United Nations Essay Online For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2664 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Law Essay Type Review Did you like this example? Program on Skill Development and Livelihood Options by Skill Share International for member NGOs of ATSEC India for program sustainability. National level workshop on training of facilitators on right based approach (in Dehradun) for their state partners, for better impact. Exposure visit organized by ATSEC India for its member organizations to several South Asian countries, to look at the best practices in those countries. With cooperation from Community and Progress Foundation (CAP), ATSEC is going to start livelihood programs in 15 states in India. Village Vigilance Committees and Information Booths act as the safety net. Nedan Foundations initiative towards preventing Human Trafficking and Unsafe Mobility has been a great achievement. These Committees are instrumental in protection of women and children from trafficking and unsafe mobility. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "United Nations Essay Online For Free" essay for you Create order There are 6 border check posts where trafficking is rampant, especially those leading to Daranga (Deosri), Datgari (Deosri), Sorolpara in BTC, Assam, connecting to The Royal Kingdom of Bhutan and Siliguri in West Bengal to Phuentsholing, Bhutan and from Dhubri District of lower Assam to Bangladesh. There are 12 Village Vigilance Committees established in the trans-border areas, where large numbers of ethnic communities displaced due to conflict are living in the relief camps. These committees check the entry of new comers coming to these camps as recruiters of domestic workers and check their genuineness. Through this process, the committees are able to identify the agents and save the innocent girls from being lured away from the camps. The committees have played a vital role in identifying 110 missing ethnic women and girls from the camps, whose where about are to be traced. Through setting up Information Booth Centres, NEDAN could reach out to the ethnic domestic workers workin g in various metros cities of India, who are recruited by deceit and also face sexual exploitation. The success of the Information Booth Centre today is that NEDAN receives calls from the un-reached community members too with information about arrival of the recruiters and their efforts at trying to lure ethnic women and girls in the name of job, marriage and glamour. Besides, this information is further used for mass rescues from various train stations of Assam carried out by NEDAN in collaboration with Studentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Union and participation of other members of the society. Such initiatives of NEDAN on combating trans-border trafficking of women and girls have resulted in meaningful trans-border collaboration in countering trafficking. Border Districts Coordination Committees have been set up in BTC, Assam and Bhutan for combating trafficking of women and girls. Development of SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) was agreed upon and planned during a Regional Consulta tion on Trafficking HIV held on 27-28 January 2008 at Kokrajhar, BTC and this is in process.[1] Loopholes in Existing System The identification of rescued children from the brothels, visiting the rehabilitation homes and seeking information of the repatriated CSE children is a sensitive issue due to judicial activism resulting because of tremendous social awareness. Seeking requisite permission from Government of India, respective State governments and police departments and judiciary was essential in order to receive cooperation from Police department, government officials and NGOs working closely with government. Accordingly requisite permission was sought from Department of Women and Child Development, MHRD, GOI and the respective state governments. However seeking this requisite permission from the judiciary and the state governments was cumbersome and time consuming due to bureaucratic hassles. Nearly two to four months were wasted to seek the relevant permission from the authorities. Seeking permission to visit Nirmal Chayya Home for CSE Children in Delhi was arduous as the file for seeking permission was rolled between the Department of Social Welfare, New Delhi and the High Court Delhi without ascertaining the rightful authority of permission required. This turned out to be a major task, before the team. It involved a massive operation, engulfing enormous time, resource and effort. Obtaining permissions from a series of authorities was not only arduous but also posed a major hurdle in the way of data collection. The team members had to run from pillar to post for acquiring relevant permissions. Despite the relevant documents, permission was refused at several places probably due to lack of coordination. In spite of procuring relevant documents permission was not given to visit repatriated children in Bharatpur by the District Administration. Some of the NGOs had their own thinking and methodology of evaluating the work and did not provide full cooperation and support in spite of our several visits and briefings. However we appreciate full cooperation, support and encouragement provided by, Department of Women and Child Development, MHRD, GOI, Kamla Nagar Police Station (Delhi)), Staff of Nirmal Chaya, Delhi Commission for Women, National Commission for Women, SANLAAP, Rescue Foundation, Maiti Nepal, CWIN and ABC Nepal.[2] Conclusion The major initiatives in India by the NGOs should be taken up and implemented as soon as possible in order to eradicate the issue of trafficking as a whole. Anti-trafficking strategies, prevention, protection, prosecution and rehabilitation (repatriation reintegration) should be best practiced by the NGOs to reach a concrete end point. Similarly joint ventured projects by Govt. Organisations and NGOs should be initiated in India like in other international countries. Since this will open up as many doors as possible against trafficking in the country. This is certain that both p illars can push the strategies faster and more effectively unlike the single pillar. A major weak point that has been mentioned again and again is related to the definition of trafficking itself. There is no precise and coherent understanding of what is meant by the term trafficking and to what and whom it should apply. The various definitions used show that there are many different facets related to the phenomenon. Wijers and Lap Chew (1997) argue that this has sometimes led to inconsistencies, contradictions, conflicting interests, failure to pinpoint violence and abuse, and a tendency to view women narrowly as a vulnerable category, thereby disregarding their right to self-determination. These trends are reproduced in the diverse approaches to trafficking and affect international and national legislation, as well as the content and orientation of prevention, protection and reintegration programmes. The lack of a single definition has made the collection of comparable data v ery difficult, if not impossible. Thus, a related weakness is the lack and unreliability of data on the trafficking of human beings. One more often-mentioned frail point regards the lack of cooperation and coordination between the various players involved in counter-trafficking. On a national level, this means that government departments addressing the issue according to their specialization may not be aware of each otherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s activities, let alone of the work of numerous NGOs and international organizations. On a regional level, although initiatives of individual countries may affect the trafficking situation in other countries in the region, there is no regional analysis and strategy to battle trafficking. Happening on an international level, while various international initiatives are developed, these occur without a clear vision of how these various initiatives may complement and strengthen one another. The laws and the legal systems have, furthermore, rec eived major consideration and censure in evaluations of counter-trafficking initiatives. An operative fight against trafficking is delayed by incomplete laws, weak laws, lack of law enforcement, corruption, lack of awareness of trafficking and capacities to properly address trafficking cases among law enforcers, courts and other authorities. However there is a strong agreement that laws to discourse trafficking should focus on the traffickers and not treat the victims as perpetrators, few countries have adopted legislation and measures for protection of and assistance to victims of trafficking. This is often related to their illegal status as undocumented migrants and sometimes also due to their work in the illegal, informal sector, such as prostitution. Poverty, lack of employment opportunities, lack of education, and a absence of awareness among the general population of trafficking and abuse in migration are usually mentioned as important causes for trafficking. Creativities f or the prevention of trafficking therefore usually emphasise on awareness-raising campaigns, skills training and education programmes and income-raising activities. Prevention initiatives target at warning people about the risks of trafficking and inform them about the possibilities for regular migration. These programmes can have a significant influence on target groups by raising awareness about trafficking. Nevertheless information campaigns also have to spread out to target groups in rural areas where there is slight access to the mass media and where the risk of trafficking is often especially high. There are also several countries in South-East Asia, as this report has shown, which have not yet implemented anti-trafficking information campaigns. This is imperative to keep in mind that the causes of trafficking cannot be reduced to poor economic conditions and ignorance only, but are related to a complex mixture of local and global structures concerning economic, political, socio-cultural and historical processes. In receiving countries, preventative measures often focus on the prevention of illegal immigration. Yet, as Battistella (1999) noted, this also requires coherent economic and political objectives, while as long as economic factors continue to attract migrants, policies aimed solely at combating or restricting irregular migration will fail. Protection initiatives have focused on those who are within a latent trafficking situation as well as those who have come out of a trafficking situation. Maximum of the protection services, such as shelters, health care, counselling, education and training are focused on prostitution and are usually concentrated in urban areas. Inadequate services, lack of resources, capacities, and coordination and cooperation between the various services have limited the effectiveness of protection strategies. Furthermore, the marketability of certain skills or initiatives provided within vocational training and credit programmes, have not always been taken into account. Initiatives concentrating on the return and reintegration of trafficked persons are relatively new. Seeing the larger estimates of numbers of trafficked persons, especially women and children, and the lesser number of assisted returns, one may conclude that most somehow find their way back on their own. In most countries, trafficked persons are considered to be illegal migrants and may thus be detained in jails or immigration detention centres before deportation. Aided return and reintegration programmes have encountered long and cumbersome bureaucratic procedures, especially when the nationality of the person is at issue. Supplement on reintegration cases has not always taken place, partly due to a lack of resources, capacities and infrastructure, which makes an evaluation of return and reintegration programmes difficult. As was noted above, counter-trafficking initiatives have been developed based on analyses and referenc es of former studies, which have outlined several of the weaknesses pointed out above, thus trying to address many of the problems defined. Amongst these are initiatives for increased cooperation and coordination between actors involved in the fight against trafficking, initiatives regarding law reform, law enforcement, and awareness-raising among law enforcers as well as the general population, initiatives for more general capacity-building and return and reintegration programmes. It is still too early to judge these initiatives on their effectiveness. So far, before developing new initiatives, it may be useful to look at the existing ones and where possible improve, strengthen and extend them to other countries in the region that are not included. Assessment and follow-up of counter-trafficking initiatives thereby plays an important role, as it will help to keep the recommended counter-trafficking activities going and, where necessary, adapted to changing or new situations. A more integrative method may also be most useful for the problem of finding a common definition of trafficking. Certain have referred to the important role the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime could play in coming to an internationally accepted definition, while others have criticized it for approaching trafficking too much as a criminal problem. The query is, however, whether it is possible à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" considering the controversies, emotions and interests involved à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and truly necessary at this point to come to one common definition. The diverse facets involved in the problem of trafficking have contributed to diverse approaches to combat trafficking, as outlined in part two. For a comprehensive counter trafficking strategy, it may be necessary to make valuable use of these diverse approaches and analyse how they can strengthen and complement each other in the fight against the abuses and exploitation inherent to trafficking. A pr oper and thorough analysis of the trafficking situation is of essential importance to the development of effective strategies. Kelly and Le (1999) write that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the task of those agencies involved in trafficking issues is to accurately determine what actions are required to be the most effective to stop trafficking. To date no country has actually presented a model of intervention that has been totally effective in stopping trafficking completely. Part of this problem may be because no suitable framework for analysis has been developed on which to approach the formulation of coordinated interventions within a set system.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  They rightfully state that the causes of trafficking, and therefore solutions to the problem, are multi-faceted and should be considered from various levels, including the societal, institutional, community and family levels. In order to come to such a multi-level analysis of the trafficking situation on a country basis, good data and information are necessary. Though many studies have been conducted, and are still conducted, on trafficking in the region, there are still many gaps in knowledge regarding the problem. These gaps in knowledge differ for each individual country. About Indonesia, for example, very little information is available on the general trafficking situation, whereas much more information is available on the diverse forms and patterns of trafficking in Thailand. Yet, though various studies have contributed to a better understanding of the trafficking situation in Thailand, there too no multi-level analysis of the trafficking issue has been made. An analysis of the trafficking issue should, however, not remain on the national level, but be extended to the regional and cross-regional level. The various regional efforts that have been developed are of great importance to finding proper responses to the trafficking issue in South-East Asia. Among the efforts that need strengthening and further d evelopment are not only law enforcement, criminal prevention and prosecution initiatives. These initiatives will not suffice if they are not accompanied by mechanisms for a proper migration management in order to make legal migration in and outside of the region possible where desirable for potential migrants and potential labour importing areas, thereby guaranteeing the rights of migrants. Such efforts may also include regional and cross-regional cooperation in defining migration needs and procedures, and combating abuse and exploitation of migrants, including the trafficking of children. For the migrants, new or improved pre-departure training could be developed, providing information about, amongst others, the rights of migrants, health issues, support structures in sending and receiving countries, and other issues that are important for migrants going to particular countries. In receiving countries, structures for migrant workers and trafficked persons could extend or set up, in order to provide relevant information and assistance in their own languages. These efforts should not only involve governments, but also NGOs and international organizations working on the issue. Over the years, these various organizations have acquired expertise in the development and implementation of counter-trafficking initiatives. While some organizations have specialized more on advocacy and awareness-raising or research, others have been involved in providing direct assistance to trafficked persons in shelters, through counselling, training and return programmes. A referral system between these organizations, including relevant government departments may help to improve cooperation and coordination, and as such the use of their specific specializations. Instead of aiming at a diversification of activities within single organizations, a network of support structures should be set up on a national as well as regional and cross-regional basis, thereby stimulating capacity-bu ilding within these organizations. Such a network should include support structures on all stages of the trafficking process, including the legal situation and enforcement, prevention, protection, and return and reintegration. [1] Compendium of Best Practices on Anti Human Trafficking by NGOs; UN Office on Drugs and Crime and Govt. of India [2] Compendium of Best Practices on Anti Human Trafficking by NGOs; UN Office on Drugs and Crime and Govt. of India

Gender Differences in Religious Belief - 1817 Words

Critically examine the relationship between gender, religious participation and religious organisation Studies of religious belief verify consistently that the female gender shows greater participation to religion than that of males. This greater commitment to religion described by sociologists such as Bensen applies throughout the course of the woman’s life, and as noted by Glock and Stark, their greater pledge to religion is consistent regardless of the religious organization, whether it be New Religious movements, New Age spirituality, or traditional faiths. Beit-hallahmy and Argyle state that whether it is a matter of private churchgoing or private prayer and regardless of religious belief women appear more religious than men.†¦show more content†¦They are more likely to experience status frustration, born from the constraints of housework and childcare or the unsatisfying lower middle class jobs which are mainly done by women. Religious participation can reinstate identity and give women focus, because where men gain individuality through work, women revive their low sense of worth through religion. Religious faith and practice can enhance psychological well-being by being a source of comfort to women in times of distress and by enhancing their social interaction with others in places of worship. More responsive and sensitive personality traits in a woman mean they are more likely to contemplate emotional wellbeing and not only seek solace in religion bit find meaning and purpose in life. Personality was be attested as a key factor by Thompson, who found that men who possess those qualities more commonly found in women, such as sensitivity , were similarly more likely to be religious. Reasons other than oppression that lead a higher percentage of women to respond to their environment and pursue happiness through religion are the increased levels of poverty they experience. Official figures show women are 14% more likely than men to live in households with incomes that are 60% below the national average. More frequently diagnosed mental illness and depression in women can explain their higher contribution to religion, as cults, sectsShow MoreRelatedRacial Differences Of Sexual Prejudice And Its Correlation831 Words   |  4 PagesRacial Differences in Sexual Prejudice and It s Correlates among Heterosexual Men Irene Dabion, John L. Peterson, and Dominic J. Parrott One in ten gay men and lesbians have admitted to being a victim to a violent crime. 50% state at some point in their life, they had been insulted or verbally abused. Furthermore, sexual orientation based hate crimes have significantly increased violence and its victims often suffer greater bodily harm. This a growing concern. 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Biography of Mary and Martha Free Essays

string(45) " Mary Magdalene is celebrated every July 22\." Mary Magdalene is probably one of the most controversial figures in the New Testament. There are many claims about her personality, from a notorious sinner to until recently, the wife of Jesus Christ. Actually, Mary Magdalene is mentioned as one of Jesus’ female disciples in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. We will write a custom essay sample on Biography of Mary and Martha or any similar topic only for you Order Now All throughout the New Testament, there are other references to Mary Magdalene. Accounts about her life, although plenty, are sometimes confusing depending on the source. The name Magdalene suggested that she came from the town of Magdala, hence the name Mary Magdalene. The town of Magdala is believed to be on the Sea of Galilee’s western shore. The town was a source of salt for the neighboring towns. It was also the administrative center and the largest among the towns surrounding the lake (George, 2003). Mary Magdalene is the sister of Martha and the brother of Lazarus. Accordingly, the story of Martha is intertwined with the story of Mary Magdalene but there are also claims that the Mary who anointed the Lord Jesus, the woman sinner and the Mary of Bethany are three different persons. Pope Gregory the Great declared that all three women were the same person but in 1969, the church retracted that position (Ehrman, 2006). One account tells that Mary Magdalene came from a middle-class family in an affluent fishing village. Later on, Mary Magdalene was believed to be possessed by seven demons which drove her sometimes to madness but was freed by Jesus. Mary Magdalene suffered these demons in her life since childhood and when Jesus freed her, she followed Him. Since then, Mary Magdalene became part of Jesus’ circle of disciples. There were many disputes about her personality. Some say she was a prostitute, others say she was a female divinity figure. Still others claim that she became the wife of Jesus (George, 2003). Mary Magdalene has been both revered as well as reviled for almost 2,000 years. There are claims of her being a witch, a whore and to being the eternal feminine and devoted companion of Jesus. New researches have also shown that Mary Magdalene could have played a central role in the ministry of Jesus and possibly an influential figure in the creation of Christianity (Chilton, 2005). Mary Magdalene was an eyewitness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. She was also believed to have played an important role in the growth of Christianity following Jesus’ ascension to heaven (Lester, 2006). The most famous mention of Mary Magdalene in the New Testament was her anointing of Jesus with perfume and washing his feet in one of the dinners that Jesus frequented in the house of Mary Magdalene and her siblings. Interestingly, many new accounts are coming out disputing the popular belief among Christians that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Recent works by scholars claim that there is no concrete evidence to suggest that indeed Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Some point to the sermon by Gregory the Great five centuries after Mary Magdalene’s death which started that notion (Ehrman, 2006). Since Mary Magdalene was claimed to come from an affluent family, there were also claims that she helped pay for the expenses of Jesus’ ministry. Since Jesus and his disciples never collected donations from people, according to some texts, it was possible that Mary Magdalene helped sustain their ministry through her own funds (George, 2003). When Jesus was crucified, Mary Magdalene was there at the foot of the cross along with Jesus’ mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and one of his apostles John. Being present at the foot of the Lord’s cross with Jesus’ mother bolstered the claim of other people that indeed Mary Magdalene may have been the wife of Jesus because why would she be there along with His mother. These claims were unfounded and probably misunderstood the deep faith and courage of Mary Magdalene on the Lord Jesus Christ. She was avid follower. The story of Martha complaining to Jesus about Mary Magdalene sitting there listening to Him while she serves all the guests, is a testament to the devotion of Mary Magdalene to the teachings of Jesus (Chilton, 2005). When the Risen Christ showed Himself to Mary Magdalene, again many justified that Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene because she was His wife. The risen Christ chose to appear before Mary Magdalene because she was a repentant sinner. It was probably an analogy or symbolic gesture on Jesus’ part (Chilton, 2005). After Jesus’ ascension, accounts say that Mary Magdalene together with her sister Martha and brother Lazarus were seized by the Jews along with many other Christians and left to die on board a ship without sails. They survived miraculously and Mary Magdalene was further mentioned to have chosen to live on a cave and every day, the angels of the Lord visited and carried her to heaven (â€Å"Memorial of St. Martha†, 2006). There is no clear record on when and where Mary Magdalene died. There were claims that she was miraculously transported to the chapel of St. Maximin where she was given the last sacraments. Others claim that she spent her last days in Ephesus. With so many conflicting accounts on the life of Mary Magdalene, many scholars have spent countless hours researching her life story. With the recent interest on the life of Mary Magdalene because of claims that she was the wife of Jesus and she bore him a child, many writers and scholars have offered their own theories and writings based on their findings. In her book, Joan Norton even ventured as far as interpreting the mind of Mary Magdalene and writing a novel with a first-person perspective. Though conflicting are the accounts on her life, what was certain was Mary Magdalene followed and served the Lord Jesus Christ while He was preaching and continued to do so even after his ascension to heaven. The feast day of Mary Magdalene is celebrated every July 22. You read "Biography of Mary and Martha" in category "Papers" She is regarded to symbolize the virtue of penitence. Hence, her title â€Å"The Penitent. † St. Martha Not much is known about the life of Martha. In the Bible, she was only mentioned twice in the New Testament in the Gospels of John and Luke. Specifically, Martha was cited in Luke 10:38-42 and John 11, 12. That mention is the story about the visit of Jesus in the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus at Bethany. It was said that Jesus loved to visit them whenever He was in Judea. In one of Jesus’ visits to Martha’s home, Martha was busy serving the Master, preparing food for the guests and doing errands around the house when she noticed that her sister, Mary, was not doing anything but instead is seated near Jesus listening to his preaching. Martha, annoyed by Mary’s attitude, approached the Master to ask Him to persuade Mary to help her in doing the house chores. Jesus understood what Martha was complaining about. Not wanting to offend her because Jesus loved them both, He explained to her that she was worrying too much at the things that are trivial and in the process loosing sight of the more important thing which is what Mary had been doing, and that is listening to the word of God (â€Å"Memorial of St. Martha†, 2006). There are, however, some snippets of stories about Martha that sheds some light on her life. According to one account, Martha came from a rich and noble family. Her parents have enough wealth to live comfortably and to take good care of their children. But in spite of their wealth, Martha chose to serve the Lord in the ways she knew best. In fact, she is most remembered in the Christian world for the hospitality she gave to Jesus and his disciples whenever they visited them in their home (â€Å"Memorial †¦Ã¢â‚¬ , 2006) After the event where Jesus explained to Martha the importance of listening to the word of God, not much is known about what events followed on Martha’s life. Martha was mentioned again in the New Testament when her brother Lazarus, who died of an illness, was raised from the dead by the Lord Jesus. Upon learning of Lazarus’ death, Jesus was saddened and He immediately set off to Judea. There, at the tomb of Lazarus, Martha was mentioned again wherein she spoke to Jesus uttering those intense words of faith, which later on became part of the Christian funeral liturgy. Martha told Jesus: â€Å"I know he will rise again on the resurrection on the last day. † To which Jesus replied, telling her He, the Lord Jesus, is the resurrection and the life and whoever believes in Him shall not die but have eternal life (â€Å"St. Martha†, nd. ). Martha’s conversations with Jesus showed her faith and courage. It is evident in the available writings that Jesus loved the family of Martha. Some time after Lazarus was raised from the dead, Jesus again visited Martha and her siblings and shared a meal with them. Because of their association with Jesus, the siblings were known throughout their town. Lazarus was always talked about as the one that Jesus raised from the dead; Mary was known as the one who cause a commotion in one of the many dinners Jesus had with them by washing Jesus’ feet with her hair and pouring expensive perfume after. In contrast, Martha was known only as the one who always served Jesus the meals and took care of the guests whenever the Master came for a visit. She simply and humbly served Jesus (â€Å"St. Martha†, n. d). After the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and his eventual ascension to heaven, there was no mention of Martha again in the Scriptures. Again, other accounts say that after the ascension, Martha, Mary and Lazarus were held by the Jews. Together with Martha’s handmaid Marcella and a disciple named Maximin who performed the baptism of the whole family, and with many other Christians were herded on to a ship. The Jews then left them on the open sea while on board the ship that was stripped of its sails and oars with the intent of exposing them to the elements of the sea and possibly send them to their doom through shipwreck or disease (â€Å"Memorial †¦Ã¢â‚¬ , 2006). But God had other plans for them. The ship was not wrecked and all the passengers arrived safely in the city of Marseilles, now known as part of the nation of France in Europe. The miraculous journey became known to the local population. The Christians, including Martha and her siblings, set off to preach throughout Marseilles and the neighboring towns such as Aix, eventually converting many to become believers of Christ (â€Å"Memorial †¦Ã¢â‚¬ , 2006). The same account continued to say that because of their works, Lazarus was made bishop of Marseilles and Maximin the disciple, was also made bishop of the neighboring Aix. Mary, it was said, decided to retire into a deserted cave and devoted herself to prayers and enjoyed the part wherein she had chosen when Jesus was still among them and that is immersing in the joys of heaven. Martha, it was believed, withdrew form the public eye and together with other virtuous women, lived apart from the community of men and settled in a remote place in the Marseilles. She spent the rest of her life serving the Lord Jesus Christ through her piety and prudence (â€Å"Memorial †¦Ã¢â‚¬ , 2006). Some accounts specifically mentioned that Martha died on the fourth of the Kalends of August. Her body is believed to be interred at Tarascon where it is held in great veneration generations after generations (â€Å"Memorial †¦Ã¢â‚¬ , 2006). Still, others believe that where and when Martha died is unknown or whether she died a natural death or at the hands of those who persecute Christians (â€Å"St. Martha†, n. d. ). The feast day of St. Martha is celebrated every 29th of July. She is recognized as the patron saint of cooks, housewives, servants and travelers. Application to One’s Life/Lessons From the life of St. Martha, one lesson which I believe many of us can relate to is that sometimes, with all the hustle and bustle of daily life, we worry too much about many things. Some are trivial, some are not but just the same, we become so immerse with the daily grind of life that we forget to pause and pray, just like what Martha experienced when Jesus made one of his many visits to their home. We need to stop and meditate, even contemplate because we may not realize it but taking a break and spending time to pray energizes our spirits and helps us cope with everyday problems and stress. One other lesson that I can see from the life of St. Martha is that even simple things like household chores or small works outside our homes, can also be an instrument or a way to serve the Lord because in serving others, we serve also the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, Mary Magdalene represented the symbol of unwavering faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. If truly she was a prostitute, she displayed great courage and devotion when she followed Jesus in spite of her sins. Recognizing one’s sins and repenting is probably the most valuable lesson that Mary Magdalene have taught us through her example. No matter how sinful we are, the Lord can forgive us and even elevate us to a level we could never expect. From the lives of St. Martha and St. Mary Magdalene, we can learn that serving the Lord Jesus Christ can be done in various ways albeit it should be based on true devotion and faith. References Chilton, B. (2005). Mary Magdalene: A Biography. New York: Doubleday. Ehrman, B. (2006). Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend. Philadelphia: Oxford University Press. George, M. (2003). Mary, Called Magdalene. New York: Penguin Group (USA). Lester, M. (2006). The Everything Mary Magdalene Book: A Divine Profile. Massachusetts: Adams Media Corp. â€Å"Memorial of St. Martha, virgin†. (2006). Catholic Culture. Retrieved on November 25, 2006 from http:/www. catholicculture. org Norton, J. (2005). The Mary Magdalene Within. New York: iUniverse, Inc. â€Å"St. Martha†. (n. d. ). St. Martha. org. Retrieved on November 25, 2006 from http://www. stmartha. org/St%20Martha. htm How to cite Biography of Mary and Martha, Papers