Lent Is Time Of Conversion, Return To God
By CAROL GLATZ
Catholic News Service Vatican City
http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2008/0211/benedict021108.shtml

Lent is a time to return to God’s loving embrace and to remember that true happiness can only come from being a friend of Jesus, Pope Benedict said. The Lenten journey is a time of conversion which means “letting oneself be overcome by Jesus and with him return to the Father,” the pope said during his weekly general audience Feb. 6, Ash Wednesday.

“When modern man declares his total independence from God, he becomes a slave to himself, and often he finds himself inconsolably lonely,” Benedict said. “Striving for success, yearning for prestige and the quest for comfort — when these completely absorb one’s life” to the point of neglecting God, happiness does not ensue.

He said experience has shown that having one’s expectations and needs fulfilled is not what brings contentment. “In reality, the only joy that makes the human heart overflow is that which comes from God” because humanity thirsts for a joy that is infinite and resistant to being quashed by daily worries, he said

Australian Prime Minister Makes Formal Apology To Indigenous Australians
Feb 13, 2008 11:18 AM
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/425822/1580830 

Text of the formal apology to Indigenous Australians made in federal parliament by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd:

Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history. The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future. We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country. For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation. For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians. A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity. A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed. A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.

Source: AAP