Ashoka Summer Associates Jenny Weber (@JennyWeber0) and Stephanie Van Dyke (@Steph_VanDyke) reflect on the Ashoka Solutions Forum: The Making of Inclusive Economies, held last month in Saint Paul, MN, with support from the Bush Foundation. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Authorities on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean say a teenage girl was killed by a shark as she snorkeled just a few meters from the shore.
While the French island has seen occasional attacks on surfers farther out from shore, attacks on swimmers close to shore are exceedingly rare.
The regional administration for Reunion said Tuesday that the attack occurred Monday in a cove with no lifeguard at Saint-Paul, on the northwest side of the island. Reunion is east of Madagascar off the East African coast.
In a statement, the administration said the girl lived on the French mainland but was vacationing on Reunion. She was swimming with another girl who was not harmed.
Authorities warned swimmers to exercise the greatest caution in the area.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Pope Francis preaches on pro-life in a very integral way. He gives strong and clear messages that derive from the very substance of the Faith and a very broad vision of the demands that Faith places upon us. The conclusions and applications for the pro-life movement are undeniable, even if he does not use the specific words “pro-life movement” and “unborn.”
This was very clear in his homily at his installation on March 19, when he spoke of the need to protect every person, especially children, from the “Herods” of our day who plot death.
And it was clear again in his Palm Sunday homily, which contained the very strong message to have confidence in the victory of life over death.
He said it this way:
“Jesus takes upon himself the evil, the filth, the sin of the world, including our own sin, and he cleanses it, he cleanses it with his blood, with the mercy and the love of God.
Let us look around: how many wounds are inflicted upon humanity by evil! Wars, violence, economic conflicts that hit the weakest, greed for money, power, corruption, divisions, crimes against human life and against creation!
And our personal sins: our failures in love and respect towards God, towards our neighbour and towards the whole of creation.
Jesus on the Cross feels the whole weight of the evil, and with the force of God’s love he conquers it, he defeats it with his resurrection.
Dear friends, we can all conquer the evil that is in us and in the world: with Christ, with the force of good!
Do we feel weak, inadequate, powerless? But God is not looking for powerful means: it is through the Cross that he has conquered evil!
We must not believe the Evil One when he tells us: you can do nothing to counter violence, corruption, injustice, your sins! We must never grow accustomed to evil! With Christ we can transform ourselves and the world. We must bear the victory of Christ’s Cross to everyone everywhere, we must bear this great love of God.
And this requires all of us not to be afraid to step outside ourselves, to reach out to others. In the Second Reading, Saint Paul tells us that Jesus emptied himself, assuming our condition, and he came to meet us (cf. Phil 2:7).
Let us learn to look up towards God, but also down towards others, towards the least of all! And we must not be afraid of sacrifice.
Think of a mother or a father: what sacrifices they make! But why? For love! And how do they bear those sacrifices? With joy, because they are made for their loved ones.
Christ’s Cross embraced with love does not lead to sadness, but to joy!”
Read More at lifenews.com . By Father Frank Pavone.
Photo credit: Catholic Church (England and Wales) (Creative Commons)
