As people constantly struggle to grow up to attain Christ’s maturity, we are before God like children, relying on his help more than on our own; for we have experienced that our own forces are not always trustworthy. We know that God protects us, sends us angels to guide us, especially in the person of […]
Theresa Martin entered the Carmel at the age of fifteen. Nine years later, she died of tuberculosis. In these few years she lived the “little way of spiritual childhood.” It is not an infantile way, but one that demands great strength and much grace. She had to fight her stubbornness and to struggle with aridity
Year II. To the reasoning of his friends that God must be punishing him for his sins, Job answers that he is innocent, that he cannot answer why he suffers, but that God is wise and that he, Job, can only appeal to him for mercy. Gospel. Jesus gave himself totally to his mission. He
Year II. Today we hear the beginning of the book of Job. Job is not historical but a reflection, mostly in poetic form, on the existence of evil, particularly as it comes upon good, innocent, and God-fearing people. For his answer, because he lacks the perspective of eternal life, the author cannot go beyond this:
Year II. The author of the Book of the Preacher is in many ways a modern man. He is a believer; he looks for meaning in life; he seeks happiness, not wildly but in relation to the God of the covenant, and yet life disappoints him constantly. He asks questions: how come? He has no
Year II. In the light of Christ, the famous passage from Ecclesiastes that there is a time for everything becomes much more positive than in the thought of the author. He is puzzled, for God does everything at the right time, yet the endless cycle of change bewilders people, and he doesn’t know how to
Year II. Today we hear a man who is puzzled: Qoheleth, Ecclesiastes, the preacher (the man who speaks in the assembly), in search of answers to the problems of life; he is apparently a disillusioned man, “the inspired pessimist,” as he is sometimes called, but he is a believer, and there must be answers. Gospel.
Year II. The author admits his ignorance and attests to the solid value of divine wisdom. He prays for faithfulness and a life of neither abundance nor want. Gospel. Luke, more than the other evangelists, stresses the poverty of the apostle and thus spiritualizes the mission of the herald of the gospel. Still, he has
Year II. How do we deal with our neighbour? Justice is more important than sacrifice, and we should hear the cries of the poor. Gospel. After his parables on the sower of the word and of the lamp, Luke, using the incident of Mary and Jesus’ relatives seeking him out in the crowd, sums up
Year II. How will the dead rise? A person dies, but dies like a seed, and from that seed a new plant is born and rises in glory. Gospel. We hear today Luke’s version of the parable of the seed. In Jesus’ original intent, it pictured the difficult growth of the kingdom towards its final
