The Sign Of The Cross

League of Militant Atheists

2012-02-12T16:57:00.001Z

The League of Militant Atheists, also know as the Union of Belligerent Atheists, existed in the Soviet Union between 1925 and 1947. It was a drive to eradicate religion and replace it with 'Soviet power'. It hit the buffers when Comrade Stalin realised he was on a hiding to nothing with the eradication of religion.

You used to occasionally see stories about Japanese soldier stranded on Pacific islands that refused to surrender for decades after WWII was all done and dusted. Perhaps the Bideford Union of Belligerent Atheists (BUBA) fall into the same category?

Didn't come to much then and it won't come to much now.

Górecki's Symphony No. 3

2012-02-07T09:50:00.000Z

My son, my chosen and beloved

Share your wounds with your mother

And because, dear son, I have always carried you in my heart,

And always served you faithfully

Speak to your mother, to make her happy,

Although you are already leaving me, my cherished hope.

(Lamentation of the Holy Cross Monastery from the "Lysagóra Songs" collection. Second half of the 15th century)

No, Mother, do not weep,

Most chaste Queen of Heaven

Support me always.

"Zdrowas Mario." (*)

(Prayer inscribed on wall 3 of cell no. 3 in the basement of "Palace," the Gestapo's headquarters in Zadopane; beneath is the signature of Helena Wanda Blazusiakówna, and the words "18 years old, imprisoned since 26 September 1944.")

(*) "Zdrowas Mario" (Ave Maria)—the opening of the Polish prayer to the Holy Mother

III

Where has he gone

My dearest son?

Perhaps during the uprising

The cruel enemy killed him

Ah, you bad people

In the name of God, the most Holy,

Tell me, why did you kill

My son?

Never again

Will I have his support

Even if I cry

My old eyes out

Were my bitter tears

to create another River Oder

They would not restore to life

My son

He lies in his grave

and I know not where

Though I keep asking people

Everywhere

Perhaps the poor child

Lies in a rough ditch

and instead he could have been

lying in his warm bed

Oh, sing for him

God's little song-birds

Since his mother

Cannot find him

And you, God's little flowers

May you blossom all around

So that my son

May sleep happily

(Folk song in the dialect of the Opole region)

Synku miły i wybrany,

Rozdziel z matką swoje rany,

A wszakom cię, synku miły, w swem sercu nosiła,

A takież tobie wiernie służyła.

Przemów k matce, bych się ucieszyła,

Bo już jidziesz ode mnie, moja nadziejo miła.

Lament świętokrzyski

z "Pieśni łysogórskich"

(druga połowa XV w.)

Mamo, nie płacz, nie.

Niebios Przeczysta Królowo,

Ty zawsze wspieraj mnie.

Zdrować Mario, Łaskiś Pełna.

Zakopane "Pałace"

cela nr 3 ściana nr 3

Błazusiakówna Helena Wanda

lat 18 siedzi od 25 IX 44

III

Kajze mi sie podziol

moj synocek mily?

Pewnie go w powstaniu

zle wrogi zabily.

Wy niedobrzy ludzie,

dlo Boga swietego

cemuscie zabili

synocka mojego?

Zodnej jo podpory

juz nie byda miala,

chocbych moje stare

ocy wyplakala.

Chocby z mych lez gorkich

drugo Odra byla,

jesce by synocka

mi nie ozywila.

Lezy on tam w grobie,

a jo nie wiem kandy

choc sie opytuja

miedzy ludzmi wsandy.

Moze nieborocek

lezy kay w dolecku,

a moglby se lygac

na swoim przypiecku.

Ej, cwierkejcie mu tam,

wy ptosecki boze,

kiedy mamulicka

znalezc go nie moze.

A ty, boze kwiecie,

kwitnijze w okolo,

niech sie synockowi

choc lezy wesolo

fragment Pieśni ludowej z opolskiego.

Chippy closed down

2012-02-03T16:32:00.002Z

Apologies for the sweary stuff, but it is rather funny!

Etymology Man

2012-01-31T19:47:00.002Z

Another classic from xkcd.com

Who doesn't know someone like that?

Goodwin loses knighthood

2012-01-31T19:35:00.001Z

Image by London Permaculture via Flickr

As the BBC says... Former RBS boss Fred Goodwin stripped of knighthood

In other news I've lost the top off my biro.

I know which is more relevant to me.

Banker Fred Goodwin losing his knighthood is a bit of a non-story for me. The whole honours system is already in disrepute not by the shame of having to strip some banker of his title but in the fact that he was given one in the first place! How someone decided that running a company into the ground is reason for offering them a knighthood for 'services to banking' is beyond me. To be honest it's not. It's symptomatic of a system that is run by the elite for the elite.

I also really can't be bothered whether he keeps his knighthood or not. I'd never call anyone 'Sir' or whatever just because some oaf decided that I should. What I would like to see is Goodwin being stripped of his booty from the wreck of the good ship RBS. That would be a sight worth seeing and would also send a message that the days of rewarding failure are over.

Two new books to read of or from Benedict XVI

2012-01-25T20:11:00.003Z

Okay, they may not be new as in new but they are new to me.

I'm still getting through the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's book Eschatology but have now got two new books from my local library at Farnborough in Hampshire. (Go join your library while we still have them!)

First up is The Spiritual Vision of Pope Benedict XVI edited by Robert Moynihan which I'm reading at the same time as Eschatology.

Second is Jesus of Nazareth, Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection by Pope Benedict XVI. I read the first volume a few years ago and was really impressed with how readable Benedict's works are.

Please feel free to link up with me on Librarything or Goodreads!

An attack on union rights? Probably

2012-01-17T15:42:00.000Z

Image via Wikipedia

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

A union in Lithuania has been barred from striking at a brewery because the owners have managed to get the courts to view beer production as an 'essential service'!

From the IUF website:

Management attacks on workers and their unions continue at Carlsberg, the world's 4th largest brewery company. A planned strike by union workers at the Carlsberg brewery in Lithuania has been declared illegal by an outrageous court decision which is now the subject of an ILO complaint. The court denied the right to strike by declaring beer production an essential national service! Carlsberg is retaliating against the union's struggle for justice with reprisals and dismissals and using the Lithuanian legal system to destroy union rights. Use the form below to send a message to Carlsberg and to the government of Lithuania telling them to stop violating workers' rights!

Probably!

Nick Clegg and Distributism?

2012-01-16T07:02:00.000Z

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

So says the BBC. No, I don't think he really is calling for a form of Distributism, merely offering up sound bites that seem to be rounding the edges from our current form of rampaging Capitalism. There's lots of talk in political circles at the moment of a more 'friendly capitalism' and I think he sees this as an opportune moment to claim some media time.

Nick Clegg talks of cutting red tape and reforming the tax system, both of which may have merits but go no way to reigning in the current monster. He also seems to parallel a quote of GK Chesterton's but misses the point entirely:

"We don't believe our problem is too much capitalism - we think it's that too few people have capital.

It's worth quoting the great GK Chesterton here:

"Too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few capitalists."

Clegg's call is not for a more responsible capitalism, or a kinder face of capitalism but the continued rampage of neo-liberal economic thinking with a nod to worker participation as a way of heading off the unions. After all, if you have shares in a company then the last thing you'll be doing is calling for industrial action? This is worker participation, but just enough participation to nullify the unions but not enough to pass any power to the workers or to make any difference to current practices whatever.

True worker involvement would mean the reduction in the ratio of high and low earnings within a company, worker participation in strategy and planning together with workers sharing equitably in the success of the endeavour. I would also like to think that it would involve a healthy does of Catholic Social Teaching to give the whole system a moral basis by which everyone would be catered for and not be left behind.

ST MICHAEL'S ABBEY - British Pathe

2012-01-12T12:30:00.000Z

ST MICHAEL'S ABBEY - British Pathe

Equality of Opportunity

2012-01-12T11:55:00.000Z

Image via Wikipedia

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has come up with a scheme to help open up top careers to people from less privileged backgrounds. He's arguing that getting on the ladder in many professions is more a case of who you or your parents know rather than ability, suitability and educational achievements.

I think that part of what Clegg is trying to do may be driven by what this case from last year exposed where:

According to the Mail on Sunday, however, 900 Tory supporters paid a minimum of £400 per head to attend its Black and White Party, formerly known as the Winter Ball, at which an auction of 30 lots took place, including a number of internships. Millionaire backers paid an average of £3,000 each to ensure that their children had a chance to undertake work experience at the companies involved.

Read more: http://www.hrzone.co.uk/topic/business-lifestyle/conservatives-under-fire-internship-auctions/109607#ixzz1jESf38QV

It strikes a chord with me as I have witnessed my youngest son get turned down for internships and summer placements from bank after bank after bank. This was in despite of his impeccable character and his fantastic academic achievements through the first two years of his mathematics degree at a university renowned for mathematics. The thought of nepotism and cronyism was always lurking at the back of my mind but I feel it's been confirmed.

It's ended well for him though as he has secured a contract with a local firm including further training and education to obtain a professional standing which will see him well for the future.

I do hope that what Clegg is attempting isn't just a token piece of electioneering, this country desperately needs to embrace equality of opportunity.

More Christians Murdered in Nigeria

2012-01-07T21:36:00.001Z

Fears Christians are being targeted by radical Muslims as 20 are killed in Nigerian town hall massacre

Read more: Daily Mail

Please pray for those Christians living in the Northern states of Nigeria. It must be awful knowing that there are people who will target you with death just for being Christian.

Greece: Trade union leaders arrested following protests

2012-01-06T16:32:00.001Z

From www.labourstart.org

"On Thursday 24 November 2011, the Greek police arrested Nikos Photopoulos, President of the power workers' union GENOP/DEI, along with more than a dozen of his fellow trade unionists. They will appear in court on Tuesday 10 January 2012 to face charges that could see them jailed for up to five years. They were protesting against part of the Greek austerity measures - the cutting off of power to people unable or unwilling to pay a new, swingeing property tax, levied regardless of income or wealth. Greek trade union confederation GSEE, is calling for the charges to be dropped."

Go sign the petition now!

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1231

Joseph Ratzinger : Eschatology

2012-01-06T15:17:00.000Z

Eschatology : Death and Eternal Life.

Having read Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI (see this post) I was pleasantly surprised by how readable it was. So I thought I'd give another of his books a go. There are a number that I want to read but the only one I could find available in Hampshire at my local library at Farnborough was Joseph Ratzinger - Eschatology : Death and Eternal Life.

Let's hope it's as readable as the other one of his that I've read!

You can see all my books at Goodreads or Librarything! Feel free to add me if you have accounts there.

Epiphany

2012-01-06T09:43:00.000Z

Epiphany or Twelfth Night today in the Western churches a rememberance of the adoration of the Magi upon the Christ child. In Anglicanism it marks the season of Epiphany, in the Catholic church it's a single day.

Matthew 2:9-12
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

I really must do more to relate to the church calendar, New Year's resolution and all that.

Wonder if the Magi would manage to get through to Bethlehem today?

To Your Health!

The Trickle Down Theory

2012-01-04T11:59:00.002Z

Relevent or Reverent?

2012-01-03T18:06:00.001Z

Or both? Or none?

As someone who often plays guitar and sings in worship it does make one wonder.

(image pilfered from this blog post here, oh and click on the image for the full mighty effect.)

My hundredth post!

2012-01-02T19:08:00.000Z

100!

My hundredth post in over 2 years of this blog. Fifty posts a year, one a week. You'd think at that rate the content would be better composed! You'd think I'd not use cheap posts like this to mark the ton! You'd have thought I'd have put a picture in to make it more visually appealing! Wrong!

I feel a New Year's resolution coming on...

Pope's New Year's Message

2012-01-02T00:30:00.000Z

Weren't expecting that I bet.

RIP my friends

2012-01-01T20:44:00.000Z

Just found this post languishing in 'Draft', meant to have been posted in Oct 2010. The loss of two of my friends. :(

Bless their little socks.

via flickr.com

Boggy on the left disappeared over a year ago, and I had to take the long walk to the vets with Jess on the right two Sundays ago. Both had been with us for many, many years and were a big part of our family. you don't realise how much you miss them til they're gone. Not felt like posting it until now.

Archbishop of Canterbury's New Year Message

2012-01-01T19:44:00.001Z

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b018zvs5/

The Miraculous Medal

2012-01-01T19:21:00.001Z

The Miraculous Medal Or the Medal of the Immaculate Conception. Found one of these cards with a picture of Pope Benedict XVI and the Virgin Mary a few years ago and the internet tells me what the medal is. But does anyone know what the reason is for it being held in this card? Who would have received it? Who would have given it? Why? And what do you do with it?

Ta muchly.

One New Year's Resolution

2012-01-01T03:00:00.000Z

To be a better husband.

Kim Jong-Il's Funeral

2011-12-28T21:51:00.000Z

Mass hysteria at the death of the old bastard Kim Jong-Il but I doubt it's for him. They're probably worried that with changes at the top their tenancy in Pyongyang might be cut short and relocation to the fresh air of the countryside beckons. Together with a rural diet of rat and unripe corn. If they're lucky.

North Korea faces famine: 'Tell the world we are starving'

Kinder to admit to being a Christian. Almost.

"A young woman, in her twenties, was washing clothes in a tributary to the Tumen River (the border between China and North Korea). When packing up the clothes, she dropped what was believed to be a small Bible. The actual words used by the North Korean authorities were “Christianity book” (kiddokyo chaek). Another washer woman reported the girl to the police. According to Interviewee 4, the informer may not have known that the book was a Bible, but all suspicious activity had to be reported to the police. The young woman and her father, looking to be roughly sixty years old, were arrested and held by the local Gukgabowibu police for some three months. During that time, the woman and her father were presumably investigated and interrogated. Apparently, they were deemed guilty of a capital offense. On a summer morning in 1997, the two were taken to a market area near where the Seong Cheon River runs into the Tumen River. The two were accused of trafficking and condemned as traitors to the nation and Kim Jong Il. Interviewee 4 was unaware of any other judicial procedures prior to the announcement of the crime, verdict, and sentence in an extremely brief public “show trial,” which consisted of no more than announcements of the charges and verdict immediately prior to the execution. Teachers and students from elementary (4th grade and up), middle, and high school were assembled, along with persons who had been sent over from the nearby market. Seven police fired three shots each into the two victims, who had been tied to stakes a few meters from the “trial” area. The force of the rifle shots, fired from fifteen meters away, caused blood and brain matter to be blown out of their heads. Interviewee 4 was in the fifth row. She sketched from memory a schematic drawing of the execution scene."

When Communism goes wrong.

Gunfight at the OK Corral

2011-12-28T20:43:00.000Z

Well not quite. More of a dust up at the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem as up to 100 Armenian and Greek Orthodox joined pitched battle wielding brooms and other weapons.

Comical yet degrading.

How many kings?

2011-12-27T22:50:00.000Z

jedimindless do a lot of videos showing how to play worship songs on guitar. Well worth visiting if you play guitar in a worship setting.

Here's one from them.

The Sign Of The Cross

League of Militant Atheists

Górecki's Symphony No. 3

Chippy closed down

Etymology Man

Goodwin loses knighthood

Related articles

Two new books to read of or from Benedict XVI

Related articles

An attack on union rights? Probably

Nick Clegg and Distributism?

Related articles

ST MICHAEL'S ABBEY - British Pathe

Equality of Opportunity

Related articles

More Christians Murdered in Nigeria

Greece: Trade union leaders arrested following protests

Joseph Ratzinger : Eschatology

Epiphany

The Trickle Down Theory

Relevent or Reverent?

My hundredth post!

Pope's New Year's Message

RIP my friends

Archbishop of Canterbury's New Year Message

The Miraculous Medal

One New Year's Resolution

Kim Jong-Il's Funeral

Gunfight at the OK Corral

Related articles

How many kings?