Advent Calendar:Wed 9 Dec-The Gift of Miracles!

Now it's a bit presumptious of our calendar to think we can give such a gift...the gift of miracles that is...because of course miracles are really gifts from the Universe or God or outer worldy beings or celestial beings or metaphysical ones or angels! So just see us as the channel or the messenger on the internet tonight!

As customary the calendar is going to celebrate this gift from the perspective of the three different Meady's Musings Production's blogs:

*On Meady's Musings-Miracles: Science Vs. Faith?
*On UCP- Miracles as defined in Catholicism
*On Books and Films Corner- Miracles on Film!

And the Bears are coming soon! However the carpenter advised that I should reinforce the roof of my house and do some other finishing touches to re-cover from the fall out of Mon night's blog on my house first! You know...like replace a few wooden beams here or window pane there...it's not easy when a few hundred mice were watching Youtube in your living room...who knows what they could have been gnawing on...Oh dear!

MIRACLES AS DEFINED IN CATHOLICISM

Taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia- New Advent

"The gift of miracles is one of those mentioned by St. Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians (12:9-10), among the extraordinary graces of the Holy Ghost. These have to be distinguished from the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost enumerated by the Prophet Isaias (11:2 sq.) and from the fruits of the Spirit given by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians (5:22). The seven gifts and the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost are always infused with sanctifying grace into the souls of the just. They belong to ordinary sanctity and are within the reach of every Christian. The gifts mentioned in the Epistle to the Corinthians are not necessarily connected with sanctity of life. They are special and extraordinary powers vouchsafed by God only to a few, and primarily for the spiritual good of others rather than of the recipient. In Greek they are called charismata, which name has been adopted by Latin authors- they are also designated in theological technical language as gratiae gratis datae (graces gratuitously given) to distinguish them from gratiae gratum facientes, which means sanctifying grace or any actual grace granted for the salvation of the recipient.

The gift of miracles, as one of these charismata, was expressly promised by Christ to His disciples (John 14:12; Mark 16:17-18), and St. Paul mentions it as abiding in the Church. "To another [is given] the grace of healing . . . To another, the working of miracles "- (1 Corinthians 12:9-10). Christ imparts this gift to chosen servants as He did to the Apostles and disciples, that His doctrine may become credible and that Christians may be confirmed in their faith, and this the Vatican Council has declared in chapter iii "De Fide". This gift is not given to any created being as a permanent habit or quality of the soul. The power of effecting supernatural works such as miracles is the Divine Omnipotence, which cannot be communicated to either men or angels. The greatest thaumaturgus that ever appeared in this world could not work miracles at will, neither had he any permanent gift of the kind abiding in his soul. The Apostles once asked concerning a cure of demoniacal possession: "Why could we not cast him out? Christ replied, this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:18 sqq.). Eliseus could not raise to life the son of the Sunamitess with his staff.

The grace of miracles is therefore only a transient gift by which God moves a person to do something which issues in a wonderful work. Sometimes God makes use instrumentally of contact with the relics of the saints, or visits to sacred shrines for this purpose. The miraculous work is always the effect of Omnipotence, nevertheless, men and angels may be said to work miracles in a threefold way

* by their prayers invoking a miraculous effect;
* by disposing or accommodating the materials, as it is said of the angels that they will in the resurrection collect the dust of the dead bodies that these may be re-animated by the Divine power,
* by performing some other act in co-operation with the Divine agency, as in the case of the application of relics, or of visits to holy places which God has marked out for special and extraordinary favours of this kind.

To Christ even as man, or to His humanity, was granted a perpetual and constant power of miracles. He was able of His free will to work them as often as He judged it expedient For this He had the ever-ready concurrence of His Divinity, although there was in His Humanity no permanent quality which could be the physical cause of miracles.

Benedict XIV tells us sufficient with regard to miracles in their relation to sanctity of life when explaining their estimate in the cause of the beatification and canonization of the saints. He says: It is the common opinion of theologians that the grace of miracles is a grace gratis data, and therefore that it is given, not only to the just but also to sinners (though only rarely). Christ says that He knows not those who have done evil, though they may have prophesied in His name, cast out devils in His name, and done many wonderful works. And the Apostle said that without charity he was nothing, though he might have faith to remove mountains. On this passage of the Apostle, Estius remarks:

For as it offers no contradiction to the Apostle that a man should have the gift of tongues or prophecy, or knowledge of mysteries, and excel in knowledge, which are first spoken of; or be liberal to the poor, or give his body to be burned for the name of Christ, which are afterwards spoken of and yet not have charity, so also there is no contradiction in a man having faith to remove mountains, and being without charity (Treatise on Heroic Virtue, III, 130).

These graces manifest themselves in two ways. One way as dwelling in the Church, teaching and sanctifying her, as, for example, when even a sinner in whom the Holy Ghost does not abide works miracles to show that the faith of the Church which he preaches is true. Hence the Apostle writes: God also bearing them witness by signs, and wonders, and divers miracles, and distributions of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will (Hebrews 2:4). In another way, the manifestation is made by the graces of the Holy Ghost as belonging to him who performs the works. Hence in Acts it is said that St. Stephen, full of grace and fortitude, did great wonders and signs among the people (Acts 6:8). Here we have a distinction clearly drawn out as to the manner in which gratiae gratis datae may be to the advantage of the person receiving them as well as to the utility of others, and how it is that by these graces persons without sanctifying grace may perform signs and wonders for the good of others. But these are rare and exceptional cases and real miracles can never be performed by a sinner in proof of his own personal sanctity or in proof of error, because that would be a deception and derogatory to the sanctity of God Who alone can perform miracles."

Advent Calendar: Tue 8 Dec-The Gift of Christmas Cheer!

I have to tell ya...Meady's Musings Production's House was a real riot after the Friendship blog yesterday...the mouse invited all his family...and they all wanted to see the cartoon kahani (story) about their ancestral mice and the elephants. So I had a whole room of mice watching Youtube on one end of the house. And on the other end...well the purple elephant kept apologising to me and trying to ward off elephants from north, east, west and south...just all about! You see they too came...running up to one another in delight but the vibration it caused almost cracked the foundation of the house! I know it was all meant with friendship and love though...but the Purple Elephant I've never seen him so filled with glee but yet apologetic you see! :)Eventually trumpets died down and they all got the message that yes indeed they were loved but they simply couldn't converge on one small human house! LOL!

So this author is all tired out...knackered if you like! And she was preparing the customary three part blog...a main blog with a bit of different perspectives for each of her three blogs...and it was to be to talk about the gift that are bears! BUT...BUT...

The thought of the likes of Goldilocks and the Three Bears rummaging through her house...and perhaps Pooh tinkering in her kitchen looking for honey and heavens forbid getting stuck in a window or door after stuffing himself with fluff! OR OR...a grizzly at her door!??? Or other real liFe bears on her already shaken roof...well...it was enough for one day...so...that story was shelved for another day...more than likely tomorrow if all my readers promise...promise...NOT TO FEED THE BEARS! :)

So to fill my calendar with cheer today as I refuse to leave it bear...oops I mean bare! :) I salute Sesame Street as this is the year of its 40th anniversary and I've always loved their muppet cousins as well...and indeed you readers might know that John Denver and the Muppets singing together is some of my favourite Christmas music each year! And well no news to the whole blogosphere but we also lost MJ this year...gone too soon some say...say say! :) So he also forms part of the gift of cheer!

Advent Calendar: Mon 7 Dec 09- The Gift of Friendship

Today on the Advent calendar we will be celebrating the gift of Friendship! The same blog post on all three blogs today since like the Ghost of Christmases Past, Present and Future I believe on this particular posting all three of my blogs swirl into ONE!

I was inspired to give this gift here on the calendar because I’ve been touched by many great acts of friendship in the blogosphere this year. And I count myself lucky enough to have been on the receiving end so many a time! To be honest I’ve been giving too but to recall the cliché here… “Self praise is no praise”. So I won’t be recalling what I’ve done but what has been done for me! But of course all great friendships aren’t about keeping score anyway. All the same I have to single out some people who have been making my blog posts all the more decorative or more inspirational all year long! And also my followers (I don’t have the application up and I don’t keep score) but I know I have a handful of people. Those who if not always at least from time to time read my posts and even comment if not on the actual blogs, perhaps on Intent where I re-post or on Facebook where I might even get a thumbs up!

But first a drum roll please for these two who have contributed directly to the creativity and or spirituality of this blog this year! Ladies and Gentlemen…Elephants and Mice! :
A big round of applause for…ADRIANA OCHOA and Brother/Deacon GREG KIRK!

Adriana is the seamstress…Oh yes! Oh yes! She is the one who has clothed my animals if you didn’t notice they now have their Santa hats…we decided to let the animals remain more au naturel after all we are not trying to be the new Disney here! And the amount of cloth it was taking to cover the Purple Elephant we decided to use some for other draping which you will see about the sites and then give the rest of the cloth to that wonderful man from India the calendar celebrated last year when we learnt about him from the Global Oneness Project …you can reminded of his lovely work here! (NOTE: This donation is only in spirit for now but if I or you are ever in India or have a way to get cloth to this lovely drive…I would do so in the material world and perhaps you should consider doing so too…)

But back to the seamstress…she is more than that…she is the one who based on my ideas for these blogs and Meady’s Musings Production breathed new life into my old Meady’s Musings Production logo and also designed my UCP-Universal Collective Prayer banner. And yes all free of charge only paid for in friendship. This given that she is a professional at her job as you can perhaps see from the great work she does displayed here. She also did the poster for my Holi blog earlier this year. If you need to reach her to create something for you email us admin@meadysmusings.com

So in a sense she is the co-mother of the Purple Elephant and his little mouse friend. Although again the Purple Elephant and the little mouse well really they have a long line of ancestral friendship you know…you can check out this story to understand a bit more about their bond…but they have also daily been working together on their personal bond…and let this be said they would lay their lives down for each other as well as either one of their mothers! :


Now speaking of cloth we come to a man of the cloth…my brother in UCP-Universal Collective Prayer…Deacon Greg Kirk! Sometimes when I speak of him or communicate with him tears comes to my eyes…and I’m not ashamed to say this…after all we are both UCPers and so unashamedly surrender onto the divine in all! However I was so excited to work on this Advent calendar with both him and my soul sister Adriana that I was in excitement and Universe inspired tears daily! If you thought the Purple Elephant was excited well you can’t imagine how it was for his mother!
So over this weekend as both animals got their clothes and thanked the seamstress and the prayers by Bro Greg had already been said…I really felt moved to sing this song of friendship…when my nieces and nephew (as we listened to it) explained to me about it…it is from the 2009 Hindi film New York…Hai Junoon! The Youtube vid comes with translations and I hope you enjoy it!

I also dedicate it to all my friends from Intent…many of whom are now part of my experimental virtual book writing café on Facebook-The Deliciously Divine Café. Also some other friends who avidly read me like Maria and Neerupa and just all my other friends who have been there for me always even if they hate to read or won’t read my blog! And for those who come and read here and in your own way forge a bond with me by reading my words, thoughts and of my deeds without making our bond known…and others who for several reasons won’t be mentioned here but are dear to the Mother of the Purple Elephant’s heart.

OK so now I’m sounding like if I’m getting an Academy Award or something…(do I need to put the little copyright symbol when I write that?) LOL! But really I should also name some others dear to me…I know how it goes you name some and leave out others and then….TROUBLE even if your readership is not that large at all! But you know I love you all…after all one of these here blogs is UCP-Universal Collective Prayer so it encompasses the one in the all and the all in the one! But before I cue Hai Junoon! I must bow and then shout out too to some other marvelous Intenters and Deliciously Divine Café goers…

Ruch- You always seem like a partner in crime…perhaps we might be the real life purple elephant and mouse!

Grandpa Ed- Enough said…I mean you are my new Grandpa now since all my blood related grandparents are out of the material plane. Your wit and metaphysical talks…your walks in the English countryside…I hope you one day meet Winnie the Pooh!

Noreen- Your Irish accent so breath taking…you are a quiet listener…always the supporter…a deliciously divine tea drinker indeed!

Garima and Shweta- Like new found sisters…

Tim- The ever present and eternal supporter…thumbs up to you too my friend!

So many more…Yogi Rajesh, Vashi, Brother Dom, Mr. Phillip Zeuner, Danes and Raj Aurora. Glad to make your acquaintance Sirs!

Elspeth- not an Intenter nor in the virtual café but we have exchanged many a thought and gift and I’m delighted that in this international mix of Delicious Divinity there is at least one other Trini face! Of course I’m sure there are more to be found…but for sure you would have been one of those faces that made me see that also a Trini can blog like this you see! And thank you for the Freedom speech at the local candle4tibet event last year which as you will know was one of the events that led to the creation of the blog UCP!

And My Fairy Godmother was Sara now Kara we all so miss you!

And just like those Academy Award winning speeches I’m sure I’ve left out many…and of course as I said there are some that I’ve not mentioned here on purpose but the connection and thankfulness is understood…after all just like the three ghosts swirl into one…sometimes when one is so close they are not distinct from you when giving praise as to give praise to them would be the same as that tricky self praise business…so I’m sure you guys know who you are! ;)

Luckily unlike the Academy Awards I can cue my music whenever I like but let me cue it now…Ladies, Gentlemen, Elephants and Mice…Beings on the Material plane and those in the Spirit world too…here it is my Friendship song to you…Hai Junoon!

Advent Calendar:Sat 5 and Sun 6 Dec 09-Trees and Elephants for Christmas!

This week on Meady's Musings Production's Advent Calendar we gave the gift of trees and elephants. So as we relax on the weekend let's have some music! Join us dancing and singing to some of our odes to trees and elephants for our Christmas fun! :)

Advent Calendar: 4 Dec 09-The Gift that are Elephants!

Copyright Meady's Musings Production

Today on the Advent calendar we will be celebrating (yes, you got that right)…elephants! Of course my purple elephant has been calling up his elephant friends world wide to come read the story on The Purple Elephant’s Advent calendar here so the elephant world is all abuzz! You see my purple elephant is a dear friend and a few lunches ago earlier this week I was aghast to hear someone say that at some resort they had elephant meat!

I felt a big blow in the stomach for my purple elephant …I have to tell you….I explained about how elephants have feelings…they are very sentient beings (I mean just look at my purple elephant if you don’t believe me) and I had read once in National Geographic that they have funeral rites and rituals and stuff and scientist believe they mourn and grieve for their dead. The individual more went on about how elephants are attacking! Well of course they are wouldn’t you defend your home and family if people came to kill you!? My purple elephant has had many a pink, green and grey elephant cousin killed!

Why if it’s OK to eat elephants well what’s the biggy with eating people too…I mean elephants are really sensitive creatures…I was pretty irritated that the individual then went on to claim elephants have small brains compared to their size when well they had no scientific evidence to back it up…in fact I understand elephants are quite smart...but apart from my personal relationship with my lovely purple elephant here are some scientific facts out there…

Read what Marc Bekoff, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder has to say in his commentary Do Elephants Cry? By clicking on this link here.

Now I know this is an Advent calendar and my objective of it is to bring fun, comfort and joy. So I’m not going to go on about the gory details of the pain that my purple elephant and his relatives can be subjected to…instead I’m going to celebrate the purple elephant and his kind…it is what the purple elephant wants too…he really just wants to live in peace and harmony with other beings in the universe…and for his family it’s Christmas time too…so here is how we are going to celebrate the Purple Elephant and Elephants at large and their gifts today on the Advent Calendar.

- Meady’s Musings-Some scientific facts that show the loveliness of the nature of the elephant…their ability to show love and compassion for each other and even for species other than their own!
- UCP-Elephants have long been revered in Hinduism and Buddhism…and we will explore that…
- Books and Films Corner-Many movies and books have been made about elephants we will talk about one of my favourite elephantine characters!

CELEBRATION OF THE ELEPHANT IN ASIAN RELIGIONS AND CULTURES

By now it is well known on UCP how I feel about my ishq devata Ganapati. He is of course very elephantine in nature. However here are some other interesting facts about the celebration of the elephant in Asian Religions and Cultures as described on Wikipedia:

The following elephants or elephant-like figures occur in mythology and religion.
• Ganesh, an elephant-headed Hindu deity
• Airavata, an elephant ridden by the Hindu god Indra.
• Erawan, the Thai version of Airavata.

Gaja (a Sanskrit word for elephant) is one of the significant animals finding references in Hindu scriptures and Buddhist and Jain texts. In general, a gaja personifies a number of positive attributes including abundance, fertility and richness; boldness and strength; and wisdom and royalty.

In the context of the history of Ancient India, the earliest depiction of gaja is found on the seals discovered at sites (like Harappa and Mohenjo Daro) of the Indus Valley Civilization (3000 BC – 1700 BC). Some scholars believe that by that time elephants had been tamed and domesticated, and used for peaceful and possibly for other purposes. In the Vedas, there is no direct reference to elephants. Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya reports use of war elephants during warfare.

Over a period of time encompassing several centuries, elephants became an important part of Indian life and society, particularly of religious tradition, the royalty, and the aristocratic segment of the society. Capturing, taming and training of elephants developed into a specialized skill. In Ancient India, a number of treatises were written about caring and management of elephants, which included the following:
• Palakapya’s Hastayurvea dealing with the management of good health of elephants.
• Matangalila by Nilakantha
The legend states that Airavata, the first elephant, emerged from the churning of the ocean. There is another mythological account, which states that Brahma created elephants.

The Buddhist tradition states that Buddha came into the womb of his mother in the form of an elephant having six tusks. According to Jaina tradition, each of the mother of the twenty-four thirthankars dreamt of fourteen auspicious objects, which included an elephant. In Hinduism, Ganesh, a god with the elephant’s head has been an object of reverence and worship for more than two millennia. He is therefore called as Gajanan(Gaj=elephant, aanan= faced). Several deities and mythological figures have elephants as their conveyance (vahan) including Balarama, Skanda and aiyanar.

An elephant is also one of several attributes of a Chakravartin, which he is expected to own to be bestowed with the title of Chakravatin, that is, the supreme and universal ruler.

Advent Calendar: Wed 3 Dec 09-The Gift of Trees!

Meady’s Musings Production is always celebrating the trees and you can expect to see many references to them as this year’s Advent calendar progresses. Today on the calendar we’d like to feature trees on each of the blogs in this manner:

- Meady’s Musings-The beauty of trees
- UCP-The spirit that can be found in trees
- Books and Films Corner-Yes we kill trees to make books but hopefully it is a willing or worthy sacrifice and may blogs, kindle downloads and e-books be the books of the future so we can save them trees! But for now we will celebrate some poetry about trees!

THE SPIRIT OF TREES

Many trees are considered divine in Hinduism. Perhaps the one held on highest of high is the Peepal tree or the Sacred Fig or Banyan Fig also known in Buddhism to be the tree under which Buddha became enlightened…the Bodhi tree. Over the years UCP has celebrated this tree as in this blogpost:


UCP loves many stories associated with spirituality and trees and believes that many a divine spirit resides in them. Also a tree can be seen to carry out the ultimate seva…service. It provides shelter, fun, joy, food and so much more and doesn’t ask for much in return. Many trees are centuries and centuries old and UCP believes that within them lies many a divine being and spirit that sits observing the Universe as it unfolds. Many religions agree and can join with UCP in celebrating the tree. Read this site to learn more about how various religions celebrate the gifts of THE TREE!

Advent Calendar 2nd Dec 09-Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: The Ghosts of Past, Present and Future.

Since the beginning of the Meady’s Musings blog we’ve been exploring themes like reincarnation and parallel worlds…things metaphysical as a whole. Today as part of the Advent calendar I felt it would be interesting and exciting to explore the concept of the ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future as featured in the Dickensian classic- ‘A Christmas Carol’ with a Meady’s Musings slant! As a result I will discuss it as follows:

- On Meady’s Musings- the metaphysics of it.
- On UCP- a certain metaphysical being whom I’ve been a big fan of since the inception of that blog whom I believe has the whole past-present-future concept down pat!
- On Books and Films Corner- I will keep true to the name of the blog and just celebrate some of the potent quotes said by the ghosts in the Classic itself.

THE UCP WAY TO CONQUERING THE GHOST OF CHRISTMASES PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Here on UCP you must all know by now how much we adore Sada Shiv…Super Shiv! We believe that he is indeed the one metaphysical being out there that has truly conquered the space-time continuum discussed on Meady’s Musings today. We also believe that if we strive to be more like him…more Shiv like we will all one day conquer it too. He conquers and lives in the all present and powerful now through his great powers of meditation but when he is awake in his dances he transcends all worlds and all time…he conquers the space-time continuum.

So today on this 2nd day of our Advent calendar sit back and enjoy our ever popular and featured image of Super Shiv in perfect meditation in Rishikesh followed by that world famous image of his dance of destruction…Nataraj position...so famous that CERN of large hadron collider fame asked the government of India for one to display outside it’s headquarters! Please note while I hold the rights to use the Rishkesh image as readers of this blog will know from this story. I don't hold the rights for the CERN pic and burrowed it from another blogger's site as follows: http://dustysojourner.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/siva-nataraja-one-leg-zhanzhuang-and-quantum-mechanics/