Surprising, perhaps even to Catholics, was an eight-page feature article, in TIME magazine’s 19 December 2005 issue, on “Joseph, the husband of Mary and the ‘adoptive’ father of Jesus.” It was richly illustrated (again to our surprise) with some of…
Monthly Archives: December 2010
On Christmas: Where Everything Began In the night of the world, we must let ourselves be amazed and illumined by this act of God, which is totally unexpected: God becomes a Child. We must let ourselves be amazed, illumined by…
Week 4: Sunday Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14) Reflection Sometimes the signs God gives are unmistakable. Sometimes the signs…
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 12, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today before praying the midday Angelus together with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square. Dear Brothers and Sisters! On this Third Sunday of Advent…
Rejoicing “(The desert) will bloom with abundant flowers and rejoice with joyful song.” “Rejoice in the Lord always!” “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!” The Scriptures for the Third Sunday of Advent proclaim their message in no uncertain terms: Rejoice!…
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 8, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today, solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, when reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. Dear…
Week 2: Second Sunday of Advent Waiting We light a candle today, a small dim light against a world that often seems forbidding and dark. But we light it because we are a people of hope, a people whose faith…
On the first of every month, our Lord gives Anne a new message about His call to service. December 1, 2010 Jesus My dear apostles, together, we are making advances. Humanity groans with the changes coming upon them and yet…
General Information That personal experience of suffering may be an occasion for better understanding the situation of unease and pain which is the lot of many people who are alone, sick or aged, and stir us all to give them…
Extravagant displays of devotion to Mary gets curtailed as world culture emphasizes the rational, scientific and technological aspects of life. There seems to be no more time for the more affective expressions of religion.
Then, after a while, people get fed up with the absolutely rational and logical culture, and rediscover religion and the affective part of the human soul and its needs.
And Mary is one of those.
The Church is certainly a human and historical institution with all that entails, yet her nature is not essentially political but spiritual: the Church is the People of God, Holy People of God making its way to encounter Jesus Christ. Only from this perspective can a satisfactory account be given of the Church's life and activity.
Christ is the Church's Pastor, but his presence in history passes through the freedom of human beings; from their midst one is chosen to serve as his Vicar, the successor of the Apostle Peter.
Yet Christ remains the center, not the Sucessor of Peter: Christ, Christ is the centre.
May every Christian rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ.
A gift of love, faith and goodwill from the people of the Philippines. Pope Pius IX once said: “Give me an army praying a million rosaries a day and we will conquer the world.” We are not out to conquer the world…but to save it for God to whom it rightly belongs.