3rd Sunday of LENT (C)
Unlike other evangelists who speak of a barren fig tree that is made almost instantly dry (Mk 11:12-24; Mt 21:18-22), Luke, the evangelist of mercy, introduces another year of waiting, before the definitive intervention. He presents a God who is patient, tolerant of human weakness, including the hardness of our mind and our heart.
The church is suffering from Holy Spirit atheism
There are some today who maintain a propositional, unidirectional, top-down understanding of the development of doctrine and church discipline that can only be decided by those who are ordained and be passively received by the lay faithful… avoiding or rejecting the role of the sensus fidelium…
Cardinal Marx: church needs to seriously discuss celibacy, role of women and sexual morality
German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich speaks during a news conference at the bishops’ spring meeting in Lingen March 11, 2019. The sexual abuse scandal and demands for reform have changed the German church, the cardinal said at the end of the meeting.
2nd Sunday of Lent (C)
Jesus listens to the Law and the Prophets who spoke to him about his death and Resurrection. In his intimate dialogue with the Father, he did not depart from history, he did not flee the mission for which he came into the world, although he knew that to attain glory he would have to pass through the Cross.
OGF 3/2019 Pope Francis’ Lenten Meditations
The season of Lent is a favourable time to remedy the dissonant chords of our Christian life and to receive the ever new, joyful and hope-filled proclamation of the Lord’s Passover. The Church in her maternal wisdom invites us to pay special attention to anything that could dampen or even corrode our believing heart.
Sri Lanka: Comboni Missionary sisters in a tea plantation
Sri Lanka is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the south eastern coast of India. Since March 2012, the Comboni Missionaries are present in this country with a community in Talawakelle, the mountainous heart of the country, a paradise between tea plantations and waterfalls.
Oral Literature: The Leopard and the Boy
Long ago and far away there was a wealthy man who had several wives. All of a sudden, this man learned that his town was to be invaded by men from another tribe.
1st Sunday of Lent (C)
Luke above all speaks of every kind of temptation, therefore, the three frames he depicted had to be interpreted as a synthesis of all the temptations. They represent, in a schematic way, the wrong ways of dealing with three realities: with things, with people, with God.
Lent – “We Meet Along The Way”
Brother Michal Davide Semeraro, Benedictine monk, “rereads” the three Lenten practices – prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Prayer as openness to transcendence, fasting as “discipline” and almsgiving as an opportunity to understand that “in every woman and in every man is hidden a poor person who is waiting to be discovered”.
Lent with the Desert Fathers
A man asked abbot Antony, “What shall I keep, that I may please God?” Anthony said: “Wherever you go, have God ever before your eyes. In whatever you do, hold by the example of the holy Scriptures; and in whatever place you abide, don’t be swift to leave [out of restlessness]. These three things keep, and you will be saved.”
Message of Pope Francis for Lent 2019
The celebration of the Paschal Triduum of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, the culmination of the liturgical year, calls us yearly to undertake a journey of preparation, in the knowledge that our being conformed to Christ (cf. Rom 8:29) is a priceless gift of God’s mercy.
8th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Jesus wants that the Christian proposal is made with great humility, with great discretion and respect and, above all, never judging those who cannot understand it, those who do not feel like accepting it. The possibility of having a log in front of the eyes is not remote and must not be forgotten!
Zambezi River: Threats and Opportunities for the “Great River”
The Zambezi River is one of Africa’s main energy assets and could become as well one of the continent’s main water highway, but many threats ranging from climate change to the risk of collapse of the Kariba dam, must be addressed.
Oral Literature: Nigeria: Thunder and Lightning
A long time ago, both thunder and lightning lived on this earth, among all the people. Thunder was an old mother sheep and Lightning was her son, a handsome ram, but neither animal was very popular.
South Sudan: Blessings in disguise
“We are three Comboni Missionaries who serve a parish of around 25,000 Catholics spread over about eighty villages. Any place can become a chapel. We missionaries divide and visit these places as best as we can, usually two or three times per year. All journeys are on foot because there are no roads for vehicles in the county.”
7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
There are three categories of people: on the lowest rung are the wicked (those who, while still receiving the good, they do evil); higher are the righteous (those who respond to the good with good and evil with evil); finally there are those who respond to evil with good. Only they are the children of God.
Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick laicized by Pope Francis
Pope Francis has recognized the dismissal from the clerical state, also known as laicization, of Theodore McCarrick, 88, the former cardinal and emeritus archbishop of Washington. This was imposed on him by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at its plenary meeting on Feb. 13.
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
The rabbis of Jesus’ time often used the literary form of beatitudes and curses. Jesus also directs his compliments (“blessed” means: Congratulations for the choice you have made). He addresses them to four categories of persons and warns against other opposite, dangerous choices because they are attractive and apparently gratifying.
The resignation of Pope Francis
The question is not ‘if’ he will resign, but ‘when’ he will actually do so!…
It is now six years since Benedict XVI announced he was resigning from the papacy. He quietly declared his intention in Latin on Feb. 11, 2013 before a small gathering of cardinals in Rome…
Learn how to become time-wasters
As February begins, we have all had time to fail at our New Year’s resolutions: more workouts at the gym, making the bed every morning, waking up earlier. Maybe your goal for 2019 was to manage your time more efficiently. Pope Francis, on the other hand, wants us to learn how to do the opposite: to become time-wasters.
Oral literature: How the stars were born
One day, two friends named Ebopp and Mbaw went off in search of a good site to establish a farm with fine fields of grain and peanuts. They looked here and they looked there until they finally found the right place.
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Today’s readings present some characters who are called to carry out a mission of proclaiming the Word of God. They all have the same reaction: they feel unworthy, incapable, inadequate. Isaiah declares to be a man of unclean lips. Peter asks Jesus to turn away from him because he knows he is a sinner. Paul says that…
If religious freedom’s a process, why not name the elephant in the room?
Francis travelled to Abu Dhabi to participate in a conference on inter religious dialogue sponsored by the Emirates-based Muslim Council of Elders, an initiative that seeks to counter religious fanaticism by promoting a moderate brand of Islam.
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
When reading the Gospel, we come across details that appear strange and improbable, there is reason to rejoice: they are valuable signs; they are an invitation to go beyond the mere matter of record and to seek the deeper meaning of the episode.
The new Sisterhood: traditional orders are booming
Not all women’s religious orders are shrinking. Some are growing at an astounding rate. What is their secret?
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Three chapters separate the second part of today’s passage (Lk 4:14-21) from the first. It is the beginning of Jesus’ public life in his country, Galilee, and the narrated episode—which Matthew and Mark place around the middle of their Gospel—is for Luke the programmatic overture, the synthesis of all the activity of Jesus.
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
The Gospel of John is like a vast ocean: it can be contemplated on the surface or in depth. From the shore, the rippling waves, the unfolding of the sails, the reflections of light and color fascinate. But the most intense emotions are for those who have a chance to gear up and go down to the bottom, where the most unexpected and varied forms of life…
Vatican commission members: Women served as deacons for a millennium
Women served as deacons in Europe for about a millennium in a variety of ministerial and sacramental roles, according to Phyllis Zagano, an author and professor of religion at Hofstra University, and Bernard Pottier, S.J., a faculty member at the Institut D’Études Théologiques in Brussels, in an interview this week with America.
Baptism of the Lord (C)
Today’s Gospel opens with a significant finding, “the people were in expectation.” It is easy to imagine what they are waiting for: the slave expected freedom, the poor a new condition of life, the exploited laborer hoped for justice, the sick healing, and the humiliated and raped woman the recovery of dignity.
Epiphany of the Lord
The Magi thus personify all those who believe, those who long for God, who yearn for their home, their heavenly homeland. They reflect the image of all those who in their lives have not let their hearts be anesthetized.
A rabbi and a sister suggest a Judeo-Christian New Year’s resolution
“Been there, done that” hasn’t killed the annual New Year’s resolution ritual, despite a failure rate of close to 90 percent. In fact, more people are making them today than a century ago. All sorts of resolutions remain perennial favorites, including those that relate to health, personal advancement and doing more good for others.
Mary, Mother of God
The council taught us to look upon Mary as a “figure” of the Church, that is, as the Church’s perfect exemplar, as the first fruits of the Church. But can Mary be a model of the Church even as “Mother of God,” the title with which she is honored this day? Can we become mothers of Christ?
The unbearable lightness of post-institutional Christianity
The Church of Vatican II embodied by Francis — characterized by mercy, synodality, a church for the poor — needs institutions. It also needs Catholics who are not afraid of the institutional dimension of the Church and that are willing and able to maintain and develop that vision of the Church.
Feast of the Holy Family (C)
Faced with the often inexplicable and incomprehensible events there is only one correct attitude: “To keep all these things in our hearts,” as Mary did and ponder them in the light of the Word of God. It was not also easy for her to understand and accept the path to which God wanted his son to tread.
From collegiality to synodality: Pope Francis’s post-Vatican II reform
Bergoglio is a product of conciliar Catholicism and at the same time the first post–Vatican II pope. Synodality is the most important institutional reform of Francis’s pontificate. The role of the Bishops’ Synod has changed, and synodality at all levels of the church has been encouraged as never before.
Nativity of the Lord
God is always among us as one who is young. St Augustine wrote that God is younger than all else. We have become older than our God. This means that God always retains that fresh vigour of youth, the vitality and playfulness of one who is always ready to begin anew.
Fourth Sunday of Advent (C)
Elizabeth feels enveloped in great astonishment — don’t forget this word, astonishment. Astonishment. To celebrate Christmas in a fruitful manner, we are called to pause in “places” of astonishment. And what are these places of astonishment in everyday life? There are three…
At COP24, countries agree concrete way forward to bring the Paris climate deal to life
After two weeks of crunch negotiations – with overtime – the almost 200 parties gathered in Katowice, Poland, for the United Nations COP24 two-week climate change conference, adopted on Saturday a “robust” set of implementing guidelines for the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement, aimed at keeping global warming well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels.
Oral Literature: How the first river was made
A long long time ago, when God made this earth, He chose the mighty elephant to be king of the world. The elephant and his subjects roamed through the dark … Continua a leggere
Third Sunday of Advent (C)
We feel that this question — “What shall we do?” — is ours also. Today’s liturgy tells us, in the words of John, that it is necessary to repent, to change direction and take the path of justice, solidarity, sobriety: these are the essential values of a fully human and genuinely Christian life.
First Advent Sermon 2018 – God is!
In the Church we are so pressed with tasks to perform, problems to confront, and challenges to respond to that we risk losing sight of, or leaving in the background, the “porro unum necessarium,” the “one thing is needful” of the gospel (Lk 10:42), which is our personal relationship with God.
Oral Literature: Why the Monkey Still Has a Tail
Once upon a time the monkey and the rabbit made a contract. The monkey was to kill all the butterflies and the rabbit was to kill all the snakes.
Martyrs of Love, 19 Algerian martyrs beatified on December 8
The decree of beatification of 19 “martyrs” killed in Algeria in the 1990s, including the seven monks of Tibhirine and the former Bishop of Oran Pierre Claverie, was signed on Friday 26th January. “Each of them was an authentic witness of Christ’s love, of dialogue, of openness to others, of friendship and fidelity to the Algerian people”.
Second Sunday of Advent (C)
The traditional prophets helped their contemporaries look beyond the wall of time and see into the future, but John helps the people to look past the wall of contrary appearances to make them see the Messiah hidden behind the semblance of a man like others.
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary made her life beautiful. Not appearances, not what is fleeting, but the heart directed toward God makes life beautiful. Today let us look joyfully at her, full of grace. Let us ask her to help us to remain youthful, by saying ‘no’ to sin, and to live a beautiful life, by saying ‘yes’ to God.
OGF 12/2018 Henri Nouwen – A Spirituality of Waiting
I would like to look at two aspects of waiting. One is the waiting for God, and the other is the waiting of God. We are waiting. God is waiting.
