Download or read book The Basque Country written by Paddy Woodworth and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2012-01-10 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Basque Country is a land of fascinating paradoxes and enigmas. Home to one of Europe's oldest peoples and most mysterious languages, with a living folklore rich in archaic rituals and dances, it also boasts a dynamic post-modern energy, with the reinvention of Bilbao creating a model for the twenty-first-century city of cultural services and information technologies. Hugging the elbow of the Bay of Biscay on both the French and Spanish sides of the Pyrenees, this small territory abounds in big contrasts, ranging from moist green valleys to semi-desert badlands, from snowy sierras to sandy beaches, from harsh industrial landscapes to bucolic beech woods. This often idyllic scenery is the stage for fierce political passions. Almost every aspect of the Basque Country generates passionate disagreement, even its precise location. Spanish and French centralism, often authoritarian and sometimes brutal, has met with resistance for two centuries. Most recently and notoriously ETA, a terrorist group with deep popular support, has engaged in a bloody 45-year conflict. But many Basques consider themselves full French or Spanish citizens, and fear political and linguistic exclusion under Basque nationalist rule.

Download or read book Meditations for Lent written by Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet and published by Sophia Institute Press. This book was released on 2014-01-04 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Even three hundred years ago, believers found it difficult to sustain for forty days the proper Lenten spirit. That's why even then, countless Christians turned to the writings of Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704), whose great piety and simple eloquence won him renown as one of the greatest preachers of his time. From Bishop Bossuet's sermons and spiritual writings, believers drew ever greater Lenten wisdom and strength. Now translator Christopher Blum has selected from Bishop Bossuet's voluminous works fifty brief but remarkably powerful meditations that complement the daily readings at Mass during the Lenten season, thus offering to us the perfect companion for a thoughtful and fruitful Lent. If you read and meditate briefly on just one of them each day in Lent, I guarantee that this good French bishop's eloquence will soon have you not merely remembering the events of Christ's journey to His Crucifixion; it will have you spiritually walking with Him on that journey . . . which is precisely what we are called to do in Lent! With Bossuet, this Lent you will find yourself saying, "O Jesus! I present myself to you to make my journey in your company. O my Savior, receive your traveler! Here I am ready, holding on to nothing. Let me go with You to the Father." That's the fire that should burn in the heart of all Christians. This Lent, let Bishop Bossuet enkindle it in yours. Among the Meditations: God Alone Suffices Pray to God in Secret The Truth and the Life Tempted in the Desert The Sign of Jonah Love Your Enemies This Is My Beloved Son And You Will Be Forgiven The Wicked Tenants In Spirit and in Truth The Silence of Christ Priest, Prophet, and King Our Life, a Journey to God The Great Commandment I Was Hungry and You Fed Me The Love of God for Repentant Sinners Up to Jerusalem God, the Life of the Soul The Witness of the Baptist The Raising of Lazarus Jesus Is Persecuted The True Messiah The Anointing The Betrayal The Eucharist The Passion The Brevity of Life Washed of Our Sins A Sign of Contradiction No Man Ever Spoke Like This Man The Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem To Unite Ourselves with Christ