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June 24 - Pope Francis: Division between Christians is a scandal
Article: One World Religion
On the
50th anniversary of the Joint Working Group between the Catholic Church
and the World Council of Churches, Pope Francis sent a message to Rev Dr Olav
Fykse Tveit General Secretary World Council of Churches. The Pope's message was
read
aloud on Tuesday afternoon,
23 June, by Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity, during a commemorative congress held in Rome. The
following is the English text of the Pope's message.
To the Reverend Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary World
Council of Churches
The
50th anniversary of the Joint Working Group between the Catholic Church
and the World Council of Churches is an occasion of thanksgiving to Almighty God
for the meaningful ecumenical relationship which we enjoy
today. So too, it is a moment to thank
the Lord for all that the ecumenical movement has achieved since its beginning
over one hundred years ago, inspired by a longing for the unity which Christ
intended for his body, the Church, and by an emerging sense of sorrow for the
scandal of division between Christians.
Since its
inauguration in 1965, the Joint Working Group
has fostered the necessary conditions for a greater common witness of the
Catholic Church and the Churches and Ecclesial Communities of the World Council
of Churches. Reflecting on these past 50 years, we should be encouraged by the
collaboration which the Joint Working Group has promoted, not only in ecumenical
issues, but also in the areas of interreligious dialogue, peace and social
justice, and works of charity and humanitarian aid. The Joint Working Group
should not be an inward-looking forum. Rather, it must become ever more a
"think-tank", open to all the opportunities and challenges facing the Churches
today in their mission of accompanying suffering humanity on the path to
the Kingdom, by imbuing society and culture with Gospel truths and values.
Read Full Article....
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June 25 - Thousands of people killed by extreme weather so far in 2015 as climate change feared to bring more heatwaves, hurricanes and floods in future
Article: Signs Of The Last Times
Thousands of
people have been killed by extreme weather so far this year amid fears that
climate change is leading to more deadly heatwaves, floods, hurricanes and
tornadoes.
More than 1,000 people have died in
Pakistan this week of heatstroke and dehydration as temperatures soared far
above 40C and power cuts crippled Karachi.
India is currently recovering from
the second deadliest heatwave in the country's history, which had killed 2,500
people by the start of this month.
The Earth
Sciences Minister, Harsh Vardhan,
blamed the
heatwave on climate change.
"Let us not fool ourselves that there is no connection between the
unusual number of deaths from the ongoing heat wave and the certainty of
another failed monsoon," he said. "It's not just an unusually hot
summer, it is climate change."
Read Full Article....
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June 19 - 12 Reasons Why Yoga Is Spreading Around the World
Article: New Age
June 21, 2015 is the first United Nations International Day of Yoga. To
celebrate this historic occasion, I traveled to Rishikesh, India, in early
March to the International Yoga Festival to interview swamis and yoginis
on the banks of the Ganges River. Through these interviews in India and beyond,
I gained a birdseye view of the emerging yoga phenomena. Here are 12 reasons why
yoga is spreading around the world:
1. Yoga is ancient: Yes, we
all know yoga is thousands of years old. This fact became
more real for me when I visited Vashistha's cave outside of Rishikesh. Vashistha
lived thousands of years ago and was the guru of Lord Ram.
The cave has been and still is revered by swamis who
practice yoga meditation and perform daily rituals at the cave.
(Where I grew up in rural Indiana, we had nothing remotely like this sacred
cave.)
2. Yoga is a science: In Rishikesh, I met Sadhvi Bhagawati
Saraswati, a PhD graduate from Stanford University who left academia to join the
monastic order. Sadhvi, along with other teachers,
talked about yoga being a science. This means that
there are methods and techniques that led to specific results - ultimately to
Samadhi, or oneness with God/Cosmic Consciousness. Sadhvi said yoga is free of
dogma and that people of any religion or culture can and do practice yoga and
look to their own direct experience of how yoga benefits them.
3. Yoga was intentionally introduced to the West: When I
interviewed the filmmakers of AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda, they talked
about how a line of Himalayan masters planned
years in advance to send Paramahansa Yogananda to the West to introduce Kriya
Yoga. Yogananda came to Boston in 1920 and his first talk was "The Science of
Religion." Yoga arrived when people in the West were starting to explore quantum
physics. Prior to this time, Western people did not have a language to
understand the energy and consciousness aspects of yoga.
There is a scene in the film AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda where
Yogananda as a baby is being blessed by his guru's guru, Lahiri Mahasaya. Lahiri
says, "the message of yoga will encircle the
globe and aid in assisting in the brotherhood of man."
4. Modern science is validating the benefits of yoga: Yogananda
talked about reprogramming the wiring of the brain and mind decades before
scientists began discussing neuroplasticity. In the film AWAKE: The Life of
Yogananda, a Harvard- and MIT-trained physicist-physician, Dr. Goel,
describes how yoga opens a person's individual
consciousness to a larger universal field of consciousness. She also talked
about the positive benefits of these practices for physical, mental and
emotional well-being.
5. Modern life is driving people to ancient yoga: I heard
numerous yoga practitioners from the U.S, China, Kazakhstan, Uruguay, Mexico and
many other countries say they started doing
yoga to find relief from the stress of modern life and/or physical ailments. The
"pursuit of happiness" through consumerism (known in psychology as the hedonic
treadmill) is leaving many people feeling isolated, disconnected and stressed
out.
6. You do yoga, yoga does you: Several yoga teachers and
students talked about the transformation they
experienced by practicing yoga. Over time, people found that their entire way of
being began to shift as they tapped into a deeper part of themselves.
Swamis called this deeper essence our true
Self, our soul, which is part of a larger universal consciousness.
Richard Miller, who is a psychologist and yoga teacher for over 45
years, told me yoga helps people go into
non-dual states of consciousness where we experience our connectedness with all
of life. By being able to go in and out of dual and non-dual states, we gain
access to intuition and wisdom to guide our day-to-day lives.
7. Yoga can help clarify life purpose: Many people said
yoga helped them clarify their life purpose. Instead of
identifying with a title or role, they
identified more with a deeper essence and then looked at how they could serve
people around them.
8. Yoga goes far beyond the mat; yoga is a way of life: Hatha
yoga (the physical asanas) offers the doorway for many people into yoga. The
deeper practices of yoga goes far beyond the mat. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras
provide an 8-fold path that leads to God
realization. The first two paths are Yama and Niyamas -
yoga's 10 ethical guidelines and foundation to
all yogic thought which guide people on how to relate with oneself and with
others. Asanas, or physical postures, are the third step which creates the
foundation for the higher steps, including meditation, that eventually take
people into samadhi. When talking with Vandana Shiva, a
leading scientist and social entrepreneur in India, she said
yoga should not be put on the mat as yoga is a way of
life. She said when we practice the true yoga we know we are connected with
everything, so we relate to the environment, our food and other people with
compassion and care for we know they are part of ourSelves.
9. Yoga is a catalyst for change: Yoga
is being used in schools, prisons and a wide-range of
social settings to help alleviate suffering. In Rishikesh, I
met Sharon and Sandra Marotta, a mother and
daughter who created Ashram for Autism, a non-profit organization that helps
families and schools with autistic children through yoga. Sharon said that the
children respond to simple breathing exercises that helps them to slow down and
ground themselves. I later learned that research from Columbia University
supports Sharon's experiences as they are finding that yoga programs help
children between the ages of 6 and 11 to improve their academic performance.
10. Yoga is helping people heal: There were numerous stories of
yoga helping people heal from physical, mental
and emotional ailments. I met Tommy Rosen who is a yoga
teacher and founder of Recovery 2.0 - a program
helping people move beyond addiction by using yoga to build upon 12-step
programs like Alcoholics Anonymous. I interviewed Brad
Willis, or Bhava Ram, who is a former NBC war correspondent
who healed himself of a broken back and stage 4 cancer
in large part through yoga.
11. Yoga is helping military veterans and National Football League
players: I interviewed Susan Lynch, a veteran from the first Persian
Gulf War who healed herself of PTSD in large
part through yoga. As a yoga teacher Susan founded There And
Back Again, a non-profit helping veterans suffering from PTSD. Also, Keith
Mitchell is a former NFL all-pro linebacker who
healed himself after injuries ended his professional football career. Keith is
now working with the University of Rochester and Congressman Ryan to assist
veterans and NFL players through yoga and other alternative health care
programs.
12. Yoga is spreading rapidly around the world: Spending time
practicing with over 1,000 people from 60 countries was proof enough to me
that yoga is spreading around the world.
One of the most telling interviews was with Mohan Bhandari, a yoga teacher from
India who went to China in 2003 to teach a class for a week. Twelve years later,
Mohan is one of China's leading yoga teachers with over 50 franchises.
He has trained over 10,000 teachers in China and says
yoga is the fifth most sought after job among young people.
These interviews provided a wide-angle view
into the roots of yoga, its deeper essence and how it is helping to transform
lives on individual and societal levels around the world.
Read Full Article....
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June 22 - The Scientific Pantheist Who Advises Pope Francis
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
The scientist who influenced Laudato Si,
and who serves at the Vatican's science office, seems
to believe in Gaia, but not in God.
St. Francis of Assisi's hymn Laudato Si' spoke of "Brothers" Sun and
Fire and "Sisters" Moon and Water, using these colorful phrases figuratively, as
a way of praising God's creation. These sentimental words so touched Pope
Francis that he named his encyclical after this canticle (repeated in paragraph
87 of the Holy Father's letter). Neither Pope Francis nor St. Francis took the
words literally, of course. Neither believed that fire was alive and could be
talked to or reasoned with or, worse, worshiped.
Strange, then, that a self-professed atheist and scientific advisor to the
Vatican named Hans Schellnhuber appears to believe in a Mother Earth.
The Gaia Principle, first advanced by chemist James Lovelock (who has lately had
second thoughts) and microbiologist Lynn Margulis in the 1970s, says that
all life interacts with the Earth, and the
Earth with all life, to form a giant self-regulating, living system.
This goes
far beyond the fact that the Earth's climate system has feedbacks, which are at
the very center of the debate over climate change. In the Gaia Principle, Mother
Earth is alive, and even, some think, aware in some ill-defined, mystical way.
The Earth knows man and his activities and, frankly, isn't too happy with him.
This is what we might call "scientific pantheism," a kind that appeals to
atheistic scientists. It is an updated version of the pagan belief that the
universe itself is God, that the Earth is at least semi-divine - a real Brother
Sun and Sister Water! Mother Earth is immanent in creation and not transcendent,
like the Christian God.
Read Full Article....
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We hope the Weekly News In Review helps you to keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the author and finisher of our faith.
Sincerely, Roger Oakland
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