When we pray, what do we want God to do? Do we want to transform God with our prayers and bend him to do our own will, or do we seek his will? Do we have time in the dialogue of prayer to listen to him? Do we realise that he speaks to us in his […]
Jesus was going to pass through his passion and death on the way to the joy of his resurrection. In him, a newly risen and glorious life would be born from his sufferings. The disciples would have to pass through the pains of separation from Jesus, and so their faith would be violently tested, giving
Matthias was elected by the apostles to replace Judas, the traitor, because he had been a disciple of Jesus from the very beginning, from the time of Jesus’s baptism by John until the ascension. His qualification was, then, that he could witness to the risen Christ. And so should we. The 12th Apostle: His selection
The apostles should not be sad because Jesus leaves them. Their faith will deepen and become more spiritual when Jesus is no longer physically present. The Holy Spirit of truth will continue the mission of Jesus with them. This Spirit of truth will give them no new message, but he will guide the apostles and
The public message of Fatima recalls that of Lourdes. Through the children, Mary urges prayer for sinners, recitation of the Rosary, and works of penance. On 13 October 1917, she said: “I have come to exhort the faithful to change their lives, to avoid grieving Our Lord by sin; to pray the Rosary. I desire
The life of Christ, which the community of Christ leads, the mentality of Christ alive in the Church, will bear witness against the world insofar as it is still unredeemed and full of evil. The world accuses Christ of being a sinner, finds him guilty in its trial as an unjust man and condemns him.
We should not regret that the octave of Pentecost has been abolished. In the two weeks from now to Pentecost, our attention is focused on the Spirit. Either the readings or the prayers, or both, speak of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was the faithful witness of the Father who showed us, in terms understandable to
Greeting (See the Gospel) “I will not leave you orphans,” says Jesus, “But my Father will give you the Spirit of truth.” May the Spirit of our Lord be always with you. R/ And also with you. Introduction by the Celebrant If You Love Me… The Spirit Will Come We are Christians, people who follow Christ.
The world that has rejected Christ hates Christ and his disciples; it persecutes them because the lifestyle of a good Christian is a silent condemnation of the world. Think, for example, of the films by Luis Buñuel, the Spanish director, who is obsessed with everything Christian and holds it up to bitter sarcasm. Perhaps, more
Fraternal love among Christians, but also love of all people for one another, without boundaries or reservations, is inseparable from friendship with God. Both loves are in fact one. For Christians, human relations have a religious content and express a religious relation. For sure, we can and must love God in himself. But we experience
