“Someone exists who holds in his hands the destiny of this passing world; Someone who holds the keys to death and the netherworld; Someone who is the Alpha and the Omega … And this Someone is Love. He alone can give the ultimate assurance when he says ‘Be not afraid!’” —Pope St. John Paul II.

February 15, 2015 a day that was not like any other day. It was the day in which evil hands of extremists took the lives of 21 Copts in cold blood.

This day marked a heinous crime the like of which has been repeatedly perpetrated at different times in various parts of the world including the Middle East.

What a vicious and bloodthirsty extremists who chop off heads to satisfy their mean desire, and carry out an act they term as “heroism” at the expense on innocent and peaceful people!

“No slave is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:20)

No obstacles can stand in the way of serving the Lord. It is merely a divine and a sublime call that can never be neglected or ignored.

Fr. Raphael Nguyen says, “It is amazing that, after so long, God chose me to be a priest to serve Him and others, especially the suffering.”

On February 11, thousands of people commemorate the first apparition of Blessed Mary to Saint Bernadette. It is a celebration marking the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the 28th World Day of the Sick, which is a day instituted by Saint John Paul II in 1992 and celebrated for the first time in Lourdes on February 11, 1993. This coincidence indicates that as we mark the apparition of Blessed Mary, it is also a remainder that we need to pray seeking the Divine Mother’s care and healing of the sick, the suffering and the oppressed.

Peace-loving people worldwide are focusing their attention on the proposed papal visit to Iraq as the time of the trip approaches, namely on March 5-8.

With the deterioration of security situation in Iraq, hopes hinge on  the importance of this visit viewing it as a means to resuscitate a Middle East that restores its beauty, unity, common living, and most of all its diversity.

The idea of an integral ecology, that sees “strong” connections between environmental and human suffering, is the “great and extraordinary reflection that Pope Francis hands on to the world” with the Encyclical Laudato Si’. The founder of Slow Food, creator of the international Terra Madre network and of the Laudato Si’ Communities (the latter with Bishop Domenico Pompili), observes how the time has arrived to overcome the paradigm of “profiting off of everything” to instead begin “to think about common and relational goods”.

January 18-25 is a week to always be marked with hope and nonstop prayers seeking divine intercession to attain the long-aspired wish, namely Christian unity.

It is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that is marked every year with strong devotion, solemn and sincere prayers to the Mother of the Church, Blessed Mary, and to Lord Jesus Christ seeking divine help to bring about the desired unity which is the hope of billions of Christians worldwide.

Though he was not physically present for his New Year’s Eve liturgy due to what the Vatican has described as a “painful sciatica,” Pope Francis offered a message of hope for those searching for meaning at the end of a trying year marked by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

In a prepared text read aloud by Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, the pope said, “It might seem forced, almost jarring, to thank God at the end of a year like this, marked by the pandemic.”

We are all capable of the best and of the worst. On Palm Sunday, the majority of those in Jerusalem celebrated Jesus’ entrance. Three days later, many who acclaimed Him on His arrival, shout and cried out for His crucifixion.

Press reports have indicated that six months after the massive explosion that rocked Beirut, the Catholic Lebanese found numerous impediments in the way to prepare for Christmas amid the wreckage that overwhelmed every walk of life. This was represented in the acute difficulty pertaining to preparing for a Christmas scene amid the devastation that damaged Beirut. The scenario has changed drastically and life became more unpredictable.