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Welcome to our article,
We believe that
religions are for our spiritual needs, and religions are necessary, since they teach us a way of life that helps people
live in a friendlier way. We may not agree with some religion, and what some religions teach their
believers, because they are far away from our religious beliefs. But you see, most
religions have been made up for getting a group of people together under the
same religious rules.
Anyhow, today
we are writing about our Christian religion and how it
helps us in our life. So, let us talk what happens after Christmas in our
religion, since our last article we wrote about Christmas and how people use these religious feasts. This year we want to write about religious events, and then try to see how they fit with our
religious theory that we have written.
Anyhow, in
our last article we have talked about the coming Christmas of 2016, and the
birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christmas time happens once a year at
the end of the year, and after that people start thinking about the new year.
So, with the coming year everything starts again, so, let us look at what
happens in the religious world, and how the church explains the progress of
this newborn baby Jesus Christ, because in the Christian religions everything evolves around baby Jesus
Christ.
Today what we
are telling you, has been told thousands of times and it will continue to be
told for a long time to come. Because beliefs and religions must keep these
beliefs going, so, the old same story is being told again, because we need to
tell the future people about these happenings. We can say that this is the way
that humanity passes this information from generation to generation.
Anyhow, we have decided to follow some of the church liturgy during the year, to see what happens during the year in churches and commend on it. We want to follow what pope Francis says, since he is a different pope, I feel that he can change a few things during his reign as pope. You see, he even believes about evolution, which is something that believer would not admit. At the same time, we will have our chance to discuss what he has said and talk about why he is taking that stand. So, let us start with epiphany, since epiphany is what the churches celebrate after Christmas.
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Christmas and epiphany.
All Christian religions, after celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ at Christmas, they start a new liturgical year, with the three wise men reaching Jesus birth place.
But, the feast of epiphany in Italy for the children is different. You see there was this old lady that brought presents to us children, she was like today Santa Claus, but with a difference, she was an old lady a bit like a witch riding a broom, who brought presents to us kids, she would give good kids good presents, but would give naughty kids ashes and coals, picked up from the chimney where we had hung one of our socks to receive her presents, anyhow I got some good presents, but sometimes got some ashes and coals too, this is how we kids saw epiphany then, but there is also the church version of this feast, so let us talk about it.
In Christianity, the feast of epiphany can be different between different Christian churches, but let us talk about the Roman Catholic church. The religious feast of epiphany in the Roman Catholic church it is about the three wise men reaching their destination to visit baby Jesus. At the service, the priest will tell you that these three wise men (or kings) have come from faraway lands, guided from this bright star that now has stopped above the humble place where baby Jesus is laying in a manger. A lot of local people have come to visit baby Jesus, because of this bright star staying above this place and other signs. Anyhow, the three wise men are there because they knew that baby Jesus is an important person, they have read the scriptures of the old prophets, so, they have followed this star that guided them. Knowing that this newborn is important they have brought presents fit for a king: their names are; Gasper, Balthasar, and Melchior; their presents are, gold, frankincense and myrrh, so, they were fit for a king. And thus, from this poor and humble beginning, now baby Jesus has become important.
It is said that
the three Magi on the way to find baby Jesus had gone to ask King Herod for
directions; they asked where is the child that has been born king of the Jews?
He did not know himself, but he called the chief priest and the scriber of the
people to find out, so, they said that the Messiah was to be born, in Bethlehem
of Judea. King Herod was interested to know more about this newborn baby, so,
he asked the magi to let him know on their way back. But the magi became
suspicious and left using another way to avoid King Herod.
Anyhow this is
what you will hear preached, if you go to the epiphany church service. So, I
think that I have said enough about epiphany. The only thing that I am adding
here is that while the magi became suspicious and left for a different way
without going back to Herod. Also St. Joseph had a dream and became suspicious
of King Herod, so, soon after that they left to go back to Egypt.
Religious happenings today.
These religious
things that we have written above, have happened in the old times, today we
think that nothing important is happening right now, because there are not any
spiritual signs that we can follow. But I believe that religions and religious
beliefs are still playing their part, even when everything seems the same old
thing. But then if we look at the following issues, they are not the same.
So, let us follow pope Francis and anything that
seems out of the ordinary. I believe that pope Francis today is changing a few
things that in the past were not possible to change, he is basing and using
religion more in a humanitarian way than a strict religious way. So, he even
lets in churches people of different religions, he wants to save lives and
hardship to anybody, just about every day at the angelus, when he
appears at the window above St Peter Square, he talks about the refugees
especially the children that reach Italy by themselves, he is very helpful
towards them, he takes risks with all these new comer refugees, even if some of
them are dangerous, he does not see this danger, he trusts in God and our Lord
Jesus Christ, and hopes for the best outcome.
We said at the
beginning of this article, that religions are a way of life that helps people of religious groups to live in a friendlier way, forming a religious group of
people is okay, but just because it is a group it divides itself from other
religious groups. But pope Francis does not want to see that, he looks at
everybody as an individual and a child of God, so, he believes that everybody
for him is equal in his eyes and the eyes of God and treats them equally. What
is going to change from his actions we don’t know yet, because they can affect
religion in the future. I suppose that we should wait and see what is going to
happen.
We would like to know
what the aim of his changes could be. So, this question arises. Are his aims
only to save lives, and be human towards anyone that comes close to him? Or is
he aiming at something more important? Does he really know what he is doing, or
he trusts in his faith and God blindly, hoping that everything will turn out
okay?
Perhaps one day we will know the answer to these questions. I believe that this pope wishes that there was only one religion. Anyhow, I believe that we have said enough in this article for the time being. So, see you next time, with our article, Religions and religious leaders.
To see more click on this link, Christian religions and life.
May God bless
us all.
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