WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO IRAQ?

I mean, it's still there, as far as I know but it appears to have disappeared from the pages of the British press.
I am sure it is still a front page item in the USA. Yesterday, three more US soldiers were killed. Two when an Iraqi soldier opened fire on them at Ghazlani Training Centre and the third soldier was killed in a separate incident but details, so far, are being witheld.
Of course, 'our' troops are, largely out of the arena of warfare but, even so, we need to be reminded of the trials that are still taking place and we need to pray for a cessation of the violence against Allied troops.

The war continues in Iraq

Now we have more news of a fresh wave of Iraqi Christian refugeees forced to flee across the border into Turkey. Some are just sending their children with echoes of the wartime  evacuees. Over 600 Chaldean Christians arrived in Turkey during December 2010 and the trend is set to continue as terrorism against Christians spreads from the South of Iraq to the Kurdish North, previously a secure stronghold against the Muslim fanatics.

Without wishing to stir up unjust feelings of resentment, it does appear as if the Islamic world has declared violent action against all Christians: Iraq, Nigeria, Sudan, Pakistan, Indonesia - wherever one looks in the world terrible murders of the faithful and burning of churches is taking place.
We can offer our support to Allied troops and to those suffering from these persecutions by praying for a cessation of aggression -

O God, Who bringest wars to nought and shieldest by Thy power all who hope in Thee, overthrowing those that assail them; help Thy servants who implore Thy mercy; so that the fierce might of their enemies may be brought low and we may never cease to praise and thank Thee. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one world without end. Amen

HAPPY WINTERVAL!

Or, Hannukah, Pongal, Diwali, Hana Matsuri, Eid.....in fact, anything except Christmas!

                                                                 

Happy Thanksgiving - A Catholic Feast?

A Happy Thanksgiving to all US readers

Despite  strongly held views that Thanksgiving is rooted in USA Protestant history, there are equally strong beliefs that it owes its origin to Catholic settlers.

One of the Catholic versions involves an indian chief called, Squanto, of the Patuxit tribe,  who was a baptised Catholic and, so the story goes, it was as a token of thanks for his mediation that the settlers rewarded his tribe with a feast in grateful thanks.

From the rather conflicting evidence I would not wish to put any folding money as to who or where the actual tradition started, but it was bad news for turkeys!

Squanto, Chief of the Patuxits