I went to see "A man for all seasons" by Robert Bolt as performed by Life/Theatre in Sydney, Aust the other day. The playright has written a text that almost plays itself. We performed it some four years ago - when we started our group and I think that it's the only play that we could have started with to be successful as we have been.

Here is a quote which was ommitted from the pacy version this year:

"It is a long road you have opened. For first men will disclaim their hearts and presently they will have no hearts." - More

Buddhist Encourages Christians to Rediscover Their Heritage

"Master" Sees Ignorance as a Key to Loss of Europeans' Faith

STRASBOURG, France, SEPT. 22, 2002 (Zenit.org).- If Buddhism arouses so much interest among Europeans it is because they are ignorant of their Christian spiritual heritage, says a Buddhist master.

Jérôme Ducor, of the Japanese Shinshu movement, exhorted Christian churches of the Continent "to make Europeans rediscover the spiritual riches of the Christian message."

On Friday, Ducor, a Swiss vice director of the Shingyoji Temple in Geneva, opened the second day of the "Consultation on Buddhism in Europe." The meeting, which ended Saturday, was organized by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Council of European Episcopal Conferences.

The master, associated with Buddhism since his adolescence, began by explaining the alleged figure of 1 million Buddhists in Europe.

"It is more a question of sympathizers than of practicing Buddhists," he said. "To these must be added the declarations of famous actresses, such as Sophie Marceau and Isabelle Adjani, who describe themselves as Buddhists, but they are not militant. In fact, they don't understand much about what it actually means."

"Hence, there is much confusion," Ducor continued. "But one thing is sure: Buddhism is very much liked in Europe because it comes across as a liberating faith, a complete spiritual voice."

So why do people turn to Buddhism and not to Christianity?

"In all honesty, I must say that the greater part of these people do not know the Christian heritage," said the Buddhist master, whose statements were published by the Italian episcopal conference's press service. "And it is surprising to see this not only among young people, but also among adults."

He added: "The celebrations are known -- there is attendance at marriages -- but Christian spirituality is not known in depth. If the cultural foundation is missing in the Christian message, then, of course, people begin to search."

"I think that people are searching profoundly," the Buddhist said. "The largest question facing us today is the one related to death. For me, death was the big question. I did not need theoretical answers but practical ways."

Ducor suggests two avenues to Christian churches: to restore a "cultural foundation" to the Christian message, and to make the "spiritual treasure of Christianity" known "so that it is this message that reaches people."

"People need a spiritual life or, even better, they need a lived spirituality," he said. "In this, Christianity has a great treasure. I am thinking of the Church Fathers and their wonderful texts, of prayer and the monastic legacy."
ZE02092222

http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=25416

A cheerful heart is good medicine... (Prov 17:22a)

From the Washington Post Style Invitation, in which it was postulated that English should have male and female nouns and readers were asked to assign a gender to a noun of their choice and explain their reason.

The best submissions:

ZIPLOC BAGS - male, because they hold everything in, but you can always see right through them.

SWISS ARMY KNIFE - male, because even though it appears useful for a wide variety of work, it spends most of its time just opening bottles.

KIDNEYS - female, because they always go to the bathroom in pairs.

SHOE - male, because it is usually unpolished, with its tongue hanging out.

COPIER - female, because once turned off, it takes a while to warm up. Because it is an effective reproductive device when the right buttons are pushed. Because it can wreak havoc when the wrong buttons are pushed.

TIRE - male, because it goes bald and often is over inflated.

HOT AIR BALLOON - male, because to get it to go anywhere you have to light a fire under it... and, of course, there's the hot air part.

SPONGES - female, because they are soft and squeezable and retain water.

WEB PAGE - female, because it is always getting hit on.

SUBWAY - male, because it uses the same old lines to pick people up.

HOURGLASS - female, because over time the weight shifts to the bottom.

HAMMER - male, because it hasn't evolved much over the last 5,000 years, but it's handy to have around.

REMOTE CONTROL - female... Ha! You thought I'd say male. But consider, it gives man pleasure, he'd be lost without it, and while he doesn't always know the right buttons to push, he keeps trying.

Received from John B Sidebotham. (GCFL member)

-=+=-

Remember when the funniest jokes were the clean ones? They still are!
The Good, Clean Funnies List: Good, clean funnies five times a week,
FOR F R E E! ... AND NO ADS IN THE MAILINGS!

A cheerful heart is good medicine... (Prov 17:22a)

The latest GCFL funny can always be found on the web at
http://www.gcfl.net/archive/latest.html

To email this funny to a friend, go to
http://www.gcfl.net/archive/emailit.php3?funny=20020913

For subscription and other information, go to our web page at
http://www.gcfl.net, or send email to gcfl-info@gcfl.net.

Mailing address: GCFL, Box 100, Harvest, AL 35749

"The first thing that must strike a non-Christian about a Christian's faith is that it is all too daring. It is too beautiful to be true: The mystery of being, unveiled as absolute love, coming down to wash the feet and the souls of its creatures; a love that assumes the whole burden of our guilt and hate, that accepts the accusations that shower down.. all the scorn and contempt that nails down his incomprehensible movement of self-abasement -- all this absolute love accepts in order to excuse his creature before himself......"

(Hans Urs von Balthasar)