• The G20 Interfaith Forum urges international attentiveness to formal legal and commonplace practices in various nation’s policies that infringe upon or deny rights to their Jewish populations and those of other minorities. Russia is a prime example of labeling people of the Jewish faith as enemies of the state on no other basis than that of their religion.
• One of the myths contributing to Antisemitism is an assertion that Jews do not have loyalty to the nation in which they live. This remains an affront to reality. It is unconscionable that anyone in the public center describe any ethnic group in such a wide generalization. Furthermore, evidence abounds as to the substantial numbers of Jewish people actively involved in politics and social agencies for their respective nation’s welfare, not to mention numerous International Jewish agencies devoted to human rights concerns.
• The Economic Crisis of 2008 quickly awakened Antisemitism. Various governments and political parties have often scapegoated the Jewish community during economic turmoil by fostering medieval, pre-modern and post-modern superstitions and fallacious arguments against the Jewish race.
• Although Mainstream Politicians and News Media strive to avoid Antisemitic rhetoric, evidence of blatant Antisemitism is legion in many Non-Democratic Nations.
• Often the World Stage exemplifies Antisemitism by an exaggerated attentiveness to Israel’s internal affairs. For example, the United Nations’ 2001 World Conference Against Racism exclusively railed against the Nation of Israel, paying little or no attention to racism and tribal warfare in Africa, Asia, Syria, Middle Eastern, and Latin America Nations.
• The accusation that Israel is an “apartheid” nation is an example of Antisemitism. Apartheid in South Africa consisted of formal, legislated policies against a race of people in defiance of International Law. No such laws exist in Israel. Using the term “apartheid” makes a false generalization about an entire people and its representative government. Furthermore, the term presents a grave obstacle to negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian people. Israel needs collaboration and support from other nations in addressing complex, territorial disputes. Condemnations alone is counterproductive. Regarding the political sphere, Israel would appreciate more international understanding of the fact that the Palestinians representative, Mahmoud Abbas, is a genuine dictator. The very nature of his position and policies make him (and the Palestinians who work for and with him) an affront to the democratic values they pretend to want for the Palestinian people.
• Antisemitism is present in the lack of outcry against human rights violations in contemporary Russia where its government does not afford Jews and other minorities equal opportunities on many social levels. Russia’s propaganda that calls UKRAINE a Nazi nation ripe with antisemitism, provides fodder to blame the Jewish people for the invasion of Ukraine — an invasion the Jewish community actively protests. We urge an international outcry against Russia’s lies and hypocrisies.
• The loss of a critical sense of history, including Holocaust denial, not only contributes to Antisemitism but perpetuates growing Christian and Islamic phobias in many countries. Efforts to combat these prejudices are not internationally unified. Governments must acknowledge Antisemitism as more than a political problem. In fact, it is a racial, religious, moral, existential, as well as a political problem. Historically, Antisemitic events often jumpstart active prejudices and racism against minorities in various religious, social, political, and cultural contexts.
• A worthy historical example of a nation and Church effectively combating Antisemitism: In 1943, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church widely condemned the Nazis and their policies against the Jewish people. At the same time, they boldly supported and accommodated the Bulgarian Jews’ emigration to the land that is now the State of Israel.

For more information on the G20 Interfaith Forum, go to:

Moderator: Asher Maoz is dean of the Peres Academic Center Law School in Rehovot. He holds a PhD. In Philosophy from Tel Aviv University, and a Master of Law from the University of Chicago. He is a member of the G20 Interfaith Forum Advisory Council and Anti-Racism Initiative.

Speakers:

Yuli-Yoel Edelstein: Member of the Israeli Knesset. Mr. Edelstein is one of the most prominent refuseniks in the former Soviet Union. From 1984 to 1987 the Soviet government imprisoned him at a Gulag in Siberia for teaching Hebrew and Pro-Israel commentary. Freed via international protests, Mr. Edelstein emigrated to Israel and remains active in Israel’s public and political spheres.

Natan Sharansky: received Israel’s highest award for promoting Aliyah and the ingathering of the exiles in 2018. He is the only non-American citizen to receive the American Presidential Medal of Freedom (2006) Congressional Medal of Honor (1986). He has served as minister in four Israeli governments; Chair of the Shlihut (Emissary) Institute and The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP).

Dr. Peter Petkoff: A Senior Law Lecturer at the Brunel Law School in London, Dr. Petkoff is also Director of Religion, Law, and International Relations Programme at Regent’s Park College, Oxford. He is currently authoring a book for Oxford University Press on Holy Sites Under International Law. See also:  

A Movie Review by Fr. James DiLuzio CSP

FATHER STU, a film about a real-life-narcissistic-troubled soul’s transformation, explores and incarnates the adage: “God writes straight with crooked lines.”  It is an engaging movie offering a high-quality performance by Mark Wahlberg as the real Stuart Long (1964-2014) a sort of Southern, Elvis-fed Hillbilly growing up in an exquisitely dysfunctional family who stumbles upon Catholic Christianity despite himself. Not saccharine, not preachy, this is a COMEDY-DRAMA with inspired casting, earthy expletives, and a strong pull to see just where this film-and where this man is going.  Its dramatic component gently eases us into the nature of faith, and, especially, a theology of suffering.  The script by Rosalind Ross puts more of a light, evangelical spin on the JOB dilemma than a more deeply nuanced Catholic one (Could no one have consulted ME?), but it makes sense based on the time frame and the locale. Bringing religious conversation into the secular movie world is always difficult, so when Stuart encounters parishioners at a local Catholic Church, there are times when we get all-too-typical Christian soundbites, instead of more profoundly intimate spiritual sharing.  Still, as director, Ross highlights terrific, nuanced facial expressions from a solid cast, and I’m happy to report that in FATHER STU, the whole is always greater than some of its parts.   

More about the casting:  Mark Wahlberg is perfect. He winningly incarnates the character’s transition from “Somebody Love Me, Please” self-absorption to a person who finds God in loving others – the film’s essential, vital theme. As the father-from-hell Mel Gibson is alarmingly compelling. What is it about this actor/director and his wrestling with faith-on-film? God know where he is on the faith spectrum, but his work is always thought-provoking, and Gibson captivates the menace here very well.  As Stuart’s mother, Jacki Weaver plays an excellent suffering soul. Along with her estranged husband, this mom offers the existential angst of a true cynic, yet her devotion to her son, and her hurt for the husband who abandoned her, is heart-wrenching. And Teresa Ruiz is radiant as Stuart’s love interest and the woman who instigates Stu’s faith journey. Indeed, these fascinating, well-crafted performances constitute the heart of this movie, even when the script and direction (also Rosalind Ross) don’t quite fulfill all the material’s potential.  Many scenes, however, are truly excellent, from the broad comedy of Stuart’s early adult life from boxing to acting to supermarket clerk and his infatuation with Ruiz, through to his conversion, and his torment. The intimate moments shared by Stu and his mother, and one with Ruiz near the film’s conclusion, are beautiful.

Although the trailers for FATHER STU make more than evident the plot’s trajectory, know that there will be surprises you are bound to appreciate. Make-up and Special Effects are among them and first-rate. We haven’t had a major motion picture exploring faith in a positive vain for some time. FATHER STU fits the bill nicely, and like a good parable, there’s much here to chew on and discuss as you leave the theater. Please go!   

For more on Father Stu, go to https://www.fatherstumovie.com/home/

 I BEFORE THE DAY BEGINS:  

1. Invite dinner guests with musical ability to bring their musical instruments
2. Have family members set DVR to pre-record Football Games; pre-record or purchase/rent CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, or other cartoons, or CHRISTMAS MOVIES.  These will be handy for intervals such as between main meal and desert or as alternate After Meal Activities.
3. Community Games to Have on Hand:  Charades, Pictionary, Balderdash
4. Music via CD, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube (See item VIII below)
5. POST-ITS with #s on them, coordinated to # of guests.  Separate #s for Adults and # for Children.  Have each guest take a #. (Children’s # on one color post-it; adults, another)
6. Display and have available a Bible & Children’s Bible opened to Luke, Chapter 2.
7. A Book(s) or Copy of Clement C. Moore’s THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS and the poem/song THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS.  Have these available for After Dinner Activity. https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/visit-st-nicholas
8. http://www.wikiwand.com/en/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)
9. Christmas Carol Music Books or Song Sheet or PowerPoint copies displayable on TV (If your TV & computer are integrated, have the “tech” in the family work on this in the weeks prior to Christmas.  Otherwise, make copies of Song Sheets or just the lyrics.)

I             CHRISTMAS EVE (or Morning) – Replace the colored Advent Candles from your Advent       Wreathe with White Candles, and add a fifth White Candle at the center of the Wreathe.  

              Prayers for the Occasion available in Catholic Book of Blessings and online at

http://www.ewtn.com/library/LITURGY/adbless.htm

II CHRISTMAS MORNING: A Short Prayer before Opening Gifts: “Thank you God for the Gift of Christ in our lives. May the beauty of his birth bring new life to our faith and help us to appreciate all life, all children throughout the world. Thank you for the gifts before us.  Fill us with Gratitude for you and for one another. Keep us young at heart.  Amen.” 

1. If young children are patient, read Luke 2: 1- 21 and Matthew 2: 1-13, Sing “Silent Night” or “We, Three Kings,” otherwise read and sing AFTER Presents are opened.
2. Sing “God Bless Ye, Merry Gentleman” if all are receptive for another carol.

III      CHRISTMAS DINNER PRAYER: “Dear God, Here We Are–Our family and friends–and these are the feelings we bring to this Christmas Day.  Helps us understand the beautiful way You accept each us as we are. Make us confident in your love so that we may be at peace and feel your presence among us.  Help us to make the most of this meal, this day, and our time together.”  Then invite everyone to join in the Traditional Grace before Meals, OR if your company is of mixed religions, substitute the Christian Grace with this: “Blessed are YOU, Source of Life, God known by so many names, help us to experience Joy this Christmas Day and lead all peoples on to the pathway of peace.   Bless all our family and guests.  Bless our Meal and our Conversation. Amen.” 

IV    FIRST COURSE ACTIVITY (soup/salad), and /or Hors D’oeuvres:

1. Ask: What do you remember about the First Christmas Story?  Include both the Biblical, Legend and Folk tales if you wish.   Begin with the children by number, then adults by number. Everyone gets “help” sharing the Christmas Story as needed.
2. Conclude First Course by having someone Read Luke 2: 1- 21 and Matthew 2: 1-13

V MAIN COURSE:

1. ASK: What event or circumstance are most significant for me about Jesus’ story today?
2. Invite each Guest to share his or her memories of the best Christmas that they have ever experienced and why it is an important memory for him or her. TRY TO KEEP THE MEAL AS LEASURELY AND UN-RUSHED AS POSSILBE.
3. Any Similarities between Jesus’ story and the Christmas memories shared?

VI   AFTER MEAL BREAK ACTIVITY:  Share Birth Stories during walks & pre-dessert clean ups:

1. During the break, have all guests recall the story of the day each of them was born.  Allow time for the elders to inform youngsters if they haven’t already. Everyone will be invited to share his or her birth story during desert.

 VII DURING AND AFTER DESERT: Share Birth Stories

• After each person shares say “As the Angels Sang for Jesus, the Angels Sang for you, too!  Everyone’s part of the story!  Everyone’s part of God’s plan!”
• Invite Spontaneous Prayer: “For Whom and for What Shall We Pray for this Christmas Day?”
• Sing “Angels We Have Heard on High –Gloria in Excelsis Deo!”

VIIIAFTER DINNER ACTIVITY: Have everyone participate in Clean-Up:

• Two Teams:  The Kitchen Team verses those who go for walks and/or play in the living room memorizing THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS OR THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS OR LUKE’S GOSPEL CHAPTER 2: 1-20.

IX AFTER DINNER & CLEAN-UP:

• Together recall all 12 Days of Christmas or ALL the Verses of The Night Before Christmas OR Luke 2: 1-20; Share the story or song together. Which Team Wins?
• Read one of the many stories and legends about Saint Nicholas

X MORE AFTER DINNER ACTIVITIVITES

• Gather ‘round a piano and Sing Carols Together
  • Guess each person’s favorite Christmas Album / Cd and Favorite version and vocalist of any Christmas song
  • Have Christmas CDs (Vocalists/ Choirs) and have people sing-a-long.
  • Conclude with Christmas Caroling in the Neighborhood

XI          CHRISTMAS FAREWELL BLESSINGS

Before Farewells or before the first person must leave:

BLESS EACH GUEST individually or collectively: “May the Spirit of Christmas remain in your heart—the joy of life, the gift of family, and angels singing your song as you continue to compose it all the days of your life. May your song(s) give God glory!”

INVITE ALL TO SING “WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

PLEASE & THANK YOU GAME with OPTIONAL CHARITABLE COMPONENT TO CHRISTMAS: INVTIE GUESTS TO BRING A SINGLE $ 1. BILL for each member of his or her family or party to participated in a PLEASE & THANK YOU GAME. Designate a charity and let them know what the dollars are for in advance OR have everyone vote on one of two or three choices before Grace (E.G, Catholic Charities for Puerto Rico Relief or Catholic Relief Services or Unicef.) Have some extra $1. bills around for those who forget.). The FIRST TIME anyone forgets to say Please” or “Thank You,” from the beginning of the Meal (after Grace) to end of dinner (i.e. “please pass the potatoes; thank you), he or she gets a WARNING.  The SECOND TIME he or she must surrender their dollar into a basket. Proceeds go to the previously announced charity. At the end of the day, people may contribute the Remaining Dollars or additional $ if they wish to the cause.

BOOKS

Catholic Book of Household Blessings

To Dance with God by Gertrude Mueller Nelson features Great Ideas for Family Rituals & Prayers for Feast Days and Holidays throughout the Year

THE BAKER’S DOZEN story of Saint Nicholas by Aaron Shepherd

Other Resources:

Blessing of Advent Wreathe and Christmas Manger

http://www.ewtn.com/library/LITURGY/adbless.htm

Advent Prayers and Rituals:

http://www.celebratingholidays.com/?page_id=1423

Here’s a fascinating article on THE CHERRY TREE CAROL:

Suggestions prepared by Fr. James DiLuzio CSP     Updated                     December  2021

Fr. James DiLuzio CSP

In Frances Hodgson Burnett’s THE LITTLE PRINCESS

• Miss Minchin is a hard taskmaster – bullies and demeans young Sarah Crew, assigns her most difficult household duties with no help from other girls in the boarding house
• Worse: in rare moments of free time with her friends, Sarah emits such joy and wonder of the world around her. Whenever Miss Minchin comes upon her, she stifles all the fun. 
• Finally, one day, breaking her demure, respectful, demeanor, Sarah Crew cries out, “Why are you so mean? Didn’t anyone ever love you? Had you no parent, no one to treat you with kindness?” 

GOD

• Too often people think of God as a demanding task master
• We hear of the Commandments, and we think of all that we must do to live up to them
• When we are in that mindset, Faith can feel like a chore, a barrier to JOY. No wonder so many young people do not take the time to explore it 
• They do not understand that the biblical passages of an angry God were just a metaphor for the seriousness of the situations people get themselves in, and the terrible consequences of sin.
• People do not understand as Saint Irenaeus (a French Bishop of the early 2^nd Century) wrote “The Glory of God is every human person fully alive!” 
• They do not recall what the disciple of the Apostle John wrote in his New Testament Letter to the Church: “God is love, and whoever remains in love, remains in God, and God in him.”
• This is an extraordinary proclamation. It goes further than the biblical statements that affirm “God is ‘loving. “GOD IS LOVE.”  (1 JOHN 4) represents a tremendous spiritual development. It cries out to us today as the true underpinnings of the Ten Commandments. 
•  The more we allow “GOD IS LOVE” –and God CERTAINLY IS as manifested and revealed by Jesus –TO PERMEATE OUR CONSCIENCES, OUR INTELLECT, OUR HEARTS, THE MORE WE BEGIN TO LIVE, because this love is more than a feeling, far greater than any human emotion or sentiment. It is a deep reality- high as the heavens and deep as the sea. 
• When we are steadfast, secure, and cemented in a foundation of GODLOVE, the Commandments and the Sacraments make more sense. They are not tasks to perform, they are not “holy obligations:” but expressions of GRATITIUDE to God, to Jesus—for the Holy Spirit within and around us. We have come today for gratitude. YES, we may feel distracted, chagrined, impartial to our choice of being here today. Nevertheless, we made the choice for LOVE. Dwell in that love NOW. Allow gratitude to take root. 
• This week I invite you to take out a photo of yourself from your infancy or childhood – a photo in which JOY is evident in you. Ponder how that JOY is part of GOD, and how God expresses LOVE for you –past, present, and future (whether you are conscious of it or not.)
• Place the photo on your night table, or in your office, or in your prayer nook, or fix it in your mind throughout your day, and pray with it, give thanks to God for it, for YOU. Let NO ONE TAKE THAT FROM YOU. No matter another person’s state of mind, no matter his or her inappropriate, disrespectful, hurtful behavior. No matter the imperfection of their love. Concretized in GOD LOVE, miracles happen – it becomes fascinatingly easier to see GODLOVE in and for another. Allow that photo of you to imagine a comparable photo of them. See if that reforms the situation, see if your feelings change. 
• As Saint Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans (8:39): Nothing separates us “from the love of God that comes to us in Jesus Christ.”  We must not let others separate us from GODLOVE reality. Indeed, NO! We may, however, bring GODLOVE to them. 
• “Thank you GODLOVE! Make us trust in You always for YOU LOVED US FIRST! In Love, You created us. In Love we are sustained. In love, we hope. In love, we forgive because we forever are forgiven. In Love, we truly LIVE! I believe that warrants a life of thanksgiving. Do you? 

FYI: Four Kinds of Love in Greek

Erōs
(GREEK: ἔρως) Romantic love; erotic desire; intimacy; infatuation with another’s beauty.
Philia
(GREEK: φɩλία) Brotherly love; friendship; affectionate regard for and loyalty to friends, family, and community, requiring virtue, equality, and familiarity.
Storgē
(GREEK: στοργή) Familial love; affection; natural empathy for one’s family, country, or team.
Agapē
(GREEK: ἀγάπη) Unconditional, self-sacrificial love; charity; God’s unconditional, self-sacrificial love for humankind and humankind’s love for a good God and for others. 

This article by Ross Douthat MUST BE READ by anyone who engages in questions about God — no matter your religion or struggle with faith in a God who willed Creation into being. So engaging! So beautifully, logically and amazingly articulated! WOW. I welcome all Comments and subsequent Conversation on this piece! God bless!

By Father James DiLuzio C.S.P.

I enjoin you today to contemplate with me the beauty of this weekend’s commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Assumption beginning with this recent quote from Bishop Robert Barron’s writings.  Bishop Baron is an Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles and Director of WORD ON FIRE ministries.

“When we speak of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother’s body, we are not envisioning a journey through space, as though Mary moved up into the sky. The “heavens” are a rich and consistent biblical symbol for the transcendent, for a manner of existence that lies beyond our familiar dimensions of space and time.

He goes on to say: “The Assumption of Mary means that the Blessed Mother was “translated,” in the totality of her being –

This means she achieved the fullness to which God intends for all humanity –imaged in the Resurrected Body of Jesus Christ –a complete unity of body, soul, and spirit free from all the limitations of biology and physics as we know it. 

Bishop Baron goes on to write that this fulfillment is what we mean when we use the term “heaven.”

He explains further: “Mary, who exists now in this other world, is not so much somewhere else as somehow else, and this helps to explain why we can speak of her, especially in her heavenly state, interceding, helping us, and praying for us and with us.”

Pope John Paul II pointed out that the essential characteristic of heaven, hell or purgatory is that they are states of being of a spirit or human soul, rather than places, as commonly perceived and represented in human language.  This language of place is, according to the Pope, inadequate to describe the realities involved, since it is tied to the temporal order in which this world and we exist.  In this he is applying the philosophical categories used by the Church in her theology and saying what Saint Thomas Aquinas said long before him. Not surprisingly, Pope Emeritus Benedict and our current Pope Francis affirm the same.

In this way, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is inviting us to expand our minds and imaginations and our prayer life with more mystical dimensions, allowing us to become more comfortable with MYSTERY – a primary component of what it means to have a MATURE faith.  

Such Mystical Mystery concepts confirm our communion with all the Saints and all people of faith and goodwill who have gone before us.  The Feast of the Assumption of Mary, All Saints, All Souls, and all the Saints Days give us the assurance that we can, in fact, pray with them and ask for their intercession with God because we are united with them in Christ Jesus, all part of His One, Mystical Body.

We who are Jesus’ disciples have the significant privilege to know and embrace a foundational Christian truth – that through the Holy Spirit CHRIST is extensive, expanding His Essence from Age to Age in people of faith that whether we may deem people as “living “or “deceased,” all are and always shall remain alive. 

Therefore, although we use the language of metaphor to engage our imaginations to try and capture a bit of the profound mystery Jesus’ Resurrection and Mary’s Assumption and the promise of Eternal Life, our faith and our ongoing reception of the Sacraments confirm this reality.  Furthermore, today’s Feast reminds us that Mary is the first great and magnificent disciple leading the way promised to all who live by the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ Beatitudes.

Thus, to pray to Blessed Mary is to pray to CHRIST in her –who not only held the Christ in her womb and in her arms but who lived the WORD OF GOD as Scripture says, as Jesus said, and thus epitomizes Christ LIFE in all of us, just as the Eucharist instills in us not only a consciousness, an image but a deep reality that we are continually being transformed into a CHRIST extension, if you will, in our place and our time.

It’s time we confirmed once again the essential connection between the Eucharist, JESUS and Mary and the Saints because they manifest for us what we are — a priesthood of all believers destined for a new reality which Scripture calls “A New Heaven and a New Earth.”   Through the Holy Spirit, Christ is within us, Christ is among us, Christ inspires us to full cooperation with Him.  Applying His Will, God’s Will, to our hopes, dreams, and goals, just as Mary did, we will join Mary in the pattern of Resurrection Transformation that Jesus set for all.  Thus, Mary’s Feasts are our celebrations of Christ in Us, too. Mary lived the reality of heaven in her life and remains in that heavenly peace now and forever.  So, too, may we!