Porto Alegre, Brazil, Feb 5, 2010 (CNA).- The president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, called on Catholics communicators at a conference in Brazil this week to make an examination of conscience about whether or not they are living the values they preach in their apostolates. During the Meeting of Catholic Communications Media of Latin America and the Caribbean, the archbishop said, “Communication is for the promotion of communion” and should be promoted and expressed from within one’s own community. “The internal communication of our communities is an aspect that we cannot ignore. For this reason, the Holy Father encourages priests, in his Message for the World Day of Communications for this year, to be effective communicators and carriers of Christ in the digital culture,” he said. “The mere fact that the social communications media multiply the possibilities of interconnection and circulation of ideas does not guarantee freedom nor globalize development and democracy for all,” the archbishop stated. In order to achieve these objectives, he explained, “The communications media needs to be centered on the promotion of the dignity of persons. And nations need to be expressly animated by charity and dedicated to the truth, the good, and to natural and supernatural fraternity.” Archbishop Celli urged communicators not to forget that their goal should be “the comprehensive development of the person and of the community.” He also recalled that the mission of evangelization of the Church must also be carried out using the media. “The first Christians, in a society somewhat similar to our own, did not see their missionary proclamation as propaganda for simply increasing their own numbers, but rather as an intrinsic necessity that derived from the nature of their faith,” he said.

Hello Everyone!!

Right now I am going through a number of ”phases”!! For example, right NOW I have the urge to listen to anime music (oh, wait that’s nothing new..¬___¬) No, what I meant to say was to listen to Snow Patrol/Owl City/Fall Out Boy. Which is definitely new.

I also have a new obsession for butterflies… Like, for example, my Twitter is all butterflies and so is my desktop background..

I am sure these things will pass, but I felt the need to blog about them, because well, um, I had the urge to…

Jaa Ne~!!

Even though I stopped cutting myself the urge to do it still exists.  Why do I have to think about it so badly?  I just don’t get it.  I just want to get those thoughts out of my head.  I don’t know if that’s possible though.  I can always hope though.  I guess that is all I can do about this situation.  How pathetic is this?  I just want to get over it already!  Will that ever happen?

WhiteHouse.gov—Opening Doors for Small Business~~Reiterating once again his commitment to small business as the engine of our economy, the President urges Congress to move forward immediately on steps to help them expand and create jobs. These proposals include using $30 billion in TARP funds to create a new Small Business Lending Fund to provide capital to community banks to increase lending to small businesses, offering a new tax credit for over one million small businesses that hire new workers or raise wages, and providing targeted support for the most innovative small businesses with the potential to export new goods and products.

Mourners attend funerals for more than a dozen people killed in bomb attacks targeting Shia Muslims in the Pakistani city of Karachi…. From BBC News. Full story

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No one understands how difficult this is for me.  My family thinks that this change will happen overnight.  This is, and will always, be a hard fight.  The urge to self-injure is still here and I wish that it would just go away.  I can’t give in though.  Recovery is too important to me.  I know that I’ll find my way eventually.  This is just so difficult though.  Will I relapse?  Am I in danger?

Acid rain, acid rain

Come on down and wash away this horrid pain.

Wash away,

Don’t let it stay.

Painful memories,

Just wipe them away.

I can’t stand it,

I can’t take.

My scars tell stories of my past,

These scars mark days where it seemed nothing would last.

Urges come and go,

But some days I’ve never felt so low.

Who knows what I’ll feel tomorrow,

I might cave in, I might be willing to let it show.

Let it go, let it go,

Away with this I should, I know.

I can’t seem to forget the feeling it gives me,

Like my true love found at last,

But this is nothing, but a hurtful past.

Self-injury isn’t the only problem.  I have the urge to overdose as well.  I’m not going to act out on my urges though.  It’s time to grow up.  I hate this so much!  Why do I still act like a child?  Is it because no one taught me how to be an adult?  I don’t think that’s something that’s learnable though.  The sad truth is this.  I act like a 26 year old child.  It’s time to grow up.

The OECD says the Chinese yuan should be allowed to appreciate, in order to reduce the country’s dependence on exports for growth…. From BBC News. Full story

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Iran has rejected deal that would provide Tehran with fuel for its nuclear research reactor in exchange for its low-enriched uranium… From VOA. Full story

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Notice the urge come and go like a wave.  That’s what urge surfing is.  I think that I’ve finally mastered it.  It’s been a month since I last cut myself and I feel very proud of myself right now.  Even though the urge to cut is getting greater everyday I still remain in control.  I’m alot stronger than I appear to be.  That’s why I think that it’s time to throw my cutting tools away.  Holding onto them will only slow my recovery.

Here is a message I received from someone anonymously:

i’m still gay, i’m still looking for an answer why. i totally completely believe in christ, that he rose from the dead. i am doing my very best to rely on Him alone. i do not have sex anymore, but i have thoughts. i want so bad to not have these thoughts. i want to go to heaven so bad. i like jesus, and i love jesus. i am having a tough time right now. i am absolutely 100% certain god can make me straight. but he has not yet. i suspect that making me perfect and sinless in this life is not god’s goal. the goal is to aim in that direction and go as far as i can, or rather for jesus and me to go as far as we can together, but there is a chasm that i cannot cross, only jesus can take me across it to perfect sinless heaven. on the outside, i probably look like the nicest kindest gentlest and most ‘christian’ person you will meet. i truly love people with all my heart and those who have hurt me i pray with all my heart for god to soften their hearts. sometimes i think i am only alive just to pray for people. i have loved people with all my being. i have loved christ with all my being. but i will admit not 100% of the time. and sometimes not 100% of my being. actually i probably never have done anything with 100% of my ability and 100% correct and 100% real. i hate these flaws, they are really embarrassing and shameful. i believe if i were 100% heterosexual i would still be a man whore and greedy and full of pride. but please pray for me. there is not one thing i can do to save myself, only christ can save me. i have prayed and i believe and i try and fail but i try to follow christ. i do not try to so i can get saved, i try to do so because god says i am saved already. but why am i still a homo? it’s very hard not to just be a hermit and move out into the desert and stay there without internet or electricity and just spend my days reading the bible and growing vegetables for my food. can i be both gay and saved? it will be such a relief when i am in heaven, and i pray i am going. sometimes i get really scared though, as if i were cursed before time began.

Please pray for this person. The following is my response to him:

Thank you for sharing your very personal experiences.

God can indeed remove the homosexual urges from your body, if it be His will. Continue to pray that He may. For Jesus is the Great Healer and nothing is impossible for God.

However, consider the possibility that He may never remove these urges from you in this life. That is quite likely considering the empirical evidence on homosexual rehabilitation. Sexual urges are very strong and very ingrained early on, it seems.

If this be the case, do not despair! Be not afraid, for Jesus is stronger! And He has revealed to us that the lot of the Christian in this world is to suffer, to carry his own cross and follow Him. Each Christian has their own cross (maybe many) to bear. Sometimes it is a struggle with a deadly vice: malice, lust, greed, envy, pride, sloth, and gluttony. And though we pray to have these crosses lifted from our backs, often God sees fit not to do so. Why? Because it is precisely through suffering that we learn in the deepest way to rely on Him, to love Him above all things, above even our own interests and deepest desires.

The Christian is not cursed; he is crossed! And it is through these crosses that we may be purified for holiness and draw closer to Him. Just as Jesus offers us salvation through His cross, our crosses can be a means to our own salvation. So rejoice in your predestined cross! Let us unite our crosses to His for the sake of His glory and the eternal destiny of our souls!

If these homosexual urges are indeed your life-long cross, then humbly accept it, saying, “Not my will but yours be done.” In this case, you are called to be a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of God. No one is any less human or of any less dignity because he abstains from sexual behavior. Quite the opposite! It is a greater gift, a greater virtue, to proclaim the kingdom to come by transcending sexuality in this world.

Do not be ashamed or embarrassed over urges you do not consciously initiate! By Christ’s grace and strength, you are in control of your actions. You can overcome all desires and urges that do not conform to His will. Cling to Him in faith and He will not fail you. Your urges alone cannot damn you.

The only thing worthy of shame and guilt is deliberate mental indulgence in and actually acting upon homosexual urges. And God forbid, if you choose to fall from grace with these sins, you can and must sincerely confess, repent, and be reconciled to Our Lord Jesus again, whenever you sin. There is no forgiveness without this process for each sin. No sexual sin is unforgivable, and His endless mercy is always there for the truly repentant.

I myself have struggled and continue to struggle with lust and temptation, sometimes failing and needing reconciliation. It is hard to imagine a male who doesn’t. So I know what it feels like, if not in exactly the same way. You can become stronger with each struggle. You are not alone in your struggle. Innumerable fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in this world and the next are praying for you. Mary the Mother of God and the whole choirs of saints and angels, who have gone before us and remain in Jesus and He in them, will intercede on your behalf, if you but ask them in faith. Here and now in this world, while becoming a hermit is a possibility, I’d encourage you to surround yourself with chaste brothers and sisters by joining a community and a church that accepts you and your cross but not your sins and that will help you bear your cross in holy chastity.

I cannot help but think that the reward in heaven for a person like you, if you do persevere to the end during these perverted modern times, will be very great. My heartfelt prayers are with you. Let me know if I can ever be of any assistance to you. May God bless and strengthen you in your spiritual journey home to Him.

That thing that sits inside our head. Firing off sundry ideas, urges and itches. Your brain, baby. You can know what you want to eat five minutes from now but you will be shocked by your own ideas five hours from now. What about the strength of a thought or an urge? Can you control your urges? What is the basis of an urge? Are the things we crave indicitive of a deeper and more significant need? At times yes and at times no. Sometimes you want you want, just because. Other times fulfilling a craving is a subconscience way of attemping to fill in the gaps within our hearts and minds. I’m just firing off while I lay here in another quiet midnight. Everything I write here is subjective unless I recall my own events which are still subjective to you because you will always be wondering wether or not I’m telling the truth. I tell you, I’m telling the truth. And believe this. I have conquered an urge and have been conquered by one at one time or another.

You will conquer.

You will be consumed.

US company is considering leaving China because it is concerned about growing Chinese efforts to limit free speech on the Web… From VOA. Full story

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US company is considering leaving China because it is concerned about growing Chinese efforts to limit free speech on the Web… From VOA. Full story

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The real meaning of repression

Western psychologists accuse religion of repressing the vital energy of man and rendering his life quite miserable as a result of the sense of guilt which especially obsesses the religious people and makes them imagine that all their actions are sinful and can only be expiated through abstention from enjoying the pleasures of life. Those psychologists add that Europe lived in the darkness of ignorance as long as it adhered to its religion but once it freed itself from the fetters of religion, its emotions were liberated and accord ingly it achieved wonders in the field of production.

Such psychologists often say: Do you want us to return to religion? Do you want to fetter the emotions which, we the pro­gressives, have set free? Do you want to embitter the lives of the youth by incessantly reminding them of what is right and wrong?

Let the Europeans say whatever they like about their religion. Whether we believe it or not makes little difference at present because we are not concerned with religion in general: we are discussing Islam.

Before discussing whether or not Islam represses the vital energy we should define the meaning of repression which has been mis understood and misapplied by both the “cultured” and the half- educated.

Repression is not the result of abstention from performing the instinctive act. It is the result of believing that the instinctive act is dirty, and of refusing to admit to oneself that such a motive may come to one’s mind or engage one’s thinking. In this sense repression becomes an unconscious feeling which may not be cured by performing the instinctive act. He who performs the instinctive act but believes that he is committing a degrading and dirty act is a person who suffers from repression, though he may commit such an act twenty times a day. Every time he commits such an act, there shall ensue a conflict within his psyche between what he has done and what he ought to have done. It is this conscious and unconscious conflict which gives birth to complexes and psychological disorders.

This definition of repression is not invented by the writer. It is the definition given by Freud who spent his life in criticizing religion for repressing people’s activities. Freud says in his book “Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory” (p. 82) that “distinction should be made between the unconscious repression and the abstention from performing the instinctive act-which is a mere suspension of the act”

Now that we have come to understand that repression is synonymous to the feeling that the instinctive act is dirty rather than a temporary suspension of it, let us proceed with our discussion of repression and Islam.

No religion is as frank as Islam in recognizing the natural motives and treating them as clean and healthy. The Holy Qur’an says:

“fair in the eyes of men is the love of things they covet: women and sons; heaped-up hordes of gold and silver, horses branded (for blood and excellence) and (wealth) cattle and well-tilled lands” (iii : 14).

In this verse, the Qur’an names the earthly desires and recognizes them as a matter of fact and states that they are desirable things in the eyes of men, but does not object to these desires as such nor does it disapprove of such feelings.

It is true that Islam does not permit people to give way to such desires or to be dominated or enslaved by adam. If everyone becomes a slave to his passions, life will be running in the wrong direction. Humanity aims at development and improvement; it can never achieve such aims as long as it is dominated by its unruly passions which exhaust all the energy and lead it downwards to animalism.

Islam does not allow people to descend to the level of animalism but there is a great difference between this and the unconscious repression which holds that such passions are dirty in themselves and which drives people to abstain from even entertaining such feelings in the name of purification and elevation.

In its treatment of human soul, Islam recognizes, in principle, all the natural emotions and does not repress them in our unconscious but it permits the practical performance of such instinctive acts to an extent such as may give a reasonable degree of pleasure without causing any harm or injury to the individual or the community. An individual who is thoroughly absorbed in satisfying his passions bril1gs about an early enervation of his viral energy. Besides, a person who is enslaved by his unruly passions will not be fit for doing anything. All his efforts and thoughts will be devoted to the satisfaction of his desires.

Similarly, the society too suffers a great setback from the exhaustion of the vital energy of its members in one direction alone instead of being used for diverse purposes as originally planned by its Creator, as this leads to the neglect of so many other ends that are no less worthy of realization. It will also lead to the destruction of family ties and to social disintegration: “Thou wouldst think they were united, but their hearts are divided”. This makes it very easy for others to attack and annihilate them like what happened in France.

Subject to the limits that are meant to prevent the individual from inflicting harm upon his own self, other individuals, the family or society, Islam permits him full enjoyment of the pleasures of life. In fact, Islam frankly calls on people to enjoy the pleasures of life. The Qur’an says: “Say, who hath forbidden the beautiful gifts of God which He hath produced for His servants, and the things clean and pure which He hath provided for sustenance?” In another verse the Qur’an says: “And neglect not thy portion of the world”; “Eat of the good things We have provided for you”; “Eat and drink but Waste not by excess”.

Islam recognizes the sexual instinct so frankly that the Apostle himself said: “From the pleasures of the world, perfume and woman were endeared to me; and the delight of my eye is prayer”. The sexual instinct is elevated to the rank similar to that of the best perfume on earth, and it is bracketed with prayer which is the best means by which men may come closer to God.

The Apostle once said:

“A man is recompensed for the sexual act he performs with his wife,” and when some of the surprised listeners asked the Apostle of God: “Is the person rewarded for satisfying his passions?” the Prophet answered: “‘Do you not see that if he were to satisfy it in a prohibited manner he would be committing a sin? So if he satisfies it in a lawful manner he will be recompensed.” (Muslim)

This is why repression will never originate under the rule of Islam. If young people feel the urge of the sexual instinct there is no evil in that, and they need not regard the sexual instinct as a dirty, repulsive feeling.

What Islam requires of the young people in this respect, is to control their passions without repressing them, to control them willingly and consciously, that is, to suspend their satisfaction until the suitable time. According to Freud, suspension of the performance of the sexual act is not repression. Unlike repression, temporary suspension of the performance of the sexual instinct does not overtax the nerves nor does it lead to complexes and psycholo gical disorders.

This call for controlling the passions is not an arbitrary ordinance intended to deprive people of the pleasures of life, for history bears witness that no nation could safeguard its sovereignty without being able to control its passions or abstain willingly from some permitted pleasures. On the other hand, no nation could withstand international conflicts unless its people were trained to endure hardships and were able to suspend the satisfaction of their desires for hours, days, years as the need of the hour may be.

Hence, the wisdom of fasting in Islam. Some libertines, when they talk about fasting, say: What is this nonsense which aims at torturing the bodies with hunger and thirst and depriving man of food, drinks and the pleasure which he desires to have, and for what purpose? Just to comply with arbitrary orders unmotivated by wisdom or reasonable end!

To such libertines we should say: “What is man if he does not exercise his power of restraint? How can he help humanity if he cannot abstain, even for a few hours, from satisfying his desires? How can we have the patience to fight evil on earth and deprive ourselves as a result thereof of so many pleasures?”

How could the communist whose propagandists in the Islamic East make fun of fasting and other means of self-restraint have withstood against the Nazis in Stalingrad if they had not been trained to endure the vilest hardships which tortured both their souls as well as their bodies. It is strange that these communists approve of self-restraint when it is ordered by the “State”, the concrete authority that can inflict immediate punishment, but start crying against it when it is demanded by God, the Creator of the state and all living creatures.

It is often said that religion embitters the life of those who follow its rules and lets the ghost of sin haunt them. But this does riot apply to Islam which mentions forgiveness far more than it speaks of any castigation.

Sin, according to Islam, is neither a ghoul ever haunting people nor an endless darkness shadowing their lives. Adam’s great original sin is not a sword unsheathed in the face of humanity, nor does it require any further purification or ransom:“Then learnt Adam from his Lord words of inspiration and his Lord forgave him” (ii : 37). Adam’s repentance was accepted simply and without any formalities.

Like their father, the children of Adam are not excluded from God’s mercy when they commit sin. God knows the limits of their nature and He does not overburden them with what they cannot bear: “On no soul doth God place a burden greater than it can bear” (i: 286). The Apostle says, “All the children of Adam are wrong-doers, and the best of all wrong-doers are those who repent”.

The verses of the Qur’an which describes God’s mercy, forgiveness and repentance are very numerous but we are content to quote the following verse:

“Be quick in the race for forgiveness from your Lord, and for a garden whose width is that (of the whole) of heavens and of the earth prepared for the righteous-those who spend (freely) whether in prosperity or in adversity; who restrain anger, and pardon (all) men;-for God loves those who do good; and those who having done something to be ashamed of, or wronged their own souls, earnestly bring God to mind, and ask for for giveness for their sins,-and who can forgive sins except God? -and are never obstinate in persisting knowingly in (the wrong) what they have done”.

“For such the reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and gardens with rivers flowing underneath,-on eternal dwelling: how excellent a recompense for those who work (and strive)”(iii:133-136).

How vast and far-reaching God’s mercy is! He not only accepts the repentance of souls but also absolves them of their sins and grants them His acceptance and kindness and even elevates them to the rank of the righteous.

After such mercy could there be the slightest doubt as to God’s forgiveness? How could torture and sin haunt the souls of people when God accepts and welcomes them if they truly utter one word: repentance.

There is no need to quote further texts in support of our argu ment. But, nonetheless, we shall quote the saying of the Apostle : “By He in whose hand my soul doth lie, had you not com mitted any sin God should have taken you away to replace with others who would commit sin and ask God’s forgiveness which will be granted to them”.

It is, then, the will of God that He forgives people’s sins. In conclusion, we quote this wonderful verse of the Holy Qur’an:

“What con God gain by your punishment, if ye are grateful and ye believe? Nay, it is God that recognizeth (all good)                 and knoweth all things” (iv : 147).

Yes, what can God gain by torturing people when He loves to grant them His mercy and forgiveness?

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Secretary of state says Asia-Pacific relationship is priority for Obama administration… From VOA. Full story

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Yes, I self-injure.  It’s more of an addiction now because I can’t think of any emotion that triggers it.  It’s just something that I do when I’m bored even though it’s been weeks since I last cut myself.  The urge to do just doesn’t go away on it’s own.  It’s something that I do because it releases all of my built up tension.  I didn’t mean to make anyone worry about me either.  I started to cut myself because of how isolated I felt.