Tag Archives: Lent

by | 2026/02/18 · 7:56 pm

The Lunar Effect

The Lunar Effect

Today a holy period starts for two of the world’s major religions, as Muslims mark the first day of Ramadan and Roman Catholics observe Ash Wednesday, which kicks off Lent, a 40-day period of penitential preparation for Easter —a coincidence that occurs only about every 33 years.
Today is also the second of the 15-day festival of Chinese New Year, which began on the same day as Mardi Gras, often called “Fat Tuesday. Its traditions emerged in Europe within the broader pre-Lenten festival known as Carnival (or Carnaval), incorporating elements of earlier seasonal festivities associated with the coming of spring.
That these diverse events occur about the same time is no accident. Ramadan commences with the sighting of the waxing crescent moon, Chinese New Year begins with the new moon, and Lent is determined by counting backward from Easter, the timing of which is tied to the lunar calendar.
Discover the myth behind the Chinese zodiac.

The Myth Behind the Chinese Zodiac

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Did You Know? Ramadan. Learn about the customs and significance of Ramadan.

Why Ramadan Is So Significant for Muslims

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus, oil on canvas by Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret, 1896-97; in the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pa. 198 x 281 cm.

From Ashes to Resurrection: The Story of Easter

Photograph by Moira Burke. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pa., gift of Henry Clay Frick, 98.5

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Preceding

  1. From the Ramadan into the eid
  2. Saudi Arabia Calls On Muslims To Sight Ramadan Crescent Moon On Friday Evening
  3. About fasting by monotheists
  4. Lent, Holi, Purim, and Palm Sunday observed, and Ramadan entering its third week
  5. Pope Francis I making another passionate appeal for peace in Ukraine
  6. Aalst Carnival and Unia analyses reports
  7. Easter: Origins in a pagan Christ

 

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Discover More

  1. Religious Practices around the world
  2. Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right path
  3. How Is the End of Ramadan Celebrated?
  4. Why Do Roman Catholics Eat Fish on Fridays?
  5. What would be your reason to fast
  6. No necessity for fasting
  7. Hezbollah’s retribution pulls Middle East to edge of all-out war
  8. The New Arab: Israeli protests seek to uphold the settler colonial status quo, Palestinian resistance is the means of liberation
  9. Lent, 40 days, meditation and repentance (Some View on the World) = Lent, 40 days, meditation and repentance (Our World)
  10. Lenten Season and our minds and hearts the spiritual temple in which God seeks to live
  11. Is “Holy Week” the most sacred time of the year
  12. Irminsul, dies natalis solis invicti, birthday of light, Christmas and Saturnalia
  13. Looking at 13 Adar until 16 Adar 5781 February 25-28 2021
  14. Days to be open to others
  15. Spoken in the name of Jehovah God for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience
  16. Not able to see Jesus working wonders
  17. The meek one riding on an ass
  18. Worthy partakers of the body of Christ
  19. Trying to Get Rid of Holy Days for a Long Time

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by | 2024/03/22 · 9:36 pm

Lent, Holi, Purim, and Palm Sunday observed, and Ramadan entering its third week

Religious Experience

This weekend holds significance for a few of the world’s major religions, as Holi, Purim, and Palm Sunday are observed, and Ramadan enters its third week.
The timing may be coincidental, but the holidays couldn’t be more different. Holi and Purim are celebratory, the former welcoming spring, and the latter marking a victory. But Palm Sunday and Ramadan are more solemn, commemorating the final week of Jesus’ life, and the Qurʾān’s creation, respectively.
History and observance of Holi, Hindu festival celebrated in February-March. Participants throw colored water and powder on each other. Hinduism, Krishna. Holiday.

The Colorful Story of Holi

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
History and observance of Purim, a festival in Judaism commerating the survival of Jewish people in the 5th century BCE against Persian persecution, related to the biblical book of Esther. The story features figures including King Ahasuerus, Queen Esther, Haman, and Mordecai. Ta?anit Esther (Fast of Esther) begins the holiday.

The History and Observance of Purim

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
History and observance of Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week in Christian tradition, celebrated the Sunday before Easter. Palm Sunday commorates Jesus Christ's entry in Jerusalem. Holiday.

What Do Palm Leaves Have to Do With Jesus?

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Discover More

Find also to read:

  1. Religious Practices around the world
  2. Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right pathT
  3. oday in Jewish History: Nachmanides’ Disputation (1263)
  4. Holidays: Inherent Joy vs. Circumstances
  5. December a joyful time for many
  6. A night different from all other nights and days to remember
  7. On Purim, Let’s Get Vulnerable
  8. Purim or Ta’aniet Estêr
  9. 2019 Purim March 20
  10. Looking at 13 Adar until 16 Adar 5781 February 25-28 2021
  11. 8 Reasons Christian Holidays Should Not Be Observed
  12. Speaking up and Celebration of Purim
  13. Purim in days of Ukrainian war
  14. 4 Truths to Remember as We Feast
  15. The meek one riding on an ass
  16. Preparing for the most important weekend of the year 2018
  17. Catholics facing a totally different Holy Week
  18. Not daring to show a connection (Our World) = Not daring to show a connection (Some View on the World)
  19. Entrance of a king to question our position #1 Coming in the Name of the Lord
  20. Entrance of a king to question our position #2 Who do we want to see and to be
  21. Deliverance and establishement of a theocracy
  22. What to do in the Face of Global Anti-semitism
  23. The New Arab: Israeli protests seek to uphold the settler colonial status quo, Palestinian resistance is the means of liberation
  24. Saudi Arabia Calls On Muslims To Sight Ramadan Crescent Moon On Friday Evening
  25. From the Ramadan into the eid
  26. About fasting by monotheists
  27. No necessity for fasting

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by | 2022/02/23 · 1:41 pm

Pope Francis I making another passionate appeal for peace in Ukraine

The head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio or Pope Francis I, already mentioned this year that health care is a moral obligation. But we should not forget that health care is about the physical as well as the spiritual health and the attitude we do take in life.

In the previous years, the present pope has given his attention to people in difficulties. In November 2020, Francis named China’s Uyghur minority among a list of the world’s persecuted peoples. He wrote:

“I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya [Muslims in Myanmar], the poor Uighurs, the Yazidi—what ISIS did to them was truly cruel — or Christians in Egypt and Pakistan killed by bombs that went off while they prayed in church.” {China dismisses Pope Francis’s comments about persecution of Uighurs”. The Guardian. 25 November 2020.}

As the theme for the 108th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, to be celebrated on 25 September, Pope Francis has chosen “Building the Future with Migrants and Refugees.”
“Building with” means recognising and promoting the role that migrants and refugees have to play in this work of construction, because only in this way will it be possible to build a world that ensures the conditions for the integral human development of all, a communiqué explains.

If we are not careful, we shall find a new flood of people looking for safety, but this time not coming from the Southeast but from the Northeast.

Pope Francis meets participants taking part in the Plenary of Congregation for Eastern Churches

Pope Francis meets participants taking part in the Plenary of Congregation for Eastern Churches (Vatican Media)

Meeting with members of the Plenary of the Congregation for Eastern Churches on Friday the 18th of February, Pope Francis said

“humanity still seems to be groping in the dark,”

highlighting the massacres from conflicts in the Middle East, in Syria and Iraq, and the

“threatening winds across the steppes of Eastern Europe.”

During the General Audience this morning, Pope Francis made a heartfelt appeal for peace in Ukraine, saying that the threat of war had caused

“great pain in my heart.”

“Despite the diplomatic efforts of the last few weeks,”

the Pope said,

“increasingly alarming scenarios are opening up,”

with many people all over the world feeling anguish and pain.

““Once again the peace of all is threatened by partisan interests,”

he stressed. Pope Francis appealed to those

“with political responsibility to examine their consciences seriously before God, who is the God of peace and not of war, who is the Father of all, not just of some, who wants us to be brothers and not enemies.””

Though, we wonder how many of those leaders think about God! We also can see that certain people do not seem to have a conscience at all. They are taken in by their greed and want for more power.

We are even convinced that certain world leaders have long had plans in their heads to conquer various parts of the world, even though they claim that they do not want to attack or invade countries. One wonders, then, how one can name and justify the Russian army convoys entering the Donbass region. According to Putin, they may be peacekeeping forces but appear to be earlier occupation forces, giving Russia the opportunity to take Luhansk and Donetsk as their own.

For weeks we have heard about talks and have seen efforts to get to a diplomatic solution. In vain, because there is a hardliner who intends to carry out his plan, whatever the others may think. He has frightened many people in many countries and made them resort to appealing to their god to make the right decision.

The Pope also prayed that

“all the parties involved refrain from any action that would cause even more suffering to the people, destabilising coexistence between nations and bringing international law into disrepute.”

For many Catholics, there is a period of preparation towards Easter, during which they want to take time for reflection. Six and a half weeks before Easter they have their “first day of Lent,” reminding them of their mortality and the need for reconciliation with God. In Anglican, Lutheran, and some other Protestant churches such a day of fasting and abstinence can be found.

Speaking at the end of the General Audience, Pope Francis appealed to everyone, believers and non-believers alike, to put evil aside. He asked to remember the Nazarene teacher Jesus who taught us that the diabolical senselessness of violence is answered with God’s weapons, with prayer and fasting.

He proposed to make 2 March, Ash Wednesday, a Day of Fasting for Peace.

“I encourage believers in a special way to dedicate themselves intensely to prayer and fasting on that day. May the Queen of Peace preserve the world from the madness of war,”

he said.

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Preceding

A lot of talk about a war beginning soon

Risk of accidental war with Russia highest in decades, general warns

Boris Johnson warns Putin against Ukraine invasion

Britain warns Russia over Ukraine

US bolsters Europe with 3,000 extra troops

The strategic error Putin is potentially about to make

Make Ukraine A Buffer State Between Russia & the EU

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Additional reading

  1. The world on the very brink of conflict
  2. Putin plays dangerous poker game
  3. A useless but very dangerous challenge game
  4. A world leader deciding over other regions or countries
  5. Threat of an invasion of Russian troops soon a serious reality
  6. Ukraine ready for any format of talks with Russia to establish peace
  7. Will Ukraine Escape Russian Domination?

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Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Being and Feeling, Crimes & Atrocities, Headlines - News, Health affairs, Lifestyle, Political affairs, Religious affairs, Social affairs, Welfare matters, World affairs

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