Sr. Helena Burns: In surreal times, make your own news Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Sr. Helena Burns: In surreal times, make your own news By Sr. Helena Burns, FSP February 18, 2021
In surreal times, make your own news
Sr. Helena Burns, FSP Your browser does not support the audio element.
There has been a massive resurgence of a kind of Neo-Apocalypticism of late, due in no small part to the persisting coronavirus pandemic with all its fallout; the embrace of Socialism/Marxism/Communism by the West (particularly among the young); racism in the spotlight again; civil unrest and violence; emerging globalist totalitarianism; the dominance and imposition of gender ideology; the undermining of the family and rights of parents; ever more radical abortion and euthanasia policies; “surveillance capitalism”; the rise of “fake news”; and now, sweeping censorship of free speech by left-leaning Big Tech.
Several years ago, through a conversation with a friend and an epiphany at the farm table in my kitchen, God began to gently reveal that I’d lost sight of
The most powerful prayers, whether public or private, are the ones devoid of meaningless, pious platitudes. Instead they’re simple, assured, and include these three important markers. This is how Elijah prayed.
17 Feb
Just pray about it. We have all been given this response as the solution to various trials. As believers, we preach that prayer is the answer, but do we fully believe in its power and purpose in our everyday lives?
In many ways, prayer can feel forced and even futile in light of God’s unchangeable will and His all-sufficient sovereignty. What is the point of praying if God already knows our every need (Matthew 6) and can see our hearts plainly (Psalm 139)? For many, the practice of prayer has become an unequal exchange full of unmet requests. Or maybe, prayer is much like an emergency number. When we are faced with fears or suddenly shaken by suffering, are we quick to ask God, in His power, to resolve our circumstances and realign our world?
by Tom Holland, Basic Books, 2019. 624 Pages.
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The only recorded encounter of Jesus with Greeks was shortly before His crucifixion. As John 12:20, 21 tells us, some Greeks asked through Philip to see Jesus. We are not told why or what they asked Him, but verses 23-25 says, “Jesus replied, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (NIV)
1 and added in verses 31, 32: “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (NIV). Commenting in verse 33, John said, “He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die” (NIV), the death on the cross.