When you are a pastor, parishioners frequently pass on articles, books and websites that they think you might find interesting. Sometimes they are interesting in terms of content, but they are always interesting in terms of what they tell me about my congregation. For every article, every book, every website, points to some area of concern for those who pass them on.
I recently received a clipping from an out-of-state newspaper that a parishioner who spends much of his time "up north" (as we say here on Sanibel) passed along. It came from the "Living" section of the York (PA) Daily Record. And it had a very provocative headline. "Religion: How important is it?" The article quoted from some survey material out of Duke University that suggests so called "organized religion" is increasingly irrelevant in many peoples' lives. According to a survey taken in 2008, 20% of Americans said they had "no religion" as opposed to only 3% in 1957. Mark Chavas, the director of the survey work, and a professor of sociology, religion and divinity at Duke, is quoted in the article: "It used to be that even the most marginally active people wouldn't say they have no religion, they'd say I'm Catholic, or I'm Baptist, or I'm Methodist or whatever. . . . That's not the case today." (York Daily Record, 9-15-11, B-1)
That fewer folks are interested in organized religion is, of course, of great concern to most anyone who sees institutional expressions of faith as important. It can, and does, lead to a lot of soul-searching in churches and synagogues and mosques across the country. What can we do to be more relevant? How can we better address the needs of those we are failing to reach? But maybe the answer is as close as the articles, the books and the websites that get passed on to folks like me.
It is said that the Swiss theologian Karl Barth once advised preachers in training to "take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both." But Karl Barth died in 1968. And while the thrust of his comment remains quite true, today he would need to amend it. "Go the Internet and go to your Bible, and read both." Will organized religion survive? I hope so--but only if we who practice our faith in community are willing to listen to what folks around us are saying--online and off!
Stefania Caterina was born in Genoa 19 January 1959 by a Catholic family practitioner.
ReplyDeleteIn 1994 he decided to leave everything to dedicate himself totally to God and His work, by providing the gifts received from Him
You can write directly to
stefania.c@vrsolanuovacreazione.it / www.versolanuovacreazione.it
A dutiful introduction
Dearest Readers,
The messages Jesus is dictating to me these days and that will be published in the next months, definitely trace the path towards the events awaiting us. Therefore, I felt I had the duty to write this introduction, to help you enter more deeply in the subject you will be reading.
Up to today I shared with you the revelations I received from God. In my first book, Beyond the Great Barrier that ends with the 15th chapter entitled “The new Creation”, I amply presented to you the central message of the revelations received, that is: recapitulate in Christ all things in heaven and on earth. I tried to lead you to the events that have to do with the Earth and the universe. These days, Jesus told me that in the next months He wants to prepare us to face those events awaiting us in the immediate future.
How to face such events? I believe that in these years, through the many explanations I received and I communicated to you, we obtained the grace of understanding the interior walk which prepares us to enter the mind of Christ and to understand the mystery of God and of life, to elevate and transform us to the point of becoming new creatures. I spoke to you about this spiritual walk in particular in the book Writing History Anew – Vol. 1 In the mind of God. Furthermore, you have been accompanied by the messages published every month on this site; these messages continue and they introduce us, more and more, to a serious phase of preparation and decision making.
I cannot comment on these messages. Jesus Himself and His Holy Spirit will explain them to you in your heart. An answer is expected from you to understand the words that you will read. Finally, it is up to each one of us to commit ourselves, for the Earth and for the whole universe, so that the promises of God may be realized. CONTINUA
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www.versolanuovacreazione.it
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ReplyDeletewww.versolanuovacreazione.it
“My Father is at work until now, so I am at work”
(John 5:17)
“I bless you my children! Today I wish to speak to you about God’s work in these times and about the general picture in which your life and your mission is inserted.
“Try to understand, above all, that you did not happen to be in the reality in which you are by accident, but you are here because of a precise divine project. Whatever you might think about yourselves or others might think about you, know that your life is precious and irreplaceable in the time and place in which you find yourselves to be, according to God’s projects. You have been preordained for this reality, and for this reason God gave you irreplaceable and original potentialities. No one in the universe is equal to you, because God’s creativity is unlimited and inexhaustable, and because each one of you is absolutely unique in his being and in his way of acting.
“Unfortunatly, many on Earth live below their potentiality, because they do not make of themselves a gift to Me. I am the only One to know pefectly the Father’s project for each one of you, because from Him I received the order to bring to completion His work in every person. I am acting in you by the power of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens you, cloaks you, constantly inspires you pointing out the avenue towards Me, so that I might reveal to you the Will of the Father for each one of you.
Without me you shall never truly be able to know yourselves, nor to be able to understand what is asked of you to do in this life.
“The Holy Spirit and I are constantely at work in order to realize the Father’s project in each one of you, but we can do this only with the help of your freedom, that is, only when you willingly and freely choose to love and serve God and you offer to Him your life. This is the indispensable condition so that your potentialities activate and are at work. In fact, by the moment you decide to live for God and to be totally abandoned to His will, within you the action of the Holy Trinity starts working, and little by little, transforms your life and your thoughts. Thus, you are beginning to become conscious of who you are in God and to make a mark on reality, a creative mark, because it is divine creativity working in you. I wish you to be conscious about what I am saying to you, because the knowledge that God is active in you, independently from your human limitations and frailties, is determinant for your mission in the time in which you live.
“Yours is a grand time and a difficult time for the entire universe. Grandiose for the power of the events that the hand of God is preparing, and difficult because it is a time of battle with the powers of evil, an always more open battle.
All this does not refer to the planet earth alone, but to the entire creation and all the people who inhabit many other planets. I have already told you that they are children of God as you are, and that I gave My life for them as well. They are your brothers in whom the project of My Father has to be perfectly accomplished, just as it is in yours.
“What is the project of the Father? To bring back the entire creation to the state of integrity and perfection it had before original sin; to bring back every person to the dignity and glory of a child of God. All men and every creature that exists in the universe must be made free from corruption and death which infiltrated themselves in the work of God because of the sin of your forefathers. Humanity must return to a correct relationship with God, by recognizing His authority and by submitting to His guide. How is the Father going to realize this project? By recapitulating all creation in Me, since He gave Me all power in the whole universe. CONTINUA
__________________________________www.versolanuovacreazione.it
“This is why I am at work
“A very powerful time has started, where the signs from heaven will be more and more evident, if you will be able to read them. Lucifer’s anger will grow stronger and will hurl itself against everything and everybody, but it will not be able to hurt those who belong to Me.
ReplyDelete“You will also see nature restless, because nature reacts to the solicitations of good and evil, with a sensitity often stronger than yours. Nature will be hit heavily by the forces of evil, forces who will try to damage humanity, but nature will not be destroyed. Nature also will be recapitulated in Me in order to be renewed and transformed. Therefore, do not be afraid, My children, when facing the natural events that will follow one another. Hold on tightly to Me and you will have nothing to fear.
“I am stopping here for now; later I will talk to you about other matters so you can be prepared for what is about to happen. The Father never asks man to adhere to what he cannot understand; first He gives him light, then He asks him to decide, because God is fair with you. The Father sent Me among you to enlighten your road toward God and place you in the condition to be able to walk. Now it is up to you to decide.
“I am asking you to pray a lot and to seriously decide for God. I am asking you again to donate your life to Me, so that I can protect you and prepare you for the events that are awating you. It is not about catastrophes, like the most apprehensive ones fear, but it is a matter of tests necessary for the purification of humanity, in view of the beautiful and incorrupt new creation awaiting you. The Father prepared it for those who love Him, and I am calling you to be part of it. The Father is at work unceasingly and I am at work as well; therefore, your eyes will see great things. If you have faith you will be able to read them in the right light. They will appear to you for what they truly are: the marvels of God’s love for His people.
“I am blessing you in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.
In the book “Beyond the great barrier” at Chp. 6, I spoke about the humanities of other planets, and of the choices made by each humanity. As a matter of fact, not all men have committed the original sin. There exist some humanities that kept themselves faithful to God, thus preserving spiritual and physical prerogatives much superior to ours.
For other messages:--- http://towardsthenewcreation.com/ ---
We apologize for the space, we believe that there may be useful for the journey of your life
God Bless you
Angelo
http://www.versolanuovacreazione.it/ / stefania.c@versolanuovacreazione.it/ http://fraternita.bloog.it/ www.conchiglia.net /
http://www.conchiglia.us/RIVELAZIONE_ITALIA/C_lettere/07.23_NUOVA_ARCA_DI_NOE_27.01.07http://www.dozule.org/RIVELAZIONE_ITALIA/dozule/dozule_GEA.html
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