BONJOUR
JE SAIS QUE MON MESSAGE VA VOUS PARAITRE QUELQUE PEU INSOLITE, MAIS AYEZ
CONFIANCE CAR JE SUIS UNE PERSONNE HONNETE. JE VOUDRAIS QUE VOUS Y PRETIEZ UNE
ATTENTION PARTICULIERE CAR LE GRAND A HUMANISTE RAOUL FOLLEREAU NOUS A ENSEIGNE
QUE " NUL N'A LE DROIT D'ETRE HEUREUX TOUT SEUL ".
JE SUIS MME ANNING KIMBERLY DE NATIONALITE CANADIENNE. J'AI RESIDE IL Y A
QUELQUES TEMPS EN COTE D'IVOIRE ET AU TOGO SUITE A DES AFFAIRES FLORISSANTES QUE J'AI
ENTREPRISES DANS LE DOMAINE AGRICOLE ET DANS LE COMMERCE. CE QUI M'A PERMIS DE
BENEFICIER D'IMPORTANTS FONDS EVALUES A CE JOUR A LA SOMME DE UN MILLION SIX
CENT QUATRE-VINGT DOUZE MILLE EUROS (1.692.000 ,00 EUROS).
JE SUIS ACTUELLEMENT EN OBSERVATION DANS UNE CLINIQUE D'OU JE VOUS ECRIS CE
MESSAGE. JE SOUFFRE MALHEUREUSEMENT D'UN TERRIBLE CANCER DE L'UTERUS QUI EST EN
PHASE TERMINALE, C'EST A DIRE QUE JE SUIS CONDAMNEE A UNE MORT SUR ET CERTAINE.
MON MEDECIN TRAITANT VIENT DE M'INFORMER QUE MES JOURS SONT COMPTES DU FAIT DE
MON ETAT DE SANTE DEGRADE.
MA SITUATION EST TELLE QUE JE N'AI NI MARI, NI ENFANTS NI PROCHES A QUI JE
POURRAIS LEGUER MON HERITAGE. C'EST POUR CETTE RAISON QUE JE VOUDRAIS GRACIEUSEMENT,
DANS LE SOUCI D'AIDER LES DEMUNIS ET LES DEFAVORISES , VOUS LEGUER CES FONDS AFIN DE VOUS
PERMETTRE D'EDIFIER UNE FONDATION QUI PORTERA MON NOM. JE VOUS PRIE DE BIEN
VOULOIR ACCEPTER CETTE OFFRE POUR NE PAS QUE MES AVOIRS DEVIENNENT
SYSTEMATIQUEMENT LA PROPRIETE DU GOUVERNEMENT
DES RECEPTION DUDIT MESSAGE, JE VOUS PRIE DE BIEN VOULOIR ME CONTACTER DE TOUTE
URGENCE AVEC TOUTES VOS COORDONNEES POUR ME PERMETTRE DE VOUS METTRE EN CONTACT
AVEC LE NOTAIRE QUI S'OCCUPERA DE LA PROCEDURE DE CETTE DONATION ET DU TRANSFERT
DE MES FONDS AUPRES DE VOUS.
JE COMPTE DES LORS SUR VOTRE PROMPTITUDE ET SURTOUT JE VOUS DEMANDE DE FAIRE UN
BON USAGE DE CES FONDS QUAND ILS VOUS SERONT TRANSFERES ET MIS A VOTRE
DISPOSITION
MME. ANNING KIMBERLY
"What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?
And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy
and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep."
Luke 15:4-6
It is said that in ancient times that if a shepherd had a lamb that would continually stray he would break its leg, set it and then while it healed carry him on his shoulders until it healed. During this time the shepherd would feed it, sleep with it in order that that sheep would then be forever bonded with the shepherd and would never want to stray again. This story as well as reading of the history of the Church and of the saints... those who lived heroically Christian lives... enlightened me to a reality that was in the beginning a little daunting if not scary. I soon realized that all those good people, the ones who were Jesus' closest friends had very difficult lives... starting with the apostles and the disciples. Down through the ages there have been more than I can count. For a period of time I was hesitant to give myself fully to the Lord... would that mean I would suffer, would I lose loved ones, suffer some terrible disease or even lose my head (like some before me)!?!
I loved the consulations and the tenderness from the Lord in the days and months after He dragged me out of the brambles in which I had been lost. I felt exactly like the little lamb on His shoulders and I felt the joy and rejoicing... what was lost was now found. I knew the limitlessness of His mercy and his love for sinners... I felt it deeply. I also felt the tug... the invitation to go deeper, to love more, to live more for Him...it seemed as though I would take one step forward and then retreat back two... fear of what going forward would mean was like a bungee cord holding me back.
What doesn't help is a widespread belief that if you are good (ie give lots of money to the church, do charitable works, be active in your church) then God will reward you with good things. This is a very Protestant... at least in some denominations... it has lead to the "prosperity gospel" which is preached in many mega evangelical churches today. People like Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels.... Yes God wants us to be happy... but we are poor judges of what will bring true happiness because we cannot see beyond ourselves and without His grace we are a seething mass of disordered attachments and subjective feelings--- unable to discern true good from our own self centered idea of good.
The trials in our lives are not sent by God to punish us... and often times they are the result of our own choices and disordered attachments to things and creatures... but they are allowed by God so that He can draw a greater good out of them. Othertimes, like what we have just witnessed in Japan, they are bigger than us and the seem to make no sense... but God will work miracles through this disaster. These things change peoples hearts... when everything is lost it is then you come to see what is really important.
This has happened in my life... The Lord seems to like to help me particularly during lent. Some examples are the year my mother died... she became very sick during Lent and she died during Holy Week. I didn't know how I was going to survive as I was her caregiver as well as her daughter. I was blessed because aside from elderly grandparents I had never lost anyone real close to me like parents, siblings, etc. So this was my first real big loss. My mom had always been there when ever I needed her... what now? It was the first time I felt truly helpless... I couldn't stop her disease I could only lean on Jesus and pray that His will be done for all of us and that he comfort my mother and give courage and peace and comfort to me and my family as we walked this path. I learned that even during trials we are not alone... the Lord will provide for us what we need if we trust in Him and his divine plan for our lives. I learned family is important... do not let less important things interefere with what is really important.
Another Lent I was having health problems and went through a lot of medical tests... at one point they told me I had Lymphoma...As weeks went by I had test after test... all non conclusive and one almost killed me. Finally I had surgery and got good tissue samples and it was not lymphoma but sarcoidosis--- non-fatal. That was another one of those times when I was totally helpless--- I could do nothing to change my circumstances but beg the Lord's mercy... that his will be done and that I have the strength, grace and courage to deal with the outcome... That time I learned that we have no guarantees in life... our lives can change in an instant and we can do nothing about it... it could be over with tomorrow.... so what is important is what I do today... how well do I handle the "duty of the moment" the Lord puts before me... How well have I loved those around me and more important how have I loved my God in the things I did today.
The point I am trying to make is that often times the struggles and difficulties we face are medicine for our souls... the Lord's invitation to draw closer and surrender our pride, to admit who we are and who He is... and that is not easy....
I am a "cradle Catholic". And I have to say that I am most grateful to my mother because she did her duty as a Catholic mother to make sure her children were educated in the faith and received the necessary sacraments for the Christian life. Somewhere along the line things went wrong. My parents divorced and from that point on my mom no longer went to Mass, and so being children, my sister and I stopped too. This coupled with a purely secular education lead to a falling away from my faith.
Between the years of 1967 and 1995 a lot has happened to me and to the Church. In 1995 I had a successions of events in my life that lead me back to my true home. It was nothing tragic in the classical sense. Just a gnawing sense that there was something missing from my life. Even though I had a pretty great life, husband, kids, a home... good job I felt empty... There was a big hole in my life and I didn't know how to fill it. From my secular point of view I had everything and there was no reason for the emptiness that grew year by year. I searched and experiemented with everything from yoga to the occult looking for fullfilment. It all began to change one day when listening to one of my guided meditation tapes. I was visualizing walking on the beach and the person guiding the meditation said... "you see a figure coming towards you and you know they are looking for you... they have something for you" this person approached me and hugged me and said "peace" in my ear. When I looked up into this persons eyes it was Jesus Christ---- WHOA!----that was a surprise but slowly my life began to change in ways that were ordinary and extraordinary. Until one day about a year later I had an uncontrollable desire to go sit in a Catholic Church. I got in my car and drove to one that was near to our house. I wanted to just sit in the back in the quiet and think... well when I got there I was surprised to see a bunch of cars in the parking lot... I hesitated but thought I could sneak in and sit way in the back.... well when I opened the door there was something going on... the place was packed. The priests had just carried a huge wooden cross in and put in front of the altar. The people were invited up to to venerate the cross. I stood in line not quite sure what I was going to do... my turn came and I reached up to the cross beam and touched. Something welled up in side of me and tears were streaming down my face and in my mind I was repeating two words "I'm Sorry" over and over. I went back to a pew to kneel down and gain some composure when I realized at that very moment that I had offended the Lord very deeply because my children did not know Him... I failed at the most important task I had in raising my children. Right then I prayed that if He would help bring my family to Him I would do anything He would ask of me. In three years the Lord grated me my request of Him. My two secular Jewish kids (teenagers to boot) and my unchurched Protestant husband were all received into the Catholic Church... they all decided to join the Church without any threats or cajoling from me--- this was a miracle! Now it seemed Jesus had accepted my bargain. Now I knew I would have to make good on my end... Just what would that mean? I found myself wondering frequently. With some trepidation on my part and a bunch of fits and starts I began to gather what I was going to do for Him....
A weakening of faith in God, a rise in selfishness and a drop in the number of people going to Mass in many parts of the world can be traced to Masses that are not reverent and don't follow church rules, said two Vatican officials and a consultant.
Finally! I was so tired of hearing that the reason was:
They don't allow married priests
they don't allow women "priests"
their "archaic" stand on contraception, human sexuality, divorce
the church is too "patriarchal", "rigid", "old fashioned", etc....
This would perhaps hold some merit were the circumstances reveresed. What I mean is that if after Vatican II the decision had been to change nothing... but yet instead we see after the council "threw open the windows" and everything was modernized... that is when the pews, religious orders and the priesthood began to empty out. To blame it on the "old church" when it happenend under the "new" church seems illogical and to me has always sounded like scapgoating.
"If we err by thinking we are the center of the liturgy, the Mass will lead to a loss of faith," said U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, head of the Vatican's supreme court.
This is the truth of the situation in the Church in a nutshell. I can only speak from my experience in my diocese but I would say easily 90% of the parishes suffer from this to some greater or lesser degree. After I left my first parish we went to just about every parish in the county we live in.
It took me several years to figure out what it was in the parish I came home to that was so unsettling to me. What Cardinal Burke states above is EXACTLY the conclusion that I came to. I remember saying to my husband one day I feel like we are celebrating ourselves... not worshipping God. Then I began to pay attention to the things that created this atmosphere. Things like the cacophany inside the church prior to Mass... it was impossible to think let alone recollect yourself in preparation for the Mass. Homilies that sound like Dr. Phil wrote them, Hymns we are the center of and that tell God what a great community we are... as well as hyms that put words in God's mouth. I remember one Suday singing one of the hymns that drove me nuts due to it's narcassistic nature "Sing a New Church". Here are the words:
~Delores Dufner, OSB
Summoned by the God who made us rich in our diversity Gathered in the name of Jesus, richer still in unity.
Refrain: Let us bring the gifts that differ and, in splendid, varied ways, sing a new church into being, one in faith and love and praise.
Radiant risen from the water, robed in holiness and light, male and female in God’s image, male and female, God’s delight.
Refrain
Trust the goodness of creation; trust the Spirit strong within. Dare to dream the vision promised, sprung from seed of what has been.
Refrain
Bring the hopes of every nation; bring the art of every race. Weave a song of peace and justice; let it sound through time and space.
Refrain
Draw together at one table, all the human family; shape a circle ever wider and a people ever free
I could never sing that song again!!! it is so self centered... all the we's and I's. Then I notice how many of these hymns are just like it. Like:
I myself am the bread of life you and I are the bread of life taken and blessed, broken and shared by Christ that the world may live.
or:
We are called, we are chosen. We are Christ for one another. We are promise to tomorrow, while we are for him today. We are sign, we are wonder, we are sower, we are seed. We are harvest, we are hunger. We are question, we are creed.
There is also a shift to focusing on the Mass as a "family meal". One pastor I know replaced the altar with a square dining table and used table runners instead of altar cloths and changed the vessels to common everyday glass vessels. This completely obliterates the most important element of the Eucharist and that is that it is a SACRAFICE... That is the vertical aspect without which the "family meal" (horizontal aspect) would not be possible. I have been asked when I mention it if it is really that important what the furniture and utensils look like. Yes it is! because each and every one of these things shifts the focus from worshiping Jesus as God and savior and turns our attention towards the mundane and to what pleases us and makes us feel good. I have seen the effects of this over emphasis on the horizontal aspect of the Mass on congregations and as Cardinal Burke says it causes a loss of the true faith.
I have seen Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist dump the Precious Blood down the sacrarium and when someone else asked to drink it and was told "what's the big deal... it is just wine". I was invovled in an RCIA program for 4 years and not once in those 4 years was the Eucharist ever explained in terms of being a sacrifice or the Real Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ... I made sure I told those I was sponsoring... but I wondered how many others are ever told. The reality was born out one Sunday when I witnessed a horrible abuse of the Sacrament. I am not blaming those parishioners involved because I don't think any of them even knew or understood what they were doing. The presider accidentally knocked over a full chalice of the Precious Blood. I know this priest felt bad and was embarrased but I was unprepared for what happened afterwards. After trying to use a few purificators to mop up the spill... which in reality just kind of spread it around. He went and stood in the exact spot where the Precious Blood was still quite obvious on the floor. After that person after person walked up to him to receive the Body of Christ and walked right through the Precious Blood on the floor. It became obvious to me that those who did that do not believe what the Church teaches. The sad part is that I am sure most of them were unknowingly desecrating the Body and Blood of Christ... but it proved they did not have the faith of the Church. I am not judging them... but rather I blame what has happened on not only poor catechesis but more importantly to the rampant bad interpretations of the Liturgy that have made what is holy and transcendant profane. The end of my story was not good... the priest never even returned to clean up the spill. Me, my husband and ONE other parishioner finally spent an hour wiping the Precious blood from all the places it had splashed. I then went to an associate pastor and told him what happened so the area could be properly taken care of.
Cardinal Burke and Spanish Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, spoke March 2 at a book launch in Rome.
The book, published only in Italian, was written by Father Nicola Bux, who serves as a consultant to the congregations for the doctrine of the faith and for saints' causes and to the office in charge of papal liturgies.
The English translation of Father Bux's book title would be, "How to Go to Mass and Not Lose Your Faith."
Cardinal Burke told those gathered for the book presentation that he agreed with Father Bux that "liturgical abuses lead to serious damage to the faith of Catholics."
Unfortunately, he said, too many priests and bishops treat violations of liturgical norms as something that is unimportant when, in fact, they are "serious abuses."
Cardinal Canizares said that while the book's title is provocative, it demonstrates a belief he shares: "Participating in the Eucharist can make us weaken or lose our faith if we do not enter into it properly" and if the liturgy is not celebrated according to the church's norms.
"This is true whether one is speaking of the ordinary or extraordinary form of the one Roman rite," the cardinal said, referring to Masses in the form established after the Second Vatican Council as well as the Mass often referred to as the Tridentine rite.
Cardinal Canizares said that at a time when so many people are living as if God did not exist, they need a true eucharistic celebration to remind them that only God is to be adored and that true meaning in human life comes only from the fact that Jesus gave his life to save the world.
Father Bux said that too many modern Catholics think the Mass is something that the priest and the congregation do togetherwhen, in fact, it is something that Jesus does.
"If you go to a Mass in one place and then go to Mass in another, you will not find the same Mass. This means that it is not the Mass of the Catholic Church, which people have a right to, but it is just the Mass of this parish or that priest," he said.
This is exactly what my experience has been in this diocese. I am fortunate that I was directed to a wonderful parish where I have worshipped now for 3 years. The charism of the order that runs it is the "restoration of the sacred". From experience I can tell you the way the Liturgy is done... if it is according to the reforms of the Vat II in Sacrosanctum Consilium... and not the whim of the priest, bishop of liturgy director it makes a huge difference... when everything points to Christ--- When Christ is the center of the Liturgy and not the personal whorship "style" of the community the people will come. In three years our little parish has grown and is filled with young people, young families... tons of children... parking logistics as well as room in the church are becoming an issue... but it is a wonderful problem to be faced with. I thank God everyday for the fullness of the faith I have now and I pray as liturgical reforms continue that all parishes will have the same problems. In fact see the inspiring story of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius
