Church - Year 14/15 B Evaluation

How was it ??? The question is " ME + the Church" !!!    A special year for you ???
1.) Did I go every Sunday to the Church ???   WHY ???   Why-not ???
2.) Did I participate with Church-Activities ??? How was my Church-engagement ???
3.) Did I read the Bible ???  at least listen to the Word of God ???  sometimes ???
4.) Did I praise God (pray) at least sometimes  (or only begging ???)
5.) Did I give signs of love to my people around me ???

The goal of this questions is only to find out I as "a Church-mosaic-particle" did I improve or worsen my relationship with the Church-Community ???

6.) How did I experience the Church-Community ???  attractive, helpful, encouraging...
7.) What has the Church-Community given me in 14/15 ???
8.) Did the Church guide me, enjoy me, empower me  ???

By these questions I will discover, what the Church has done for me.

We see the Christian-Church-Communities as the "Body of Christ for our time". It's therefore important to see how I am integrated, involved, engaged with this Community 
be it at home, be it as Namibian, be it as World-Citizen.

John 18.33-37 may serve as an Evaluation tool...

Pilate asks: Are you a Catholic?    I replies:  Do you ask of your own accord ?
Pilate answered: Am I a Catholic?  Your people told me you are a Catholic -
                                                        Tell me what have you done?
Me: I have an alternative Kingdom; I'm working to build up a new Heaven + a new Earth.
Pilate: It means: you are a real Catholic? I wonder what is your strategy?
Me: You say it!  But yes, I'm born to be a Catholic. My strategy first: I bear witness to the real reality (away from the imaginations) - and all Christians are on the same way - to discover the real fullness of Life.

A lot of thanks to all of you who have visited this Blog again + again.

Mr Ev Mk. - it's now...

We live in turbulent times... so much of distress about peace and equality...
the sun       [symbol of life]   will be darkened... so many people not enlightened...
the moon    [symbol of borrowed splendor]              diminished...
the stars     [symbol of independent personalities]   falling...
the angels  [symbol of God's effectiveness]             confused...
What a picture for the situation of the world of today... all is changing... 
old Heaven and old Earth will pass away - on the way - to a new Heaven and new Earth.
Mk likes to tell us: don't be afraid, the Word of God is present in all these turbulence's -
it is at hand, at our disposal.

If we see the Family-Synod 2015 we discover how much the moon looses its brightness;
If we look at the corruption, how are stars falling; look at poverty, how much distress...

And the Word of God at disposal - how many will read it as empowerment; how many come to Church to hear the Word of God as refreshment ??? 

Take the Priests as a parable: 
As soon as you see the priest is not in his Parish on Sunday, you know the Parish is betrayed. As soon as you discover the priest has no time for you, you will know the moon is small (the night darker); you either are somehow nobody.

Take the Eucharist as a parable:
As soon as you start, there is communication stop between the people... you see, adoration kills communication. As soon as the readings starts, there is an understanding stop.
Hearing without thinking (what a music). As soon as the praying starts, there is refusing of a own responsibility... it shows the trend: God should do it. He is the official in charge - we only have to remind him.

Take the Church as a parable:
As soon as you bring in something new - they will complain: it's not as it was". It means: they are against a new Heaven and a new Earth. And the Word of God at disposal... pls ! no new understanding; it must be as it was - for ever.
Dear Mr. Markus-Evangelist! as for the day - we knew now - it's today.

Levels of life / Mk 12.41-44 / 08.11.2015

We are good as we share !!!
On the Sunday-Collection (and by Church-tax) we give to the Church to favor Church-life.
On many occasions we give to the State - to favor social life, public education etc...
But first, we are obliged to calculate which amount we need for ourself, for the family etc...
Sometimes we feel bad - there is nothing over - we cannot spend, as we like...
sometimes something is over - we are glad to share or forced to give...
This earthly-level: How to manage our assets is very important. More important: How we manage our time (used for what???) how to manage our skills (engaged in what???).

Mk today tells us a behavior of Jesus Catholic Priests cannot follow: we have not to watch 
at the collection how much people put in the money-box. But Catholic Priests have
to open our minds again and again for the life-level Jesus is calling us for.

Jesus likes today to open our mind for an other level of life. Not the distribution-level (known
also as the calculation-level) not the very good sharing-level - but the dedication-level, the comprehensive level (know  also as the Heaven-level).

Question: The whole life, all 24 hours, all assets, all skills are dedicated to ???
All what we have, all what we need is dedicated to... ??? Do we have one great comprehensive dedication -  dedicated to ???

For some people "dedication" is strange. They see life as a survival-struggle. But 
in reality these people are often very well totally dedicated to life. That's good !!!
Now Jesus opens the eye for the insight: Dedication to Heaven is condition for a right dedication to Earth. Strive for a new Heaven and you will get a new Earth.

We know people they have in public shown us how they have dedicated their total life to
God. That's very good. And often we have seen, how such God-dedicated life has enabled them to a strange and most effective life on Earth (look at the Saints).
Heaven + Earth are not in contradiction but in strong inter-dependence.

Maybe - some people speak of "consecrated life" and have in mind "Heaven dedicated life"
in order to create a new Earth - why not ???
The Sunday-Mass maybe a sign of your dedication and the collection a sign of your sharing.

This BLOG... a challenge!!!

This BLOG is not selling "something" - not a Camel -  my BLOG likes to ask you,in some cases to challenge you, normally to demand of you - pls think about "your Life-Style".
In my view every person is called by "LIFE" to show us a wonderful, a healing, a nice, a
uniting "LIFE-STYLE". Your "life-Style" is more than your photo, more than your selfie, more than your biography - "LIFE-STYLE" is your appearance, to make an impression on me.
If you come up... why should my eye not be enjoyed ?...  attracted ? If you come up... why
should my personality not be empowered in my search of a fitting way of life ?

The prophet of Nazareth came up - attractive - a hope for Bar Timaeus; giving him the power to stand up, to jet away prejudices, to walk, to listen, to give answer, to feel "right again" and to adopt a Christian Life-Style (follow him). A real story for all people who see "faith" is the basic-skill of homo sapiens: to declare "something' as Reality.

And the memorial-day of all Saints (01. Nov). The Catholic Church has the custom to distribute the "Nobel-Price for Christian Life- Style" of for "Christian-Practice". What a richness - if you open your eyes for all these strange people with a more than "unbelievable
life-style". To declare some people as "holy" belongs to your Life-Style.

The All-Souls-Day (02.Nov): If you have lost one, who has gone with you - tell to your fate: NO - You are able to do much more than "let him go"; the contrary: you are stronger than "Energy + Time + Space"; a) keep him / her in your memory, in your life; she / he belongs to you in every case... you give him / her reality !!!  b) strengthen his / her fire, ideas, hopes, deeds...  multiply her / his effect.
c) Don't bother about his / her fate! ("after-life"); it's not your business, not at all.

Now the next Sunday (32 B / 08.11.15 / Mk 12.38-44): to animate you in such a great skill: "to increase your giving". Not so much the amount is counting. It's more  a) you give a great deal from money you have over (you are a good person!!!).  b) you are able to give a greater share (How did you make it ??? you are better).  c) you give everything you posses (what a wonder !!!). I ask: Who has been able to empower you to increase your giving ??? and what kind of life-style comes into being in such a gracious situation ??? Who told you, you must be a poor widow to give all what you need for life ?
INTEGRATION of GIVING into your LIFE-STYLE - that's the clue. 
We in Otjiwarongo / Namiba got for 15 minutes good rain (05.11.15) - I feel much better.