25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
The administrator was shrewd—says the Lord—because he understood on which to bet on: not on goods, products that he was entitled to, that could rot or be stolen, but on friends. He knew how to renounce the first in order to conquer for himself the second. This is the point.
Martyr of Amazonia: Sr. Dorothy Stang
On 12 February 2005, the whole of Brazil was stunned by the news that Sr Dorothy Stang had been assassinated. That morning, the gunmen contracted to kill her found her alone on a track in the middle of the Amazonian forest.
Gratitude as a Daily Practice
One may define gratitude as “the quality of being thankful.” Alternatively, we can think of it as an attitude, emotion, personal trait, or behavioral practice. However it is conceived, the … Continua a leggere
African Witnesses: Uganda – Lukwiya Matthew
“I am ready for anything but, God willing, I should like to be the last one to die of Ebola”.
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Will we get on the road to God our Father? Many would do that if they would know that God who, according to Jesus’ parable, «ran to his son, clasped him in his arms and kissed him over and over». Those embraces and those kisses speak of God’s love better than every theology book written.
A Comboni Father Ezekiel Ramin: A patron Saint for the Amazon Synod
A patron Saint for the Synod. Brazilian bishops ask the Pope that he be Father Ezekiel Ramin, Comboni priest killed in the Amazon region.
The Imperfection of Perfectionism
Standards can stimulate personal growth and push a person to reach a peak level of performance, ideally bringing enjoyment and developing confidence. Problems arise, though, when the standards a person sets for herself or for others are unrealistically high and inflexible. Standards become problematic when they lapse into perfectionism.
Affective Prayer
“You must try to pray so that, in your prayer, you open yourself in such a way that sometime – perhaps not today, but sometime – you are able to hear God say to you: ‘I love you!’…
African Witness: Bishop Ireneo Wien Dud
As a young priest, Bishop Dud had always been a kind hearted person, used to spending hours in prayer interceding for the people and reaching out to anyone calling on him. He lived the whole of his life loving people and struggling to keep the various pastoral agents together
How Stalin’s daughter became a Catholic
Her father ruled over a Communist Party and government that did its best to minimize religion’s role in people’s lives—or use it to advance communist ideology. In the long run, however, that temporal power was not stronger than the example of Stalin’s Georgian mother—Svetlana’s paternal grandmother.
RD.Congo: Beatification of twenty martyr missionaries on track
Fifty-seven years after their tragic deaths, the Roman Catholic Church of Congo has started the process of beatification of the twenty missionaries assassinated by government soldiers on the 1 January 1962.
23th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
The Gospel reading for today is one of those that we would be tempted to smooth out and sweeten because it seems too hard for men of today: “If anyone follows me without hating his father, his mother.”
African Witness: South Africa – Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli
A leading figure in South Africa’s struggle against apartheid and Africa’s first Nobel Peace Prize recipient, was a product of Christian mission schools.
Five keys to interpreting Pope Francis’ sixth consistory
With the consistory of Cardinals set on Oct. 5, Pope Francis will create 13 new cardinals. His choices are revealing of Pope Francis’ modus operandi. There are, in fact, five keys to understanding Pope Francis choices.
Habit versus Addiction
It is not uncommon to wonder if a behavior we are engaging in or witnessing is a habit or an addiction. This question can become particularly complicated when the behavior does not involve substance use. In a society where technology usage is increasing across all ages, questions and concerns about internet addiction have grown quickly.
Finding God in Community
“God is love,” Scripture says, “and whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him or her.” Reflections by Ron Rolheiser, OMI FINDING GOD IN COMMUNITY Too … Continua a leggere
African grasslands are meant to burn – we can’t let this distract from the Amazon fire
In contrast to Africa’s fires, the fires in the Amazon are burning in forest areas where the cost to biodiversity, indigenous people and carbon is likely to be extremely high.
Fires on the African continent and those of the Amazon
As the world has watched with fear and fascination the fires burning in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, satellite images show a far greater number of blazes on the African continent. But there are some differences.
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
It is the eternal problem of the Church: everyone should serve, but, in practice, there is always someone who aspires for honorary titles, wants to excel, swells with pride and comes to transform even the Eucharist, an occasion for self-celebration. Here’s the cancer that destroys our communities!
African Witness: Kenya – Wangari Maathai, Freedom Fighter
Through her Green Belt Movement, Wangari Maathai mobilised thousands of women to plant millions of trees in Kenya. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. A practising Catholic, she was a member of the Legion of Mary throughout her life. Cancer took her away prematurely in 2011
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Jesus did not want to scare with the threat of hell. His condemnation is directed against tepid, inconsistent, hypocritical life led today by many who consider themselves his disciples. Yet even in the face of his disturbing words, there are Christians who do not allow themselves to be touched by doubt that one day he will tell them: “I know you not.”
Vocation Story: My work is my message
A ‘spiritual vacuum’ filled by granny’s tears. A parish youth group that offers peace and opens to others. And the decision to plunge into the sea of mission that offers unbelievable joy. A Comboni Missionary, Brother Gaspar Abarca Andrés tells us his story.
Working too Hard
It is hard not to be over-busy and consumed by work, particularly during our generative years when the duties of raising children, paying mortgages, and running our churches and civic organizations falls more squarely on our shoulders…
African Witness: South Africa – Archbishop Denis Hurley
As Chairperson of the Southern African Bishops Conference, he denounced the Apartheid system as “intrinsically evil”.
Africa: The Fight Against Plastic Waste
34 African countries have passed strict laws. Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda as models for the world.
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
The message of Jesus is a fire and—logically—who has the goods to be protected, buildings to be preserved is not keen to see the arsonists. The Gospel is a burning torch that wants to reduce to an immense fire all the unjust structures, the inhuman situations, discrimination, greed of money, the frenzy of power.
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary—the “handmaid of the Lord”—is presented today to all believers not as a privileged one, but as the most excellent model, as the sign of destiny that awaits every person who believes “that the Lord’s word would come true” (Lk 1:45).
How to… Understand the Assumption
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary has always been a teaching within the tradition of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which refers to it as the Dormition.
Half of US Catholics think the Eucharist is only symbolic. How did this happen?
A great divide has opened between those who believe in a revealed religion, and those who believe it is all a symbol.
The unnamable violence: Why the West is silent about the wave of desecration
On July 26, paint was splashed on the faces and crotches of figures in the Valinhos Way of the Cross in Fatima, Portugal. It’s just the latest example of a wave of desecrations – arson, statue-smashing, obscene graffiti – across the West.
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
A heart full of desire. We all have desires. The poor ones are those who have no desire, no desire to go forward, toward the horizon; and for us Christians this horizon is the encounter with Jesus, the very encounter with him, who is our life, our joy, our happiness.
Searching for God among many voices
God’s voice is inside of many things that are not explicitly connected to faith and religion, just as God’s voice is also not in everything that masquerades as religious.
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Greed is not limited to wealth. It can take the form of the accumulation of anything unnecessary. For example, greed for power is almost as common as greed for wealth, and people can also be greedy for things like social connections or experiences. In each case, the thing desired becomes a counterfeit of life itself.
Message from the 18th Plenary Assembly and Golden Jubilee of SECAM
The celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) and its 18th Plenary Assembly took place from 19 to 29 July 2019, in Kampala (Uganda), on the theme “Church Family of God in Africa, celebrate your jubilee, proclaim Jesus Christ your Saviour”.
African Witnesses: Simon Mpecke
He was born in 1906 in Log Batombé, in Cameroon. In 1914, at age 8, Mpecke attended the elementary school of the Catholic mission in Édéa. It was a mission opened by the Pallottine order during the period German colonisation.
‘You ask them: Are you serious?’: An interview with Cardinal Arinze
Leaders of countries with high rates of emigration, he says, should examine their consciences and ask why so many people are leaving. So should those who sell arms, which indirectly cause mass migration.
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
For Christians, God is the Father, by whom they have been thought of and loved “before being formed in secret, woven in the depths of the earth” (Ps 109:15). When they turn to him—standing (not kneeling)—they call him Father.
Our Deepest Insecurity
Why don’t we live happier lives? Why are we forever caught up in frustrations, tensions, angers, and resentments?
Reflections by Ron Rolheiser, OMI
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
The passage ends with the words of Jesus to Martha (vv. 41-42), but it seems unfinished. The dialogue between the two should be continued, but Luke does not report it. He seems to want to draw the attention of his readers to another detail which can go unnoticed: the silence of Mary.
Longing, Desire and the Face of God
“Like a deer yearns for flowing streams, so my soul yearns for you my God.” “My soul keeps vigil for you in the night.” Reflections by Ron Rolheiser, OMI LONGING, … Continua a leggere
Why Pope Francis’ focus on mission makes Catholics uncomfortable
What is the source of the tensions and conflicts we have in the church today? I believe the reason for the uneasiness is the pope’s emphasis on mission. There is a profound difference between a church that is a nest or a niche, in which one can find peace, tranquility and seeming stability, and a church that sees itself as missionary.
African Witnesses: Lucien Botovasoa
Lucien Botovasoa was born in 1908 in Vohipeno, a small village in the Diocese of Farafangana, on the south-eastern coast of Madagascar, more than one thousand kilometres from the nation’s capital. His parents were poor farmers, like many others in this region, always struggling with weather-related risks.
Laughter as Faith
During my seminary studies, I read a book by Peter Berger entitled, A Rumor of Angels, in which he tries to point to various places within our everyday experience where, he submits, we have intimations of the divine, rumors of angels, hints that ordinary experience contains more than just the ordinary, that God is there.
African Witness. Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi
Forty years ago, Father Tansi concluded his pilgrimage here on earth. The legacy of this outstanding Nigerian priest and monk challenges the Church to be ever more faithful to its identity and mission.
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Incense, chants, endless prayers with which one tries to replace the concrete commitment in favor of the orphan, the widow, the oppressed are repugnant to God (Is 1:11-17). Jesus mentions several times the phrase of the prophet Hosea: “What I want is mercy, not sacrifice” (Mt 9:13; 12:7).
Struggling with Being Blessed
Deep down, all of us know we’re special, that we’re not just accidental, meaningless little chips of energy falling off the conveyor belt of cosmic evolution, indistinguishable from billions of others.
Some Rules for Peace-Making
If our efforts at peace-making are to be fruitful, both within the intimate circles of our primary communities as well as in the wider circles of social justice, we must truly remain non-violent.
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
The purpose of the missioning: to prepare the city and the villages for the coming of the Lord. Jesus arrives after his messengers, not before. The task given to each apostle is not to represent himself, but to dispose the minds and hearts of the people to accept Christ in their lives.
Vocation Story: Attitudes towards life and dignity
His dream was to become a Priest so that the people of his village could have Eucharistic celebrations every Sunday. Fr. Anthony Kibira tells us his story.
African Witness: Blessed Benedict Daswa
Pope Francis, in his decree of beatification, described Benedict as a “diligent catechist, a thoughtful teacher, a witness of the Gospel to the point of shedding his own blood.”
