"Let your light so shine before the people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew: 5:16)
In a time of a global pandemic that has killed almost 200,000 Americans, civil unrest in the streets, and an economy in tatters, I have been blessed with the opportunity to share my thoughts with you during this unique time in history. I decided to contribute to this blog in the form of a personal letter to each of you.
We live in times in which many call good or "no big deal" what God calls sinful. This is especially true in the area of sexuality, where whole sectors of our society not only tolerate but even celebrate sexual practices that the Scriptures call gravely sinful, and which will lead to Hell if not repented of. Acts of fornication (pre-marital sex) and homosexual acts cannot be considered acceptable by any Catholic or by any person who sincerely accepts the Scripture as the Word of God. And even for those who do not share our faith, acts of fornication and homosexual acts can be plainl
I urge you to have ever greater confidence in God, for it is written that those who trust in him will never be forsaken.
Such a simple commandment Jesus puts before the Pharisees and ourselves today. We ask their question too: what is the greatest commandment of God, what single law is of the greatest consequence? However do we really understand the unintended consequences of what Jesus actually says? In plain speech it seems simple enough: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Over the years, the world has been moving from one crisis to the other and from war to another because there is a prevailing virus called "sin and corruption" that dominates the world and wreaks havoc.
This virus has brought crises to the entire world leading to the death of hundreds of thousands of people as well as causing economic and social devastation.
The anniversary of John Paul II's election to the papacy falls this year on the centenary of his birth: two events celebrated by Churches around the world. The Vatican Publishing House and the Osservatore Romano preserve the memorable moments of that unforgettable evening of 16 October 1978.
October 16, 1978, 42 years ago, was a Monday. It was already dark when, at 6.18 p.m., white smoke billowed out from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, after black smoke had risen seven times before.
On October 4, Pope Francis issued his third encyclical and his second social encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, calling on the world to come together in fraternal love in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and global social, economic and political fragmentation.
Carlo Acutis, a contemporary of ours, was 15 when he gave his soul to God, having left to the world a backpack full of blessings obtained by his daily surrender. Prayer, the Eucharist, love of the Virgin . . . and profound eagerness to take the faith through the Internet — the instrument he had at hand, working with it intelligently and ably. He achieved his objective, moving innumerable people, who no doubt were unaware of the existence of Eucharistic miracles, as well as many who knew about them.
Any new papal encyclical is noteworthy, and it can’t be denied that when it comes to Pope Francis’s latest, “Fratelli Tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship,” attention must be paid. Having read the work — as opposed to studied it — I want to offer some initial impressions over the next weeks that, I hope, will put it into a theological and historical context.
