Right around two years ago, Pope Francis released his first encyclical letter, Laudato Si’, it rocked everybody’s world. The encyclical ended up being a real gift to me. It has been my guiding star, especially about certain ideas I want my son to learn about his place in the world. Here are some of the points that really stood out to me:
Has it ever struck you as strange that the disciples were gathered “when the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,” i.e., on a Christian feast,? There couldn’t have been any Christian feasts yet, so soon after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. The explanation is simple. The feast we celebrate today already existed long before the time of Jesus. It was not unlike our Thanksgiving, a harvest celebration, celebrated 50 days (seven weeks) after Passover. In the Old Testament it is called the Feast of Weeks.
The Christians of Egypt have defied ISIS and given the world a powerful example of what it means to profess faith in Jesus Christ.
Last week, a large group of Christians in Egypt went on pilgrimage to the monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor. The Christian families — grandparents, parents, and children — boarded the bus along with two other vehicles for a weekend of renewal at this spiritual oasis with the monks in the Egyptian desert.
The day before President Trump met with Pope Francis, Cardinal Peter Turkson juxtaposed the president’s speech in Saudi Arabia with what the Pope said in Egypt.
Taking to Twitter, he wrote: “Pope Francis and President Trump reach out to Islam-world to exorcise it of [religious violence]. One offers peace of dialogue, the other security of arms.”
Which seems fitting. It would be odd for a pastor to counsel recourse to arms. Similarly, it is expected that a commander in chief would seek to augment security through arms.
The Magnificat is a history lesson, a song of praise, and a prophetic message.
Marge Fenelon
The Visitation is one of the most significant events in our Catholic faith tradition.
Mary, newly pregnant with our Lord, traveled 70-some miles of rough territory to help her elderly cousin, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who was thought to be barren, was in her sixth month of pregnancy. Both pregnancies were miraculous, and both involved key figures in salvation history: John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.
Here are six reasons why all people should have a relationship with Virgin Mary :
See John Paul II’s reflections on this in Gift and Mystery.
1) Catholics don’t worship Mary
In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is specifically mentioned as coming in the form of a dove. This occurs during Jesus’ baptism where it is written, “the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove” (Luke 3:22).
Why a dove?
Following is a reflection on preparing young people for the Sacrament of Confirmation:
In the high school chapel, young people are meditating. A song rises spontaneously. Then silence. A song springs up again: “The Holy Spirit is given to us…”
The last preparatory meeting for confirmation has just ended. We who are accompanying these youths are both surprised and moved by this improvised praise. Something has taken place during these times of preparation; something which is beyond us.
The Vatican has postponed a trip by Pope Francis to war-torn South Sudan planned for later this year, which the pontiff had hoped to undertake together with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
Vatican spokesman Greg Burke told journalists Tuesday that while the trip is still being considered it is “not for this year.” Burke did not say when the trip, which had been tentatively planned for October, might now take place.
Francis answers the workers of steel industry Ilva: he quotes the first article of the Italian Constitution: “We can say that depriving people of work or exploiting them with unworthy or badly paid jobs is unconstitutional”.
