From BBC news : Saudi coalition renews Yemen strikes

Saudi coalition renews Yemen strikes

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From BBC news : Why an iron fish can make you stronger

Why an iron fish can make you stronger

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32749629

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From BBC news : Why are US train drivers called engineers?

Why are US train drivers called engineers? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-32758223

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Words of wisdom.

The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bmt

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From France 24 : ‘Jerusalem Day’

Clashes erupt as Israel marks ‘Jerusalem Day’

http://f24.my/1cIDshE

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From NPR News: ASSAULT ON SALT

Assault On Salt: Uruguay Bans Shakers In Restaurants And Schools

http://n.pr/1KSg2Se

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From BBC news : Iraqi city of Ramadi ‘falls to IS’

Iraqi city of Ramadi ‘falls to IS’

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-32773780

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My Turnbull Cyn hikes in April and May

These are just several of my hikes. The rest were not recorded properly by various apps.

Today was the first time when I had to return home, without being able to do my minimum 10,000 steps due to the parking restriction implemented along Beverly Blvd. And adjacent streets, sole access to these wilderness hiking trails. 

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quotation: from Pope Francis

Hash tag: #TurnbulCynHikingTrail

One of the best hiking trails in Los Angeles, Turnbul Canyon is now practically beyond access due to extensive parking restriction on Beverly Blvd. Both Greenleaf St. and Turnbull Cyn, (off Beverly) are now, together with the side streets restricted for Parking (without a Permit) These streets are Public roads, so the area is not a residential zoning. In addition, there are no bike lines, and no oppotyyunity to use the Stste funded Recreation area, to maintain health, and fitness, for a population that spends life behind the wheel of a car, everyday.

Instead of creating a real parking facility at Turnbull, For those of us who choose to workout, the city of Whittier decided that not using these parks and recreation facilities is more important!

credo in unum deum – closing mass of the synod of bishops – 28.10.2012

paparatzibene

papst benedikt feiert abschlussmesse der bischofssynode im oktober 2012santa messa per la conclusione del sinodo dei vescovi – presiede il santo padre benedetto XVI
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Credo – the Nicene Creed
Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium, et invisibilium. Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum. Et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, Lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero. Genitum, non factum, consubstantialem Patri: per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine: Et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis: sub Pontio Pilato passus, et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas. Et ascendit in caelum: sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, judicare vivos et mortuos: cuius regni non erit finis. Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum, et vivificantem: qui ex Patre Filioque procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur, et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per Prophetas. Et unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum. Et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen. Click here for an English translation.

The Nicene Creed was formulated in the 4th century, to affirm the totality of the Catholic Faith. None of the heretics of the time would be able to say this creed, which denied the basic tenets of their heresies. It became a test of orthodoxy in doctrine (or you could say Catholicity) – if you did not profess the entire Faith as the Church teaches, you were known to be a heretic – because denying one doctrine of the Faith indeed causes all the others to unravel. The Faith is a cohesive whole.

We sing this entire hymn during Mass, or at least follow along with the Priest, thinking it to be a beautiful prayer but not realizing what some of the words cost. A few words, like Filioque and consubstantialem were hotly debated between faithful Catholic bishops and the multitude of heretics that existed, such as the followers of Arianism, Docetism, Donatism, Monophysitism, Nestorianism, Pelagianism, etc. Many good Catholics suffered much to preserve the truth, and these key words became the dividing point between Catholics and heretics/schismatics. Some heretics professed that the Holy Ghost did not proceed from the Son as well as the Father, so the insertion of Filoque “and the Son” was anathema to them. Others had issue with consubstantialem, which means “of the same substance”, because they believed that Christ was not equal to the Father.

So as you recite or sing the Nicene Creed, remember that for centuries men have had to fight valiantly for the Faith, which was often the occasion of great suffering.

 

MIssa for Sunday, May 17, 2015: Beethoven – Missa Solemnis – Philharmonia / Karajan

Beethoven – Missa Solemnis – Philharmonia / Karajan

incontrario motu

Published on Dec 12, 2012

Ludwig van Beethoven

Missa Solemnis op.123

Kyrie 0:00
Gloria 11:12
Credo 28:33
Sanctus 50:54
Agnus Dei 01:07:59

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Christa Ludwig
Nicolai Gedda
Nicola Zaccaria
Singverein des Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien
Philharmonia Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan

Studio recording (11-15.IX.1958)

• Music

  • “Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123: Sanctus” by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Nicola Gedda, Christo Ludwig, Nicola Zaccaria, Wien Chorus & Wien Philharmonic Orchestra (iTunes • eMusic)

great compositions/performances: Claudio Abbado “Overture “The Fair Melusina” Mendelssohn

Claudio Abbado “Overture “The Fair Melusina” Mendelssohn

Addiobelpassato

Published on Jan 26, 2014

Overture “Zum Märchen von der schönen Melusine“,
op 32 by Felix Mendelssohn
London Symphony Orchestra
Claudio Abbado, conductor

• Music

  • “”Mendelssohn: Overture “”The Fair Melusine””, MWV P12, Op.32 – Allegro con moto”” by Claudio Abbado and London Symphony Orchestra (AmazonMP3)

historic musical Bits: Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto #2 in C Minor, Op. 18

Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto #2 in C Minor, Op. 18 – HD

hellsan631

Published on Aug 17, 2012

Includes all 3 movements. Taken from “Sergey Rachmaninov – Piano Concertos 2 & 3 (2004)”

Mvt. 1 is 0:00 to 11:10
Mvt. 2 is 11:14 to 22:10
Mvt. 3 is 22:20 to 34:00

Quality – FLAC, audio bitrate: 512kbps*
Video MP4 – 358kbps

Audio should be perfect in 720p quality. I also should note that this is my favorite version of this Piano Concerto, as the intro is slightly “better paced” then other versions, where I believe it to be played too quickly, not savoring the notes enough.

Credits:
Yefim Bronfman (Piano)
The Philharmonica
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Gary Schultz (Producer)
Kevin P. Boutote (Engineer)
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, Studio 1
London England, October 5-8th, 1990
http://www.sonyclassical.com

This record was enhanced using 20-bit technology for “high-definition sound”.
*Change to 720p Video to get the a 192 kbps Audio Stream (the highest you can get on YouTube)

SMK 93105
0931052000

Sergei Rachmaninov

ROBERT SCHUMANN – Ouverture, Scherzo und Finale, Op.52

musicmusikmusique

Published on Nov 27, 2013

GILBERTO SEREMBE, conductor
O.R.T. – Orchestra Regionale Toscana
Firenze, Teatro della Compagnia, 9 June 1995
http://www.italianconductingacademy.com

great compositions/performances: “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op.24” by Wilhelm Kempff

Johannes Brahms Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op 24 W Kempff

AnnibalePistacchio

• Music

  • “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op.24” by Wilhelm Kempff (Google Play • AmazonMP3 • eMusic)

just a thought: Just the fact that one is not part of the problem doesn’t make one part of the solution

just a thought: Just the fact that one is not part of the problem doesn’t make one part of the solution

Read the words of an Orthodox bishop kidnapped in Syria nearly two years ago :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, the Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo, who was kidnapped near the Turkish border April 22, 2013. Courtesy of Aid to the Church in Need.

 Aleppo, Syria, Mar 15, 2015 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On April 22, 2013, both the Greek and Syriac Orthodox archbishops of Aleppo, Boulos Yazigi and Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, were kidnapped in Syria near the Turkish border. Their driver, Deacon Fatha’ Allah Kabboud, was killed.

Today, 23 months later, the bishops remain missing – though for some time it has been rumored that only one of them is still alive.

The bishops were abducted on their way back from the Turkish border, where they were negotiating the release of two priests, Fathers Michael Kayyal and Maher Mahfouz, who had themselves been kidnapped in February 2013.

Archbishop Ibrahim and Archbishop Yazigi are only two of the multitude of victims of the Syrian civil war, which today is entering its fifth year.

The war has claimed the lives of more than 220,000 people. There are 3.9 million Syrian refugees in nearby countries, most of them in Turkey and Lebanon, and an additional 8 million Syrian people are believed to have been internally displaced by the war.

On March 15, 2011, demonstrations sprang up in Syria protesting the rule of Bashar al-Assad, the nation’s president and leader of its Ba’ath Party. The next month, the Syrian army began to deploy to put down the uprisings, firing on protesters.

Since then, the violence has morphed into a civil war which is being fought among the Syrian regime and a number of rebel groups: the rebels include moderates, such as the Free Syrian Army; Islamists such as al-Nusra Front and Islamic State; and Kurdish separatists.

Only about a week before his kidnapping, two years into the war, Archbishop Ibrahim had told BBC Arabic that Syrian Christians are in the same situation as their Muslim neighbors: “There is no persecution of Christians and there is no single plan to kill Christians. Everyone respects Christians. Bullets are random and not targeting the Christians because they are Christians.”

Archbishop Ibrahim had written a book in Arabic in 2006 called “Accepting the Other.” At that time, before the start of the war, Syrians of different religions lived together in peace.

An excerpt of this work, focused on “the dialogue of life,” was translated into English for Aid to the Church in Need and appears below thanks to that international Catholic charity, which has pledged $2.8 million in emergency aid for the Christians of Syria:

The plurality of religions and faiths does not foment an inter-religious conflict due to the fact that the common denominator of its teachings, heritages and ethics affirms the oneness of God and the multiplicity and integrity of its people.

Whenever Christians and Muslims approach the sources of divine teaching, they may feel that their common heritage is part and parcel of the universal belief of the relationship between man (the weak) and the Creator (the mighty). Christians say we have one God and Muslim say there is no God but God.

From this understanding of our common heritages derived the concept of the “Dialogue of Life” – to which we owe our peaceful coexistence and the flourishing of our communities. However, even given the rich ethno-religious diversity of our communal tapestry, it is not at all like the concept of multiculturalism that is emerging in Western society.

The “Dialogue of life” is a rather simple, spontaneous, and natural way of life – a sort of coexistence sustained by the values of solidarity, humanity, impartiality and accepting the other unconditionally. Some may argue that our “Dialogue of Life” draws on the principles outlined in the Geneva Convention. Not so, our “Dialogue” has its own unwritten codes, whose values far predate this relatively new Western concept of dialogue and coexistence.

via Read the words of an Orthodox bishop kidnapped in Syria nearly two years ago :: Catholic News Agency (CNA).

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From CNA: A modern-day St Francis? Archbishop works to rebuild Syrian Church amid destruction

Photo:  Interior of a damaged church building in Aleppo, April 2015. Credit: Melkite Archdiocese of Aleppo. Courtesy of Aid to the Church in Need.

By Matt Hadro and Adelaide Mena

Aleppo, Syria, May 15, 2015 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A four-year civil war in Syria has left a mounting death toll and displaced millions of persons, but one bishop is staying to rebuild the Church in Aleppo, in the northwest corner of the country.

“The Church is living,” Melkite Archbishop Jean-Clement Jeanbart of Aleppo told CNA earlier this month. “Here, I am building, I am restoring, I am maintaining a lively Church in which every stone is a human being and who can be a witness, a testimony to the world.”

“I wondered if I am not copying St. Francis when he was working to rebuild the Church. It was crazy, nobody thought that he would succeed,” the archbishop noted. “And he succeeded because the Lord was with him.”

The four-year Syrian conflict being fought among the Assad regime and various rebel factions has devastated the country. More than 3.9 million refugees have fled to surrounding countries, and around 8 million Syrians are believed to have been internally displaced. The war’s death toll is currently around 220,000.

Outside countries and entities have taken advantage of the civil war, profiting from it through the arms trade or waiting for Syria to collapse so to move in and take power in the vacuum. Pope Francis has spoken out against the arms trade here and has been criticized for it, Archbishop Jeanbart noted.

Aleppo endured a terrible two-month siege by rebel forces last year. Its infrastructure has been devastated, and its residents endure great poverty.

Those who chose to stay face a myriad of challenges. Houses, businesses, schools, and hospitals have been damaged or destroyed in the war, leaving fathers without work, families without shelter, the sick without medical care, and children without education.

Thus it is an uphill battle to convince residents to stay and not re-settle elsewhere, Archbishop Jeanbart admitted. Syrians see the U.S. on television and think it a “paradise,” and want to move there. He has to convince them of the unseen difficulties that such a move might bring.

Words are not enough to convince people, however. The Church must act to help Christians who stay so once peace comes – and it will, the archbishop maintains – a stable Christian community is in place and Christians can have a seat at the peace negotiations.

“We want that we may have our rights,” he said. “We want that everybody may feel comfortable in the country.”

“What we want to do, and what I am looking for,” Archbishop Jeanbart said, “is to go to another position, a position looking positively to the future, trying to give them hope that the future of their country may be good, and will be better if they work and if they prepare themselves.”

The Church in Aleppo is working to meet the local needs. It provides thousands of baskets of food to needy families, 1,000 scholarships for students to attend Catholic schools, stipends to almost 500 fathers who have lost their business in the war, heating to houses in the wintertime, rebuilding homes damaged in the war and medical care for the needy since many government hospitals were destroyed in the fighting.

It’s a daunting task for an archbishop in his seventies. He admitted to initially wondering how he could do it.

“But when I began working on it, I felt that I was 50. Like if the Lord is pushing me to go ahead and helping me to realize this mission,” he said.

“I invest myself entirely. I have decided the consecrate the rest of my life to do that.”

Archbishop Jeanbart has been assisted in his efforts to serve the people of Aleppo by the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. The charity has ensured  a six month supply of medical goods for the city, and paid for repairs and fuel costs at the city’s schools, in addition to the rest of its work throughout Syria.

Archbishop Jeanbart maintained that another reason Christians need to stay in Syria is to be a light to people of other religions, especially Muslims. If the Christians leave, no one will be left to preach the Gospel in Syria.

“Perhaps the time has come to tell these people ‘Come, Christ is waiting for you.’ And many Muslims now, I must say, are wondering where should be their place? Are they in the right place? Are they perhaps supposed to rethink and review their choices? It will be wonderful if I told them we may have the freedom and the freedom of faith which would allow anyone to make his own choice freely.”

Critics of the Church in Syria have accused it of not immediately supporting the rebels in the name of freedom and democracy, the archbishop noted, and this is a false mischaracterization.

Christians are wary of regime change because they have seen what has happened in surrounding countries where fundamentalists took power in the Arab Spring and religious pluralism suffered as a result: there is “a feeling among Christians that they are afraid that the government may change and with the change of the government, they may lose their freedom … they are afraid to lose their freedom to express and to live their Christian life.”

He cited the success of the Islamic State, which in the power vacuum caused by the Syrian civil war has established a caliphate in eastern Syria and western Iraq where “many Christians were killed because they were Christian.”

Christians in Syria are, in fact, supportive of freedom and democracy, he said.

“They want to have a democratic regime where they may have all their freedom and where they may live tranquil but at the same time happy in the country,” he said.

“In any settlement,” he maintained, “the Christian must have the rights to be Christian in this country. And they should not become Muslims because the regime will be Muslim.”

“We want to have our rights and to live as free Christians in our country,” he said.

Tags: Syrian Civil War, Aid to the Church in Need, Aleppo, Melkite Archdiocese of Aleppo, Archbishop Jeanbart

2   Must read

1   Important

0   Finally

0   Worn

1

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Saint of the Day for Sunday, May 17th, 2015: St. Paschal Baylon

 

Saint of the Day for Sunday, May 17th, 2015

St. Paschal Baylon

Franciscan lay brother and mystic. Born to a peasant family at Torre Hermosa, in Aragon, on Whitsunday, he was christened Pascua in honor of the feast. According to accounts of his early life, … continue reading

More Saints of the Day

St. Paschal Baylon St. Adrio Bl. Antonia Mesina St. Cathan St. Giulia Salzano St. Heradius

St. Madern St. Maiduif St. Restituta St. Restituta St. Thethmar

quotation: There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare. Sun Tzu (544 BC-496 BC)

There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare.

Sun Tzu (544 BC-496 BC) Discuss

today holiday/celebration: Calaveras County Fair and Frog Jumping Jubilee

Calaveras County Fair and Frog Jumping Jubilee

Cave Formation at California Caverns in the Sierra Foothills, Calaveras County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

This event is a four-day county fair, established in 1928, at the Frogtown Fairgrounds near Angels Camp, California. It includes the official, original frog-jumping contest based on Mark Twain’s story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” as well as a children’s parade, livestock competitions, a professional rodeo, a demolition derby, fireworks, and art exhibits. About 3,500 frogs are jumped in daily contests leading up to the Grand Finals on Sunday, in which there are 75 to 100 frog contestants. More… Discuss

 

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today’s Birthday: Maureen O’Sullivan (1911)

Maureen O’Sullivan (1911)

Maureen O’Sullivan’s acting career began when she met motion picture director Frank Borzage, who suggested that she take a screen test and then cast her in the film Song o’ My Heart. She went on to appear in a number of movies for several studios before being chosen to play Tarzan’s love interest, Jane Parker, in Tarzan the Ape Man and five other Tarzan features. In what other film did she play a character named Jane? More… Discuss

this day in the yesteryear: Police Raid Symbionese Liberation Army Headquarters (1974)

Police Raid Symbionese Liberation Army Headquarters (1974)

The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was an American terrorist group responsible for various bank robberies, murders, and acts of violence between 1973 and 1975. The group is perhaps best known for kidnapping 19-year-old media heiress Patty Hearst, who later became a member of the SLA—a decision experts attribute to a psychological condition known as Stockholm syndrome—and participated in their heists. What happened to Hearst after police raided SLA headquarters in 1974, killing several members? More… Discuss

Mount Damavand

Mount Damavand is the highest peak in the Middle East with an elevation of 5,610 m (18, 405 ft). It is located in Iran in the middle of the Alborz mountain range, near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. In Zoroastrian texts and mythology, the three-headed dragon Aži Dahaka is chained within this dormant volcano, there to remain until the end of the world. In Persian mythology, the mountain is where Zahhak the Dragon King is slain by what hero? More… Discuss

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providence

Definition:	(noun) Prudent management; economy.
Synonyms:	foresight, prudence, economy
Usage:	Because of Father’s providence, we were all able to go to college. Discuss.

From CNN : New records highlight global warming’s rise

New records highlight global warming’s rise

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From NPR News

Who Did This To Peru’s Jungle?

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From BBC news : China urged to release Panchen Lama

China urged to release Panchen Lama

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From BBC news : IS militants ‘smuggled to Europe’

IS militants ‘smuggled to Europe’

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From BBC news : Two Palestinian nuns become saints

Two Palestinian nuns become saints http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32770385

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