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SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS (1)
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When I was a little boy, I didn't know much about Saint Martin of Tours. The only thing I knew was, that on November 11, we as children went out in the company of an adult person, when it was dark and cold in the evening, very exciting. With a lantern in the hand we went from door to door to the homes of relatives and friends in the neighborhood, begging for sweeties, after we had sung a song that we didn't understand, but that mentioned St Maarten and St Margriet and the church bells that had made the neighbor drunk. The reference to the drunk neighbor in the song could be an indication that the St Maarten celebration was not a folkloric feast for children only. Anyway, the SHARING of goods, be it sweeties or drinks, was more in the spitit of St Maarten than the BEGGING, because didn't it all start with the story of the soldier Martin (who later became bishop of Tours)who shared his cape with a beggar? I also remember that I once participated in a children' parade with all the children in the neighborhood before we went from door to door. It was decided that the girls would carry a Chinese lantern and the boys next to them a flag. But that was not what I had in mind. I also wanted a Chinese lantern because that seemed much more fun to me than a flag. The organizers had a problem because it deranged their plans and made a mess of the whole set-up. But fortunately my uncle was one or the organizers, and so it happened that we both, my little sister and I, were carrying Chinese lanterns. From that day I learned that it is important to have a "godfather" when you want to achieve something.
Then later, during the Second World War of 1940-1945 it was forbidden to go on the street in the evening, forbidden to form groups or to be in any organization, so no more St Maarten celebrations. After the war I was too big to go around begging sweeties. Next time we will talk, not about the folklore, but what I have learned about the person of St Martin of Tours.
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FASHION ME A PEOPLE
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In the first week of the year a small delegation of the St Martin of Tours parish took off to Orlando, Florida, not to visit Magic Kingdom, but to attend the annual conference of FASHION ME A PEOPLE, an international gathering of leaders for lifelong faith formation. They explore what it is for a community to form the faith of people of all ages through the life and practices of the faith community, who is striving to participate in building the Kingdom of God. Each year, hundreds of participants gather from throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean islands for this event. The leaders who come to this event are innovators in lifelong faith formation and ministry. Many participants come as individuals, while others come as part of a parish team. The gathering presents the most innovative thinking, practicing and resources for faith formation across the entire life-circle, and an inclusive understanding of how faith is nurtured and formed at home and in the parish community through evangelization, catechesis, liturgy and sacraments, justice and service, prayer and community life. The theme of the 2012 conference was FORMED BY EUCHARIST, SENT IN MISSION.
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AT THE TURN OF THE YEAR
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Sometimes I think, all the rubbish in the streets, the beer bottles, soda cans, plastic bags and cans, it is a reflection of our daily life. Our whole world is full of litter and trash : disunity, egoism, jealousy, lack of repect for each other, lack of self-discipline, lack of responsibility and what more. A chaos it is. And you know what ? We ourselves continue to maintain this chaos, by exploiting other people, by taking advantage of foreigners, by blatantly lying, by exploiting other people, by teahing our children bad words and bad manners through our own bad example. There is in our community intolerance, discrimination in several forms and modern-day slavery. At the turn of the year we get an opportunity again to reflect on ourselves, where we stand and where we are going, we as a country, we as a family and we as individual persons. We cannot change everythin in one day, but we can make a choice. We can for example focus on how to educate our children. The problem is that many parents themselves need to be educated. But perhaps we can start with two key-words : TIME and ATTENTION. If all parents do their utmost to spend more time with their children (which in many cases is very difficult, but hopefully not inpossible) and give them the attention they so badly need, then a lot of misery can be prevented : tensions, frustrations, misunderstanding, loneliness, negligence, jealousy.
In the month of August a group of about 25 St Maarten youngsters together with some of the other islands, went to Madrid, Spain, to attend the World Youth Day 2011. One of their fundraising activities was selling tickets that said : THE BEST THING YOU CAN SPEND ON YOUR CHILDREN IS TIME. I would like to suggest that all parents take this slogan as theirs for the year 2012. Perhaps it will help the clean-up campaign we all need.
To parents and children, and all the clean-up volunteers, a Happy New Year !
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THE ADVENT - WREATH
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There are several symbols the Church uses in the time of preparation of Advent, the coming of the Lord. The priest is wearing purple vestments and the song "Glory to God" is omitted. A popular custom is also the Advent wreath. It consists of four candles surrounded by evergreen branches. One purple candle is lit during the first week, two the second, two purple ones and one pink the third week (to express the JOY that the Lord is near) and all four candles in the last week of Advent. The light of the candles signifies the light of Christ who will come into the world on Christmas. While the Advent wreath is a feature in many Catholic homes and Catholic churches, during the season of Advent, it actually originated among the Lutherans of Eastern Germany in the 16th century. It was quickly adopted by both Protestants and Catholics throughout Germany and it was brought to the United States by German immigrants in the 19th century. The Advent wreath helps us to keep our thoughts focused on the coming of Christ ( his coming with Christmas, his coming to us in the Sacraments and his coming at the end of time). We should integrate it in our daily activities. The easiest way is to make it a part of our evening meal. The family gathers around the wreath and lights the appropriate candles. You may do a Scripture reading from your Bible of from the Advent-readings in your Missal, and you leave the candle burning during the meal.
Many people add a large white candle to the center of the wreath on Christmas Day. The Advent wreath becomes now a Christmas wreath !
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COMMUNAL LIFE AND SERVICE
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As part of the school's focus on "communal life and service", the Japan Catholic Seminary in Tokyo has a new class for first-year seminarians : cooking. Under the guidance of volunteer Akiko Kojima, a registered dietician, and their formation director, Society of Helpers Sr Kazumi Ozaki, first year seminarians prepare Sunday meals at the seminary.
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