Lenting for You or Others?

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The dominant theme for the past few years that I can remember is when the priest first started speaking about not just giving up something for Lent to better yourself but to better others as well. Reiterated by Pope Francis in this awesome Time article, I'll try my best to do the same.

He often quotes the early Christian mystic John Chrysostom who said: “No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.”

Jihad vs. the Crusades

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Only because our President brought up the comparison of the current world to what Christianity did centuries ago, I decided to take it up and learn a little bit more. Dr. Bill Warner, PhD does a fabulous video on showing the many different battles between the two religious groups and explains the differences. Ultimately, Dr. Warner points out, yes, the crusades were years ago, but jihad is constant and ongoing as in today’s world.

Visit his website PoliticalIslam for more info. Also, diving further into the Crusades, check out a book by Steve Weidonkopf, The Glory of the Crusades.