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As Mainers prepare for a new year, it is fitting to remember messages that appeal to the country's better nature.

Here are quotes from Civil War icon Joshua Chamberlain, who served as Maine governor from 1867 to 1871. His words below are excerpted from a speech in 1866 to the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. The legion formed in response to the death of President Abraham Lincoln to preserve the memories of that day and the war.

In his speech, Chamberlain grapples with conveying the reasons soldiers went to war, and explores the dimensions of loyalty and patriotism — reminding people still today of the sacrifices that made their current life possible.

The quotes are used with gratitude from joshualawrencechamberlain.com, which has made Chamberlain's writings public online.

— "For I see along these balconies shadows and veils of mourning. The divineness of sorrow permeates this regenerated life, wherein the love and strength of each being given for all, the love and strength of all should return to each. For it is such high cause that he who shall lose even his life, finds it again in the other lives made blessed."

— "The sky is still aglow, as with dying conflagration. Yet beyond it rises the dawn, diffusing the phantoms, broadening into the broad truth of day. Under it, things will take on their right form and relation. What all this was for will be made manifest; what we shall be will appear. These are the days of great things. After the slow travail of the centuries we celebrate the deliverance of the Nation."

— "We may ask the question What is Country? And may answer it in a word by saying it is the highest organization of the human forces for widest human ends."

— "Loyalty then, is not mere conformity. It is fidelity; truth to faith; constancy of soul. Its true action is not constrained obedience to a superior, but the keeping of a covenant; free forthgiving to an answering ideal of right and good, to which one is spiritually bound."

— "For neither law nor life is the end; the realization of human worth, that is the end, and the justification of life and of law. By no other law than this was our loyalty bounded and bound."

— "Constitutions do not make a people; they are made by a people. They are called organic law — that is to say, they are the reflection of its interior life, but not a mere creation of its will as law."

— "Knowing not what should be for us to do or suffer in the fulfilling of our days, we were holding ourselves true to such ideals as we saw, striving to be building up that steadfastness of soul which meets with level eyes whatever assails our honor or our peace, ready for what duty should summon, or fate unroll. We were studying patriotism and loyalty as best we could, unconscious that we were preparing to take part in completing their definition."

— "A great and difficult duty is laid upon us all to help the poor, surprised race among us, whose enfranchisement was the signal incident of the war, to make themselves truly free."

— "The nation must make her heart ready to receive her lessons; that she be able to do her work. She must cherish reverence, honor, truth, justice and brotherly love, that she may be able to fulfill the part for which she has been ordained by so mighty a hand."

— "Be it ours still to keep faithful watch against wrong or weakness, within or without, with our loins girded, ready for the summons. Loyal to great memories; loyal to our new-plighted faith; loyal to the greater hope that this world's advancing edge shall touch the better one."

Painting depicting transfiguration of Jesus, a story in the New Testament when Jesus becomes radiant upon a mountain. Artist Raphael /Collections Hallwyl Museum, CC BY-SALeer en español The portrayal of Jesus as a white, European man has come under renewed scrutiny during this period of introspection over the legacy of racism in society. As protesters called for the removal of Confederate statues in the U.S., activist Shaun King went further, suggesting that murals and artwork depicting “white J

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The subscription-based “well-being” app currently offers users guided meditation, along with audio bible passages and Christian music, and its co-founder and co-CEO, Ed Beccle, has big ambitions to create a broader platform that includes dating and other features. More recently, we talked with Alex Jones, the founder of another of the year's buzziest faith-based apps. Called Hallow, the three-year-old, 40-person outfit raised $40 million in Series B funding back in November from Peter Thiel, Drive Capital and others and has raised $50 million altogether this year to "help folks to build a routine of prayer and to journey together through the content," says Jones.

The Rev. Athanasius Chidi Abanulo — using skills honed in his African homeland to minister effectively in rural Alabama— determines just how long he can stretch out his Sunday homilies based on who is sitting in the pews. Seven minutes is the sweet spot for the mostly white and retired parishioners who attend the English-language Mass at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in the small town of Wedowee. For the Spanish-language Mass an hour later, the Nigerian-born priest — one of numerous African clergy serving in the U.S. -- knows he can quadruple his teaching time.

India's government has blocked Mother Teresa's charity from receiving foreign funds, saying the Catholic organization did not meet conditions under local laws, dealing a blow to one of the most prominent groups running shelters for the poor. The Home Ministry said a statement Monday that the Missionaries of Charity's application for renewing a license that allows it to get funds from abroad was rejected on Christmas. The ministry said it came across “adverse inputs” while considering the charity's renewal application.

The number of Catholic priests in the U.S. has declined sharply in recent decades, prompting many dioceses to recruit African priests like Rev. Athanasius Abanulo, a native of Nigeria, who is currently serving two churches in rural Alabama. (Dec. 27)

The Indian government has blocked Mother Teresa's charity from receiving funds from abroad.The move comes amid rising intolerance towards religious minorities in the country.Founded in 1950, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity supports thousands of nuns around the world who run hospices, schools, leper colonies and homes for abandoned children.On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government refused to renew the charity's license under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.The home ministry said in a statement that while considering the application, it had noticed some ''adverse inputs".The charity has also been accused, by hardline Hindu groups, of leading religious conversion programmes.The MoC has rejected that allegation, and local residents of Kolkata said on Tuesday, they had seen no evidence of it."I would request all our government officials in the central (federal) government to please come outside Mother House every morning at 6'o clock and see the line of homeless poor people stretching for more than one mile who are given a free meal. Not one of those people is a Christian and not one of those people are asked to become Christian."Since Modi came to power in 2014, right-wing Hindu groups have consolidated their position across states.They have launched attacks on minority groups claiming they are trying to prevent religious conversions.Now, several states have passed, or are considering, anti-conversion laws that challenge the right to freedom of belief in the country.

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