Katutura English

for english speaking friends of Katutura
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Tuesday, September 30, 2003
 
Rendez-vous

This beautiful, life filled French expression: also used in English
Two or more people will meet: where, when? That is important
We don't ask "what for"? Because, it is so obvious that it is just
for the pleasure to be together, to share thoughts, and
food for thought and food for the body, and a drink



we just come, greet, kiss, hug, sit, and sometimes stay still
time has stopped because we truly are alive
while the communion of being together in friendship takes place

it is not a working get together, nor a dinner party, nor a planning
session, nor a workshop of some sort, nor a birthday or weddingday
nor a carefully planned liturgy. It is no entertainment. It just IS life!



Rendez-vous:
is just a being together in friendship, love, care,
words are few, powerful, life giving, people driven, earth bound
heaven bound (which is the same) It is music, melody, inner rythme
it seems to me, in such grace lit encounter, that, the sorrows
turn into sunset peace, that frustrations turn into on going ploughing
that dryness and drought give way to morning dew and gentle rain
that the earth lives again under my feet and in my soul, to go forth
having been strengthened in our Rendez-vous, to meet all whom I meet
and include them, embrace them in a mystical rendez-vous hug
where Yeschouah is guest and host: the where, the when, the what for
have vanished into a love-filled life-filled presence! Amazing Grace!






 
Pope John-Paul Ist

The gentle, Christlike, smiling pope died of a heart attack 25 years ago,
after just 33 days of work in the vatican! It was on September 28th 1978.
The circumstances of his death remain clouded in "things not said but just supposed".
The media are rather quiet about this gentle pope.
The vatican authorities refused the autopsy that so many people asked for,
because they were shocked by the suddenness of John-Paul's demise.

His parents, brothers and sisters were not rich, but they loved each other and people.
His father was a glass-blower. I imagine he was artistic and made beautiful objects.

Here is Albino Luciani as a child



He never pursued, judged. condemned anyone. His smile came from the heart and told people:
I love you, Jesus loves you. Let's go forward together on our pilgrimage on earth with all people, races, with the rich and the poor, the young and the old. Our little planet is fragmented, let's build God's planet of Justice and Peace. The best we can.
He had a rather tough 33 days in the vatican.
Those in religious power feared this smiling pope's poweful humility,
so Christlike. But Albino Luciani went on to the bitter end.



"The Life and Death of each of us has its influence on others"
(Romans 14:7)

You need not live endlessly long lives to be someone great!
Jesus's official preaching and healing time lasted three years only.
That's why His Mission goes on even today and tonight.

Rest in Peace and stay with us, dear, smiling, human, people loving pope!






Friday, September 26, 2003
 
My friend

We meet at bus stops, or in public transports of some sort
her smile falls on me like warm sunshine: Hi! Sister, she twitters,
we sit on a bench while the busses go on their way, we'll catch the next
or the next. How precious is this gift encounter, just by sheer chance and grace!
Give thanks to Jesus!
She does some charring in offices down in the Flon, just for a bit of money
to go on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, some day, she beams



She is a "Filipino", my friend,
one of the 7000 phillippine islands, is her birthplace, poor,
no electricity so no nervosity, says she with a grin that tickles me.
But many birds, Oh! birds, what a music
"Oh! were it but for the wings of a dove", I muse

In her family, 20 children make a living and sharing community:
her mum died giving birth and her dad passed away, exhausted
but "we love each other, it is calm over there" and pain floats
in her beautiful eyes, just for a split second!

How she landed in Switzerland, in Lausanne, how she married
this very nice railway man who comes back home to supper
every evening at 7 p.m., I don't know, nor do I care. She's here.

What impresses me, what instructs me, is the way she gazes
at the little "Sister Cross" that hangs round my neck
she need not say: "I love him", I feel her love of Jesus in my heart.



She just looks like my friend, I love her!





Monday, September 22, 2003
 
Car free day

Did you see "love Bug"? You laugh your heart out
as the "love Bug runs after its driver"! I enjoyed it!
the movie somehow befriends you with both "Driver and Bug"



Quite another thing is the "One man one car" life threatening drive!
At every street corner! No love Bug there. That is the daily roar and race!
Pedestrians beware and keep close to the walls!



A car free day: it feels so good, dawdling down the road
just for one day, one precious day

Furthermore, I find friends in the public transports:
young, old, pretty, ugly, all going the same way
to the next stop: unload, upload, go!



By the way side: the walkers walk
breathing cleaner air, feeling good, physically
feeling blest in their soul!

Yeshua in their midst





Saturday, September 20, 2003
 
Bulle, Fribourg, Lausanne and elsewhere around the world



So much anxiety, pent up anger, fears, tears and violence
it dawns on me that Jesus has seen it all, lived it all, long before
loving, he turned death into life, we keep forgetting, Oh! why?

he keeps turning death into life through me and you
we keep remembering, forgetting, remembering again
reminding one another again

I hear it again:

"Tell those anxious of heart, timid of heart, fearful of heart (like mine at times!):
strengthen your weak hands, steady your trembling knees

Comfort one another

Yeshua is at work, he is right here with me this moment as ever
the lame springs up just like a deer, the feeble-footed jumps like a roe
IS:35:3



Isn't that EMPOWERMENT?
the salt in the soup and the yeast in the dough?

Oh! the bread is rising!
Thank you for reminding me, dearest, precious Friends!






Sunday, September 14, 2003
 
Feast of the Cross



14th September: birthday of my pen friend, Genaro Ruiz Camacho:
he would be 48 today, but he is not here, he is just round the corner
of the earth: in heaven, thinking of all those who love him.

Mexican Indian, exiled in Texas, he is "picked up" like hundreds before
and hundreds after him, condemned to death.

Eight years in Huntsville death row. He kept appealing,
Trying to prove his innocence. In vain.
The then Governor of Texas, George W. Bush refused clemency.

Gino is executed by lethal injection on August 26th 1998



Gino and I wrote to each other regularly, cheerfully, at times
desperate and angry, and again knowing Jesus is part of this struggle.
Gino introduced me to his granny, his mum,
his beautiful wife Victoria and their four children: we are friends.

So many friends joined in, appealing to stop the execution. To no avail.
Gino died saying: "I'll be with you, I'll be waiting for you in heaven
I love you all" (and to me: it's a new beginning, see you soon!).
We wept, mourned, rejoiced!

Happy birthday, Gino! You so loved wild mexican flowers!













Saturday, September 13, 2003
 
He's dead Johnny, but no, "we die to live"
the country songs' singer, Johnny sings now in God's kingdom
in perfect harmony, he sang little people's feelings on the way
trying to love one another
today's psalms, today's people with Yeshua, singing Good News
we walk the line, sometimes tight rope, and we get there
thank you Johnny, we keep singing

I WALK THE LINE
Johnny Cash



I keep a close watch on this heart of mine,
I keep my eyes wide open all the time,
I keep the ends out for the ties that bind,
Because you're mine, I walk the line.

I find it very, very easy to be true,
I find myself alone when each day is through,
Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you,
Because you're mine, I walk the line.

You've got a way to keep me on your side,
You give me cause for love that I can't hide,
For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide,
Because you're mine I walk the line.

As sure as night is dark and day is light,
I keep you on my mind both day and night,
And happiness proves that I'm right,
Because you're mine I walk the line.







Thursday, September 11, 2003
 
Daily prayer before my beloved planet

"At times, I ask myself: are we on the right planet?" (Samuel Beckett said it!)



What is beyond questioning is, that I, and my fellowmen, are bound,
willy-nilly to this very planet and no other, for better for worse
generation after generation blossom a while, die away
giving birth to the next
yet I feel sad in my heart, dear Jesus, because your creation
so beautiful, tender, loving is also so desperately violent, hideous

Why stab Anne Lind to death? Sergio de Mello and those around him,
David Kelly driven insane with pain, the american, irakian,
british, nigerian young soldier boys forced to kill;
the little old people dying by the thousand of heatwaves in France,
just surviving elsewhere Why AIDS?
why orphans, widows, strangers unwelcome



an awful mystery: beauty and hideousness, truth and untruth,
rich and poor, war and peace, water and thirst, bread and hunger?
it baffles me as I silently pray before my beloved planet,
your creation and ours, dear Creator divine.
I then listened, for the first time in my life like a kindergarten
unkowing kid, to St John's Passion, by J.S. Bach and began to see
ever so dimly, the tension, the dialectic one could say, inherent to nature
and Oh! the meaning of Yeshua's creative love, even now
as I share bread and a glass of red wine with my neighbour






Monday, September 08, 2003
 
Blogger close to my heart!



True, it wasn't child's play to get acquainted, (guided by Christian,
by Philippe), with my Blog "homepage". I felt at times "ancient",
which of course I am, sometimes I asked for help,

some dear friends were a little scared of the english
I so dearly love. I dream in english, see that?!

Sometimes I made fatal errors and Philippe and Christian
sweated it out to put all things right

I studied and studied Blogger's Support, tried, and tried
at times making a hopeless mess, although not always so stupid,
because that's the way one learns, say wise people, young and old

behold, last week, I ventured to contact Blogger's team
got through, a friendly exchange of mail took place
till Blogger's doc could clearly could see what my problem was
and oh! so very simply: mend it! With kind regards!

said my Blogger's friends to me with some sort of rye smile:
"lucky you, Claire Marie, to be with Blogger,
such friendly, efficient help, that's GOLD! It is."








 
Every child is my child
that was our deepest conviction
in South Africa's difficult times, even until today

Every human being is my brother
it remains my conviction even here
in a society so frozen cool!
Jesus says so, and so it is, what a challenge!

I have a brother who believes, declares,
lives out most concretely the universal brotherhood of men
and creatures, nature, sun, moon and stars included

for years now, we spend Sunday afternoon together
in St Ursanne by the river Doubs
it frequently happens that we just play scrabble
and sing songs both old and new
words full of wisdom and mellow melodies
mixed with today's rock pop and gospel heartbeat!
desperate urge to live and be true!
thisrty, hungry for just a few drops of pure water
a few crumbs of deep brown bread
famished for truth and for LOVE

what is Love, Who is Love? Words only?
nay: the Word made man in everyman
saint and sinner alike! That is LOVE!



here he is: I am his sister
see the christic light, the cosmic light
the divine vibrations that, on one blessed day
became a form, a man, a brother
Love made man