BLAZEr Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 This is what GS, the High School members of Communion and Liberation, put together in New York for flyer to respond to the horrific beheading of Nick Berg: [quote][u][b]A New Civilization[/b][/u] A few days ago, a video recording of the merciless decapitation of Mr. Nicholas Berg was posted on a web site. It recorded terrorists chanting, “God is great,” as they slowly sawed off Mr. Berg’s head, amidst his final desperate screams. After its posting, many of our classmates and friends watched this six minute recording and said that it was, “worse than a horror movie.” A few days later, two DJs from an Oregon radio station played the audio recording of this horrifying event, while making jokes over Mr. Berg’s shrieks. All of these events lead us to conclude that civilization is in grave danger of disappearing. We see in these events complete confusion as to the true nature of God and, therefore, man. That our classmates can compare this video to a movie or that DJs can publicly use this terrible fact as the butt of jokes shows us how they have no awareness of the reality of what took place. Moreover, we are sick of hearing ideologues on the left and right of our polarized political spectrum use this event as propaganda for their particular political projects. Gravest of all, though, we find the total nothingness in which some of our fellow human beings dwell, such that they might believe that an act as heinously evil as theirs might be pleasing to the living God. We do not profess to be untouched by this terrible moment of history; we see the effects of our culture within us and our lives; we recognize that we are at risk of losing the awareness of the value of our own human existence. At the same time, we must testify that into our lives a Presence has entered: the presence of Jesus of Nazareth. It is He who has shown us our true value as an undying thirst for beauty, justice, love and happiness. It is He who has revealed to us that the living God is the answer to this thirst; He has shown us that this thirst for happiness links us, like no other thing in the universe, to God and gives each individual, distinct human person a value greater than any ocean, forest, star or entire animal species. Nothing compares to the value to any individual person—such as Mr. Berg—except God Himself. We want to remind everyone that at another time there were “civilized” people who laughed at others’ horrific deaths in public executions designed for entertainment, while others ruthlessly sacrificed human beings to their “gods.” Into that world of 2000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth came. And the people He met and who followed Him slowly taught a dying civilization and barbaric invaders the truth about God and man. In this way, they built a new civilization, saving everything of value in both the Greco-Roman world and barbarian culture. And so, while we see clearly the tragedy of our times and the risk to ourselves in such times, we also know that Jesus’ presence among us is stronger than any pressure to reduce the person to nothing. We also know that His presence is saving civilization again—as It did in Christian monasteries 1,500 years ago—in our friendship. We know that many young people are lost in the popular youth culture of the West and that many are readying themselves for acts like Mr. Berg’s murder. In 1982, Pope John Paul II invited us to “build the civilization of truth and love.” We invite you to build it with us: a new civilization, in which beauty, truth, justice, love and—above all—education to the true God and the true value of man are the pillars. Alone this construction would be impossible; it would a utopia. But with Jesus Christ nothing is impossible, for nothing is impossible for God. For these reasons we invite anyone between 13 and 18 years of age to join us on our Summer Vacation; we’re sure you will see the beginnings of this new civilization during those days. [/quote] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traichuoi Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 wow that's awesome... [i]bump[/i] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAZEr Posted May 20, 2004 Author Share Posted May 20, 2004 bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.SIGGA Posted May 20, 2004 Share Posted May 20, 2004 Awesome. In America these really do look like the last days of Mighty Ancient Rome. The nation is obsessed with shows like American Idol and Friend while 100+ thousands of people are dying all around us. The Nick Berg thing doesn't really surprise me, because I still think it's only a matter of time before this sort of stuff is made into a reality TV show - we already have FearFactor where you can watch men and women and now even children eat feces and decaying animals and drink blood for $$$. Killing babies is a casual conversation topic and citizens are sentenced to death and treated like swine without dueprocess in our Justice System and honestly no one cares. Mention of God is absent from everything in our government except our MONEY - this really says something. The national motto needs to become "God help America" because this society looks doomed for ruin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAZEr Posted May 20, 2004 Author Share Posted May 20, 2004 But that's just it M.Sigga . . . it was into this type of civilization that Jesus Christ stepped into. It was in the midst of this type of sick and twisted perversion (of fun, sex, human life, etc.) That a man who announced "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" became a presence. It was people who were struck by this encounter and responded by making him a presence everywhere they could that eventually transformed this culture. Rome fell, but Christianity transformed the people and Rome rose again, this time, it had not an emperor, but a pope. This is our unique opportunity again. We are seeing around us the destruction of man, the dehumanization of our existence . . . but we too have been struck by our encounter with the Presence, with God, through Christ. It is our task to announce this Presence in our lives. It is our task to go to the world and say to it "Your happiness can be found in meeting this man, Jesus Christ!" We must build a civilization of love. We must join together in our Friendship and announce a new way to live, a new way to be man, a way that is more human, and more happy than anything our culture has to offer. We must go back to the life of the Gospels, to the Acts of the Apostles, we must imitate them in the desire to make Christ a presence in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie Posted May 20, 2004 Share Posted May 20, 2004 [quote name='BLAZEr' date='May 20 2004, 02:01 PM'] But that's just it M.Sigga . . . it was into this type of civilization that Jesus Christ stepped into. It was in the midst of this type of sick and twisted perversion (of fun, sex, human life, etc.) That a man who announced "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" became a presence. It was people who were struck by this encounter and responded by making him a presence everywhere they could that eventually transformed this culture. Rome fell, but Christianity transformed the people and Rome rose again, this time, it had not an emperor, but a pope. This is our unique opportunity again. We are seeing around us the destruction of man, the dehumanization of our existence . . . but we too have been struck by our encounter with the Presence, with God, through Christ. It is our task to announce this Presence in our lives. It is our task to go to the world and say to it "Your happiness can be found in meeting this man, Jesus Christ!" We must build a civilization of love. We must join together in our Friendship and announce a new way to live, a new way to be man, a way that is more human, and more happy than anything our culture has to offer. We must go back to the life of the Gospels, to the Acts of the Apostles, we must imitate them in the desire to make Christ a presence in the world. [/quote] Blazer, those are powerful words! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAZEr Posted May 21, 2004 Author Share Posted May 21, 2004 bumpness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traichuoi Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 this makes me think of something my brother always tells me when i say things like, "never" "i don't think so" "i doubt it"... he says, "since when did the theological virtues become just faith and love?" hope is so important in these times of suffering and pain due to us striving to be contradictions because everyone tells us that this building up of truth and love is impossible and that it is a utopia. the reason why we will tend to lose our zeal for reaching out to others is because somewhere along our path of evangelization we meet someone who does not believe, who does not have the zeal, and is not ready to listen to the truth. this causes us to lose part of that hope. but this reminds me of something Pope John XXIII said: (this is a paraphrase because i can't remember the exact quote) "if the Church does not go out to meet humanity, humanity will not come to meet the Church." so, whenever you feel defeated or when you think it's impossible to keep building up this civilization of truth and love, i'd ask you, "since when did the theological virtues become just faith and love?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAZEr Posted May 22, 2004 Author Share Posted May 22, 2004 bump . . . until more peeps say something like "Loved it." "hated it" "read it" "stop posting" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebirth flame Posted May 22, 2004 Share Posted May 22, 2004 i loooooved it! it was awesome!!! i'd bring up some points, but BLAZEr already covered everything that came to mind... i will try to think of more, and post them when i do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeenaBobba Posted May 22, 2004 Share Posted May 22, 2004 That was great! Thinking that DJs made jokes about Nick Berg is beyond sick. It's horribly depraved and demented. Lord, have mercy upon us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAZEr Posted May 23, 2004 Author Share Posted May 23, 2004 bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lady in Waiting Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 This makes me think of a song by Switchfoot entitled, "A New Way to be Human". We need to redefine what it means to be human. We need to be compassionate and self giving instead of hateful and selfish. Society tells us that we must first think of ourselves...that is why abortion and other things are so prevalent. Definitely food for thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seatbelt Blue Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 Just to make some things clear: Rome didn't fall because of decadence, but due to population pressures and policies that forced settlers - the "barbarians" - little recourse but to attack. Rather, you'll find such decadence the resulting politics being the cause of the end of the Roman Republic, not the Empire, which came afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeenaBobba Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 [quote name='Seatbelt Blue' date='May 23 2004, 11:41 AM'] Just to make some things clear: Rome didn't fall because of decadence, but due to population pressures and policies that forced settlers - the "barbarians" - little recourse but to attack. Rather, you'll find such decadence the resulting politics being the cause of the end of the Roman Republic, not the Empire, which came afterwards. [/quote] Whatever the temporal cause was, Seabelt, I don't think it was a coincidence that Rome fell. God bless, Jennifer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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