The Catholic Church has a new Pope (head of their church)!
His name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio - Archbishop of Argentina - an Argentinian of Italian heritage, who will hereafter be known as Pope Francis I.
[He was elected after three (3) days of intense voting by the Roman Catholic Cardinals who gathered in the Vatican to elect a new Pope, following the surprise resignation of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - Pope Benedict XVI, due to ill health].
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is a Jesuit - and a champion of the poor, we understand that he is also a philosopher
(Jesuit priests are the most educated within the Catholic priesthood).
He was originally ordained Cardinal, by Pope John Paul II.
According to CBS News correspondents:
1) As Archbishop of Argentina - Jorge Mario Bergoglio took his role of champion of the poor, seriously, refusing to live in the home dedicated to the Archbishop, but opting instead, to live in a small apartment.
He also walked or took taxis versus driving in the limousine that was appointed him
2) The Jesuits have had slight differences of opinion with the philosophy of the papacy.
3) 400,000 young people across the world adopted a Cardinal and prayed for the Cardinals who voted for Pope, to make the right decision.
4) Latin America has 40% of the world's Catholics and is the fastest-growing region in the world, for Catholicism.
The Christian world will be praying for this new Pope, as we pray for any Head of Denomination - that he will make the right decisions regarding the Catholic Church...and be truly directed by God.
Girl With a Purpose (GWAP) Blog wishes this new Pope, well!
The Bible, which I believe to be the written word of God...tells us that when God created Adam - the first human being...that He took absolute pleasure in doing this...to God, Adam and all His other creation.. was not only good, but very good (Genesis 1:31).
And since the Bible, even though written thousands of years ago, is still applicable today, we can interpret this to mean that God took absolute pleasure in creating you, too!
To Him, you are a beautiful gift and all He wants to do is to shower you with all His love...a secure love...one that never wanes, wanders...one that you can feel 150% safe in...a love that will not only shield and protect you, but renew you daily.
There are many places in the Bible where we're told that God so loved us... that He did, "such and such" for us...
E.g. in St. John 3:16, we're told that God so loved us that he Gave his only Son - Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins...so that we would not be condemned to eternal separation from God, but be drawn closer to Him.
We see a loving God who shows us that to love fully and completely, we must do something...give, yeah...give!
So, God the author and creator of love, as an example to us, of how to have fulfilling lives and especially (since we're in Valentine's month) how to have fulfilling love lives...shows us that total fulfillment in our relationships is dependent on our ability to give.
...and herein lies the mystery of love - the ability to give love fully...totally, without fear...to the right person, someone who will cherish that gift...not abuse it.
So if you want to learn how to love - the Bible is a great reference point!
And I'm speaking to the younger and not-so young visitors to Girl With a Purpose (GWAP) Blog :)
...the Bible is a great reference book for any person who wants to know how to love...completely, wholesomely.
1 Corinthians 13 and Songs of Solomon (starting with Song of Songs 1) are just two examples of books in God's word (the Bible), where we learn about wholesome love and sensual love...
...Yep, God himself, in these and other books of the Bible, teaches us how to have totally fulfilling love lives.
When we understand that we are instruments of love....that we were created to love and be loved totally..fully...with abandon,
Then this centres us and makes our journey to finding our soul mate (life partner -husband/wife), that much easier.
(Yes, I do believe in soul mates - that some people are predestined for each other, that there are people whom God has chosen for us.
People whom He knows that we'll so sync and intertwine with, that our lives and theirs will be greatly enhanced as a result of their presence in our lives).
This journey to finding your soul mate is not for the faint-hearted.
To find true love requires faith in a God who knows what's and who's best for you, a willingness to listen to Him when he says "yes" or "no" re your choice of life partner; guts and determination...a determination not to settle for less than we truly deserve.
When we look at love from this perspective ...it make us open to it, but wise, as per category 5 in our post, "How Deep is Your Love?"
We will not allow people into our lives, who'll destroy us, but who'll build us up and truly be God's gift to us.
This will be the basis for all the other posts that we'll make over these two (2) weeks.
...That journey.
In these posts we'll teach, especially our younger ones, how to handle this awesome and truly wonderful journey of love - that of enriching someone else's life and in turn, enriching your own.
As such, we'll start with our post tomorrow, "Should I tell someone that I really like romantically, the truth on Valentine's Day?"
Please stay tuned!
Gillian
Sources Include
1) Genesis 1:31 via Biblegateway.com,accessed February 1,2012
2) 1 Corinthians 13 via Biblegateway.com,accessed February 1,2012
3) Songs of Solomon (e.g. Song of Songs 1), via Biblegateway.com,accessed February 1,2012
4) Post, "How Deep is Your Love?", by Gillian Campbell, Girl With a Purpose (GWAP) Blog, February 13, 2008 (updated January 31,2012).
There's a site that I visit often, where a young woman is offering money for persons to help her convince her atheist boyfriend that God not only exists, but for him to convert to Christianity.
Now it seems as if this young lady really needs help, for she loves this young man and is trying her best to see him turn to God.
But although she's been getting a lot of help - in that there are many willing to "help" her in exchange for money, no one has been forthright with her publicly, that the problem is not with her atheist boyfriend...it's with her.
For why on earth would a Christian want to date an atheist (someone who doesn't believe that God exists)?.
If Christ is so important to you, why would you want to have an intimate relationship with someone for whom Christ is not only unimportant, but non-existent?
Unfortunately, this is one of the many examples of young women seeing red flags and stepping right into danger.
But it also serves as a learning point for other young women out there.
God loves you and is concerned about every aspect of your life, including your relationships...
...and that's why He's provided Christian communities locally (via church and youth groups) and globally for young persons to become friends with other young persons who love God and are walking with Him in spirit and in truth.
Forging intimate relationships with non-Christians will give you great despair (2 Corinthians 6:13-15).
There are too many Christians available locally and globally with whom you can forge relationships, for you to get into relationship with someone whose value systems are alien to yours.
Christian young persons, trust God (Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 37:4-6), He'll point you to the right persons with whom you can forge satisfying and long-lasting friendships and relationships.
Jamaicans.com Links Directory Jamaicans.com features everything Jamaican including recipes, a travel guide, flashbacks in history & culture, commentary, interviews and Jamaican news. All the links in our directory are direct, so they will improve your link popularity.
