In imitation of our Master, we Christians are called to confront the poverty of our brothers and sisters, to touch it, to make it our own and to take practical steps to alleviate it.not the same as: destitution is poverty without faith, without support, without hope. There are…
The holiday period is without a doubt a practical time for taking up the biography and writings of a particular Saint but every day of the year affords us an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with our heavenly Patrons. Their human and spiritual experience shows that holiness is not a luxury,…
WORDS FOR LIFE Put on your trainers! In life there is a paralysis dangerous and difficult both to uncover and identify. I’d like to call it an «illness» which arises when we confuse a sofa with happiness. Some believe we need a sofa to be happy. A sofa…
The road [of covetousness] is foolishness, for it leads us away from life; it destroys human brotherhood». In contrast, the royal road the Lord paved for us «is not a path to poverty for poverty’s sake» but rather «an instrument so that God might remain God and the only…
Pray Our Father: So how should we pray? Jesus has taught us: “he says that the Father who is in heaven ‘knows what you need before you ask him”. Therefore, let our first word be “’Father’. This is the key to prayer. Without speaking, without feeling this word, praying…
In our Christian life too, dear brothers and sisters, may prayer and action always be deeply united. A prayer that does not lead you to practical action for your brother — the poor, the sick, those in need of help, a brother in difficulty — is a sterile and…
The Parable of the Good Samaritan You can become neighbor to any needy person you meet, and you will know that you have compassion in your heart, that is, whether you have the capacity to suffer with the other. This parable is a splendid gift for us all,…
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE JOHN XXIII ON ESTABLISHING UNIVERSAL PEACE IN TRUTH, JUSTICE, CHARITY, AND LIBERTY APRIL 11, 1963 Let us, then, pray with all fervor for this peace which our divine Redeemer came to bring us. May He banish from the souls of men whatever might endanger peace. May…
Adoration and eucharistic devotion. Exhortation «Sacramentum Caritatis», n. 66: In the Eucharist, the Son of God comes to meet us and desires to become one with us; eucharistic adoration is simply the natural consequence of the eucharistic celebration, which is itself the Church’s supreme act of adoration. (192) Receiving…
VOICE OF POPE BENEDICT XVI (Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis) Jesus Christ, who «through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God» (Heb:14), makes us, in the gift of the Eucharist, sharers in God’s own life. This is an absolutely free gift, the superabundant fulfilment of God’s promises. The…
