More Testimonies

Dear Friend of ZENIT:

As we continue our donation campaign, we'd like to share with you some testimonies that have come to us from all over the world.

A computer and Internet connection are already a luxury for a great number of our readers. There are tens of thousands of readers who could never pay a subscription to ZENIT.

That is why ZENIT is sent free of charge to all of our private readers. But that doesn't mean it is a cost-free agency.

Tens of thousands of missionaries all over the world receive ZENIT only because readers like you support us!

We do not have other major sources of revenue to cover our annual expenses. Our readers' generosity is our only support.

Without readers' donations, ZENIT couldn't exist!

To meet our fund raising goal this year, we need US$2.80 from each of our 150,000 English-edition private readers.

If you can send us US$50, you would be paying for 18 readers who greatly benefit from ZENIT but who cannot support us financially.

Please, give it a thought.

If you have not yet sent your donation, please send US$10, $50, $100 or more, now!

If you have already sent a contribution, perhaps you could increase it.

It may be pocket change for you. But it is life changing for others, thanks to ZENIT.

The whole ZENIT team and our readers worldwide will be grateful for your support!

You can send your donation through:

http://www.zenit.org/english/donation.html

With our heartfelt thanks,

Carmen Lago
ZENIT


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VENEZUELA
[Translated from the Spanish original]

On Aug. 8, 2008 in the afternoon, my sister, who suffers from a bipolar syndrome, was starting her chemotherapy treatment for a CA breast inflammation (CIM). My family and I were overwhelmed by the news; by the many aspects that had to be faced, and by the activity entailed in the procedures, medical visits, purchase of medication, discussions about resources, etc., but above all, by the uncertainty it entailed and the anguish aroused in each one of us.

I believe I have subscribed to ZENIT for two years. However, with the excuse that I will read the e-mails later, I don't often open them.

On this occasion, I opened one. Tears came to my eyes because the preaching was addressed to me, totally to me and my family.

I spoke to my sick sister about the preaching and we both decided, without manifesting it, to make Christ's order our own. To go into the deep! To go into the deep! To use personal resources with courage! Let us go into the deep! I am convinced the process will make us better persons.

And the result? It does not depend on us, only on God. However, Christ spoke to me and said: "Be courageous, go on with faith."

The message comforted all of us.
Thank you,
Julio V. Alfonzo D.

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TOGO
[Translation of French original]

I am a missionary, who is very grateful for the evangelical service that ZENIT offers me to nourish my spiritual and ecclesial life. I regret that I am unable to help you concretely: at present our community is going through an acute financial crisis, which obliges us to "collect" money to survive. Fortunately, Providence is always there. Help, and heaven will help you! I know it! You know it! And ZENIT will also be saved in this way.

I offer my Eucharist of the day for "our" intentions,

Brother Andre Bedard, SC

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LEBANON
[Translation of French original]

To the Team and Readers of ZENIT,

I am a Lebanese reader, mother of a family and leader of a Muslim-Christian Movement of dialogue and exchanges: "Dar Mariam" ("Mary's Path").

I have subscribed to ZENIT for about three years, and read your communiqués assiduously (...) I am grateful to be able to receive your news free of charge, because I am not remunerated for my work. My husband, who is retired, spends much of his free time in the service of the poor, the "Restos du Coeur" (charity set up to provide food for the homeless) of Lebanon.

I try to put at the service of the "Dar Mariam" Movement and of friends what I learn from reading ZENIT, especially all that pertains to the interreligious dialogue. Thanks to your services, I often send selected articles to other readers, at times Muslims, who would otherwise be unable to access them. It is a spiritual sharing.

In Lebanon, despite all the times of war, we passionately seek peace. And we seek it not just for ourselves and our country, but as a "Message" to offer to the world, according to John Paul II's word in his Apostolic Exhortation for Lebanon: "Lebanon is not a country, it is a Message." We are conscious of being messengers of Our Lady Mary, for peace. She brings together symbolically all that our country represents that is precious throughout time. She is Bridge and Rainbow among our citizens who belong in the main to Islam and Christianity. She is the Star of all, here, and each one venerates her in his own way. Lebanon's unity has been entrusted to her repeatedly -- and increasingly officially --, by Muslim and Christian religious authorities. (...)

I am happy to express my gratitude here, and to be united to you in prayer.

Therese Farra

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PHILIPPINES

I wish to add to the numerous testimonies to the good work that Zenit is doing.

I have been receiving the daily dispatch for several years now and, as a lay Catholic, have found it to be very reliable and informative. It has been my daily companion and a source for Catholic news around the world, helping me to live solidarity with the Body of Christ, and giving a deeper meaning to each Holy Mass that I attend.

Joyce Yang

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RWANDA
[Translation of French original]

Peace to you!

I have no money, nevertheless I can give you my small testimony and pray for you!

I am a reader of ZENIT. A colleague subscribed me a year and three months ago, and I read ZENIT's news regularly. I would like to share with you what I have learnt reading ZENIT.

Firstly, the fact of being regularly informed about what is happening in the world is very important to me. As a Catholic, to follow regularly the concerns of the Holy Father makes me very Catholic! And I join my prayer to those of my brothers and sisters in Christ. ZENIT has made my love for the Church grow and, thanks to ZENIT, I discover day after day the richness of our Church.

Working, <as I do>, in a family planning institution that uses natural methods, reading Zenit has enabled me to appreciate the grandeur and dignity of the human person and the family. I have realized how this dignity is menaced today. I have become conscious of my responsibility. Professor Jose Maria Simon Castellvi's answers on Humanae Vitae: "a scientific prophecy," has confirmed and encouraged me in my work of counseling couples to use natural methods in the regulation of births.

Ode.

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UNITED STATES

Dear ZENIT Staff,

It has been approximately four years since an initial subscription was given me by a Prelate of Rome. It has connected me to the richness and vastness of my Catholic Church and has deepened the meaning of Universal. To keep up with the Vatican is to keep up with the See of Peter and that is amazing. It is easy to get sidetracked by every day living and forget the Church has more than one side, the Eastern is as old as the Latin right.

It is such a gift to realize that the Pope has his heart set for the good of each one of us.

With a broader view, compassion deepens and so does love of Holy Mother Church, when I see how this Holy and caring Pope spends his days, for us, all of his flock, individually and collectively. Thank you for the gift of ZENIT.

Marie Laura E. Tellier
Cumberland, MD

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CANADA

ZENIT news is a great instrument of evangelization for me. It keeps me up to date and informed about church teaching on current issues such as stem cell research, abortion, social justice, contraception, marriage, etc. It helps inform my witness to others. I email many of the articles to friends as well as send gift subscriptions to other Catholics. It also creates for me a sense of communion and unity with the church in the world and the mystical Body of Christ though the news and commentary of events in the world that relate to our faith.

Julie Gray
Haliburton, Ontario, Canada

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IVORY COAST
[Translation of French original]

Dear ZENIT Friends,

We receive ZENIT's news every day and share all that we receive from you to continue to help our brothers and sisters to know what is happening in the Church and in the world. We display in our parish the commentary on the Word of God that we receive from you and other news of ZENIT. That is what we do to make ZENIT known in our parish and to all the people who come to us. ZENIT is in our midst, it helps us to live Sunday, it enables us to know the situation of our brothers and sisters who are suffering in the world, especially those of China and Myanmar (Burma), whom we keep in our prayers. May God sustain this means of evangelization that ZENIT makes available to all.

Father KABUGE Albert -- Don Bosco Salesian -- (ABIDJAN in the IVORY COAST)

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ZENIT Needs You!

--To send a donation:
http://www.zenit.org/english/donation.html

--Send your testimony to testimonials@zenit.org
(If you DO NOT want the testimony to be published with your first and last names, remember to state so explicitly in the message)