Daily Archives: November 12, 2013

Fox News: American Pastor Jailed in Iran Denied Medication

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Shameful. It is looking more and more like martyrdom is a real possibility for Abedini. Pray for this man and his captors. I note too that the only MSM outlet to report any of this is Fox News. Why is that?

Iranian jailers have denied crucial medication to Pastor Saeed Abedini, the American citizen imprisoned there for his faith, according to the Idaho resident’s family and legal team.

saeednewAbedini’s father went to visit him at the prison he was recently moved to, taking personal belongings, blankets and medications prescribed by Abedini’s doctor last July to treat internal bleeding he sustained while locked up in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison.

But the elder Abedini was denied entry and told his son could not have access to any of the items, his attorneys said.

Last week, Abedni, 33, who has been held in Iran for more than a year for practicing Christianity, was transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, Iran, a prison known to house Iran’s most violent criminals.

According to reports, Rajai Shahr Prison was built to accommodate 5,000 inmates, but at present houses about 22,000, which has led to severe overcrowding and inhumane conditions.

Read it all.

Yahoo News: All Day Shopping Frenzy on Thanksgiving?

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This is just wrong. The one sure way to stop it is to not participate in it. Don’t let creeping commercialism and greed besmirch Thanksgiving Day. Use it, instead, as a day of rest and thanksgiving to God who is the giver of all real gifts, X-box et al. notwithstanding.

Last Thanksgiving Day, Kimberly Mudge Via’s mother, sister and nieces left in the middle of their meals to head for the mall.

bf3dd8612766e726420f6a706700a530Now, Via says she’ll never host Thanksgiving dinner for her relatives again.

“They barely finished,” says the 28-year-old who lives in Boone, N.C. “They thanked me and left their plates on the counter.”

That scene could become more common in homes across the country. Black Friday shopping, the annual rite of passage on the day after Thanksgiving, continues to creep further into the holiday as more stores open their doors a day early.

It’s a break with tradition. Black Friday, which typically is the year’s biggest shopping day, for a decade has been considered the official start to the busy holiday buying season. Stores open in the wee hours of the morning with special deals called doorbusters and stay open late into the evening. Meanwhile, Thanksgiving and Christmas remained the only two days a year that stores were closed.

Now Thanksgiving is slowly becoming just another shopping day. Over the past few years, major retailers, including Target and Toys R Us, slowly have pushed opening times into Thanksgiving night to one-up each other and compete for holiday dollars. Some initially resisted, saying that they wanted their employees to be able to spend time with their families.

Read the whole sorry article.

Fox News: Vatican to Display Remains of St. Peter to Public for First Time

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See what you think.

His soul may be waiting at the gates of Heaven, but the bones of St. Peter will be on display for the first time ever Caravaggio-Crucifixion_of_Peterlater this month at the basilica that bears his name, according to the Vatican.

The beloved saint’s remains, discovered during excavations of the necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica in the 1940s, have stayed below ground and out of public view since their discovery – and since Pope Paul VI vouched for their authenticity in the 1960s. But top Vatican official Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who is  president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, made the announcement in Monday’s L’Osservatore Romano, part of News.va, the official Vatican network.

Read it all.

A Prayer for the Philippines from the Church of England

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O loving Creator, bring healing and hope to those who, at this time, grieve, suffer pain, or who have been made homeless by the force of flood in Philippines.

We remember those who have died and we pray for those who mourn for them.

May we all be aware of Your compassion, O God, which calms our troubled hearts and shelters our anxious souls.

May we pray with humility with our troubled and struggling brothers and sisters on earth.

May we dare to hope that through the generosity of the privileged, the destitute might glimpse hope, warmth and life again.

Through our Savior Christ who lives with us, comforts us and soothes us. Amen.

Cranmer: Pray for the Philippines, and Give Generously from the Heart

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A mother weeps beside the dead body of her son at a chapel in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban. She cried Philippines typhoonbringing him into this world; screamed in frustration as she nurtured him; and now weeps as her hand caresses his cold, lifeless cheek. Her heart is broken; the grief overwhelming. The wooden cross on the distant wall is utterly unapproachable.

Multiply this mourning by 10,000, and add countless millions who are now homeless, jobless and without food or clean water, struggling to survive after what is believed to be the most devastating natural disaster in recorded history. The photographs pierce the heart: the catastrophe, destruction and havoc are unimaginable. Wives have lost their husbands, and husbands sob their hearts out at the loss of their soul-mates. Thousands of children have been orphaned. Lawless hordes are looting. Bodies are rotting in the streets.

Like the suffering Job, some will be pleading to God, asking “Why?”

But this is not a time for theodicy. The whole creation is groaning, as in the pains of childbirth. Life is a tragedy: it is one bitter problem followed by another; a day of trauma followed by a week of anguish followed by a month of sorrow and a year of unbearable pain. And then, at last, you die.

We can reflect and pray: the Archbishop of Canterbury leads the way.

Read the whole thing and then act. Cranmer describes living in a broken world like it is. You have the chance to be the eyes, ears, voice, and heart of Jesus. Consider donating the the Anglican Relief and Development Fund by clicking here.