2013
Vatican Radio) Peace and stability in the Middle East was the focus of Pope Francis’ meeting with the king of Jordan, Abdullah II.
The Holy Father on Thursday morning received in audience the Jordanian king and his wife, Queen Rania in the Vatican, along with a small delegation from Jordan. After exchanging cordial greetings with the king and queen, the Holy Father met with them privately for about 20 minutes before greeting the rest of the delegation.
Following the meeting with the pope, King Abdullah and several members of his delegation sat down with Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States.
Several themes were touched upon throughout the morning, including the negotiations which have resumed between Israelis and Palestinians, and on the question of Jerusalem.
Particular attention was given to the crisis in Syria. It was said that the path of dialogue and negotiation between all components of Syrian society, with the support of the international community, is the only option for putting an end to the conflict and the violence which every day claims many lives, including the helpless civilian population.
Also during meetings, King Abdullah was commended for his commitment in the field of interreligious dialogue, including next month’s conference in Amman which will focus on the challenges Christians will have to face in the Middle East during this period of socio-political transformation.
Finally, acknowledgement was given for the positive contribution that Christian communities bring to the local society, of which they are an integral part.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
The Holy Father on Thursday morning received in audience the Jordanian king and his wife, Queen Rania in the Vatican, along with a small delegation from Jordan. After exchanging cordial greetings with the king and queen, the Holy Father met with them privately for about 20 minutes before greeting the rest of the delegation.
Following the meeting with the pope, King Abdullah and several members of his delegation sat down with Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States.
Several themes were touched upon throughout the morning, including the negotiations which have resumed between Israelis and Palestinians, and on the question of Jerusalem.
Particular attention was given to the crisis in Syria. It was said that the path of dialogue and negotiation between all components of Syrian society, with the support of the international community, is the only option for putting an end to the conflict and the violence which every day claims many lives, including the helpless civilian population.
Also during meetings, King Abdullah was commended for his commitment in the field of interreligious dialogue, including next month’s conference in Amman which will focus on the challenges Christians will have to face in the Middle East during this period of socio-political transformation.
Finally, acknowledgement was given for the positive contribution that Christian communities bring to the local society, of which they are an integral part.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
CHINESE WOMAN FORCED TO ABORT AT 9 MONTHS
ASIA NEWS REPORT
Lili Zeng underwent induced labour, and a lethal injection was made on the child's skull. In spite of all this, he was born alive, only to die in his mother's arms. The woman's husband forced the operation on her after he left her. He already had a son from a previous marriage. Women's Rights Without Frontiers slams what happened.
Beijing (AsiaNews) - A Chinese woman was forced to abort in the ninth month of her pregnancy because of her former husband's vindictiveness. In her own words, she was treated "as if I were a pig waiting to be slaughtered". In the end, she watched her child terminated, dying in her arms after birth.
This is the horrific story of Lili Zeng, a young mother from Xinfeng County (in the rich southern province of Guangdong); just another victim of China's one-child policy.
Her experience is told by Women's Rights Without Frontiers, a non-governmental organisation led by Reggie Littlejohn who has been fighting to save innocent lives in China for years.
Zeng's tragedy began in 2011. When she became pregnant, her husband left her. Having had another son from his first wife, he signed a consent form to force an abortion on his current wife.
Lili Zeng underwent induced labour, and a lethal injection was made on the child's skull. In spite of all this, he was born alive, only to die in his mother's arms. The woman's husband forced the operation on her after he left her. He already had a son from a previous marriage. Women's Rights Without Frontiers slams what happened.
Beijing (AsiaNews) - A Chinese woman was forced to abort in the ninth month of her pregnancy because of her former husband's vindictiveness. In her own words, she was treated "as if I were a pig waiting to be slaughtered". In the end, she watched her child terminated, dying in her arms after birth.
This is the horrific story of Lili Zeng, a young mother from Xinfeng County (in the rich southern province of Guangdong); just another victim of China's one-child policy.
Her experience is told by Women's Rights Without Frontiers, a non-governmental organisation led by Reggie Littlejohn who has been fighting to save innocent lives in China for years.
Zeng's tragedy began in 2011. When she became pregnant, her husband left her. Having had another son from his first wife, he signed a consent form to force an abortion on his current wife.
.
Under Chinese law, abortion may be imposed by force if one spouse does not want to have children. What is more, already having a child is sufficient ground to stop a pregnancy.
For Chinese authorities, the husband's desertion and Zeng's opposition were not enough to stop them.
For the woman, her husband's consent to the abortion was due to his first wife's vindictiveness. In the end, red tape delayed everything until the ninth month, when Zeng was forcibly confined to a hospital for the abortion.
At such a late date, this kind of operation is a very risky, painful and completely unjustified. Zeng said she felt "as if I were a pig waiting to be slaughtered."
Despite the lethal injection in the skull and the labour pains caused by drugs, the child was born alive but died in his mother's arms shortly after.
Zeng said that she has attempted suicide three times after her release from hospital. Fortunately, they failed each time. Now she wants justice and is going through official channels like her local of Family Planning Office.
"If you want to blame someone, please blame the [One-Child] Policy, or your husband," said one of the officials after being solicited extensively for an explanation.
"If he had not agreed to sign the form, no doctor would have dared to inject the induced labour needle into your body. Lili Zeng . . . if you continue to send text messages or call to berate me, I will definitely find someone to deal with you," he told her.
For Reggie Littlejohn, "Our hearts break for Ms Zeng [. . .]. Her experience dramatically demonstrates the connection between forced abortion and China's astronomical female suicide rate: 590 women a day end their lives in China.
Her situation "shows that-even when a woman is pregnant with her first child-if it is her husband's second child, she can be forcibly aborted. We strongly condemn forced abortion under China's One Child Policy and demand that the Chinese government put a stop to these atrocities immediately."
SHARED FROM ASIA NEWS IT
Under Chinese law, abortion may be imposed by force if one spouse does not want to have children. What is more, already having a child is sufficient ground to stop a pregnancy.
For Chinese authorities, the husband's desertion and Zeng's opposition were not enough to stop them.
For the woman, her husband's consent to the abortion was due to his first wife's vindictiveness. In the end, red tape delayed everything until the ninth month, when Zeng was forcibly confined to a hospital for the abortion.
At such a late date, this kind of operation is a very risky, painful and completely unjustified. Zeng said she felt "as if I were a pig waiting to be slaughtered."
Despite the lethal injection in the skull and the labour pains caused by drugs, the child was born alive but died in his mother's arms shortly after.
Zeng said that she has attempted suicide three times after her release from hospital. Fortunately, they failed each time. Now she wants justice and is going through official channels like her local of Family Planning Office.
"If you want to blame someone, please blame the [One-Child] Policy, or your husband," said one of the officials after being solicited extensively for an explanation.
"If he had not agreed to sign the form, no doctor would have dared to inject the induced labour needle into your body. Lili Zeng . . . if you continue to send text messages or call to berate me, I will definitely find someone to deal with you," he told her.
For Reggie Littlejohn, "Our hearts break for Ms Zeng [. . .]. Her experience dramatically demonstrates the connection between forced abortion and China's astronomical female suicide rate: 590 women a day end their lives in China.
Her situation "shows that-even when a woman is pregnant with her first child-if it is her husband's second child, she can be forcibly aborted. We strongly condemn forced abortion under China's One Child Policy and demand that the Chinese government put a stop to these atrocities immediately."
SHARED FROM ASIA NEWS IT
2013
TODAY'S SAINT: AUG. 29: BEHEADING OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist
Feast: August 29
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST was called by God to be the forerunner of His divine Son. In order to preserve his innocence spotless, and to improve the extraordinary graces which he had received, he was directed by the Holy Ghost to lead an austere and contemplative life in the wilderness, in the continual exercises of devout prayer and penance, from his infancy till he was thirty years of age. At this age the faithful minister began to discharge his mission. Clothed with the weeds of penance, be announced to all men the obligation they lay under of washing away their iniquities with the tears of sincere compunction; and proclaimed the Messias, Who was then coming to make His appearance among them. He was received by the people as the true herald of the Most High God, and his voice was, as it were, a trumpet sounding from heaven to summon all men to avert the divine judgments, and to prepare themselves to reap the benefit of Vie mercy that was offered them. The tetrarch Herod Antipas having, in defiance of all laws divine and human, married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, who was yet living, St. John the Baptist boldly reprehended the tetrarch and his accomplice for so scandalous an incest and adultery, and Herod, urged on by lust and anger, cast the Saint into prison. About a year after St. John had been made a prisoner, Herod gave a splendid entertainment to the nobility of Galilee. Salome, a daughter of Herodias by her lawful husband, pleased Herod by her dancing, insomuch that he promised her to grant whatever she asked. On this, Salome consulted with her mother what to ask. Herodias instructed her daughter to demand the death of John the Baptist, and persuaded the young damsel to make it part of her petition that the head of the prisoner should be forthwith brought to her in a dish. This strange request startled the tyrant himself; he assented, however, and sent a soldier of his guard to behead the Saint in prison, with an order to bring his head in a charger and present it to Salome, who delivered it to her mother. St. Jerome relates that the furious Herodias made it her inhuman pastime to prick the sacred tongue with a bodkin. Thus died the great forerunner of our blessed Saviour, about two years and three months after his entrance upon his public ministry, about a year before the death of our blessed Redeemer.
TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : THURS. AUG. 29, 2013
Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist
Lectionary: 428/634
We have been reassured about you, brothers and sisters,
in our every distress and affliction, through your faith.
For we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord.
What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you,
for all the joy we feel on your account before our God?
Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person
and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith.
Now may God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus
direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase
and abound in love for one another and for all,
just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your hearts,
to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.
in our every distress and affliction, through your faith.
For we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord.
What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you,
for all the joy we feel on your account before our God?
Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person
and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith.
Now may God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus
direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase
and abound in love for one another and for all,
just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your hearts,
to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.
Responsorial Psalm PS 90:3-5A, 12-13, 14 AND 17
R. (14) Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Gospel MK 6:17-29
Herod was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison
on account of Herodias,
the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married.
John had said to Herod,
“It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
Herodias harbored a grudge against him
and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so.
Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man,
and kept him in custody.
When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed,
yet he liked to listen to him.
She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday,
gave a banquet for his courtiers,
his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee.
Herodias’ own daughter came in
and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests.
The king said to the girl,
“Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.”
He even swore many things to her,
“I will grant you whatever you ask of me,
even to half of my kingdom.”
She went out and said to her mother,
“What shall I ask for?”
She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.”
The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request,
“I want you to give me at once
on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
The king was deeply distressed,
but because of his oaths and the guests
he did not wish to break his word to her.
So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders
to bring back his head.
He went off and beheaded him in the prison.
He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl.
The girl in turn gave it to her mother.
When his disciples heard about it,
they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
on account of Herodias,
the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married.
John had said to Herod,
“It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
Herodias harbored a grudge against him
and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so.
Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man,
and kept him in custody.
When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed,
yet he liked to listen to him.
She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday,
gave a banquet for his courtiers,
his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee.
Herodias’ own daughter came in
and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests.
The king said to the girl,
“Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.”
He even swore many things to her,
“I will grant you whatever you ask of me,
even to half of my kingdom.”
She went out and said to her mother,
“What shall I ask for?”
She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.”
The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request,
“I want you to give me at once
on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
The king was deeply distressed,
but because of his oaths and the guests
he did not wish to break his word to her.
So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders
to bring back his head.
He went off and beheaded him in the prison.
He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl.
The girl in turn gave it to her mother.
When his disciples heard about it,
they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
