"WE MUST LEARN TO LIVE TOGETHER AS BROTHERS OR PERISH TOGETHER AS FOOLS" - Martin Luther King Jr.

YouTube video: A SONG OF PEACE written by Teresa Jennings

2015 has barely started and all the joy and goodwill we have experienced over the Christmas season just seems torn apart by the killings in France at a controversial French magazine and at a Jewish delicatessen. The violence and killings have truly shocked the world! And then to read of the massacre of 2500 innocent people in Nigeria by the Islamist extremists - Boko Haram! I felt shocked and numbed when I first read what was happening on the Internet - what have we human beings become? When has the value of a life become so dispensable? Do we need to antagonize people with different beliefs or values for the sake of freedom of speech? And do we believe that taking a life created by God is honouring Him? Since when is there a God who said killing is pleasing to Him? Only God has created human life and only He has the right to take back a human life on earth...to grant a person Eternal Life.

I mourn the execution of so many innocent lives. The brutality and violence is inhuman and it is truly evil. Even animals do not do this to their own species or to other species. Even more, I totally abhor the evil violence where for supposedly the sake of God, men can just murder innocent people going about living their daily life with absolutely no thought, compassion or conscience that the innocent victims are someone's grandfather/ grandmother/ father/ mother/brother/sister/husband/colleague/friend who was loved, cherished and belonged to a family and a community.

I also do not agree that in the name of freedom of speech, we are allowed to do anything. The Word of God reminds us to live a life pleasing to God  and to live guided by His Spirit:

"Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, 

but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. 

Then you will be able to know the will of God - 

what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.
(Romans 12:2)

To choose to express one's freedom of speech that one knows does deeply offend the people of a different faith is not what Jesus has taught us. He died on the Cross to save everyone on earth - no exceptions! Why are there now people living in this century so filled with hate, fear and distrust of one another? Why is hate allowed to be preached so openly yet saying a prayer in a school or at work strictly banned?  Evil abounds and is allowed unfettered but prayers and the goodness inherent in living's one faith values is being totally crushed. As Christianity is diminishing in Europe at a rapid rate, Islam is growing rapidly. While a quiet majority of Muslims are moderates, they are unable to be united to speak up against the extremists who believe their killings and violent acts are in accordance with their Islamic faith. Where is the respect and tolerance for diversity - in faith, race, beliefs, values and dreams? The world is big enough for ALL of God's Creation.  

"When in the beginning the Lord created human beings, he left them free to do 

as they wished. If you want to, you can keep the Lord's commands.

You can decide whether you will be loyal to him or not."

(Sirach 15:14-15)

I ask myself - when have we forgotten that we are all children of God? God did not create just one race or religion....he created the whole world and every single person who has lived, is living now and will live in future! I believe the breakdown in our  human value system started when people and families started turning away from the need of of having a relationship with God in their families, in schools, workplaces and in governments. It was in the practice of our Christian faith, that children and families learnt the true meaning of good and evil - that human life is sacred and of what is right and wrong in God's Eyes. All that has been cast aside in the push to secularism where relativism is the goal. Where does the current generation learn the right values? How can moral conscience be nurtured? There is a need to respect that every single person has a right to practice their faith without fear regardless of which corner of the world...and to live without fear. If God has given each one of us the freedom of choice, how can anyone take it away? This is the fundamental right of every Jew, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and people of every religious faith. The world needs to take heed of the wisdom-filled words below of Pope Saint John Paul II  who exhorted the world 30 years ago! 

“When the conscience is weakened the sense of God is also obscured, and as a result, with the loss of this decisive inner point of reference, the sense of sin is lost. This explains why my predecessor Pius XII, one day declared, in words that have almost become proverbial, that "the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin."

Pope Saint John Paul II

Apostolic Exhortation “RECONCILIATION AND PENANCE”

dated 02 December 1984

It is time to stop just gaining knowledge of our faith only and feeding our intellect of being model Catholics within our parishes or only giving our viewpoints on social media. What are we doing ourselves to make a CHRISTIAN difference with a committed zeal? Jesus was a radical. We need to be radical in how we are "His Army of Love" on earth - to spread the Good News! Pope Francis exhorts us to get out of our comfort zones as Catholics!

We need to be honest with ourselves. We are passive and expect others to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth while we continue with our lives to gain wealth, status and recognition in our work and church ministries and just focusing on our own little safe countries. We cannot be lukewarm as the Word of God warns us, "I know that you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other! But because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. I am going to spit you out of my mouth!" (Revelations 3:15-16)

We need to FEEL with our hearts for all our brothers and sisters -we are global citizens of Heaven not just of one earthly country. It is time to open our ears and heart to hear and respond wholeheartedly to the Call of God - "Feed my sheep!" and "Love one another as I love you." and we need to prove it as long as we live on this earth. That is our sole mission from God. God will not care if we are rich or famous or the most influential person on this planet. Help each one of us, Lord, to live our Christian mission!

(Pope Pius XII made his statement in 1946 to the United States Catethetical Congress.)

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

(Romans 12:21)