Articles For Heart Mind Soul

Letter to the Editor, Religious liberty The United States of America is one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Religious beliefs challenge both Democrats and Republicans. Instead of faith being protected by the government of the United States, those of faith are being persecuted by the government of the United States. Democrats and Republicans fight about every issue, but on religious liberty, our first American liberty, there should be no argument. In America, religious belief and practice are protected by the First Amendment. It is a founding principle and a fundamental human right, rooted in the dignity of every human person, people of every faith or no faith at all.  Religious liberty, it’s an American issue, a civil rights issue. Religious liberty includes our liberty of belief, speech, and worship. But it also protects actions, the liberty to serve the common good in accordance with one’s faith. It means that each p...

Letter to the Editor Yes, Regina, there is a CHRIST  (Adaptation of “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus”) Dear Editor,  I’m 8 years old. Some of my friends say there’s no CHRIST whose birth we celebrate on Christmas Day. My Daddy says, “If you see it in the Riverville Herald-News it’s so.” Please tell me the truth; is there a CHRIST? Regina Regalos 2017 Nativity Boulevard Dear Regina, Your friends are wrong! They’ve been affected by the secularism of a secularist age. They don’t believe in the historical reality that CHRIST was born in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago. Yes, Regina, there’s a CHRIST! HE existed and HE exists today because there’s another day we celebrate, Easter, when CHRIST who came to free us from sin and death, miraculously rose from the dead and ascended into heaven where HE reigns until HIS second coming and our the final judgment day, when we will be with HIM or not with HIM, for all eternity. Sadly...

Letter to the Editor, Bright-lights in a Texas Border-town Vista Buena and Felipe San both graduated from Riverville High School the same year. Now they were sitting in the beautifully recently renovated landscaped area at the Centro Cívico with the festive lights of the Christmas season illuminating the dark of night. The Christmas tree was all lit up; the air was cold and the hot chocolate felt warm in their hands. Both were on Christmas break from college and coming back home was the only place to be this time of year with family and friends. The lights glowed all around them as they sat with their large thermos of hot cocoa, a bag of marshmallows and a candy cane to stir their delicious holiday concoction. In the stillness and silence of the bright Christmas lights suddenly they heard a whimpering sound that made them turn to each other and then they turned to where the faint, muffled sound was coming from. They both instinctively thought it was probably an in...

Letter to the Editor, Playing hide and seek What are Ms. Hide and Ms. Seek up to today?  We are about to enter into another adventure, in the make-believe world of Ms. Hide and Ms. Seek.  They live in the world known as the Internet and the World Wide Web.   The net and the web cast their snares around them and they are seemingly lovingly embraced by its weaving and wandering throughout the world.  They are caught in its trap and cannot escape.  The net drags them out of reality and hoists them into a make-believe world that looks like reality, but is the antithesis of reality. It is unreality masking as reality.  It is another world, but they are made to believe that they are very much still in the world, but it is a world far removed from life as they know it.   Ms. Hide is hiding her true identity and has forged an entirely new and different identity.  She creates herself and recreates herself over and over aga...

Letter to Santa - I mean Letter to the Editor, Writing a Letter to Santa Claus My name is Merry Navidad. I must have been six or seven years old when my mother asked me what I wanted Santa Claus to bring me so that we could write him a letter to let him know what I wanted. I was thrilled to make my wishes known so Santa would know exactly what I wanted and I wouldn’t be disappointed like I was when relatives gave me beautifully gift wrapped presents that I gleefully opened in anticipation of the surprise inside, only to be disillusioned when it was revealed that it was only clothes and not a real Christmas gift like a doll or a toy. My mother and I sat at the kitchen table with fancy, formal stationary and a fountain pen with black ink in hand. She wrote down: Dear Santa. I thought to myself, this is going to be a grand adventure. And then she turned to ask me, “What do you want to tell Santa now?” I simply stared at her in silence and was speechless. ...

Dedication of John Patrick Stolte Community Center in Del Rio Submitted by Bonnie Bolner, Dr. Marian Casillas and Pam Smith Photos by Dr. Veronica Cadena, Raquel Cedillo and Allison Hubbard The Dedication Ceremony of the John Patrick Stolte Community Center - Offices of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and Adoration Chapel was held on October 28 in Del Rio. The ceremony began with Eucharistic Celebration at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, MSpS, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio and concelebrants Father Pius U. Ezeigbo, Pastor, Sacred Heart Church; and Father Sady Nelson Santana, Parochial Vicar, Saint Joseph Church, Del Rio. Assisting Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, MSpS were Deacon David Scarbo, Sacred Heart Church, Del Rio; Deacon Robert Kusenberger, Saint Peter Prince of the Apostles Catholic Church, San Antonio and...