautiful Mughal monument has not received any attention from British historians and archaeologists and this disinterest continued in the post partition era, eventually leading to its dilapidation.

The minarets are quite similar to the early 17th century buildings like Jahangir Tomb, Dai Anga Mosque and the Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore. The arched entrance to the underground grave chamber is on the southern side, with three graves wrapped in green silk sheets that bear Islamic inscriptions on them.”

Also great historian Sir Salman Rashid in his blog, How a Saint is Born, Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2012 that is written:

“….Wahndo in Gujranwala district is famous only for lawlessness. But there is, near this town, the small village of Kotli Maqbara with an imposing domed Mughal structure in the fields outside the habitation. The ground floor is plain while the basement has three graves. Its minarets recall those of Chauburji in Lahore and, therefore, give us a date of construction.

In November 1991, when I was working on my book on Gujranwala, I thought I had discovered a monument that had escaped the official eye. But my mentor Dr Saifur Rahman Dar told me that this building was mid-17th century and housed the mortal remains of Divan Abdul Nabi Khan, the governor of Wazirabad, successively under Shah Jehan andAurangzeb.

On my first visit, I was told that the building was raised by jinns and was locally known as Deo Minara — Minaret of the Jinn. No one knew who was interred within and the usual refrain was, ‘It’s been there since the time of our grandfathers and nobody knows anything about it.’ In Punjabi plain-speak, this means it could either be millions of years old or one hundred.

There was one interesting story in November 1991: a woman had, of late, started to visit the mausoleum. She dismounted from her escort’s motorcycle some ways away and came dancing to the tomb where she did all sorts of genuflexions at the subterranean graves. She told the people that a vision in her dream had informed her that these three were great heroes of Islam, who had come from Arabia and whose exertions had done much for religion in the heathen land of India. My investigations revealed that this seer of visions was a superannuated dancing woman and prostitute from Chhicherwali, a village outside Gujranwala.

Exactly a year later, November 1992, I took a bunch of college students from Lahore to Kotli Maqbara. Some local hangers-on warned me this being the hallowed burial of a great man of God, we could not go in with our shoes on. We went in nevertheless.

Done with our excursion, our bunch was at the nearby hand pump where we were joined by a group of young men from the village. I was telling the kids about Abdul Nabi Khan when one of the locals interrupted me. What on earth was I babbling on about, he demanded to know. Everyone knew that the tomb housed three saints. The man also said I could believe what I wanted, but everyone knew how supplication at the tomb was answered quickly.

Since when, I asked. And the answer: “This has always happened since the time of our grandfathers. Everyone knows of it.” However, none of the locals could give us the saints’ names.

Nine years later, in early 2001, I returned to Kotli Maqbara. The entrance to the underground burial chamber was now draped with the signature green satin of holy Islamic burials. The new steel signboard had names: Hazrat Pir Makki Shah and Hazrat Pir Atray Shah. The first one was understandable: you want to create a saint, just name him Makki Shah — from Mecca — and you get a ready-made saint. The second name was inexplicable and the third was evidently under consideration.

I went into the village and asked around. Of course, the names had been known since the time of the grandfathers. If no one remembered what the past was like only a year after it had been reinvented, it was foolish to imagine they would now want to recall the time before 1991, 10 years later.

There were stories about how supplicants’ wishes simply came true as soon as they put their foreheads to the ground in front of the graves. Now people took off their shoes about a hundred metres from the plinth of the building. There was a weekly Thursday festival and an annual ursto celebrate the death of Makki Shah. No prizes for guessing who took the pickings from the business: none but the woman from Chhicherwali, who had retired from selling her virtue — though, if she had any is questionable.

Strange place, Pakistan. Tell the truth and watch it rejected; whisper some inane notion to the winds and it becomes gospel.”http://aliusmanbaig.blogspot.com/2016/01/kotli-maqbara-moselousm-of-abdul-nabi.html

The unhappy love of Phaedra towards Hippolytus was carved several times on Roman sarcophagi. The sculptors represented this myth in two variants, both organized into two panels. The scene carved on the leftmost panel is always the same. It represents the main characters in their house: Phaedra with her nurse surrounded by some handmaids, and Hippolytus ready for the hunt. The two versions differ for the subject carved on the rightmost panel. This sarcophagus is an example of the first variant in which the heroic scene of wild boar hunting follows the domestic scene.

In more recent time the hunting scene is been substituted with a scene involving other characters and temporally and geographically distant from the previous one: the arrival of the delegation sent to Athens to inform Theseus about the death of his son Hippolytus, (2nd variant dating from 2nd half of III cent. AD.).

An archway divides the front panel of the sarcophagus into two halves. At the far left of the frieze sits the richly dressed Phaedra. Overcome by her longing for her handsome stepson, she has turned her head towards a female servant standing behind her; to her right another servant props her chin in her hand, either listening or thinking. The lovesick heroine is portrayed as a respectable and desirable woman of high social standing. Eros leaning on a torch at her feet, represents her desire for Hippolytus, who is preparing to depart for the hunt. He holds a spear or lance in his left hand and wears only a chlamys, and stands near his horse. His heroic body contrasts effectively with the flaccid, wrinkled skin of the old nurse behind him. She is holding out her left hand in entreaty or supplication, and has brought her right hand to her mouth in an ambiguous gesture. Two servants accompany Hippolytus: a younger man who carries a throwing-spear over his left shoulder, and an older one with a beard and ‘barbarian‘ features, who takes charge of two valuable hunting-dogs.

Beyond the wall limiting the domestic ambience, in the right half of the frieze, Hippolytus is engaged in his favorite activity: the hunting. Riding his horse, he is about to throw his spear against a wild boar suddenly came out from the trees. One of his dogs has already bitten a leg of the beast. Hippolytus is accompanied by a man riding beside him, and by a woman dressed as an Amazon. This female character is “Virtus”, the goddess who personifies the value and the strength of the warrior.

Source: Zanker P. & Ewald BC., “Vivere con i Miti. L’iconografia dei sarcogagi Romani”

Marble sarcophagus

L. 211 cm.; H. 55 cm.

Early 3rd century AD

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi

Copies of prints from beginning to middle of album of photos taken by Billy Crowle during trip to St Louis Exhibition . All undated and no descriptions.

"In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek."

– Hebrews 5:7-10.

Today, the Thursday after Pentecost is the feast of Christ the Eternal High Priest.

This stained glass window of the Christ's Sacrifice presented in the Mass is from the so-called 'Charnel Cloister' of the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris.

Ajax seizing crouching Cassandra before the Palladion

(It looks like Ajax is fighting with the statue of Athena, so the two are almost head to head. Little Cassandra, on the other hand, is crouching on the ground in front of the statue. Ajax is described in antiquity as a giant.)

[570-560BCE]

Kylix Siana cup

London BM 1885,1213.11

Attributed to The C Painter

Made in: Attica (Greece)

Findspot: Dodecanese: Rhodes: Siana

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Interior, in a medallion with borders of dots and tongue-pattern: Ajax seizing Cassandra at the Palladion: Ajax to right, bearded, with high-crested helmet, white cuirass with incised lines, short purple chiton with chevron border, purple greaves, sword-belt and sheath, drawn sword in right hand, is about to slay Cassandra, whom he has seized with left hand. She crouches to left at the feet of the Palladion, her head being hidden behind it; she is nude, with left hand extended in supplication to Ajax. The goddess is represented standing to left, with long tresses, high-crested helmet, long diapered chiton with chevron border, spear brandished in right hand, shield painted purple with Gorgoneion in white, the features incised, eyes and tongue purple. Behind is a Bird-Siren to right looking back, with wings outspread, long hair and fillet. In the field are two lotus-buds. In the exergue, a row of lotus-buds.

Source: London BM

www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1885-1213-11

Hello from England! Our flight here was an hour faster than scheduled due to strong tail winds and security on the US side was a breeze. We picked up our rental car and only got a little lost near Pete's son's house, where we are staying with him, his wife, and their adorable son Rufus. Pete's other two offspring, daughter and son, have been coming by each day to hang out. Mostly we've been relaxing and eating and playing with Rufus, but yesterday we went in two cars and drove an hour to a little town with an abandoned girl's school I'd read about. The purpose of this trip is to visit family, but my daughter-in-law Louise is also a photographer and expressed interest in making her first foray into the abandoned, and then everyone else agreed to drop us off there so we could make an afternoon of it. We weren't in there for very long, but long enough to enjoy a few sessions of self-portraits. Here's one of them. :)

Tomorrow we are going to visit one of Pete's sister's and then one of his brother's (he is the youngest of 6), then Friday morning we head out to Chichester to another sister's. Sunday is the long drive up to Yorkshire to yet another brother's house for the remainder of our stay. This was probably the only day of 'me' photography on this trip. The rest will be pics of family and countryside I'm sure.

Louvre G152

Iloupersis (the fall of Troy), detail. Side B from an Attic red-figure kylix, ca. 490 BC. From Vulci.

Brygos (potter, signed) & Brygos Painter

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Sides A and B: Ilioupersis. The scenes on the two exterior sides of the cup, although compositionally self-contained, are linked by a figure of a fallen Trojan, holding his sword up and shielding himself from the attack of a Greek, under one handle. A palmette under the other handle marks beginning and end of the scene.

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Side A: On the left, a Greek (labelled Akamas) leads a Trojan female prisoner (labelled Polyxene) away to the left. He wears helmet, chitoniskos, himation, and greaves and carries a spear and shield with snake device. Polyxene is draped in Ionic chiton and himation, wears a stephane and earrings, and has a long pendant lock of hair.

In the center of the scene is the altar upon which Priam has taken refuge. The Trojan king sits on the altar, legs splayed, enveloped in Ionic chiton and himation, and holds his arms out in supplication to the Greek Neoptolemos, son of the fallen Achilles. Priam's hair and beard are rendered in added white, and his hair is tied with a fillet painted in added red. Neoptolemos wears the same armor as the other Greeks, and holds a round shield emblazoned with a lion device. His spear falls backwards as he attacks Priam with the corpse of Astyanax, Priam's grandson. The dead boy is shown with blonde hair. Behind the altar is a large tripod with three ring handles.

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While the figures and action are generally similar to those of other contemporary Ilioupersis representations, the names of the combatants are quite different (e.g. Naples 2422 by the Kleophrades Painter, Malibu 83.AE.362 by Onesimos). The Trojans are all unarmed, the Greeks armed with helmets, shields and other weapons; this too contrasts to other representations where both sides are armed.

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www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Louvre+G+152&a...

Our English word “happiness” comes from the old Norse word “happ” — this is the same word from which we get our word “happen;” thus happiness is based on what happens to us. So the argument goes like this: if something good is happening, we are happy…if something bad is happening, we are sad. Though that is a fairly accurate understanding of the word “happiness,” that alone is not the only meaning of the word. The word “happy” can also be used to subjectively describe the believer’s joy (Prv 3:18; 29:18; Mt 5:3-12), which is not necessarily dependent upon what “happens” to him. Though some believers have insisted on applying “happy feelings” only to circumstances, and have objected to the use of the word “happy” when translating the beatitudes of Matt 5, that is not what Scripture teaches. Just because the derivation of the word “happy” in English has its orientation in “happ,” does not necessarily limit its usage as such, as any modern dictionary will attest. Scripture tells us that we can indeed be “happy” even in the midst of pain and suffering. Thus to insist that “spiritual joy” and “spiritual happiness” are not equivalents is to engage in meaningless contrarieties that only serve to confuse the reader. The Lord has blessed us with ability to feel & emote, and we honor Him when we appropriately exercise those emotions; it is good for believers to rejoice and be exceeding glad and happy at all times in the Lord (Lk 2:10-11; 6:23; Jn 8:56; Rom 10:15; Rev 19:7). Paul sets “rejoicing” and “being anxious” in juxtaposition to each other in order to contrast their differences (Phil 4:4, 6-7; Mt 6:25-34) — to be anxious is to be joyless. The believer can experience a deep abiding peace and joy in his life regardless of circumstances… he can experience elation that transcends his circumstances… and experience that which is highly pleasing and pleasant in the midst of difficulties and trials — all these emotions are “felt” experiences. When the believer experiences a joyful happiness, there is an absence of anxiety, tension and want in his soul; conversely, when the believer is in a “state of want,” that longing produces a disquieting unrest in his soul, so instead of being at peace and satisfied, he is anxious and restless. Happiness is one of the most misunderstood words in our vocabulary, yet we search for this intangible state our whole lives. If I only had this or that, if I met the right partner, have a big house, a new car, the job I’ve always wanted, then I would be happy. The ancient yoga and spiritual teachings stress that happiness is real only when we let go of seeking material and transient things and discover the lasting joy that is within. Every time we see a giggling baby or young child we’re reminded that we are all born with this natural and innate sense of happiness, that it is actually our birthright. We learn about suffering or unhappiness as we grow older, more externalized, and as circumstances change. We taught a workshop where a number of the participants had lost loved ones in the past years: One had lost her son to AIDS, another had lost her husband, son, and mother all within 12 months, and another’s partner had drowned. Others were dealing with specific illnesses or difficult issues in their lives. What really emerged for everyone was the awareness that their real happiness lies within themselves, that it’s not dependent on someone or something outside of them. They had lost what they had thought of as their source of happiness — a loved one or their health — and now had to look more deeply within themselves. It was a weekend of many “aha” moments!

Here are some of the ways our workshop participants discovered how to feel happy again: 1. Don’t take yourself too seriously. At times of hardship, such as loss or illness, it’s easy to lose your humor and even easier to get involved with the negative aspects of what is happening. Remembering not to take yourself too seriously brings a lightness and acceptance to the weight of circumstance around you. Don’t forget, angels can fly because they take themselves lightly! 2. Don’t identify with suffering, loss, or illness as being who you are. Many of our participants realized how they’d been identifying themselves as a cancer survivor/widow/recovering addict, or whatever it may be, but had not asked who they were without that label or identity. When you don’t identify with the negative issues, then who you really are has a chance to shine. 3. It’s OK to be you, just as you are, warts and all. You may think you’re imperfect, a mess, falling apart, hopeless, or unable to cope. But true perfection is really accepting your imperfections. It is accepting yourself, complete with all the things you like as well as the things you don’t like. In this way you’re not struggling with or rejecting yourself. Each one of is unique, a one-time offer, but we can’t know this if we are facing away from ourselves. 4. Make friends with yourself. Your relationship with yourself is the only one you have that lasts for the whole of your life, and you can be the greatest friend or the worst enemy to yourself. So it’s very important not to emotionally put down or beat yourself up. Just be kind.

5. Feel everything, whatever it may be. When you are suffering, it’s easy to want to deny or repress your feelings, as they get huge and overwhelming. But if you can really honor whatever you are feeling then it’ll bring you closer to the inner happiness beneath the suffering or grief. Acknowledging and making friends with your real feelings is the greatest gift. 6. Forgive yourself. Love yourself. Treasure yourself. These are big steps, but each one liberates the heart and sets you free. You need to forgive yourself for feeling angry, for getting upset, for all things you think you’ve done wrong. They are in the past and who you are now is not who you were then. You can take any guilt or shame by the hand, invite it in for tea, and open yourself to self-forgiveness. 7. Meditate. There is an overwhelming amount of research showing how meditation changes the circuits in the part of the brain associated with contentment and happiness and stimulates the “feel-good” factor. Meditating on love and kindness makes you much, much happier! And the only way to know this is to try it, so don’t hesitate. Can you connect with that place of inner happiness within yourself? Do leave us a comment. You can receive notice of our blogs by checking Become a Fan at the top.

www.huffingtonpost.com/ed-and-deb-shapiro/happiness-tips_...

I consider it as a great privilege to start this inspirational conference with a reflection on the Theology of Joy.

What is Joy?Let us begin by asking the question: What is Joy? After all that is the theme of this conference. Give Room for JOY. In other words, Let the Joy Grow – obviously in three

dimensions: towards God, within us and towards others.

Do we all have the same answer to this question: What is Joy?

Is it an idea, emotion, virtue, philosophy, ideal, or something else? There is no commonly agreed definition for it, yet still everyone seems to be selling happiness these days - drug dealers, pharmaceutical companies, Hollywood, Disney, toy

companies, and of course happiness-pedaling gurus.

As a quick survey I asked few of my friends this question: What is Joy? I got different answers – some very tangible and some not so tangible.A Hindu friend defined Joy as something we can sense through our five senses: sight (a

beautiful flower), hearing (a melodious music), taste (a Danish pastry), smell (a special perfume), and feeling (a feather touch).

He further added that Joy can be acquired or achieved through our spiritual discipline or efforts - citing YOGA as an example. In other words, he sees Joy as both sensual and

spiritual. Sri Krishna in a certain discourse in Bhagavad Gita says: Notions of heat and cold, pain and pleasure, are born only of the contact of the senses with their objects. They have a beginning and an end. They are not permanent in their nature. Bear them patiently. (Bhagavad Gita 2.14)

Sri Krishna further says: A person who is the same in pain and pleasure, whom these cannot disturb, he alone is able to attain immortality. (Bhagavad Gita 2.15) 2 A Muslim friend said this: Perfect happiness will only be available to us if we spend life everlasting in Paradise. It is only there that we will find total peace, tranquillity and security. It is only there that we will be free of the fear, anxiety and pain that are part of the human condition. However the guidelines provided by Islam allow us, imperfect humans, to seek happiness in this world. The key to being happy in this world and the next is seeking the pleasure of God, and worshipping Him.A young agnostic friend told me this:If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.A scholar- friend pointed out: In the fifth century, Boethius – a Roman Senator and

philosopher - could claim that "God is happiness itself". But by the middle of the 19th century, the formula was reversed to read "Happiness is God." Earthly happiness emerged

as the idol of idols, the central meaning in modern life, the source of human aspiration, thepurpose of existence. Materialism relocated God to the shopping mall.A Christian friend replied: I find Joy in Jesus.What do we make out of these responses? I felt that part of one’s joy could be lost if one gets too much into the realms of philosophy or psychology or theology of Joy. I liked that one-line response of my Christian friend: I find Joy in Jesus. This was one such moment when I profoundly thanked God for revealing true wisdom to ordinary folks.However, judging from the variety of answers I received, I felt the need to establish certain

contours of understanding, if at all possible, about what is Joy - before we go forward.Further, my survey-outcome highlighted the need for Christians to be pretty clear of what

they mean by Joy – based on what the Bible says. This is very important in a multi-religious society – to be clear of what one believes – amidst the cacophony of several philosophies,

ideologies, ideas and alternative spiritual movements.

Webster’s dictionary defines Joy as "a condition or feeling of high pleasure or delight;happiness or gladness."Other definitions which I came across include: 3 Joy is an emotion so deep and so lasting. Joy is a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight. Joy is an expression or display of glad feelings or festive gaiety. Joy is a state of extreme happiness. Is JOY different from HAPPINESS? Naturally a question then springs up in our mind: Is JOY different from HAPPINESS - two words we often use interchangeably? The answer is: Yes and No. Joy is something that lasts. Happiness is something that is temporary. Joy springs from within and is an internal experience. Happiness is caused by external circumstances or experiences. Joy brings with it a feeling of contentment and confidence which can take us through a storm in our life-journey. Happiness is not present when we are in the midst of a storm; it just vanishes. Happiness is a blurred emotion. It can mean different things to many people. Joy is a conscious commitment to be happy, to have a sense of gratitude and contentment despite life’s challenges. How does having a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA), pushed by today's motivational speakers, fit into real joy? Too many people try this kind of pop psychology with no foundation under it. It comes across as forced and artificial. A few leading televangelists preaching prosperity gospel come to my mind. To me, they all seem to project Joy as buyable/sellable commodity. Somebody once said that Joy is happiness with a much longer shelf life. But Joy is even more than that. Bible and Joy Let us now turn to the Bible and see: What the Bible says about JOY. 4 A search for the word JOY came up with 155 verses in King James Version. Another source reported that the word JOY appears 88 times in the Old Testament in 22 books; 57 times in the New Testament in 18 books. Certainly there is a lot of JOY in the Bible! There are 15 different Hebrew words and 8 Greek words to describe JOY - both as a noun and as a verb. This shows that Joy constitutes something that is tangible or concrete as well as intangible or abstract. In Hebrew - the original language of the Old Testament - several words for Joy, each with different shades of meaning, appear. Similar is the case in Greek – the original language of the New Testament. In both the Old and New Testaments, the words translated as "Joy" mean much the same as the English word: gladness, cheerfulness, calm delight. In the Old Testament Joy refers to a wide range of human experiences—from erotic love (Song of Solomon 1:4), to marriage (Proverbs 5:18), birth of children (Psalm113:9), gathering of the harvest, military victory (Isaiah 9:3), and drinking wine (Psalm 104:15). The Psalms express the joyous mood of believers as they encounter God. (Psalm 32:11 “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.”). Joy is a response to God's word (Psalm 119:14 “In the way of thy testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.”) In fact, Joy characterizes Israel's corporate worship life (Deuteronomy; 2 Chronicles 30:21a: “And the people of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness.”). How joyous our corporate worship is? Basic to the Old Testament understanding of Joy are God's Acts in history. Two such Acts are: Israel's deliverance from Egypt (Exodus 18:9-11) and Israel's return from the Babylonian exile (Jeremiah 31:1-19) to Jerusalem. In the Old Testament spiritual joys are expressed by the metaphors of feasting, marriage, victory in military endeavors, and successful financial undertakings. For example, the joy of the harvest is used to describe the believer's final victory over his adversaries (Psalm 126:5-6 5 “May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of Joy! He that goes forth weeping bearing the seed for sowing shall come home with shouts of Joy bringing his sheaves with him.”) We can hear the echoes of such metaphors in the Danish Hymns contained in Den Danske Salme Bog. In the New Testament Jesus himself joins the Joy of mundane events of daily life – for example the marriage at Cana. Do we picture a happy, laughing Jesus in our thoughts or reflections? Joy is associated with the nativity scene of the angels’ song (Luke 2:10 “For behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people”). The Magi, upon finding the infant Jesus, are overjoyed (Matthew 2:10). The birth of John the Baptist as the forerunner of the Messiah is an occasion of joy for his father and others (Luke 1:14 “And you will have joy and gladness.”). Luke's Gospel-narration is concluded with the disciples returning with great Joy from Bethany after Jesus' ascension. (Luke 24:52 “And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”) Heaven and Angels too rejoice in the New Testament at an unbeliever's conversion. Luke places three parables together in which God, in two instances with the angels, rejoices at the redemption - upon finding the lost sheep, the shepherd rejoices (Luke 15:3-7); the woman rejoices upon finding the lost coin (Luke 15:8-10) . The prodigal son's return brings rejoicing (Luke 15:11-32). Interestingly there is a subtle change in the usage of the word Joy from Acts 13 onwards. It gets tied with trials, suffering, persecution and the like. Why?I believe that a change had begun to take place in the church about this time. The first 20 years had passed, and now the apostles were dealing with a more mature body of believers – struggling with the application of Gospel teachings. The believers had started facing stark opposition and challenges – theological, political, economic and what not! But for these believers, trials and persecution are occasions for Joy (James 1:2 “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials.”). Suffering brings Joy as believers are united with Christ in his suffering (1 Peter 4:13-14) Paul speaks of his Joy in the midst of affliction (2 Corinthians 7:4-16 “With all our affliction, I am overjoyed.”) 6 Joy becomes part of the faith (Philippians 1:25). God's kingdom is described as: righteousness, peace and Joy (Romans 14:17). Certainty of salvation is a cause for Joy, as the disciples are commanded to "rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). Surely the meaning of Joy takes in new dimensions and shades. Also, about this time, Apostle Paul emerges as the dominant figure. Paul mentions Joy as the second fruit of the Holy Spirit in his letter to the Galatians, along with eight other fruits. Galatians 5:22: (“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self- control.”) Joy is not something to be pursued; it is rather a result of the Christian life - a product. The church was coming increasingly under fire, and Christians were struggling to grow. We can suppose that Paul began to see and teach Joy in a different light – Joy as a character trait- tempered by fire! Christian Joy often comes tied with challenges and trials. What we have been witnessing in the Middle East and in some other parts of the world in recent times is a stark reminder to this fact. How do those brothers and sisters continue to sing and worship the Lord without losing their Faith and Joy? It clearly shows that Joy in Christian theology is different from superficial, external happiness. Let me narrate a particular case - where the involved persons have literally challenged my own concept of Joy through their life-example. Peter says: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” (I Peter4:12-13) Count your trials as joy. James 1:2-3 says, "Knowing that the testing of your faith [through trials] produces patience." God's testing process has the goal or aim of purging us of all impurity, to make us "perfect and complete, lacking nothing" (verse 4). The word Gospel literally means good news. Jesus encouraged us to think of the future as a time of Joy, so that it sustains us now when times are difficult. 7 I see three categories or groups of people gathered here today: those who are natural citizens of Denmark - born and brought up here; those who came to Denmark of their own choice; and those who came here due to circumstances beyond their control. All of us however enjoy the Joy of Christ because of this particular theology: Trials and tribulations are integral part of Christian life! It is part of our Faith. It is part of our DNA. Christian joy is not the seeking of pleasure: quite the opposite. It is a curious paradox of life that the more we seek to be happy the more miserable we become. A famous writer (Eric Hoffer) once said: “The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.” Joy is God’s gift. It is not something to be pursued. As mentioned earlier, Jesus said to his followers: “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (Luke 10:20) Joy is about getting this into perspective, not how wide our grin is! The Christian has the promise of Jesus that the best is yet to come. We can be joyful in spite of circumstances. As we read the Bible, we will find this theme again and again. Christian Joy exists in spite of circumstances. Christians should be able to display their inner JOY at all three Houses of Worship: Church, Home and Work-Station.Let us encourage each other to be truly Joyful – driven by our Faith, Hope, Love, Contentment and Gratitude – in spite of circumstances. The five pillars of Joy! We are familiar with the first three pillars coming from what Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “So faith, hope and love abide.” Regarding the fourth pillar contentment, not everyone is truly content with his or her life. Often we are unsatisfied and seek more for what we don't have and who we are. Through scripture however, we are commanded to be content with all we have in life. As we practice the discipline of gratitude instead of complaining, grumbling, or forgetting God's goodness, we will experience His peace, be filled with His joy, and grow in faith and hope. All these five pillars - Faith, Hope, Love, Contentment and Gratitude – are borne out of God’s grace, and even though we don’t deserve. They are the five gifts of grace.I would encourage you to look at JOY as a fruit - made up of five tastes or colors: Faith,Hope, Love, Contentment and Gratitude 8 Let me now read out two scripture portions for you – one from the OT and the other from the NT – as part of this inspirational talk. Habakkuk 3:17-19. (Explain background.) “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.”Here is what St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:4 -10 (Explain background). “Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything”. Do these two scripture-portions resonate in any manner with our own life-journeys? If yes, REJOICE. Because in these two verses I see the gist of Christian Theology of Joy – a theology that encompasses Faith, Hope, Love, Gratitude and Contentment.When we have the Joy of the Lord, we will know it and so will others. In addition to being joyful, we should let others have their Joy. Christian Joy is contagious. Do we see some role-models - at our homes, communities, cities and villages My wife and I have met quite a few JOYFUL Christians here in Denmark. They have truly inspired us. Where Joy cannot be found? Men have pursued joy in every avenue imaginable. Some have successfully found it while others have not. Perhaps it would be easier to describe where joy cannot be found:Not in Unbelief -- Voltaire was a non-believer of the most pronounced type. He wrote: "Iwish I had never been born."Not in Pleasure -- Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure if anyone did. He wrote: "The worm, the canker, and grief are mine alone." 9 Not in Money -- Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that. When dying, he said: "I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth." Not in Position and Fame -- Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. He wrote: "Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age a regret."

www.tvaerkulturelt-center.dk/index.php/docman-dokumenter/...

Introduction — The pursuit of happiness has probably reached its peak in our twentieth century world. Americans don’t stand alone in this pursuit, because it is an innate drive found in every man’s nature. Everyone wants to be happy and seeks it in varying ways and with varying degrees of intensity. Some seek it through pleasure, others through enter-tainment, possessions, work, position, education, and success; still others seek it in athletic endeavors, hobbies, travel, fashion, physical beauty, wealth, status, bigger homes, boats, planes, and vacation homes, as well as alcohol, food and drugs. King Solomon conducted a series of experiments in a quest to get the most and best out of life — his experiments not only included most of those things listed above, but also laughter, the finest wines, wisdom, and building projects that were the envy of the world… he built houses for himself, planted vineyard and gardens, built waterpools, acquired male and female servants, male and female singers and musicians, herds and flocks that were unparalleled, silver and gold and valuable treasures… said Solomon, “I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem… whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them… I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure…. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done… and found it to be nothing but vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecc 2:1-12). Therefore, said Solomon, “I completely despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun… it was all vanity” (Ecc 2:20-25). Solomon admitted that his quest rewarded him with a degree of joy, yet he still found that it did not satisfy him. Most people think they would have had an endless amount of joy were they as blessed as Solomon was… but Solomon concluded that it is God who determines whether or not we experience joy (Ecc 2:26). The experiences of men the world over tell us that no matter how secure and wonderful their sources of joy may be, human joy does not last long.

On the other hand, when we follow God’s prescription, He feeds us in such a way that we experience real joy and satisfaction. God makes it very clear in Scripture that real joy lies in the quality of our relationship with Him; therefore, can we actually be so foolish so as to think that we can somehow produce it ourselves? One thing is certain: dwelling on ourselves and our wants will never produce true joy — rather than being obsessed with ourselves we must become obsessed with Christ; if we do, we will immerse ourselves in His Word, and seek to know Him more intimately “and our joy will be made full” (Jn 15:1-11). It is only through God’s Spirit that we can experience true joy (Ps 15:11-12; Gal 5:22; 1 Th 1:6); it cannot be accomplished apart from God (2 Cor 12:10; 13:4). The harder we try to be joyful through our own efforts, the more miserable we will become. Rest in the Lord’s arms (Mt 11:28-30) and seek His face through prayer and Scripture. Writes the apostle Paul: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13).

The psalmist David wrote these encouraging words: “Thou will make known to me the path of life; in Thy presence is fulness of joy; in Thy right hand there are pleasures forever” (Ps 16:11). The Bible is clear that the only place we can find true joy is in God’s presence. Faith is a necessary requisite for experiencing joy and pleasing God (Heb 11:6; Jam1:2-4), and without joy we don’t have the faith to conquer the problems we face in life. The night before Jesus went to the cross He taught His disciples how important it was for them to “abide in Him;” that only when they were experiencing “intimacy with Him” would they be able to bear fruit — “apart from Me you can do nothing.” He went on to tell them that He had spoken these things to them“that His joy might be in them, and that their joy might be made full” (Jn 15:11). Writes David, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. For to those who fear Him, there is no want” (Ps 34:8-9). When we lack joy, the heart is discontented, anxious, and unhappy… so a lack of joy leads to a lack of peace; and obviously where there is no peace, there is no joy.There is nothing like knowing that our joy remains full even when we have been rendered empty of all that we had thought we needed to sustain our happiness. Sadly, it is true that most Christians fail to experience joy when times become difficult — generally they get so caught up in the issues of life that they forget to “rejoice in the Lord,” or they question how it is even possible when life gets so discouraging, depressing and frustrating. To experience the secret of joy one must carefully reflect on the path of joy as it is outlined in Scripture. Twice in Philippians 4:4 Paul gives this command: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice.” Just because God’s Spirit dwells within us does not mean that we will necessarily experience joy— we must make a choice to let Christ be our joy. When we falter in our faith, we try to manufacture our own joy, and that is simply not possible, because God is its author. Only when we find our happiness in the person of Christ can we experience true joy. Jesus said to His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (Jn 15:11). Here Jesus reminds us that we will not have fullness of joy unless we abide in Him, and that involves keeping His commands and putting our full trust and confi-dence in Him. Obedience to God is central to experiencing the joy of God — if we do not follow His will and live according to His Word, we will not experience joy. The darkest times of life for most believers are times of disobedience because there is a lack of joy in their lives even in the midst of positive circumstances. The most joyful times in life can actually be when we triumph in faith during the most difficult and oppressive times. If we want to experience the “supernatural joy life,” then we must walk in obedience, resting in God all the while. When we put our confidence in God and choose to have His joy, we will experience that unspeakably wonderful “gift of the Spirit” – JOY. His joy can be experienced at this very moment in your life – regardless of circumstances – if you will walk in faith and obedience (again, more on that later).

It was the prophet Nehemiah who said, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh 8:10). To appre-ciate what this means we must understand the context in which these words were stated. The Israelites had just returned from Babylon after having spent seventy years in exile… under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah the Jewish people rebuilt Jerusalem’s ruined walls, and now they set their sights on re-establishing the temple and restoring the nation. Though they were no longer being held captive in Babylon, “they were still slaves to those who were governing the land God had given to them” (Neh 9:36). The Jewish remnant who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon, in large part were ignorant of their spirit-ual heritage due to their captivity; furthermore they had forgotten their native language; and above all, they had lived in sin and had forgotten God. Nehemiah called a “special meeting” in the middle of the city — altogether about 50,000 people attended. Ezra the priest was asked to read the book of the Law of Moses to the assembly — he read it aloud from daybreak until noon, and the Word of God spoke in a profound way to the hearts of the people, and for the first time they were made aware of their sinful-ness before God. The people learned that Jeremiah had prophesied the very destruction that they had suffered, yet in the same breath Jeremiah gave them a promise that their mourning would turn to a morning of joy — God would bring them back to their land seventy years later. Ezra read, “Behold,” says the Lord, “I will gather My people from the remote parts of the earth… a great company shall return here… they shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them… for I am a father to Israel” (Jer 31:8-9). The people experienced the relevancy of the message — they were made aware of the connection between the sins of their own hearts and their distressful situation, and they saw that their slavery was the result of their own sin. As they stood there mourning over their sins, they understood the message of salvation… it was not a message of “I told you so” or “you should have known better” or “look what a mess you have made of your lives”… instead they are told to “Go and enjoy choice food and drinks, for this day is sacred to the Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” “Then all the people went away to eat and drink and celebrate with great joy, because they now under-stood the words that had been made known to them” (Neh 8:9-12). This day was sacred to the Lord — it was the joy of the Lord that made this such a sacred day… God had deliberately led them to this moment in time… it wasn’t a day of good fortune or good luck… it was the joyful day of the Lord! The people were told “not to grieve” — “God’s anger is but for a moment; whereas His favor lasts a life-time” (Ps 30:4-5). When the Word of God was opened and read to them, the people began to understand themselves and the need to change their minds about the way they were living. And like them, if we listen, it will also bring us to a “mourning of joy.” When we set our hearts to obey God’sWord, the Lord Himself causes us to rejoice — “God had made them rejoice with great joy” (Neh 12:43). On the eighth day according to the Law there was an assembly of all the people… they gathered together for a great day of national confession… with fasting and mourning, they listened to the reading of the Law for three hours… and then for three more hours they confessed their sins and those of their fathers and worshipped the LORD their God (Neh 9:1-3). The people responded to the reading of the Law thus: “Because of our sins… we are in great distress” (Neh 9:37). Their confession was accompanied by great remorse… they understood their terrible condition as they journeyed back to God… but more importantly, they understood God’s joyous message of salvation, and at that they burst out in praise! Then said Nehemiah to the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God… do not mourn or weep… rather, go eat and drink…. DO NOT GRIEVE, FOR THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH!” (Neh 8:9-10). NOTE CAREFULLY it is “the Lord’s joy” that is our strength… it “the Lord’s joy” that gives us reason to rejoice… it is “the Lord’s joy” that fills us with hope. It is God's happiness that is our strength!!! It is not anything that we have done that is our hope, joy or strength! Furthermore, it is not God’s anger, wrath or holiness that is our strength! IT IS “GOD’S JOY” THAT IS OUR STRENGTH!! NOT OUR JOY!! GOD’S JOY!! IT IS THE “LORD’S JOYOUS WISH” TO SAVE US FROM OUR SINS — AND THAT IS OUR STRENGTH and ENERGY and VITALITY! It is GOD’S JOY to stand us back up on our feet and strengthen our feeble legs & wobbly knees so that we might discover that HIS JOY IS OUR STRENGTH! It is the “joy of the Lord” that remains our strength today! REMEMBER, IT IS “GOD’S JOY” TO SAVE YOU!!! His faithfulness continues throughout all generations! Our response should be to commit our lives to Him for joyfully wanting to save us! It is incredible to realize that no matter how bad things get for us, GOD’S JOY will forever be our hope and strength! James clearly has victory over trials in mind, not mere acceptance of one’s trials. It is “joy” that gives us the strength to fight and overcome our trials. Joy gives us the strength to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim 6:12). Spiritual joy has a way of infusing strength into our being! If you are tired of fighting the battle it is because your problems seem too much for you — you have lost your joy, and have rightly concluded that the fight is too great for you. Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always!” (Phil 4:4). You are to always rejoice in the Lord — you can’t live off of the joy you had yesterday or last week — that joy will not give you strength today. Joy can only give you strength in the moment… it can only give you strength when you possess it. The time to rejoice is always “now” — if you don’t rejoice, you will lose the strength to fight. I love this verse in Habakkak — “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crops fail and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD; I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Hab 3:17-18). He is going to REJOICE because “the God of his salvation is his strength; He makes his feet like the feet of a deer, and enables him to walk on high places” (Hab 3:19). Habakkuk had no intention of staying defeated. The difference between the person who is defeated and the person who is victorious is his attitude toward God. An attitude of gratitude is what made the difference in the prophet’s life. Even though nothing good was happening in his life – no fruit, no crops, no sheep, no cattle – yet he rejoiced! Though our lives are filled with trials, we are also to rejoice! Regardless of our circumstances, we can rejoice! Reflect upon the words of the prophetic Isaiah: “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. Therefore I will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation” (Is 12:2-3). Notice what this Scripture says: “with joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation.” It is joy that keeps you strong and enables you to draw from the springs of salvation. Our English word “happiness” comes from the old Norse word “happ” — this is the same word from which we get our word “happen;” thus happiness is based on what happens to us. So the argument goes like this: if something good is happening, we are happy…if something bad is happening, we are sad. Though that is a fairly accurate understanding of the word “happiness,” that alone is not the only meaning of the word. The word “happy” can also be used to subjectively describe the believer’s joy (Prv 3:18; 29:18; Mt 5:3-12), which is not necessarily dependent upon what “happens” to him. Though some believers have insisted on applying “happy feelings” only to circumstances, and have objected to the use of the word “happy” when translating the beatitudes of Matt 5, that is not what Scripture teaches. Just because the derivation of the word “happy” in English has its orientation in “happ,” does not necessarily limit its usage as such, as any modern dictionary will attest. Scripture tells us that we can indeed be “happy” even in the midst of pain and suffering. Thus to insist that “spiritual joy” and “spiritual happiness” are not equivalents is to engage in meaningless contrarieties that only serve to confuse the reader. — to be anxious is to be joyless. The believer can experience a deep abiding peace and joy in his life regardless of circumstances… he can experience elation that transcends his circumstances… and experience that which is highly pleasing and pleasant in the midst of difficulties and trials — all these emotions are “felt” experiences. When the believer experiences a joyful happiness, there is an absence of anxiety, tension and want in his soul; conversely, when the believer is in a “state of want,” that longing produces a disquieting unrest in his soul, so instead of being at peace and satisfied, he is anxious and restless.

www.thetransformedsoul.com/additional-studies/spiritual-l...

"Remember, O most gracious Virgin of Guadalupe,

that in your apparitions on Mount Tepeyac

you promised to show pity and compassion to all who,

loving and trusting you,

seek your help and protection.

Accordingly, listen now to our supplications

and grant us consolation and relief.

We are full of hope that,

relying on your help,

nothing can trouble or affect us.

As you have remained with us through your admirable image,

so now obtain for us the graces we need.

Amen."

Today, 12 December, is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This painting of the sacred tilma and the apparitions of Our Lady to St Juan Diego is at the Carmel Mission Basilica.

See also: www.albelli.nl/onlinefotoboek-bekijken/66948188-f350-4898...

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Latona, mother of Apollo and Diana and mistress of Jupiter, was forced to flee owing to the jealousy of her rival Juno. One day, after arriving in present-day Turkey, she approached a pool in a marsh to drink the water. Local peasants prevented her and in her fury she laid a curse on them which changed them into frogs. It was this episode, recounted by Ovid in the Book VI of his Metamorphoses, which inspired the Latona fountain.

​The rivalry between Latona and Juno

Latona, known as Leto in Greek mythology, was the daughter of the Titan couple Coeus and Phoebe. She became the mistress of Jupiter and conceived two children by him, Diana and Apollo.

When she discovered this pregnancy, Juno, Jupiter’s wife, was filled with fury. She decreed exile from the universe for her rival, forbidding any land from accepting her to give birth there. Condemned to perpetual flight, Latona began an endless wandering across the Earth, before managing to find a temporary refuge on the island of Delos where she gave birth to Apollo and Diana.

Her two twins had hardly seen the light of day when Latona had to flee once again to escape from the fury of Juno. Her wanderings took her to the border of Lycia, and it was here that the episode occurred which is illustrated in the garden of Versailles.

During her wanderings, Latona one day reached Lycia, a region in Asia Minor located in present-day southern Turkey. Exhausted and parched, she decided to halt and saw down in a valley a pond around which peasants were busy gathering rushes and algae. Attracted by its clear water, she went to drink from it. But the peasants objected and forbade her from drinking from the pond. Surprised, Latona tried to appease then by saying:

“Why do you forbid me this water? Water belongs to everyone. Good and wise nature made for all of us the air, the light and the waters. I only want to use what is every person’s right but here I have to beg you for it as if it was a favour. I do not intend to wash my exhausted body but only to quench my thirst. My mouth is dry and I can hardly talk. This water will be like nectar for me; let me drink it and I will owe you my life. Oh! Let yourselves be moved by these two children at my breast who reach out their feeble arms to you.”

Unmoved by these supplications, the peasants persisted in their refusal. They ordered Latona to leave the place and, to make sure she could not drink, they rushed into the pond where they trampled on the bed with their feet and churned up the water with their arms, so that the pond water was soon filthy with mud.

Enraged, Latona forgot her thirst, raised her hands to the sky and cried out: “May you live forever in the slime of your pond!” Her curse took effect immediately and the metamorphosis began.

As if driven mad, all the peasants dived into the pool, emerged and dived in again, swimming to the bottom and back up to the surface, showing their heads above the water before disappearing under it again. They continued to shout abuse at Latona and even under the water their insults could still be heard. But already their voices had changed, their throats swelled and their mouths widened, their heads shrunk into their shoulders, their backs turned green and their bellies grew round and white. After becoming frogs, the peasants of Lycia were to live forever like this in the slime of their pond, fulfilling the curse of Latona.

La Rogativa is a famous bronze statue located in the Plazuela de la Rogativa on Caleta de las Monjas near La Puerta de San Juan. Rogativa is a Spanish word derived from the verb “rogar” meaning to plea or to supplicate. A Rogativa is a large procession of people making a plea to God for help.

British troups, led by Sir Abercrombie, took control of the city by naval blockade on April 30, 1797. The desperate governor of San Juan ordered a “rogativa.” The women, led by the bishop, marched through the streets that night. They started at the Cathedral. They sang hymns, carried torches and bells, and prayed for their city’s deliverance. The British mistook the sights and sounds as evidence of the arrival of reinforcements. Considering themselves to be outnumbered, Abercrombie’s fleet abandoned the city promptly.

There are four bronze statues commemorating this event in Plazuela de la Rogativa. This group of statues pays tribute to the efforts of the townspeople and their Bishop.

Lindsay Daen of New Zealand completed the statue in 1971. It stands 12-feet high in front of an old sentry box and a beautiful view of San Juan Bay.

You can see more of Lindsay's work here: www.lindsaydaen.com/

An Egyptian vendor selling mangos grown near the Nile .

( Some of my old shots taken 2009 )

I was really glad we made it to visit Egypt in 2009 ,not this time .

Israel is on my list but anytime things will break out so bad out there . For those looking at prophetic events and signs Psalm 83 war is very close to happen soon .Israel will have amount of damage but never will this country be annihilated ,never never never ! In fact great scale of disasters befall to those who are on arms against Israel and the countries trying to divide Jerusalem. I have sympathy for Palestenians ,but I would not go beyond the will of God .God will settle differences but never divide God's covenant land .Friends , it's a hard truth the US is brokering for division of Israel for peace through Obama .It wouldn't achieve peace . You believe this or not .Myself will abide what the Biblical texts said . I do hope Britain will continually abstain or stand strong for the " No " vote for the division of Jerusalem .Look at those countries in EU giving their " yes " votes .....

God's word unto Abram:

Genesis 12:2-3

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people on the earth will be blessed through you.”

Zechariah 12 :9-10

9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

For countries who seek division of Jerusalem ,they are right on the path against God !!!

Make no mistake ,Almighty God isn't a mythical entity .He is a living righteous God ,slow to anger and full of mercy but He also make judgements befall on those standing against His will .The worst thing ignorance can do is divide God's land. Nobody can't mock God forever .

These judgements are coming my friends.

The Judaic Jews in Israel rejected Jesus big time ever since but will come the time they will realize whom they rejected and will accept Him .That's the time when trouble comes truly around Israel .

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Some articles I've randomly come across the past days :

* Muslim Brotherhood and the killing and persecution of Christians in Egypt ~ Isaiah 19 speaks of Egypt given in to a tyrant ruler .

* ‘Destroy the idols,’ Egyptian jihadist calls for removal of Sphinx, Pyramids Then tourism will die out .

* Muslim Brotherhood has 'started crucifying opponents of new President', claims website

* Egypt’s river dries up as Burundi joins Nile Basin Initiati Egyptian Nile to dry up is a prophecy coming ( Isaiah 19 )

* Twelve EU countries likely to back Palestine's UN bid The Bible speaks Jerusalem will be divided but the wrath of God will come upon them that divide the His land ,be afraid ,be very afraid !!! Who can stand against the God of Zion ?

La Rogativa sculpture by Lindsay Daen

In Spanish, the word, “rogativa” means “supplication or prayer”. One of the enduring legends of the 1797 British siege of San Juan is that of La Rogativa: that divine intervention led to the British abandonment of the attack following a religious procession of the women of San Juan, praying for the salvation of their city. The legend itself describes a prayer procession led by the Bishop held in honor of Saint Catherine and Saint Ursula and her eleven thousand virgin handmaidens.

This legend is commemorated today with four bronze statues grouped together in the Plazuela de la Rogativa (Rogativa Plaza) in Old San Juan, which pay tribute to the Bishop and townswomen who participated in the procession.

1 Timothy 2:1-8

1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. 8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

La Rogativa is a famous bronze statue located at the Plazuela de la Rogativa in Caleta de las Monjas and very near La Puerta de San Juan. Rogativa is a Spanish word that derives from the verb “rogar” meaning to plea or supplicate. According to historians, British troupes led by Sir Abercrombie took control of the city through a naval blockage on April 30, 1797. The San Juan governor, desperate, ordered a “rogativa” (large marching procession-type plea to God). The women of the city, along with the bishop, paraded through the streets at night starting at the Cathedral singing hymns, carrying torches, bells, and praying for their city to be saved. The British mistook the sights and sounds of that night as evidence that reinforcements that outnumbered them had arrived to protect San Juan. This led Abercrombie’s fleet to abandon the city promptly.

Today, there are four bronze statues commemorating this event. These statues are grouped together in Old San Juan in what is called the Plazuela de la Rogativa as they pay tribute to the efforts of the townspeople and their Bishop leader.

Copied from: www.touroldsanjuan.com/the-legend-of-la-rogativa/

Apotheose of Herakles [570-560BCE]

Kylix Siana cup

London BM 1885,1213.11

Attributed to The C Painter

Made in: Attica (Greece)

Findspot: Dodecanese: Rhodes: Siana

*******************************************************************************

Exterior: Two friezes with ivy-wreath above, and borders of tongue-pattern and dots below:

(a) Apotheosis of Heracles: On the left is Zeus seated on a throne to right, bearded, with long tresses, fillet, long white chiton with incised lines forming a lozenge-pattern and border of the same, richly diapered himation with maeander border, in left hand thunderbolt, sandals on feet, which rest on a footstool. The throne is richly inlaid, with two horizontal rails each side, between which are volutes, the back ending in a snake with head turned back; at the end of the upper rail on the right side is a large lotus-bud. Behind Zeus is Hera similarly seated, with earrings, necklace, long purple chiton, with borders of wavy and chevron patterns, the middle part diapered, and purple himation, drawn over her head, which she raises with left hand, sandals on her feet, which rest on a footstool. Her throne is similar to that of Zeus; at the back is a spiral instead of the snake. Before her on a footstool stands Hebe to left, with long hair tied in a club, fillet, long diapered chiton tied at the waist, with lozenge border and purple diploidion, right hand extended as if supplicating Hera. Before Zeus advance Hermes and Athene leading up Heracles; Hermes is bearded, with long tresses, short white chiton with lozenge border, richly embroidered, purple chlamys with wavy border, petasos, endromides with the usual tags behind as well as before, caduceus in left hand, right extended. Athena has long hair, high-crested helmet, long diapered chiton with chevron border, aegis with snakes projecting on both sides, shield painted purple with Gorgoneion in white, as in the inside design. Heracles has a chiton as Hermes, over which is the lion's skin drawn over his head and tied on his breast, right hand extended; he is followed by Artemis, with long hair tied back, curls in front, fillet with zigzags, long diapered chiton with lozenge border, tied at the waist, and purple diploidion, in right hand two arrows, in left her bow; and Ares, with high-crested helmet, short purple chiton with lozenge border, over which is a skin, sword-belt and kibisis (sack) slung round shoulder, and endromides, right hand extended.

Source: London BM

www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1885-1213-11

Spring daisies reach up in supplication.

2st Challenge Superheroes Cover

inspired ♦ Ainwen ♦

Ainwen, this is the name of this elvish heroin... Her name means "Sacred Maiden".

She descends from the family of the Alti (name with which the ancient elves are listed), she has been one of the first to study the natural forces and the tumultuous power that irresistibly flows into the world and that today is called Magic.

Being a descendant of a very old ancestry, she differs from the other elves in her refinement in dressing and fighting, she loves light or natural colors and she is ethereal in color and has only one jewel that adorns her that is a horn with magnificent stones of ancient splendor, donated to her by the wise Unicorn after his earthly death. After that it is reborn as a goddess, symbolizing the love of happiness, and it represents the protection of those who are pure in spirit and good intentions in the harmony of nature.

The story tells about of the people of the Eternal Queen, unprepared and faced by the opacity of the forces of Chaos. For long time she prayed to their gods to send them a heroic savior.

The gods heard the supplications of the elves and from the turmoil of the war , Ainwen appears!!! With power of her magic, which comes out from the nature that surrounds her, she managed to defeat the Chaos and healed with the power of the horn the elves who were wounded in the war.

Legend has it that she is always followed by a polar bear, which is her spiritual guide.

He advises and helps her every time Ainwen descends on the Earth of the NOrd

invoked by the prayers of the minor elves.

When King Wenceslas IV died in August 1419, he was succeded by his brother Sigismund, King of Hungary. However, the Czech people, who held him responsible for the death of Jean Hus, refused to accept his claim to the throne. With the support of the Catholic Church and the German army, Sigismund launched a crusade against the Hussite movement and succeeded in occupying Prague Castle where he was crowned king.

In July 1420, the Hussites challenged Sigismund at Vítkov Hill on the outskirts of Prague. Led by their military leader Jan Žižka, the army of Hussite followers was joined by Czech soldiers from Prague who launched a surprise attack from the rear. Together, they succeeded in overpowering Sigismund and his men, forcing their retreat and Sigismund’s abdication.

Mucha’s theatrical composition portrays the solemn mass given by the priest that led the Czech soldiers from Prague. Holding a monstrance, he is surrounded by clergy lying in supplication on the ground. The rising sun penetrates the clouds and casts a celestial spotlight on the figure of Žižka, the victorious leader, who stands to the right of the composition with the weapons of the conquered army at his feet.

A mother nursing her child in the bottom left of the painting turns her back on the religious celebration, no doubt aware that her people will suffer further bloodshed as the Hussite Wars continue. Painted in 1916 as Europe was fighting in the trenches, this painting carries a personal commentary on the horrors of war.

Well, I seem to be in a b & w phase, and this image has not been seen before in Flickr. It's a conversion to b/w, since there was not much color in the original. Playing with the sliders in my standard editor and in Topaz, helped me achieve the contrasty look.

Panasonic G1, Lumix G Vario 45-200. There are notes of prayer and supplication in the wall's cracks.

Bishwa Ijtema in Bengali: বিশ্ব ইজতেমা, the World or Global Congregation or Meeting) is an annual Aalmi Ijtema held at Tongi, Bangladesh by the river Turag. It is the 3rd largest Muslim congregation in the world after the Arbaeen gathering in Kerbala, Iraq and Hajj. The event focuses on prayers and supplication and does not allow political discussion.

La Rogativa is a famous bronze statue located at the Plazuela de la Rogativa in Caleta de las Monjas and very near La Puerta de San Juan. Rogativa is a Spanish word that derives from the verb “rogar” meaning to plea or supplicate.

Pittsburgh Carrick, Pennsylvania

The Watchman~

In the orange pan of hardness,

Stands the Watchman.

Unchanged by time, with limbs reached out

In supplication. Beckoning.

Born of scarcity, yet somehow flourishing.

He climbs the purple sky,

And calls to the verdin birds,

“Come and see .

There’s magic in the chaparral.

Come, be swept away .

In an ancient ritual river,

Coated in the diamond dust of a world rarely viewed.

R. Jeanette Woods

My friend Jeanette wrote the verse upon seeing my photo. The woman is definitely talented.

father and child are from the aeta people, considered as one of the earliest inhabitants of the philippines. as most indigenous in the world, they are seen as second class citizens. their subsistence relies on welfare from government or international organizations and on odd occasions, supplication . this father and child, together with a group of several other aetas, walked almost a hundred kilometers for about a week from their province pampanga to the main city, manila , in the hope that they could supplement their income, through the charity of other people, during this christmas season

#abfav_monochrome

making a violin or a guitar, such delicate work with probably the smallest plane in the world?

HANDS... THE BEST TOOLS IN THE WORLD... they are fascinating

They can give and take... We touch, feel, handle, build and destroy, hurt and caress, kill and heal, make music (noise) and command or pray for silence, our hands can be rough or smooth.

Only Man has hands. We use them as a tool, to make tools, and as a weapon, they serve as eyes for the visually impaired, we can 'talk' with them, they have become a symbol of salutation, supplication, and condemnation...

I like this image for the depth and graphic quality.

Thank you, M, (*_*)

For more of my other work visit here: www.indigo2photography.com

Please RESPECT this:IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

With elements adapted from (center and right) Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece, and (on left) Gerrit van Honthorst's Adoration of the Shepherds, 1622, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, and details from various others. For credits, see further: www.flickr.com/photos/walford/5279017634/in/photolist-2i4...

This was an experiment to see if the content looked better with or without the blue curtain as framing device., see www.flickr.com/photos/walford/51639256072/in/dateposted-p...

Note to self: I also made a larger version, 24x30ins.

Dating from between the 2nd century BCE and the 1st century CE, this votive bronze is one of twenty-four discovered at the Etruscan-Roman sanctury connected to the Bagno Grande ('great bath') of San Casciano dei Bagni, Italy. There is something clearly wrong with the health of this man - his too-thin arms that seem to be raised in supplication, his shorter right leg, the position of the hip. Votive bronzes frequently beseeched the gods to intercede and return health to the devotee.

A Latin inscription on his right thigh - seen above - reads:

L. Marcius L.f. Grabillo hoc signu(m) et signa sex et femina ap pedibus ad inguen sex Fonti calidae v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito).

Translation:

Lucius Marcius Grabillo, son of Lucius, (offered) this statue and six other statues and six legs, from the foot to the inguinal, to the Hot Spring of Calida, (and) discharged the vow freely, as is deserved.

He's fulfilling a vow he made to the gods, and has offered a collection of votive statues to fulfill his debt.

Andrew N. Williams posits tuberculosis of the hip and spine - but it's clear there's some kind of spinal pathology here. A difficult life in the ancient world, to be sure.

"Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake."

(The Holy Bible - Daniel 9:17)

This is the sanctuary inside the Nepalese Temple known as Kathwala Temple which is on the top of Nepali ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).

The Lingam, symbolizing the infinite nature of Shiva, stands in the center of the shrine next to the Lord's trishul (Trident, "three spear" in Sanskrit).

The Lingam symbolizes the male creative energy, of the power of fertility and strength and represents the phallus.

"Shiva as the undivided causal principle is worshiped in the linga.

His more manifest aspects are represented in anthropomorphic images.

All other deities are part of a multiplicity and are thus worshiped as images."

(Karapatri, "Shri Shiva Tattva", Siddhanta)

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The Myth.

Daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and Pasiphae. She married Theseus, king of Athens, and bore him two sons, Acamas and Demophon. At the core of her legend is her relationship with her stepson Hippolytus, Theseus’ son by the Amazon Antiope (or Hippolyte). In what seems to have been the traditional story told by Apollodorus (Epit. I, 18-19), “Phaedra, after she had borne two children, Acamas and Demophon, to Theseus, fell in love with the son he had by the Amazon, to wit, Hippolytus, and besought him to lie with her. Howbeit, he fled from her embraces, because he hated all women. But Phaedra, fearing that he might accuse her to his father, cleft open the doors of her bed-chamber, rent her garments, and falsely charged Hippolytus with an assault. Theseus believed her and prayed to Poseidon that Hippolytus might perish. So, when Hippolytus was riding in his chariot and driving beside the sea, Poseidon sent up a bull from the surf, and the horses were frightened, the chariot dashed in pieces, and Hippolytus, entangled in the reins, was dragged to death. And when her passion was made public, Phaedra hanged herself.” (Sir James George Frazer, Ed)

Phaedra was the subject of at least three Attic tragedies, two by Euripides entitled Hippolytus and a Phaedra by Sophocles. According to Euripides’ second and extant Hippolytus (428 BC), Phaedra is the innocent victim of the struggle between divine powers, and the plain story of Apollodorus is treated with great psychological refinement. Phaedra is a virtuous woman and has been made to fall in love by Aphrodite, who is getting her revenge on Hippolytus, the chaste follower of Artemis, for ignoring her worship. Phaedra, ashamed of this dishonorable love, has struggled to conquer her passion in silence – but to no avail, and so now she is trying to starve herself to death. Her nurse, alarmed because of her obvious illness, worms her secret out of her; and it is the nurse, anxious to ease her mistress’ sufferings, who reveals her love to Hippolytus.

He responds to these well-meant overtures with bitter rage against women in general and Phaedra in particular, and she, afraid that he will tell everything to Theseus, writes a letter to her husband accusing Hippolytus of rape, a slander designed to protect her children from a disgrace they do not deserve. “This day I shall die” she says, “and bring pleasure to Aphrodite, my destroyer. I shall be the victim of a bitter love. But there is another whom I will hurt in dying ….” Then she hangs herself from the rafters. Theseus returns to find his wife dead, to read the letter, and to curse Hippolytus to death by the bull from the sea.

Source: Jennifer R. March. “Dictionary of Classical Mythology”.

The Sarcophagus.

The unhappy love of Phaedra towards Hippolytus was carved several times on Roman sarcophagi. The sculptors represented this myth in two variants, both organized into two panels. The scene carved on the leftmost panel is always the same. It represents the main characters in their house: Phaedra with her nurse surrounded by some handmaids, and Hippolytus ready for the hunt. The two versions differ for the subject carved on the rightmost panel. This sarcophagus is an example of the first variant in which the heroic scene of wild boar hunting follows the domestic scene.

In more recent time the hunting scene is been substituted with a scene involving other characters and temporally and geographically distant from the previous one: the arrival of the delegation sent to Athens to inform Theseus about the death of his son Hippolytus, (2nd variant dating from 2nd half of III cent. AD.)

An archway divides the front panel of the sarcophagus into two halves. At the far left of the frieze sits the richly dressed Phaedra on a sumptuous throne, the arm-rests of which are supported on a sphinx. Overcome by her longing for her handsome stepson, she has turned her head towards a female servant standing behind her; to her right another servant props her chin in her hand, either listening or thinking. The lovesick heroine is portrayed as a respectable and desirable woman of high social standing: a length of her cloak lies over the head on which she wears a diadem, her robe slips Venus—like from her shoulder, and in her right hand she holds a hand garland. The miniature Amor-Psyche group before Phaedra’s throne, and the cupid leaning on a torch at her feet, represent her desire for Hippolytus, who is preparing to depart for the hunt. He holds a spear or lance in his left hand and wears only a chlamys, and stands in front of a temple, doubtless that of Artemis, while his horse beside him paws the ground impatiently. His perfect heroic body, presented frontally to the viewer, contrasts effectively with the flaccid, wrinkled skin of the old nurse next to him. She is holding out her left hand in entreaty or supplication, and has brought her right hand to her mouth in an ambiguous gesture. Two servants accompany Hippolytus: an older man with a beard, of whom only the head is visible next to the tip of the hero's lance, and a younger one, with ‘barbarian‘ features, who carries a throwing-spear over his left shoulder and takes charge of two valuable hunting-dogs.

Beyond the wall limiting the domestic ambience, in the right half of the frieze, Hippolytus is engaged in his favorite activity: the hunting. Riding his horse, he is about to throw his spear against a wild boar suddenly came out from the trees. One of his dogs has already bitten a leg of the beast. Hippolytus is accompanied by a man riding beside him, and by a woman dressed as an Amazon. She is raising her arms to support and urge the hunter. This female character is “Virtus”, the goddess who personifies the value and the strength of the warrior.

The sarcophagus dating from the early 3rd century AD was found in subterranean tomb located along the Via Latina near Rome. Many sarcophagi were here found. Among these, the remarkable Adonis’ sarcophagus preserved at the Vatican Museums and describing the myth of awesome Adonis and Aphrodite.

Source: Zanker P. & Ewald BC., “Vivere con i Miti. L’iconografia dei sarcogagi Romani”

Marble sarcophagus

Ca. 210 AD

Vatican City State, Vatican Museums, Museo Gregoriano Profano

. . supplication.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

May your visit to beach / relaxation / worship . . be as uplifting as this tourist's surprise early morning blessing from a Thai monk.

One of two fragments from a red-figure terracotta calyx-krater (for holding watered wine), attributed to the famed Black Fury Painter. The larger fragment shows Priam, king of Troy, kneeling as he supplicates the Greek hero Achilles for the corpse of his son Hector. Behind Priam stands Hermes, the messenger god, identifiable by his winged boots. The male figure at the far left is probably an attendant of Priam.

Of note here is the complexity in the designs of the clothing. Priam's 'eastern' headwear is partly a crown and studded with pearls, and he wears a golden belt. Even Hermes' cloak is fully decorated.

Greek, South Italian, Apulian, ca. 400-380 BCE. Attributed to the Black Fury Painter.

Met Museum, New York (20.195)

Flickr Friends,

Recently, it seems that many things going on in my life (nothing bad) have caused me to have less time to spend on Flickr. However, I want to update you on someone that I asked you to pray for about a month ago. On October 8, 2008, a dear friend of our family, named Lila, went into the hospital for surgery related to breast cancer. (see comment with the pink flower immediately below this)

Thank you for your prayers. Lila is doing wonderfully. I saw her at church last Sunday and I teared up many times as I saw her joy and peace. The pathology report came back and Lila is free of cancer and will not need to have anymore treatment. Even before her surgery, she had a joy and peace in her life that was beyond human comprehension. I want you to all know this peace. None of us should go through life without it. The key is in the verse below:

5. Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

6. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. The Bible, Philippians 4:5-7

God bless you all!

Mike

Ordination of nine deacons to the priesthood, celebrated by Most Reverend José H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, June 4, 2016

I got a promotion today! I will start training as a litigation paralegal on Monday.

I almost posted this image a while ago, but didn't - now I am glad I can post it today because "Behind the Scenes" very much describes how God works! I would say I have been praying for a change at work but in all honesty "pleading and begging with heartfelt supplication" is the correct term.

I could not see behind the scenes, but He did and today the change came. I will be working for a very good attorney who is also an MBA and we think alike - don't let the deadline drive you, you drive the deadlines. I am very much looking forward to this...and the raise at the end of the 60-90 days review period

So be of good cheer all my friends who are waiting and hoping and praying (perhaps with tears) God is behind the scenes and He is working.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

Thank you for your comments and faves – they are greatly appreciated!

Select photos from my Flickr stream are available for purchase as prints or personal download at [www.winterfirephotographicarts.com].

FAFM : W.

- Charlotte Delbo : Le Convoi du 24 janvier.

- Asli Erdogan : La Ville dont la cape est rouge.

- Louise Ferrer : Petites Patiences.

- Svetlana Alexievitch : La Supplication.

- Jeanette Winterson : Oranges are not the only fruit.

- Edna 0'Brien : Girls in their married bliss.

- Zadie Smith : White Teeth.

- Doris Lessing : Winter in July.

- Esther Heboyan : Les passagers d'Istanbul.

- Harper Lee : To kill a mocking bird.

- Barbara Vine : A fatal inversion.

-Patricia Highsmith : Edith's diary.

- Eva Figes : The seven ages.

- Isak Dinesen : Out of Africa.

-E.S.Guinzbourg : Le ciel de la Kolyma.

- Etty Hillesum Une vie bouleversée.

- Annie Proulx : The shipping news.

- Toni Morrison : Sula.

- Yelena Akhtiorskaya : Panic in a suitcase.

- Elif Shafak : Crime d'honneur.

- Mary Higgins Clark : All around the town.

- Monica Dickens : One pair of feet.

- Susan Hill : Springtime of the year.

- Penelope Lively : Going back.

- Liouba Vinogradova : Les Combattantes.

- Jhumpa Lahiri : Unaccustomed Earth.

- Agata Tuszynska : Une histoire familiale de la peur.

- Marceline Loridans-Ives : Et tu n'es pas revenu.

- Charlotte Delbo : Aucun de nous ne reviendra.

Et

- Bernardine Evaristo : Girl, Woman, Other. que je suis en train de lire.

Certains ont été lus il y a très longtemps, d'autres sont tout récents.

Priam's death.

Neoptolemus’ lance is about to pierce Priam. The old king is falling backwards onto an altar. He holds his right arm protectively in front of his face. Behind the altar two women: one turns to Neoptolemus with raised hands in supplication gesture, the other bends down to Priam putting a hand on his chest and raising the other plaintively. Near Neoptolemus, in front of his leg, a young girl rushes between him and Priam. She turns her face toward Neoptolemus raising her left arm as if she wanted to stop the Greek hero’s spear. On the left edge of the picture, a fragment shows the lower part of the body of man with a stick (probably a lance), wearing a long clad. The right edge of the scene shows a second long-robed man with a staff seated on a stock block. In front of him a standing woman raises a hand over her head in a mourning gesture.

The altar has a curved outline on the left side and, on the upper and lower part, exhibits a meander framed by white lines.

Priam wears a long chiton decorated with red dots and white incised swastikas; his long hair, arranged in loose strands over his shoulders, and his beard are white. Neptolemus is equipped with a shield decorated with a bull's head, a spear, a high crested helmet and greaves.

Women have white skin. They wear different peplos and have red ribbons in their long hair. The two men who frame the scene wear long chitons and cloaks. The volume of their bodies is rendered alternating black and red bands.

CAV / CAVI @ www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/77673849-EC5E-4D69-9B5A-04B90...

Attic black-figure neck amphora

H 26,4 cm; Dm. 17,2 cm; Lip Dm. 12.0 cm.

From Aegina

Ca. 550 BC

Berlin, Altes Museum, Inv. No. F 3996

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3huvIovsdw&feature=channel_page

ACTS:1:14 { King James }

These all continue with one accord in prayer and supplication,

with the woman, and MARY the mother of jesus and

with his brethren~

With kind permission of Mz Sandy ophide-Evans who took these portraits of me 8/9 years ago after I had completed my unpublished true life story where I went to the Valley of the Kings after having many visions shown to me where I had to go to prove that my visualizations were definately not figments ogf my imagination.

Gosh i was so thin in those days: I boasted a 28 inch waist, but I was definately underweight. probably because I was such a heavy smoker in those days. Often when looking at photos like these I wish I was slim again, but, times change and guess middle age sees that change. The main thing is: Its not just what you look like, its how healthy you are.

I needed shoulder pads in those days gone by...now I just stick my chest out and smile a lot! And I would rather be a blonde than dark.

a Time and a season for all things eh?!

But I must tell you: The statue you see I bught of the Nile cruise boat back in 1997 when the most beautiful Egyptian man I had ever seen put this of isis into my hands as I walked down to my cabin saying: "Place this above your bed. `Something ` will happen to you in your cabin tonight, but Isis will make sure you are alright".

I did as he told me. That night I was nearly murdered in the cabin but I lived to tell the tale. The Spirits of Egypt and Isis, really did save me and kept me safe.

Hence the title for my book: "Spirit of Egypt"

And the Angelic Egyptian man? I NEVER saw him..again.....

Quiapo Church, Manila, Philippines

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I'm Social

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Dedicated to one of my good Friend " -{ Ariful H Bhuiyan }- "

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

Isaiah 52: 13-15

13 Behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and extolled, and shall be exceeding high.

14 As many have been astonished at thee, so shall his visage be inglorious among men, and his form among the sons of men.

15 He shall sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut their mouth at him: for they to whom it was not told of him, have seen: and they that heard not, have beheld.

Isaiah 53.

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

2 And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him:

3 Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.

8 He was taken away from distress, and from judgment: who shall declare his generation? because he is cut off out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of my people have I struck him.

9 And he shall give the ungodly for his burial, and the rich for his death: because he hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in his mouth.

10 And the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand.

11 Because his soul hath laboured, he shall see and be filled: by his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53: What Did the ancient Rabbis Say?

Many ancient rabbinic sources understood Isaiah 53 as referring to the Messiah. Here are quotations from some of them:

Babylonian Talmud: "The Messiah --what is his name?...The Rabbis say, The Leper Scholar, as it is said, `surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God and afflicted...'" (Sanhedrin 98b)

www.chaim.org/nation.htm

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

Psalm 21: 2-32

2 O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.

3 O my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me.

4 But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel.

5 In thee have our fathers hoped: they have hoped, and thou hast delivered them.

6 They cried to thee, and they were saved: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

7 But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people.

8 All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head.

9 He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him.

10 For thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb: my hope from the breasts of my mother.

11 I was cast upon thee from the womb. From my mother's womb thou art my God,

12 Depart not from me. For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me.

13 Many calves have surrounded me: fat bulls have besieged me.

14 They have opened their mouths against me, as a lion ravening and roaring.

15 I am poured out like water; and all my bones are scattered. My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels.

16 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath cleaved to my jaws: and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death.

17 For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant hath besieged me. They have dug my hands and feet.

18 They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked and stared upon me.

19 They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots.

20 But thou, O Lord, remove not thy help to a distance from me; look towards my defence.

21 Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword: my only one from the hand of the dog.

22 Save me from the lion's mouth; and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns.

23 I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise thee.

24 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him.

25 Let all the seed of Israel fear him: because he hath not slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man. Neither hath he turned away his face from me: and when I cried to him he heard me.

26 With thee is my praise in a great church: I will pay my vows in the sight of them that fear him.

27 The poor shall eat and shall be filled: and they shall praise the Lord that seek him: their hearts shall live for ever and ever.

28 All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord: And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight.

29 For the kingdom is the Lord's; and he shall have dominion over the nations.

30 All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored: all they that go down to the earth shall fall before him.

31 And to him my soul shall live: and my seed shall serve him.

32 There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: and the heavens shall shew forth his justice to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made.

(O Allah, I seek refuge in You from incapacity, laziness, miserliness, cowardice, old age, the torment of the grave. O Allah, make my soul obedient and purify it, for You are the best One to purify it, You are its Guardian and Lord. O Allah, I seek refuge in You from a heart that is not humble, a soul that is not satisfied, knowledge that is of no benefit and a supplication that is not answered.)"🌿🌿

Dublin, Ireland