DARE TO BE DIFFERENT

Sr Pauline making the pre-school children happy at a birthday party.

Do we really need to keep up with the trends ~ designer clothes, fancy hair styles, all kinds of make up to make our face look good. Why do we spend so much time and energy to try and look good on the outside but very little work fixing up our inside, which is far more important.

If we follow, doing things to please others yet don't do anything to make our own lives better, then whats the point?

People can see things that are wrong, happening right in front of them but do nothing because to stop it they will be involved and that would cause a ripple in their life. People have stood in their windows seeing someone get hurt, but don't want to get involved.

If we dare to stand up and do things for good that impact our life, our neighborhood, our country then we will have succeed in being different. If we can say no to drugs, or not take that drink before getting behind the wheel of a car, and don't go out and have relationships that take you down a road of despair, or stop yourself from gambling your savings away, then you can be someone who is different and this is good.

If you do these distructive things because of the pain of your life... there is still a better way and those who dare to be different are the ones who will find the right road and follow it and they will be free.

WHY HAVE WE BECOME PEOPLE OF INDIFFERENCE?

Listen to Elie Wiesel
The Perils of Indifference CLICK HERE


Edmund Burke:
All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.

Elie Wiesel:

For one who is indifferent, life itself is a prison. Any sense of community is external or, even worse, nonexistent. Thus, indifference means solitude. Those who are indifferent do not see others. They feel nothing for others and are unconcerned with what might happen to them. They are surrounded by a great emptiness. Filled by it, in fact. They are devoid of all hope as well as imagination. In other words, devoid of any future.


Elie Wiesel:
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

Helen Keller:
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings

Joan Vinge:
Indifference is the strongest force in the universe. It makes everything it touches meaningless. Love and hate don't stand a chance against it.

Indifference to Suffering ~
Failure to report suffering ~ Silence in response to suffering ~ Avoidance of reference to suffering ~ Indifference in response to injustice ~ Moral indifference

DOGS OF THE LORD ~ The Dominican Family

Tradition holds that when pregnant with her son Dominic, Blessed Jane of Aza had a vision of a dog running around the whole world, a blazing torch in its mouth. Her son became the founder of the Order of Preachers, known as the Dominicans thus the prophetic dream was fulfilled as the Dominican friars took the light of the gospel throughout the world. They became known as the Dogs of the Lord. In Latin the word Dominican would be Domini Canes, literally Dogs of the Lord.

DOMINICAN LIFE

DOMINICAN'S ~ ORDER OF PREACHERS

DEFEND A BABY'S RIGHT TO LIFE

I WOULD BE SO HURT TO KNOW THAT SOMEONE WANTED ME DEAD, IF THEY DECIDED TO ABORT MY LIFE

Fr. Pavone's Talks on abortion

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

Healing the Wounds of Abortion

PRAYER TO END ABORTION

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life, And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters.
I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the Resurrection of Your Son.
I am ready to do my part in ending abortion. Today I commit myself Never to be silent, Never to be passive, Never to be forgetful of the unborn.
I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, And never to stop defending life Until all my brothers and sisters are protected, And our nation once again becomes A nation with liberty and justice Not just for some, but for all.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen!

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN'S PRAYER TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY

God of Compassion
You let your rain fall on the just and the unjust.
Expand and deepen our hearts
so that we may love as You love,
even those among us
who have caused the greatest pain by taking life.
For there is in our land a great cry for vengeance
as we fill up death row and kill the killers
in the name of justice, in the name of peace.
Jesus, our brother,
you suffered execution at the hands of the state
but you did not let hatred overcome you
Help us to reach out to victims of violence
so that our enduring love may help them heal.
Holy Spirit of God,
You strengthen us in the struggle for justice,
Help us to work tirelessly
for the abolition of state-sanctioned death
and to renew our society in its very heart
so that violence will be no more.
Amen.

CARDINAL URGES RELIGIOUS TO GET BLOGGING

Cardinal Urges Religious to Get Blogging

Says Internet Youth Forums Need Real Christian Message

ROME, OCT. 28, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's vicar for the Diocese of Rome expressed his hopes that religious men and women increase their use of information technology, and thus take advantage of what he called a new form of apostolate.Cardianl Camillo Ruini spoke to the religious at the Pontifical Urbanian University during the diocesan gathering of the Union of Major Superiors of Italy, which represents 1,287 communities and 22,000 religious in Rome. According to the Roman diocesan weekly RomaSette, Cardinal Ruini said: "A priest from Novara told me that the theme of 'Jesus' is very much discussed by youth in blogs. The focus, though, comes from destructive books that are widespread today, and not from Benedict XVI’s book ‘Jesus of Nazareth.'"What will the idea of Christ be in 10 years if these ideas triumph?"The true JesusThe 76-year-old prelate admitted, "I don’t understand the Internet, but especially young religious ought to enter blogs and correct the opinions of the youth, showing them the true Jesus.” “The teaching emergency is central in Benedict XVI's concerns," the cardinal said. "For him, education in the faith coincides with service to society, because to form someone in the faith means to form the human person."Simply giving motivations for living defeats nihilism and gives value to the human person, a value that is based on Christ himself, the fact that God became a man."The cardinal asserted that an educator’s testimony and content can matter more than pedagogical techniques. He called for catechists to be creative in finding occasions for promoting Benedict XVI’s book, saying it shows the solidity of faith in the historical Jesus of the Gospels, and bases the identity of the Christian in a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Cardinal Ruini said that in Catholic schools, "the religious can witness to Christ in all their lessons, in the sciences, in history and even in Italian literature, in an inseparable union of faith and culture. Your creativity ought to find new techniques for the vocational challenge, which ought to develop in step with society."