Free Copts Website Hacked

The Story here (link)

It seems to me that if someone felt it was lies they would argue against it. If they felt it was true they would erase and attack it.

But the truth always has a way of coming back. It will not be silent. And neither will those who stand for the truth. Those who support the Copts and those who suffer are not faceless cyberspace pirates, they are people with faces and real stories. They stand up and point to the injustice and do what they can. Because that's what love and loving each other does.

St. Nicholas

There is almost no saint as beloved as St. Nicholas. Parton of many things...but first and foremost children, the innocent and the poor.

St. Nicholas was a wealthy man. But money did not move his heart, it was moved by our Lord. The St. Nicholas center writes of his life:

The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to the those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

Nicholas was legendary in his giving to others. The story is told:

In those days a young woman's father had to offer prospective husbands something of value—a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man's daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a gift-giver.

The dignity of others was always important to Nicholas, who had the heart of a child and a deep faith. And he exercised these in a legendary, but simple way. His care and love for others is basically that. Simple.

In a way he is one of the best examples of exercising effortless love with supreme effort, as Christ taught us. In the end, is that not the call of a Christian: effortless love with supreme effort.

Pray for us, St. Nicholas and lead us to a better understanding of Christ.

Advent Begins...Let's take a look at St. Nicholas

My wife is named Nicolle, so I have a special fondness for St. Nicholas. Many people know at least something about the great saint, mainly because he is the seed of the Santa Clause stuff. There is a great site: (link) It is the St. Nicholas Center. It does ol' St. Nick more justice than I could. The related info section is very well done.

He is patron of alot. Such as Sailors:

St. Nicholas, patron saint of sailors. Saint for all those tossed about in life by the many problems that confront us. Perhaps it is a good time to invoke his intersession for our armed forces overseas and for all those who feel lost on the ocean of problems that beset our daily lives.

Eternal God,
In your great love you gave your servant Nicholas
A perpetual name for deeds of kindness
on land and sea.

Grant that your church may never cease to work for the happiness of children, the safety of sailors, the relief of the poor and the help of those tossed by tempests of doubt or grief; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

And Thieves????

So why is Ol' St. Nick also the patron of thieves? Well, he is good at getting into houses. Seriously, Nicholas is above all the patron of children and the poor, and there is a strong connection than the one between poverty and theft.

Think about the days in which St. Nicholas lived. Alot of people were poor and very few were rich. The space between those classes was huge and most of the poor had to steal to survive. Nicholas however, is not the saint to help you break into a house. He is rather, the saint to help you break out of your old life.

St. Nicholas was rich, very rich. There are hundreds of stories where he would give to the poor so they would not have to turn to sin or crime. St. Nicholas is a saint for when there seem to be no other options. When the choice was between feeding your family or stealing, Nicholas was the hand that lifted the poor up and kept them from crime.

He is the patron of thieves who repent and an enemy of those who rob the poor of dignity.

And he is patron of....

Apothecaries (pharmacists)
Armed forces police
Bakers
Bankers
Bargemen
Barrel makers
Boatmen
Boot blacks & shoe shiners
Bottlers
Boys
Brides
Brewers
Businessmen
Butchers
Buttonmakers
Candle makers
Captives
Chandlers (suppliers of ships)
Children
Choristers
Citizens
Clergy
Clerks
Cloth trade & merchants
Coopers (barrelmakers)
Corn measurers & merchants
Court recorders, registrars, clerks
Dock workers, longshoremen
Drapers
Embalmers
Ferrymen
Firefighters
Fishermen
Florists
Grain dealers & merchants
Grocers
Grooms
Haberdashers
Infants
Infertile
Judges
Lace makers & sellers
Lawsuits lost unjustly
Lawyers
Lemko people, Ukraine
Linen merchants
Longshoremen
Lovers
Maidens
Mariners
Merchants
Military intelligence
Millers Murderers
Navigators
Newlyweds
Notaries
Oil merchants
Orphans
Packers
Parish clerks
Paupers
Pawnbrokers
Pedlars
Perfumeries, perfumers
Pharmacists
Pilgrims
Pirates
Poets
Poor people
Preachers
Prisoners
Prostitutes
Pupils
Ribbon weavers
Robbers & thieves
Schoolchildren
Sailors & mariners
Scholars & students
Seed merchants
Shearmen
Shipwreck victims
Shipwrights and gaugers
Ships carpenters
Shoemakers
Shopkeepers
Skippers
Soldiers
Spice-dealers
Spinsters
Tanners
Teachers
Thieves
Timber merchants
Travelers
Unjustly condemned
Unmarried men
Unmarried women
Virgins
Watermen
Weavers
Wine porters, merchants & vendors
Women, desirous of marrying
Woodturners

Austria
Belgium
Germany
Greece
Italy
Kingdom of Naples (Italy)
Netherlands
Sicily
Norway (with Saint Olaf)
Apulia (Italy)
Lorraine (France)
Switzerland

CITIES & TOWNS

Albania
Sveti Nikola

Argentina
San Nicolás

Aruba
Sint Nicolaas

Australia
Sankt Nikolai

Austria
Dorfbeueren; Saalbach; Sankt Nikolai im Sausal, Sankt Nikolai ob Drassling, Steiermark; St. Nikola an der Donau (on the Danube); Traboch

Belgium
Ghent; Kampenhout; Liege; Lochristi; Sint-Niklaas, Flanders

Bulgaria
Sveti Nikola, Prokhod

Canada
Saint-Nicolas, Quebec

England
Liverpool
Portsmouth

France
Amiens; Civray; Le Souich; Saint-Nicolas-de-Port, Lorraine
Germany
Albaching; Altenberg; Altenbruch (Land Hadeln); Gamhurst; Idenheim; Konz; Lubeck; Nieheim; Pfersdorf; Rheurdt; Wald

Greece
Corfu
Parga

Hungary
Dánszentmiklós
Szigetszentmiklós
Ireland
Galway; Limerick

Italy
Ancona; Bari, Apulia; Duronia; Fossalto

Macedonia
Sveti Nikole
Malta
Siggiewi

Mexico
San Nicolás, Durango; San Nicolas, Sonora; San Nicolás, Tamaulipos; San Nicolás de Ibarra

Netherlands
Amsterdam, Benschop, Biervliet, Blankenham, Blija, Broek in Waterland, Broekhuizen, Denekamp, Deventer, Dordrecht, Dwingelo, Edam, Eemnes, Elburg, Ellekom, Groningen, Haps (now in Cuijck), Harderwijk, Heino, Helvoirt (now in Haaren), Hendrik-Udo-Ambacht, Heythuizen, Ijhorst, Ijsselstein, Kampen, Koudekerk, Krommenie, Kuinre, Lutjebroek, Meijel, Midlum, Monnickendam, Muiden, Nieuwveen, Odijk (now in Bunnik), Olde Markt, Nijland, Oosterwierum, Oosterwolde, Poppenwier, Purmerend, Schelluinen, Schoonebeek, St. Nicolaasga, Tienhoven, Valkenswaard, Vollenhove, Vreeland, Wespe, Westerland, Wieuwerd, Wijhe, Zoetermeer

Palestine
Beit Jala

Peru
San Nicolás
Phillipines
San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte; San Nicolas, Pangesinan

Russia
Moscow; Zaraisk
Scotland
Aberdeen

Spain
Alicante
Switzerland
Fribourg; Lucerne; Sankt Niklaus

United States
New York City, New York; San Nicolas Island, California

Venezuela
Porlamar

Wales
Saint Nicholas

I don't really think that I can say anything else...except that Santa is alot buiser than you thought. So why? Why is Nicholas so very loved. The answer is in the story of his life.

For St. Nicholas Day...which is soon (December 6th). I'll do a post on his life.

Impending attack on Archangel Michael church, Alexandria

This story is being carried by The Free Copts (link) and Neferteeti (link).

Prayers for the soul of a wonderful girl, A short life with great meaning

You know, we often miss that there is beauty in the world. That there are people who give and give. I was reading this story and it touched my heart:

EAST WINDSOR -- Mary Rose Gabriel saved every dollar she ever received as a birthday or Christmas gift and, when she was 16 years old and had saved $7,000, decided that others needed it more than she did.

"She said, 'I'm not doing anything with it, I might as well give it to the church,'" her sister Sarah Gabriel recalled yesterday at her family's home in the township's Twin Rivers section.

Mary Gabriel, 18, gave everything she could during her life, which was cut short Sunday night when her car hit a utility pole on Old Trenton Road.

Her mother Suzan Gabriel said officials at St. Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church in East Brunswick were surprised by the teen's generosity.

"They couldn't believe it," Suzan Gabriel said.

From the biggest sacrifice to the smallest gesture, Mary Gabriel always thought of how she could help others, her mother and sister said.

She had dropped off Mark Ibrahim, whom she called her "soon-to-be fiance," at his house in Hamilton at 11:30 p.m. Sunday and was driving home when her car spun off the road and struck the pole, family members and police said. She was ejected from the car and died by the time police arrived.

West Windsor police said there was no indication, other than skid marks, of what led her car to split a utility pole in half.

She lived a life grounded in her faith, giving away some of her favorite clothes to the needy and visiting inmates in prison, her mother said.

"She would do anything just to make other people happy," Suzan Gabriel said.

A small example happened on Thursday, when Mary, Sarah and two cousins went to the Thanksgiving parade in New York City. Mary asked the other three, who were cold and wet from the rain, if she could get them soup, Sarah said. All three said no. A few minutes later, "she came back with four soups," said Sarah, who is 17.

Mary Gabriel was a student at Mercer County Community College, having graduated from Hightstown High School in three years. She planned on transferring to Rutgers University and wanted to be a nurse practitioner

"She would talk a lot about the future," Sarah said. "She said how she wanted to be a strict parent."

Mary wanted to live in West Windsor one day, because she thought it would be a good place to raise children. Suzan Gabriel said her daughter and Ibrahim were planning to become engaged next summer.

Mary Gabriel was also interested in her Coptic background. She was preparing to go with her family next summer to Egypt for the first time in 10 years.

Her 19th birthday would have been Friday.
Source

We all get a life. The time of that life is known only to the Lord. Some in eighty years do not manage to be the loving example of this young girl.

Look at what Christ says:

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?'
And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'

Matthew 25:34-40

For Mary Rose Gabriel who, as the article says:

A small example happened on Thursday, when Mary, Sarah and two cousins went to the Thanksgiving parade in New York City. Mary asked the other three, who were cold and wet from the rain, if she could get them soup, Sarah said. All three said no. A few minutes later, "she came back with four soups,"

And:

She lived a life grounded in her faith, giving away some of her favorite clothes to the needy and visiting inmates in prison.

And:

Mary Rose Gabriel saved every dollar she ever received as a birthday or Christmas gift and, when she was 16 years old and had saved $7,000, decided that others needed it more than she did.

"She said, 'I'm not doing anything with it, I might as well give it to the church"

Whatsoever you do to the least of these, you do unto me.

May she rest in the arms of her Lord. And may we see that in a world so often comsumed in pain and strife that there are examples of love and beauty in the simple acts of loving each other as our Lord told us to.

The Pope's Visit to Turkey

Here is the schedule for the Pope's visit to Turkey. I'll be taking a look at this through the week.
Prayers for the Holy Father during his visit.


Vatican City, Nov. 13, 2006 (CNA) - The Holy See has published the official schedule for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey, which will take place November 28 to December 1 and will include meetings with various political leaders and representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches as well as with leaders of Islam and Judaism.

Tuesday, November 28

The Pope will arrive in Ankara at 1pm. The day’s activities will include a visit to Atatürk Mausoleum, the welcome ceremony, a visit to the President of Turkey followed by meetings with the deputy prime minister, the president for religious affairs, Ali Bardakoglu, and the Diplomatic Corps. Bardakoglu, who was one of the harshest critics of the Pope’s lecture in Ratisbona last September, has since said that the visit would be “a positive step toward developing dialogue between Islam and Christianity.”

Wednesday, November 29

the Pope will celebrate Mass at Ephesus, where tradition says the Virgin Mary resided. Later, in Istanbul, he will go to pray at the patriarchal Church of St. Gorge followed by a private meeting with the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I.

Thursday November 30

The Feast of St. Andrew, the Pope will participate in a “Divine Liturgy” with Bartholomew I at the patriarchal Church of St. George, after which they will sign a joint declaration. Later he will make a visit to the once great Cathedral of Hagia Sophia (which is now a museum) and to the Apostolic Armenian Cathedral, where he will meet with Patriarch Mesrob II. Afterwards he will meet with the Grand Rabbi of Turkey and then have dinner with the members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Turkey.

Friday, December 1

the Pope will celebrate Mass in Holy Spirit Cathedral, and then, after a farewell ceremony, he will depart for Rome.

This will be third visit to Turkey by a Pope. Pope Paul VI visited in 1967 and Pope John Paul II in 1979.

Argentina mother expresses forgiveness of son’s killer during court trial

Source

Article:

Buenos Aires, Nov. 15, 2006 (CNA) - The mother of a murdered Argentinean man surprised the country this week when she approached the man charged with the crime during his trial, gave him a rosary, hugged him, and invited him to open his heart to God.

The courtroom encounter occurred in the town of Esquel in southern Argentina. Ana Maria Suarez was present during the trial of Fabian Chavez, 25, who confessed to killing her son, Mariano Drew.

Before those present, Suarez said, “Only prayer each day soothes my grief. Yesterday when I went to the Church of St. Cajetan, I prayed to the Virgin Mary and I thought, my son is with God. But I also thought of you, so young that you are. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to give you this,” she said before handing him a rosary.

“Only God heals wounds. I forgive you. And if my son offended you I ask your forgiveness. I loved him and now I don’t want you to suffer. The fate that has befallen you grieves me because I work with young people. In this country there is much violence. And you have been a victim of that since you were born. It is love that also helps to heal wounds,” Suarez said, hugging the defendant, who broke down in tears.

Last September, Chavez, who was raised as an orphan and is an admitted alcoholic, beat 27 year-old Mariano Drew to death in the town of El Hoyo.

A Prayer

I thought I'd share this:

Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, Inflame my heart with love for You and for those around me.

Grant, O Lord, that every moment of this day, in all my dealings with others, I may keep in mind Your words, "...as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me."

Grant that I may rule all my dealings with others according to Your command: "...love one another, as I have loved you."

Grant that I may think of them as You think of them and of me.

Grant that I may feel toward them as You feel toward them and me. Grant that I may speak to them and of them as You would were You in my place. Grant that I may bear with them as You bear with me.

Grant that I may regard it a privilege "...not to be ministered unto, but to minister."

Grant that I may seek opportunities of doing good to them in a kindly way — seeing You, serving You, in them.

Place Your thoughts in my mind, Your love in my heart, Your words on my lips — that I may learn to love others as You love me.


Fr. John Harden SJ

Egyptian blogger arrested

Freedom for Egyptians has the story. I'll update with more soon. (link)

For All Saints, known and unknown

Today is all saints day. What is All Saints Day:

All Saints Day

During the year the Church celebrates one by one the feasts of the saints. Today she joins them all in one festival. In addition to those whose names she knows, she recalls in a magnificent vision all the others "of all nations and tribes standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, proclaiming Him who redeemed them in His Blood."

The feast of All Saints should inspire us with tremendous hope. Among the saints of heaven are some whom we have known. All lived on earth lives like our own. They were baptized, marked with the sign of faith, they were faithful to Christ's teaching and they have gone before us to the heavenly home whence they call on us to follow them. The Gospel of the Beatitudes, read today, while it shows their happiness, shows, too, the road that they followed; there is no other that will lead us whither they have gone.

"The Commemoration of All Saints" was first celebrated in the East. The feast is found in the West on different dates in the eighth century. The Roman Martyrology mentions that this date is a claim of fame for Gregory IV (827-844) and that he extended this observance to the whole of Christendom; it seems certain, however, that Gregory III (731-741) preceded him in this. At Rome, on the other hand, on May 13, there was the annual commemoration of the consecration of the basilica of St. Maria ad Martyres (or St. Mary and All Martyrs). This was the former Pantheon, the temple of Agrippa, dedicated to all the gods of paganism, to which Boniface IV had translated many relics from the catacombs. Gregory VII transferred the anniversary of this dedication to November 1.

Things to Do:

* Visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead during the Octave of All Saints' Day (November 1 through November 8) will gain a plenary indulgence that can be applied only to the souls in purgatory. On other days, this work only gains a partial indulgence.

* Spend a little time after Mass thanking God for all the unnamed saints, some of whom could be our own relatives;

* Have a special meal and if you have young children have them dress up like saints and play games;

* Pray the Litany of the Saints -- you could make it really special by chanting it ("he who sings prays twice") and you could read an explanation of this litany, which is considered the model of all other litanies.

* From the Catholic Culture library:
o The Church's Thanksgiving Day by Fr. Joseph Minihan,
o Ideas for Sanctifying All Saints' Day by Jennifer Gregory Miller,
o Halloween and All Saints Day by Fr. William Saunders.


Remember today all those who suffer for their faith around the world. Say a prayer for all saints: Those we know and those we do not.

May their examples lead us in courage and love.

Prayers for Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church

(link)


Coptic pope has spinal surgery at Cleveland Clinic
Associated Press

CLEVELAND - Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church based in Egypt had successful spinal surgery at the Cleveland Clinic and is expected to be released soon, the research hospital said Tuesday.

"He is in excellent condition and recovering well in his hospital suite," the clinic said. No details were released.

The surgery was performed Sunday by Dr. Iain Kalfas, chairman of neurosurgery at the clinic.

Shenouda, 83, has started physical therapy in his room and is expected to be released from the hospital soon, according to the clinic, which said he would continue physical therapy when he returns to Egypt.

Shenouda has led the Coptic Orthodox Church since 1971. Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's more than 70 million people and are the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

Under his leadership, the church has established congregations in the United States, South America, New Zealand and Australia. Its four North American congregations in 1971 have grown to more than 100.

Prayers for a speedy recovery and the blessings of the Lord.

Prayers and Support for Pro-Life Law

Please read this artcle (link).

I'll try to add more later.

Married Three Years Today!!!!!

Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My wife's blog

So my wife has a blog that I really enjoy reading (link).

Ahh...the signs of marriage. See each other all the time, work together but in different departments and still read each other's blogs. No wonder we are pretty good on communication. We talk in first, second and third person.

Armenian Genocide Statue Destroyed in France

Gateway Pundit has the story (link).

All I can say is that maybe if people keep acting in response to the French Bill, then people will learn about the Genocide.

I pray no one gets hurt, but such childish acts of vandalism and political name calling might bring attention to the least talked about crime against humanity of our time.

Islamic Group Beheads Assyrian Priest, Crucifies 14 Year Old Boy in North Iraq

Mosul, Iraq (AINA) -- On Monday, October 9, a prominent Assyrian (also known as Chaldean and Syriac) priest, Fr. Paulos Iskander (Paul Alexander), was kidnapped by an unknown Islamic group. His ransom was posted at either $250,000 or $350,000. This group had demanded that signs be posted once again on his church apologizing for the Pope's remarks as a condition for negotiations to begin.

Father Alexander was beheaded on Wednesday.

An email from a priest in Sweden, Adris Hanna, describes the Muslim terror campaign against the Christians in Iraq:

The Syriac-Orhtodox priest Paulos Iskandar was kidnapped this Monday, October 9, and beheaded today Wednesday October 11.

The Bishop in Mosul wrote me an email tonight and told me that the funeral will be held in Mosul tomorrow.

Christians are living a terrified life in Mosul and Baghdad. Several priests have been kidnapped, girls are being raped and murdered and a couple of days ago a fourteen year old boy was crucified in the Christian neighborhood Albasra.

I have also spoken to a group of nuns that were robbed and treated brutally on their way between Baghdad to Amman in Jordan.

The murder of father Paulus is the final blow for Christians, and now only hell is expected for the Christians of Iraq.

We the oriental Christians in Sweden and the rest of the Western world must protest against the genocide. We must do what we can to stop the rape, threats, hatred, robberies, murders… We must do something.(source)

Also on the story:

link

And where is Fox, CNN, MSNBC...anyone.

Kidnappers Forcing Teenage Girl to Convert to Islam. Plus an Update as more news comes out. Kidnapped Girl Escapes to Family

The Free Copts have the story (link).

I'll repost it here:


On October 2nd at 2:30 p.m., Lorans Wageah Emeel, a 15-year-old Christian girl, was kidnapped by Muslims in the Egyptian city of El Mahala Al Kobra. The incident was publicized by El Tareek, the only Arabic Christian newspaper in the Middle East. It is reported that the abductors are trying to force Lorans, a student of Saida Nafesa High School in El Mahalla Al Kobra, to deny Christ and accept Islam.

At approximately 10:30 a.m. Cairo time, on October 3rd, the Emeel family gathered around the El Mahala Al Kobra police station, pleading with the officers to return Lorans to them. Her parents accused a Muslim man of kidnapping their daughter at 2:30 in the afternoon and filed a police report at the station.

The kidnapping of Christian teenage girls in Muslim nations has reached into the thousands. Many are forced through physical violence to convert to Islam. Other girls are often lured into becoming Muslims with promises of material wealth. The Voice of the Martyrs sponsors safe houses in Islamic countries to protect Christian teenage girls who have been threatened with or have escaped from abduction. These Christian refuges are also places where young women learn job skills and receive spiritual training.

Please offer your prayers. But also...Contact our own government here in the United States. Make this an issue. Make the sufferings of our brothers and sisters an issue for our own government. Our tax dollars are going to support (in the form of military aid to Egypt) the government that turns a blind eye to this.

Some links on how to mail Congress about the United States and their role in this:

Link
House of Representatives faq

Link
THE COMPLETE LIST OF E-MAIL ADDRESSES & FAX NUMBERS FOR CONGRESS, SENATE & GOVERNORS

Link
Congress.org


Update (From Voice of the Martyrs)

An Egyptian Christian teenager escaped her Muslim kidnappers last week hours after they had drugged her on a public bus. They threatened to rape her and convert her to Islam if her family did not leave their Nile Delta city of El-Mahala el-Kobra. Laurence Wagih Emil, 15, escaped the ground-floor room where she was being held in Cairo's southern Helwan suburb at 10 p.m. last Tuesday (October 3) while her captors were away breaking their Ramadan fast.

Her father, Wagih Emil, had received several threatening text messages from his daughter's mobile phone. "Take the rest of your daughters and leave the city, or you will lose them one by one," said one. "The girl is not accepting easily, but she will embrace Islam for sure." Before family members recovered her, State Security Investigation officials interviewing Laurence Emil told her she would never see her parents again unless she reported a false story denying the kidnapping.

An Open Letter From The American Coptic Union to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

I'll post the text of the letter here:


Contact: Rafique Iscandar, American Coptic Union, 201-798-1451, americancu@hotmail.com

MEDIA ADVISORY, Oct. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- The President of the American Coptic Union (ACU) sends the following open letter to the US Department of State, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Dear Secretary of State Rice:

The American Coptic Union (ACU), which represents Coptic people in the United States and Egypt, is deeply concerned about the human rights abuses perpetrated against the Copts in Egypt. While these violations against our people have been escalating since September 11, 2001, the Egypt government has not protected its Coptic population—as Islamic terrorists and the Egyptian State Security Investigation authority continues to attack and persecute the Copts.

The daily horrors of shame-rape, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement and forced conversion, particularly in the southern part of Upper Egypt, are seriously eroding the Copts’ economic, social, and religious existence. Despite the good relationship and numerous calls by President George W. Bush to President Hosni Mubarak, the daily life of the Copts continues to deteriorate.

While the Egypt government continues to isolate its Coptic population, it has never discussed the constitutional rights of Egypt’s Christians nor has it legislated any new laws or presidential decrees to ensure human rights for the Copts. In fact, human rights activists are often harassed, attacked and falsely imprisoned in Egypt for speaking out.

As I write this letter to you, not one case of rape or kidnap, which was reported to the Egyptian authorities, has been filed. The ACU has personally documented and reported many of these crimes, which the Egyptian government has ignored.

Mary Bulak is a Coptic mother who lost two underage daughters, after they were kidnapped, raped and forcefully converted to Islam, Nov. 10, 2003. Although our organization has spent considerable time with officials from the U.S. Department of State and the USCIRF, giving full details of the horrible crimes and suffering endured by the Bulaks, the Egyptian government still refuses to end the suffering of this family (and thousands of other families who have endured similar persecution). Another crime committed by the Egyptian government is the killing of Sabry Zaky Esq., a Human Rights lawyer, July 23, 2004. This crime was also ignored and to this day, it remains unsolved despite several requests for investigation.

The American Coptic Union requests that you discuss the continued human rights abuses of the Copts in Egypt, along with the cases mentioned in this letter, during your upcoming meeting with the Egyptian government. We also suggest building a friendly grass roots effort with those Christians and Muslims who are loyal to the U.S. and its values for freedom.


Sincerely,


Rafique Iscandar
President

Woman uses Baby as Weapon

This is just disgusting (link):

Prosecutor says Pa. mom used 4-week-old baby to beat boyfriend; child seriously injured
By Associated Press
Monday, October 9, 2006

ERIE, Pa. - A woman used her 4-week-old baby as a weapon in a domestic dispute, swinging the infant through the air and striking her boyfriend with the child, authorities said.
The boy was in serious but stable condition Monday at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, police said.
“Never, never, never. I can never remember anything like this,” District Attorney Bradley Foulk told the Erie Times-News.

Chytoria Graham, 27, of Erie, was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and simple assault. She was held Monday in the Erie County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.
The infant, whose name was not released, suffered a fractured skull and some bleeding in the brain, authorities said. His head hit Graham’s boyfriend, the baby’s father, police Lt. Dan Spizarny said.

Authorities removed four other children from Graham’s home and placed them with the Erie County Office of Children and Youth, Foulk said.



Prayers for the child and all involved.

Updating to Blogger beta

I'm updating my blog to beta. It give me more control on style and additions. So it may look different off and on over the next few days.

The shootings at the Amish School

This has been the big story in PA (and the nation) this week. My prayers and heart goes out to the famlies of all involved. I saw this headline today:

Amish mourn after attack, urging forgiveness of gunman

A quote:

As they struggle to understand the slayings of five of their children in a one-room schoolhouse, the Amish in this Lancaster County village are urging forgiveness of the killer and are quietly accepting what comes their way as God's will.

and:

The Amish have also been reaching out to the family of the gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, who committed suicide during the attack.

"The Amish neighbor came that very night, around 9 o'clock in the evening, and offered forgiveness to the family," Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman, told CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts. (source)

It is Respect Life Sunday

Say a prayer for all life. Born and unborn. Suffering and happy.

Love each other today.

A tragic story

I was shown this article (link).

The 24-year-old remains in a coma with multiple injuries in Indiana.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

BOARDMAN — Township native Kade Kotheimer, 24, married his college sweetheart and moved to Indiana two months ago to begin a career as a firefighter.

On Sept. 15, he was involved in a minor traffic accident and got out of his car to check on another driver. He was then struck by three vehicles and remains hospitalized in a coma with multiple injuries.

"He probably thought that he was safe in the center lane," said his father, Kim, a township police detective. "I probably would have thought the same thing."

A van pulled into the lane and struck him, sending the 2001 Boardman High School graduate airborne and into oncoming traffic, where another vehicle struck him, according to published reports.

A third vehicle then ran over him as he lay in the road, his father said.

The Indianapolis Star reported that the driver of the van doesn't have a driver's license and has a long record of traffic offenses.

Kotheimer had just started a job as a firefighter for the Speedway Fire Department in Indiana about two months before the accident. He graduated in the spring from the University of Akron with a degree in fire science and got married a few months ago.

Trust fund established

Members of the Speedway Fire Department have established the Trust Fund for Firefighter Kade Kotheimer to help with expenses.

More information is available on the Internet at www.speedwayfire.org. There's a link to the Kade Kotheimer Fund.

Donations may be made at the National City Bank branch at the Southern Park Mall. Although the Web site indicates all branches may accept the donations, the mall branch is the only Mahoning Valley location where the fund is set up.

His father said that Kotheimer and his wife, Denae, had just closed on a new house two days before.

While in high school, Kotheimer was active in band and theater orchestras and the jazz band, but he always wanted to be a firefighter.

"From the time he was young, he said that's what he wanted to do," his father said.

He enrolled in the cadet program through the Western Reserve Joint Fire District, a program where 16-and-17-year-olds learn about firefighting.

Chief David Comstock Jr. said that's where Kotheimer stood out.

"The No. 1 thing was he was very enthusiastic," Comstock said. "He always had a positive attitude."

He also showed a passion and knack for the job, the chief said.

The Speedway firefighters also plan a benefit motorcycle show Oct. 3 for their injured comrade.

Lt. Jeff Hartman of the Speedway department said about 2,000 red bracelets, with Kade, SFD and his badge number, 160, written on them also will be sold to raise money.

Checks to the Trust for Kade Kotheimer also may be mailed to Hartman at the station, 1410 N. Lynhurst Drive, Speedway, Ind. 46224.

Serious injuries

Kotheimer's injuries include head trauma and multiple fractures in both legs, but his father said his condition has improved over the last week.

A tracheotomy tube has been inserted to help him breathe, and a feeding tube is being inserted in his stomach, Kim Kotheimer said.

"In the neurological intensive care unit, they told us that they don't measure in minutes or hours, they measure in days and weeks and months," he said.

Kim Kotheimer credited his son's department for their fund-raising efforts and support since the accident.

Joe Rush, a Speedway firefighter, said individuals within the 34-member department are working Kotheimer's shifts so that he continues to receive a paycheck. Others are working to paint the couple's house and get it ready to move in.

Hartman, who also serves as president of Speedway town council, said the employees are contributing sick time to pitch in for their injured co-worker.

The fact that Kotheimer worked at the department only a short time before his injuries is irrelevant, Rush said.

"It doesn't matter if you're here for one day or for 20 years, it's a brotherhood," he said.
Friday, September 22, 2006

Please keep them in your prayers and help in any other way you can. Here is a link to the department and what they are doing to help. (Link)

Who are we

Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI have stated that the difference (the main one, at least) between Christianity and Islam is the nearness of God.

In Islam God is very removed. Majestic to the point of total mystery.

In Christianity God is still a mystery, but His desire of love and redemption for His people can be seen fully in Christ. Emmanuel, God with us. God is a mystery, but He wishes to share with us the heart of His nature through Christ.

John Paul II respected the core of Islamic theology as submission to the will of God.

And Benedict recently has been focusing on reason in faith. And reason as part of God's nature.

So to put them together we have the examples of Mary and the Garden. Mary submits totally to the will of God. Christ, in the garden, struggles against the opposition of human will and divine will and submits to the will of the Father in total love.

But in Islam, if God is such a mystery, reason can not be used to grasp His will. Violence or peace can be equally valid in a theological sense since He is a total mystery. This, I think has been the point the last two popes have been striving to hammer home. Dialogue is possible, but only if we understand the differences and the reasons for them.

In Christian theology we have Christ as our guide and window. We have Mary as an example as well. And Joseph, as well, who submits to the will of God. We have glimpses of the will of God and His desires for us by virtue of our examples of submission, and by our greatest example: The Cross.

Even with these examples (not to mention all the saints), the greatest examples in history, Christians can place reason apart from faith or enact faith without recourse to reason.

The points of the popes are as much a call for us to examine how we practice our own faith, as a call for us to understand how Islam differs. Only if we do both can we be true representatives of our faith in meaningful dialogue.

Perhaps the results of all of this will be that we will see which side of Islam will speak for Islam in that dialogue. One that wishes to bring reason or one that does not.

Nun shot in Somalia offered forgiveness with dying breath

The story speaks for itself:

Mogadishu, Sep. 19, 2006 (CNA) - The Consolata missionary sister who was shot dead by Islamic extremists in Mogadishu, Somalia, forgave her killers with her final breaths.

Sr. Leonella Sgorbati, 70, was shot five times in the back, in broad daylight, as she was walking back to her residence from the pediatric hospital where she gave medical training. Sr. Sgorbati was returning home at midday for lunch. Two gunmen reportedly jumped out from behind parked cars and opened fire on Sr. Sgorbati and one of the security guards who accompany the sisters when they cross the street, reported MISNA. The guard also died.

The attackers were reportedly well aware of the sisters’ daily routines and knew that the only moment to strike was when they crossed the street. Other sisters heard the shots and ran out onto the street, only to see the gunmen fleeing and Sister Leonella on the ground.

“We followed the stretcher into the hospital, where Sr. Leonella was rushed to the operating room. The medics brought four or five sacks of blood, but as much as they put in, came out,” Sr. Marzia Feurra, a Consolata missionary, told MISNA. “When the surgeon arrived he told us that there was nothing left to do.”

Sr. Feurra described Sr. Sgorbati’s final moments on the operating table. “Sister Leonella was still alive; she was in a cold sweat. We held hands, looked at each other and, before turning out like a little candle, three times she repeated to me ‘forgive.’ ‘Forgive, forgive, forgive…’ These were her last words,” she said.

Sr. Sgorbati’s funeral will be held Thursday at Consolata Church in Nairobi.

This morning Pope Benedict XVI sent a telegram, through Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, offering his condolences and prayers to the Consolata community, of which Sr. Sgorbati was a part. The communication called the sister’s death “tragic” and deplored the manner in which she was “barbarically murdered.”

“In firmly reaffirming his condemnation of every type of violence, His Holiness hopes that the blood poured from this faithful disciple of the Gospel will become a seed of hope for the construction of an authentic fraternity between peoples, in the mutual respect for the religious convictions of all,” the telegram said.

A Swedish journalist and a Somali peace activist, also foreigners, have been killed in Mogadishu recent months. According to the Associated Press, their deaths coincide with a rise in Islamic radicalism in Somalia, as a hard-line Muslim militia expands its reach.

How To React

The question is not should we oppose the violence in faith. But how should we oppose it. Oscar Romero said:

We have never preached violence,
except the violence of love,
which left Christ nailed to a cross,
the violence that we each must do to ourselves
to overcome our selfishness
and such cruel inequalities among us.

The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword,
the violence of hatred.

It is the violence of love,
of brotherhood,
the violence that wills to beat weapons
into sickles for work.

Archbishop Oscar Romero, November 27, 1977

We can not forget that the points from last week are not new to the Pope:

In acknowledging the centrality of love, Christian faith has retained the core of Israel's faith, while at the same time giving it new depth and breadth. The pious Jew prayed daily the words of the Book of Deuteronomy which expressed the heart of his existence: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might” (6:4-5).

Jesus united into a single precept this commandment of love for God and the commandment of love for neighbour found in the Book of Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (19:18; cf. Mk 12:29-31). Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere “command”; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us.

In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message is both timely and significant.

Deus Caritas Est


Now, it is because of love that the violence brought by fundamentalists angers and hurts us so much. It is because of love that voices are raised in opposition. But what should not be done is the advocating of violence, even implicity, as an immediate resort. Also, it should not be advocated as a personal action. This is what defines us.

Doing so has the danger of removing the understanding that there are muslims who are not radicals, and although we disagree with the theology of even the non-violent muslims, we should not group them together.

Historically, as Catholics (and Christians in general) we have been grouped, by others; not with the great examples of our faith, but with the exceptions. Many of us have been forced to defend the behavior of public, historical and everyday Catholics and explain what the Church really teaches.

And in those cases we often come away saying, "Why couldn't that person have been less confrontational and not assumed that I represented what they were angry about. We could have come to a better solution or dialogue."

At times we (all of us, despite our best intentions) run the danger of letting that happen.

We do not agree with muslim theology (even the non-radicals) and try to show the Christian way, but truth can be said harshly without charity or it can be phrased with charity. I believe that the truth can be stated boldly, forcefully and in the full spirit of truth with charity.

Radicals are calling for the death of the Pope. It makes us angry. Angry like Peter when the struck off the ear of the guard in the garden. But that is not what Christ (or the Pope) is asking of us.

We want to defend our Pope and all Christians, but we need to do it in the way he and Christ lay out as our example.

So maybe the question should be: How should we each in our personal lives (in our relations with muslims and others) react to this situation?

With truth. I have spent days explaining to people what the Pope said. I have talked endlessly in personal conversations about the differences between Christianity and Islam and Islam and radical Islam.

We have non-violent means of reaction available to us. We have effetive means of non-violent actionif we invest the time to use them. We have congress. We have charities. We have our personal interactions with others. We do not have to back down from stating the ugly truth about radical Islam. We do not have to back down from disagreeing with the theology of Islam in general. But we must not answer cries of violence with violence.

It is the nearness of God incarnated in Christ that defines a Christian. It is that nearness that calls us to react with reason over violence. That is the heart of the Pope's message.

The Pope's Speech: An appeal for Faith with Reason Falls on Deaf Ears.

I suppose for some time it will be referred to as "The Pope's Speech". It is, in my opinion the single most misunderstood speech I have ever read. This is not to say that the Pope is not against Muslim radicals and spreading faith by violence, but the stand he takes in his speech is greater than that.

The speech is not about Islam it is about faith and reason. It is about how the use of violence and force to make someone a religion is not of God. How God and reason are not exclusive concepts. It is about how that is an element from greek thought and how, as the modern philosophical concept moves away from such thought...can we still keep it. As modern philosophy makes the choice of God a freedom that is considered the highest exercise of reason, can we show just how the acceptance of God is actually the highest use of reason. It is about how some faiths:

This gives rise to positions which clearly approach those of Ibn Hazn and might even lead to the image of a capricious God, who is not even bound to truth and goodness. God's transcendence and otherness are so exalted that our reason, our sense of the true and good, are no longer an authentic mirror of God, whose deepest possibilities remain eternally unattainable and hidden behind his actual decisions.

(In Crossing the Threshold of Hope, John Paul II said the God of Islam is a God so majestic that He is removed from His people, and though Benedict does not us Islam as a specific example...I'm sure he did not use the words by accident).

He contrasts that with the Christian view:

As opposed to this, the faith of the Church has always insisted that between God and us, between his eternal Creator Spirit and our created reason there exists a real analogy, in which unlikeness remains infinitely greater than likeness, yet not to the point of abolishing analogy and its language (cf. Lateran IV).

God does not become more divine when we push him away from us in a sheer, impenetrable voluntarism; rather, the truly divine God is the God who has revealed himself as logos and, as logos, has acted and continues to act lovingly on our behalf. Certainly, love "transcends" knowledge and is thereby capable of perceiving more than thought alone (cf. Ephesians 3:19); nonetheless it continues to be love of the God who is logos. Consequently, Christian worship is "logic latreía" -- worship in harmony with the eternal Word and with our reason (cf. Romans 12:1).

This is the heart of the speech. Faith with reason is the best use of our faith since we aare in the image of God. If we do not have reason we fall to violence, athesim or an apathy about God that fills our world today.

And the media takes a single part and runs with the only time the word Muslim is used. The radical Muslims give their answer by reacting. Not with reason. But violence and anger.

We can not be afraid to speak because of how some might take it. And in the reaction to the Pope's speech, his words are proven true.

Finally let's look at the apology:

Pope Benedict told Muslims on Saturday he was sorry they had found his speech on Islam offensive, expressing his respect for their faith and hoping they would understand the “true sense” of his words.

“The Holy Father is very sorry that some passages of his speech may have sounded offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers,” Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said in a statement.

Not sorry he said it, because he shouldn't be. Not sorry he used those words. But sorry that others are not using reason.

And further lack of reason:

Two churches -- neither of them Catholic -- were fire-bombed in the West Bank, although no one was hurt.

But the Chancellor of Germany got it right:

“It was an invitation to dialogue between religions, she told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper in an interview. “What Benedict XVI emphasized was a decisive and uncompromising renunciation of all forms of violence in the name of religion.”

A bit busy today

I'm a bit busy today, but I'll be writing about the Pope's trip to Germany in the next two days.

Before that, here is the full text of the speech that has caused so much uproar (I'll give my thoughts in the next post. But this speech is about God and reason and God removed vs God With Us. The word Muslim occurs once. Violence is not of God and it is not rational. Only faith, guided by reason, of which love is a part, will solve the worlds problems. This is very much part of his point :


Papal Address at University of Regensburg

"Three Stages in the Program of De-Hellenization"

REGENSBURG, Germany, SEPT. 12, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is a Vatican translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered to scientists at the University of Regensburg, where he was a professor and vice rector from 1969 to 1971.

This is the version the Pope read, adding some allusions of the moment, which he hopes to publish in the future, complete with footnotes. Hence, the present text must be considered provisional.

* * *

Faith, Reason and the University
Memories and Reflections

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a moving experience for me to stand and give a lecture at this university podium once again. I think back to those years when, after a pleasant period at the Freisinger Hochschule, I began teaching at the University of Bonn. This was in 1959, in the days of the old university made up of ordinary professors. The various chairs had neither assistants nor secretaries, but in recompense there was much direct contact with students and in particular among the professors themselves. We would meet before and after lessons in the rooms of the teaching staff. There was a lively exchange with historians, philosophers, philologists and, naturally, between the two theological faculties.

Once a semester there was a "dies academicus," when professors from every faculty appeared before the students of the entire university, making possible a genuine experience of "universitas": The reality that despite our specializations which at times make it difficult to communicate with each other, we made up a whole, working in everything on the basis of a single rationality with its various aspects and sharing responsibility for the right use of reason -- this reality became a lived experience.

The university was also very proud of its two theological faculties. It was clear that, by inquiring about the reasonableness of faith, they too carried out a work which is necessarily part of the "whole" of the "universitas scientiarum," even if not everyone could share the faith which theologians seek to correlate with reason as a whole. This profound sense of coherence within the universe of reason was not troubled, even when it was once reported that a colleague had said there was something odd about our university: It had two faculties devoted to something that did not exist: God. That even in the face of such radical skepticism it is still necessary and reasonable to raise the question of God through the use of reason, and to do so in the context of the tradition of the Christian faith: This, within the university as a whole, was accepted without question.

I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by professor Theodore Khoury (Muenster) of part of the dialogue carried on -- perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara -- by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both.

It was probably the emperor himself who set down this dialogue, during the siege of Constantinople between 1394 and 1402; and this would explain why his arguments are given in greater detail than the responses of the learned Persian. The dialogue ranges widely over the structures of faith contained in the Bible and in the Koran, and deals especially with the image of God and of man, while necessarily returning repeatedly to the relationship of the "three Laws": the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran.

In this lecture I would like to discuss only one point -- itself rather marginal to the dialogue itself -- which, in the context of the issue of "faith and reason," I found interesting and which can serve as the starting point for my reflections on this issue.

In the seventh conversation ("diálesis" -- controversy) edited by professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the jihad (holy war). The emperor must have known that sura 2:256 reads: "There is no compulsion in religion." It is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under [threat]. But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Koran, concerning holy war.

Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels," he turns to his interlocutor somewhat brusquely with the central question on the relationship between religion and violence in general, in these words: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

The emperor goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably ("syn logo") is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats.... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death...."

The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: Not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature. The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes: For the emperor, as a Byzantine shaped by Greek philosophy, this statement is self-evident. But for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality. Here Khoury quotes a work of the noted French Islamist R. Arnaldez, who points out that Ibn Hazn went so far as to state that God is not bound even by his own word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us. Were it God's will, we would even have to practice idolatry.

As far as understanding of God and thus the concrete practice of religion is concerned, we find ourselves faced with a dilemma which nowadays challenges us directly. Is the conviction that acting unreasonably contradicts God's nature merely a Greek idea, or is it always and intrinsically true?

I believe that here we can see the profound harmony between what is Greek in the best sense of the word and the biblical understanding of faith in God. Modifying the first verse of the Book of Genesis, John began the prologue of his Gospel with the words: "In the beginning was the 'logos.'"

This is the very word used by the emperor: God acts with logos. Logos means both reason and word -- a reason which is creative and capable of self-communication, precisely as reason. John thus spoke the final word on the biblical concept of God, and in this word all the often toilsome and tortuous threads of biblical faith find their culmination and synthesis. In the beginning was the logos, and the logos is God, says the Evangelist. The encounter between the biblical message and Greek thought did not happen by chance.

The vision of St. Paul, who saw the roads to Asia barred and in a dream saw a Macedonian man plead with him: "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" (cf. Acts 16:6-10) -- this vision can be interpreted as a "distillation" of the intrinsic necessity of a rapprochement between biblical faith and Greek inquiry.

In point of fact, this rapprochement had been going on for some time. The mysterious name of God, revealed from the burning bush, a name which separates this God from all other divinities with their many names and declares simply that he is, already presents a challenge to the notion of myth, to which Socrates' attempt to vanquish and transcend myth stands in close analogy. Within the Old Testament, the process which started at the burning bush came to new maturity at the time of the Exile, when the God of Israel, an Israel now deprived of its land and worship, was proclaimed as the God of heaven and earth and described in a simple formula which echoes the words uttered at the burning bush: "I am."

This new understanding of God is accompanied by a kind of enlightenment, which finds stark expression in the mockery of gods who are merely the work of human hands (cf. Psalm 115). Thus, despite the bitter conflict with those Hellenistic rulers who sought to accommodate it forcibly to the customs and idolatrous cult of the Greeks, biblical faith, in the Hellenistic period, encountered the best of Greek thought at a deep level, resulting in a mutual enrichment evident especially in the later wisdom literature.

Today we know that the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced at Alexandria -- the Septuagint -- is more than a simple (and in that sense perhaps less than satisfactory) translation of the Hebrew text: It is an independent textual witness and a distinct and important step in the history of Revelation, one which brought about this encounter in a way that was decisive for the birth and spread of Christianity. A profound encounter of faith and reason is taking place here, an encounter between genuine enlightenment and religion. From the very heart of Christian faith and, at the same time, the heart of Greek thought now joined to faith, Manuel II was able to say: Not to act "with logos" is contrary to God's nature.

In all honesty, one must observe that in the late Middle Ages we find trends in theology which would sunder this synthesis between the Greek spirit and the Christian spirit. In contrast with the so-called intellectualism of Augustine and Thomas, there arose with Duns Scotus a voluntarism which ultimately led to the claim that we can only know God's "voluntas ordinata." Beyond this is the realm of God's freedom, in virtue of which he could have done the opposite of everything he has actually done.

This gives rise to positions which clearly approach those of Ibn Hazn and might even lead to the image of a capricious God, who is not even bound to truth and goodness. God's transcendence and otherness are so exalted that our reason, our sense of the true and good, are no longer an authentic mirror of God, whose deepest possibilities remain eternally unattainable and hidden behind his actual decisions.

As opposed to this, the faith of the Church has always insisted that between God and us, between his eternal Creator Spirit and our created reason there exists a real analogy, in which unlikeness remains infinitely greater than likeness, yet not to the point of abolishing analogy and its language (cf. Lateran IV).

God does not become more divine when we push him away from us in a sheer, impenetrable voluntarism; rather, the truly divine God is the God who has revealed himself as logos and, as logos, has acted and continues to act lovingly on our behalf. Certainly, love "transcends" knowledge and is thereby capable of perceiving more than thought alone (cf. Ephesians 3:19); nonetheless it continues to be love of the God who is logos. Consequently, Christian worship is "logic latreía" -- worship in harmony with the eternal Word and with our reason (cf. Romans 12:1).

This inner rapprochement between biblical faith and Greek philosophical inquiry was an event of decisive importance not only from the standpoint of the history of religions, but also from that of world history -- it is an event which concerns us even today. Given this convergence, it is not surprising that Christianity, despite its origins and some significant developments in the East, finally took on its historically decisive character in Europe. We can also express this the other way around: This convergence, with the subsequent addition of the Roman heritage, created Europe and remains the foundation of what can rightly be called Europe.

The thesis that the critically purified Greek heritage forms an integral part of Christian faith has been countered by the call for a de-Hellenization of Christianity -- a call which has more and more dominated theological discussions since the beginning of the modern age. Viewed more closely, three stages can be observed in the program of de-Hellenization: Although interconnected, they are clearly distinct from one another in their motivations and objectives.

De-Hellenization first emerges in connection with the fundamental postulates of the Reformation in the 16th century. Looking at the tradition of scholastic theology, the Reformers thought they were confronted with a faith system totally conditioned by philosophy, that is to say an articulation of the faith based on an alien system of thought. As a result, faith no longer appeared as a living historical Word but as one element of an overarching philosophical system.

The principle of "sola scriptura," on the other hand, sought faith in its pure, primordial form, as originally found in the biblical Word. Metaphysics appeared as a premise derived from another source, from which faith had to be liberated in order to become once more fully itself. When Kant stated that he needed to set thinking aside in order to make room for faith, he carried this program forward with a radicalism that the Reformers could never have foreseen. He thus anchored faith exclusively in practical reason, denying it access to reality as a whole.

The liberal theology of the 19th and 20th centuries ushered in a second stage in the process of de-Hellenization, with Adolf von Harnack as its outstanding representative. When I was a student, and in the early years of my teaching, this program was highly influential in Catholic theology too. It took as its point of departure Pascal's distinction between the God of the philosophers and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

In my inaugural lecture at Bonn in 1959, I tried to address the issue. I will not repeat here what I said on that occasion, but I would like to describe at least briefly what was new about this second stage of de-Hellenization. Harnack's central idea was to return simply to the man Jesus and to his simple message, underneath the accretions of theology and indeed of Hellenization: This simple message was seen as the culmination of the religious development of humanity. Jesus was said to have put an end to worship in favor of morality. In the end he was presented as the father of a humanitarian moral message.

The fundamental goal was to bring Christianity back into harmony with modern reason, liberating it, that is to say, from seemingly philosophical and theological elements, such as faith in Christ's divinity and the triune God. In this sense, historical-critical exegesis of the New Testament restored to theology its place within the university: Theology, for Harnack, is something essentially historical and therefore strictly scientific. What it is able to say critically about Jesus is, so to speak, an expression of practical reason and consequently it can take its rightful place within the university.

Behind this thinking lies the modern self-limitation of reason, classically expressed in Kant's "Critiques," but in the meantime further radicalized by the impact of the natural sciences. This modern concept of reason is based, to put it briefly, on a synthesis between Platonism (Cartesianism) and empiricism, a synthesis confirmed by the success of technology.

On the one hand it presupposes the mathematical structure of matter, its intrinsic rationality, which makes it possible to understand how matter works and use it efficiently: This basic premise is, so to speak, the Platonic element in the modern understanding of nature. On the other hand, there is nature's capacity to be exploited for our purposes, and here only the possibility of verification or falsification through experimentation can yield ultimate certainty. The weight between the two poles can, depending on the circumstances, shift from one side to the other. As strongly positivistic a thinker as J. Monod has declared himself a convinced Platonist/Cartesian.

This gives rise to two principles which are crucial for the issue we have raised. First, only the kind of certainty resulting from the interplay of mathematical and empirical elements can be considered scientific. Anything that would claim to be science must be measured against this criterion. Hence the human sciences, such as history, psychology, sociology and philosophy, attempt to conform themselves to this canon of scientificity.

A second point, which is important for our reflections, is that by its very nature this method excludes the question of God, making it appear an unscientific or pre-scientific question. Consequently, we are faced with a reduction of the radius of science and reason, one which needs to be questioned.

We shall return to this problem later. In the meantime, it must be observed that from this standpoint any attempt to maintain theology's claim to be "scientific" would end up reducing Christianity to a mere fragment of its former self. But we must say more: It is man himself who ends up being reduced, for the specifically human questions about our origin and destiny, the questions raised by religion and ethics, then have no place within the purview of collective reason as defined by "science" and must thus be relegated to the realm of the subjective.

The subject then decides, on the basis of his experiences, what he considers tenable in matters of religion, and the subjective "conscience" becomes the sole arbiter of what is ethical. In this way, though, ethics and religion lose their power to create a community and become a completely personal matter. This is a dangerous state of affairs for humanity, as we see from the disturbing pathologies of religion and reason which necessarily erupt when reason is so reduced that questions of religion and ethics no longer concern it. Attempts to construct an ethic from the rules of evolution or from psychology and sociology, end up being simply inadequate.

Before I draw the conclusions to which all this has been leading, I must briefly refer to the third stage of de-Hellenization, which is now in progress. In the light of our experience with cultural pluralism, it is often said nowadays that the synthesis with Hellenism achieved in the early Church was a preliminary inculturation which ought not to be binding on other cultures.

The latter are said to have the right to return to the simple message of the New Testament prior to that inculturation, in order to inculturate it anew in their own particular milieux. This thesis is not only false; it is coarse and lacking in precision. The New Testament was written in Greek and bears the imprint of the Greek spirit, which had already come to maturity as the Old Testament developed.

True, there are elements in the evolution of the early Church which do not have to be integrated into all cultures. Nonetheless, the fundamental decisions made about the relationship between faith and the use of human reason are part of the faith itself; they are developments consonant with the nature of faith itself.

And so I come to my conclusion. This attempt, painted with broad strokes, at a critique of modern reason from within has nothing to do with putting the clock back to the time before the Enlightenment and rejecting the insights of the modern age. The positive aspects of modernity are to be acknowledged unreservedly: We are all grateful for the marvelous possibilities that it has opened up for mankind and for the progress in humanity that has been granted to us. The scientific ethos, moreover, is the will to be obedient to the truth, and, as such, it embodies an attitude which reflects one of the basic tenets of Christianity.

The intention here is not one of retrenchment or negative criticism, but of broadening our concept of reason and its application. While we rejoice in the new possibilities open to humanity, we also see the dangers arising from these possibilities and we must ask ourselves how we can overcome them.

We will succeed in doing so only if reason and faith come together in a new way, if we overcome the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically verifiable, and if we once more disclose its vast horizons. In this sense theology rightly belongs in the university and within the wide-ranging dialogue of sciences, not merely as a historical discipline and one of the human sciences, but precisely as theology, as inquiry into the rationality of faith.

Only thus do we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today. In the Western world it is widely held that only positivistic reason and the forms of philosophy based on it are universally valid. Yet the world's profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions.

A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures. At the same time, as I have attempted to show, modern scientific reason with its intrinsically Platonic element bears within itself a question which points beyond itself and beyond the possibilities of its methodology. Modern scientific reason quite simply has to accept the rational structure of matter and the correspondence between our spirit and the prevailing rational structures of nature as a given, on which its methodology has to be based.

Yet the question why this has to be so is a real question, and one which has to be remanded by the natural sciences to other modes and planes of thought -- to philosophy and theology. For philosophy and, albeit in a different way, for theology, listening to the great experiences and insights of the religious traditions of humanity, and those of the Christian faith in particular, is a source of knowledge, and to ignore it would be an unacceptable restriction of our listening and responding.

Here I am reminded of something Socrates said to Phaedo. In their earlier conversations, many false philosophical opinions had been raised, and so Socrates says: "It would be easily understandable if someone became so annoyed at all these false notions that for the rest of his life he despised and mocked all talk about being -- but in this way he would be deprived of the truth of existence and would suffer a great loss."

The West has long been endangered by this aversion to the questions which underlie its rationality, and can only suffer great harm thereby. The courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur -- this is the program with which a theology grounded in biblical faith enters into the debates of our time.

"Not to act reasonably (with logos) is contrary to the nature of God," said Manuel II, according to his Christian understanding of God, in response to his Persian interlocutor. It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures. To rediscover it constantly is the great task of the university.

Lift your voice in Prayer: Love as Active

We are called to prayer. We are called to love.

So many times we are asked to raise or join our voices in prayer. How?

True, the great expressions of faith in our liturgies, songs and devotions are examples of this. But the core, the Eucharist is an act of love. The core of the liturgy and the core of Christian life is love.

The beatitudes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, 4 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me.

Can they be given a core? Yes. Blessed are those who love. Who love God. Who love others. Blessed is love.

But love, far from passive is active. Far from calm, is a burning desire. It is love that led our Lord to come to us. Love that led Him to die for us. Love that leads our brothers and sisters to stand firm in the face of persecution.

And it is love that should cause us to lift our voice in opposition to persecution. To lift your voice in prayer is to lift it in love. It is to Pray. To write. To speak. To stand against harm to others.

Life itself is a prayer because it is alive with love. Guided by love. May the silent prayers in our hearts be joined to the active expression of the love of Christ toward others.

Love puts us in the heart and life of another through the One Body in Christ.

We are not only people sitting at a computer reading this.

We are a girl in Egypt preparing for her wedding who is kidnapped and taken away.

We are a husband waiting for the one you love, as the bridegroom waits in the Song of Songs.

We are a family who has a moment of joy turned to sorrow.

We are again at the computer, but can We go back to it unchanged? Love transforms us. It awakens our hearts. May the life in Christ move us to prayer and action.

For Mona Yacoub
For Marianna Rezk Shafik Attallah
For Tereza Ghattas Kamal
For Lydia Atef Atta
For Ingy Nagy Edwar

For all who suffer as they do.

We work in a good job, but We are also a Copt who can not get a good job because the ID badge names you a Christian.

We are in Church free from fear, but We are also a Copt who knows that you could get stabbed or shot leaving the service on Good Friday or any day.

We might attend a church at a building that has stood for 200 years, but We are also a Copt who must watch as a monastery that has stood for 1,400 years is demolished.

We donate for church repair, but We are also a Copt who sees their place of worship fall apart and get killed for trying to repair it.

We celebrate the Eucharist, the most holy event we share. But We are also a Copt who, as on September 19, 2003, watches as security throws the consecrated Host to the ground and steps on it.

We see children playing but you are also a handicapped Coptic child who sees the center devoted to helping them attacked, as in November of 2003 and again in 2004 and again in 2005.

We are all of these things and more (link)

We are and must see ourselves as one. Tell one person today what our brothers and sisters suffer. Tell another tomorrow. Do what you can.

Let our prayer be an active love that seeks to fill those who hunger and thirst for justice. And let us do it with the love of Christ, not with hate. Because love is the active force of a better world.

As St. Theresa of Avila wrote:

Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
compassion on this world
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

We are all one in the Body of Christ.
What love is too great for that heart to feel?
What good is too great for those hands to accomplish?

To write Congress and our politicians:

(link) House of Representatives
(link) Congress.org
(link) E mail and Fax numbers for Congress and state Governors

To write Catholic Bishops:

[(link) catholic-hierarchy.org] With your bishop will be a link to your diocese web page or other contact info. You can use the search bar to look anywhere in the world.

To help the suffering children in any way you can. Coptic Orphans (link).

If anyone has any other ways or events in support of our brother and sisters always feel free to email them to me and I will get them up here as fast as possible.