Resources for Lent
"I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (Mt 9:13).
Do something different this Lent: stay silent, raise money, change lives.
Lent arrives and sweets and chocolate are the first things to go. But instead of cutting out sugar, shouldn't we use Lent to find silence? So challenge yourself and your community to cut out the noise in your life this Lent: go without Facebook or stay silent... Learn more.
Some ideas, thoughts and reflections for Lent:
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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
To mark the end of the Year of the Consecrated Life, and begin the Season of Lent, the Xaverian Missionaries and the Xaverian Missionaries of Mary of Bukavu met to reflect on "the consecrated life as Jesus' mission today." The parish priest of Panzi, Bukavu, writes: "During Lent, besides preparing for Easter (this year we will baptize 215 catechumens) we want to clean up our district. The project is called "Panzi Safi" (Let's clean up Panzi). A cart, provided by the parish council, will collect rubbish, offering an ecological service, just as Pope Francis suggested. On Fridays, instead of giving up meat, Christians are asked to join the clean-up operation as a contribution to the common good, our very own work of mercy. Not such a bad idea: to save souls and the planet!"
Fr. Carl's latest blog on Patheos
The Secular - Religious Dance
[O]ur religious dialogue and collaboration is inadequate without secular voices. Religious voices alone are not enough. It takes two to dance since it is both of our worldviews that makes up our global home. Read more.
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Interfaith & Inter-spiritual Dialogue
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Strangers No More
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LA VOIE DE L'HOSPITALITE / STRANGERS NO MORE
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Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu monks and nuns and Sufi masters meet regularly for over 25 years. The experience of monastic inter-religious dialogue is forged through these exchanges. Using some examples of sharing between the different traditions proposed by the DIM/MID (the Monastic Inter-religious Dialogue Committee), the film follows the approach of this organization and its relevance to contemporary monasticism confronted with religious pluralism and secularization in the West. Learn more.
Interfaith Youth Core
Apply to be A Better Together Coach in 2016-17
IFYC is looking for a group of committed Better Together leaders to help train the next generation of organizers. If you're all about Better Together, excited about the movement, and think you've got mad wisdom to share, we want you. Find out more. Check out their Facebook page.
Be Happy!
The one thing all humans have in common is that each of us wants to be happy, says Brother David Steindl-Rast, a monk and interfaith scholar.
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Take a Risk!
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Noah standing beside a representation of Henry David Thoreau at the reconstructed cabin at Walden Pond in Concord MA where Thoreau had retreated for one year as he contemplated his life and work.
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A young man named Noah met our community at the FOCUS Conference held in early January in Dallas, TX. He responded to a challenge and an invitation to spend some quality time engaged in a directed retreat to sort out the promptings God was offering as to how he could use his gifts. He is a poet and a musician and takes discipleship seriously. He was between jobs and took the risk to come up North and be in prayer at our Holliston Community, finding a place of welcome and peace that supported his search. He was with us from February 7th to 17th. The 8 day retreat was guided by Fr. Rocco. If there are other young men wrestling with what God is asking, hearing a challenge to use your talents for more than just yourself, struggling with clarity of thought and purpose, contact Fr. Rocco to see if a discernment retreat would be right for you. The length of time and format is negotiable. Take the risk!
Here is what Noah had to say:
February 17, 2016 Dear Brothers, First and foremost, I want to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to LIVE with ya'll for the past 10 days. The experience was that of amazement. The love and respect and most importantly friendship will forever be ingrained in my heart and memory. I will never be able to fully express how much I love each and every one of ya'll. My absolute favorite moments were not in scripture or prayer, although they were amazing. It was our time at the dinner table, laughing, joking and listening to each other. It was proof that there is no age limit, cultural difference, no language barrier that can prevent God's true mercy and love from being experienced. I will hold each and every one of you in my prayers and thoughts. Thank ya'll from the deepest depths of my heart. We are brothers for life. Pax et Caritas Noah
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Sit down for breakfast, stand up for farmers! 29 February - 13 March
As Martin Luther King famously said, "Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you've depended on more than half the world." Despite our dependence on farmers and workers for the foods, drinks and products that we love, about 795 million people are undernourished globally. Learn more.
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NETWORK Just Advocacy Week
Just Advocacy Week brings together a diverse group of emerging leaders from across the country who are committed to justice and dedicated to dismantling systems of oppression. JAW participants will experience the D.C. policy world, examine wealth and income inequality, and hear from experienced social justice advocates on how faith can inspire action for social and economic transformation. The week will prepare JAW participants to lobby their elected officials in Congress on their last day in Washington D.C. JAW is designed for college sophomores, juniors, and seniors and open to workers ages 18-22. Learn more and apply here.
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The future is looking bright for Religious Education
The number of people applying to train as RE teachers in England and Wales has soared in the first few months of the 2015/16 recruitment cycle, far outperforming applications in other subjects as a whole. Applications are up over 30 per cent compared with the same time last year, according to the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS). Discover more. And still more.
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Our Future, Our Present: Young People at the Heart of the 2030 Agenda! - Lessons from the ECOSOC Youth Forum 2016By Jasmin Burgermeister
What a great moment! Young people are overtaking the United Nations Headquarters in New York City for the ECOSOC Youth Forum 2016! They are coming from everywhere, striving all to make the world a better place. The conference room is full of fresh, dynamic youth as it hasn't been for a long time. It's Youth Forum time! Read more.
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Ecuador's Youth Take a Stand Against Climate Change
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A New Movie for Easter
Risen
is the epic Biblical story of the Resurrection, as told through the eyes of a non-believer. Read the ICN review here.
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And the Grammy goes to...
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| | Holy Spirit by Francesca Battistelli |
Francesca's "Holy Spirit" spent 15 consecutive weeks at No. 1 and topped 5 radio charts simultaneously in 2015, becoming her third consecutive No. 1 from the album, If We're Honest... Read more.
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 The Winter/Spring 2016 edition of the Xaverian Mission Newsletter is available online. This issue highlights the Common Ground Climate Conference in Scotland; The Year of Mercy; Compassion in Bangladesh; the "Kayap� Madonna"; the Groundswell Movement; St. Guido's "Audacious Project" and more...
FOUNDER of the XAVERIAN MISSIONARIES Saint Guido Maria Conforti Our "missionary to the world" became a saint on World Mission Sunday, October 23, 2011. Now there is a mobile friendly version of our website dedicated to him. Click here to discover more.
 FOUNDER of the XAVERIAN MISSIONARY SISTERS OF MARY |
Come Pass It On Again!
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