Bread

Thanks to Mick Gallagher.

Bread
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While waiting in line at the only open bakery he could find, Gaza resident Mohammed Salman said, "I'm going to buy something that my family can keep for only two days because there is no electricity and no refrigerator.

We cannot keep anything longer than that." This was in January of last year.

Today, many Gazan bakeries are closed because, like Mohammed's family, they
don't have power either. Some don't have even flour. The Israeli blockade of Gaza had already made it impossible for Palestinians to live in dignity and have access to the barest of essentials: bread, clean water, medical supplies, or electricity.

[Take action here: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1814]

This is no coincidence. This is official policy. In a moment of candor, Dov
Weissglas, a top aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, was quoted as saying, "The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but [they] won't die."

His prediction was true. Last April, UNICEF reported that more than 50% of
children under five in Gaza are anemic, and that many children are stunted due to a lack of vitamins. And now?
As Gaza is smoldering from the siege that killed 1,285 people - nearly 70%
of them civilians, destroyed at least 4,000 homes, and sent more than 50,000 people to temporary shelters, the Israeli blockade has not been lifted. A tenuous cease fire is now in place. Humanitarian aid is starting to pour in.
But the civilian infrastructure is crippled. The borders of Gaza remain controlled by Israel. And just as Gazans could not leave during the siege to escape the bombing and shelling, they cannot leave now to get food and fuel.
There is not enough electricity for the bakeries that are left standing to produce bread, or for families that still have homes to refrigerate food. Palestinians cannot even feed their children with the fish from the nearby sea. Israeli gunboats offshore have been enforcing the blockade with rounds of cannon and bursts of heavy machine-gun fire, to keep Gaza fishermen out of the sea.

Unless we end the blockade, long after the world's attention has shifted to
some other crisis, some 1.5 million Gazans will still be under-nourished, without proper medical care, fuel and water, and trapped. Israelis too, who live in the south, will be even less safe from the threat of Hamas' Qassam rockets falling on their heads.
Lasting peace and stability in the region are simply an impossible dream while
Palestinians in Gaza are denied the right to protect their children, feed their
families, and expand their worlds beyond the few feet in front of their homes--or, for many, tents.

Please ask your friends to speak out and tell Obama: "Lift the blockade."

Sincerely,
Cecilie

The Poorest People in the World

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Dearest Friends of the Heart,

Recently, you, our dearest friends, have responded with the Love of God to a request to give aid to the poorest people on our planet-- orphans in the third world, made homeless and hopeless by the horrific violence of wars based on greed. The gross evil that these kids have seen is partly compensated by your Love for them. This is how God (Love) gains victory over fear on our tiny nanoplanet.

We are personally and deeply, sincerely grateful for whatever aid that you have been able to give. Please keep in mind that donations as small as three dollars can make a real difference. In order to keep you posted, we plan a public acknowledgment of our givers, periodically, in the "Universal Love Digest."

By this generosity, you prove that your Love is genuine. For kindness is a real form of Love. This is a great way to help real people, and to give yoursjavascript:void(0)
Publish Postelf the only gift that really counts-- good karma! So, in alphabetical order, we wish to acknowledge our dear friends; we have received the following funds, as of 051308:

Anonymous $20
Stephen Doran $150
lmiusa $25
Tim McConnell $30
Kathy Moulton
and Boone Posey: $100
Alice Phillips: $25
Diann Proffitt $50

___________
Total, 052808: $400.

This fund was received at

Love Ministries
5100 Liberty-Fairfield Rd.
Hamilton, OH 45011.

It will be evenly distributed, one hundred percent of it, to our affiliates: Love Ministries of India, Love Ministries of Kenya, Love Ministries of Pakistan, Love Ministries of Tanzania, and Love Ministries of Uganda. This is the gift of bread, of life, to people who otherwise might have perished without hope in total desperation.

Again, thanks, dear friends. We will keep you alerted as the fund grows, by God's (Love's) working in and through you.

Love,

the Staff of Love Ministries USA

Bread and the Bread of God

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The text, "Man shall live, not by bread alone, but by every utterance of God," was used by Jesus, in the Wilderness Temptation, to refute a temptation to profit personally from the Powers of the universe (miracles). It is implied that Power is never to be used selfishly or personally. And it is never to be used to show off.

It means also that "bread"-- all material things-- are not enough to sustain human beings emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually. People of our society are always trying to live by "bread" alone. Most will do anything to earn more "bread" or money.

Yet depression is the most common malaise of our time and culture. It is depressing to the Soul (deeper interior Mind) to try to live without the words of God (Love). Not only is it true, as the ancient song says, that "money can't buy you Love," but the attempt to live without Love is a hell of utter depression and pain-- no matter how much money you have.

For the human mind (nature) was not created to be satisfied by money. The truth is that, in the history of the whole world, not a single human being has ever been "made happy" by the possession of money and things that money can buy!

The wealthy, who are often consistently miserable, are proof of this premise. This applies to those who, being very rich, seek escape in sexual promiscuity and carelessness, or in alcohol or other drugs. Money and its offspring, business, make a very shoddy and tawdry "religion." For it does not create warmth, friendship, Love,family, fulfillment, or satisfaction.

Buying sports-cars, indulging in trips and travel, or engaging in various sports, are simply ways that miserable people can use to try to "lose themselves" in kinetic outer activity. These expensive pursuits never bring peace or tranquility.

We are designed to "lose ourselves" in the vast interior Mind of Love. What people truly need-- the "bread of God"-- is Love. It can be available to the poorest person, if she is willing to give Love. To trade Love for cash-- by using our time to earn money instead of developing spiritually-- is like trading goldust for dust.
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