Author Topic: Grown and Grizzled Old Men Can Cry! (Trappist Nuns)  (Read 1447 times)

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Offline mrclose

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Grown and Grizzled Old Men Can Cry! (Trappist Nuns)
« on: September 06, 2013, 07:53:32 am »
From a letter from Trappist nuns in Syria:

Could have gone in the religion forum .. until you realize that the last sentence makes this the appropriate forum!


Quote
Today we have no words, except those of the Psalms that the liturgical prayer puts onto our lips in these days:

Rebuke the Beast of the Reeds, that herd of bulls, that people of calves…oh God, scatter the people who delight in war…Yahweh has leaned down from the heights of his sanctuary, has looked down from heaven to earth to listen to the sighing of the captive, and set free those condemned to death…Listen, God, to my voice as I plead, protect my life from fear of the enemy; hide me from the league of the wicked, from the gang of evil-doers.

They sharpen their tongues like a sword, aim their arrow of poisonous abuse…They support each other in their evil designs, they discuss how to lay their snares. “Who will see us?” they say. He will do that, he who penetrates human nature to its depths, the depths of the heart…Break into song for my God, to the tambourine, sing in honor of the Lord, to the cymbal, let psalm and canticle mingle for him, extol his name, invoke it…For the Lord is a God who breaks battle-lines! … Lord, you are great, you are glorious, wonderfully strong, unconquerable.
============================

We look at the people around us, our day workers who are all here as if suspended, stunned: “They’ve decided to attack us.” Today we went to Tartous…we felt the anger, the helplessness, the inability to formulate a sense to all this: the people trying their best to work and to live normally.

You see the farmers watering their land, parents buying notebooks for the schools that are about to begin, unknowing children asking for a toy or an ice cream…you see the poor, so many of them, trying to scrape together a few coins.

The streets are full of the “inner” refugees of Syria, who have come from all over to the only area left that is still relatively liveable…. You see the beauty of these hills, the smile on people’s faces, the good-natured gaze of a boy who is about to join the army and gives us the two or three peanuts he has in his pocket as a token of “togetherness”…. And then you remember that they have decided to bomb us tomorrow. … Just like that.

Because “it’s time to do something,” as it is worded in the statements of the important men, who will be sipping their tea tomorrow as they watch TV to see how effective their humanitarian intervention will be….

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Blog/2538/a_letter_from_trappist_nuns_in_syria_blood_fills_our_streets_our_eyes_our_hearts.aspx#.UimHIkDEkto
« Last Edit: September 06, 2013, 08:05:21 am by mrclose »
"Hell is empty, all the devil's are here!"
~ Self

Offline aligncare

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Re: Grown and Grizzled Old Men Can Cry! (Trappist Nuns)
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2013, 10:35:54 am »
God bless these nuns. But, as a Christian I wouldn't step within 1000 miles of a Muslim community in the Middle East. God protect these brave women.

famousdayandyear

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Re: Grown and Grizzled Old Men Can Cry! (Trappist Nuns)
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2013, 04:43:03 pm »
This is the most moving, the very best post I have read in a while.  Thank you mrclose for providing this point of view.  It is both beautiful and horrifying at the same time.  No words.  May Our Lord grant them his protective hand.

famousdayandyear

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Re: Grown and Grizzled Old Men Can Cry! (Trappist Nuns)
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2013, 08:05:19 pm »
All should read this, mrclose.

Offline mrclose

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Re: Grown and Grizzled Old Men Can Cry! (Trappist Nuns)
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2013, 04:37:30 am »
All should read this, mrclose.
I wish they would but I am afraid that a lot of people .. no longer care.
"Hell is empty, all the devil's are here!"
~ Self

Offline happyg

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Re: Grown and Grizzled Old Men Can Cry! (Trappist Nuns)
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2013, 11:49:39 am »
I wish they would but I am afraid that a lot of people .. no longer care.

85 people have viewed this thread, and I bet nearly all of them read it. Sometimes, people just don't have a reply. It's an excellent read!

Offline mountaineer

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Re: Grown and Grizzled Old Men Can Cry! (Trappist Nuns)
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2013, 11:49:59 am »
This is the most moving, the very best post I have read in a while.  Thank you mrclose for providing this point of view.  It is both beautiful and horrifying at the same time.  No words.  May Our Lord grant them his protective hand.
Amen.  :0001:
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Offline aligncare

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Re: Grown and Grizzled Old Men Can Cry! (Trappist Nuns)
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2013, 12:26:03 pm »

"The problem is that it has become too easy to pass lies off as noble gestures, to pass ruthless self-interest off as a search for justice, to pass the need to appear [strong] and to wield power off as a “moral responsibility not to look away…”"


Offline mrclose

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Re: Grown and Grizzled Old Men Can Cry! (Trappist Nuns)
« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2013, 01:03:58 am »
85 people have viewed this thread, and I bet nearly all of them read it. Sometimes, people just don't have a reply. It's an excellent read!
I'm sorry that my post sounded as if I was talking about the folks here.

I meant folks in general.
"Hell is empty, all the devil's are here!"
~ Self

Offline happyg

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Re: Grown and Grizzled Old Men Can Cry! (Trappist Nuns)
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2013, 01:16:15 am »
I'm sorry that my post sounded as if I was talking about the folks here.

I meant folks in general.

Sorry I misunderstood. I just wanted you to know that your posts, as well as most of ours, get read, but not replied to.  There are many, many good threads here.