Religion
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33rd Sunday in ordinary time: The middle road
Today’s readings: Proverbs 31, 10-13.19-20.30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5, 1-6; Matthew 25, 14-30. There were times in the history of Christianity when Christians were persecuted for being Christians. There were also times when they were persecuted for...
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Is this the Midas touch?
Restaurants, holiday cruises, leisure spots… All are overbooked. Supermarkets are overcrowded. Luxury has become a triviality. Cars have become means of desperation rather than means of transport – golden prisons stuck in monumental traffic jams.
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Quotes and news
Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said: “Nowadays the poor are often called socially unprotected people, and society regards them as a problem. Politicians often try to use or buy these people, so they can build...
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32nd Sunday in ordinary time: Lessons of life
Today’s readings: Wisdom 6,12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4,13-18; Matthew 25, 1-13. Wisdom is the one thing that makes our life most sensible. It makes us resourceful, alert to what’s happening not only around us, but mostly inside us. It is something...
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When the sun danced in the sky
Three peasant children in Portugal claimed to have had six apparitions of the Madonna on the 13th of every month from May to October 1917. On July 13, Our Lady had told them that she would perform a miracle in October. Eyewitnesses to the amazing...
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Quotes and news
“Simply untrue” and “utterly false” were two of the comments by Vatican officials as they strongly denied reports that a commission was set up to examine the possibility of an “ecumenical Mass” which would allow Catholics and Protestants to...
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31st Sunday in ordinary time: When religion is ‘fake’
Today’s readings : Malachi 1, 14 - 2, 2.8-10; 1 Thessalonians 2, 7-9.13; Matthew 23, 1-12. There are times in the history of all peoples and cultures that are turning points and that mark radical shifts in the thinking and beliefs of entire peoples.
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Poor translations of the liturgy
On March 28, 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued the fifth instruction “for the right implementation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council” on the use of...
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Quotes and news
In a video message to participants in the 48th Social Week for Italian Catholics, Pope Francis talked about the different types of work, including that which degrades, humiliates or exploits people. Some of the examples he gave were slavery, the...
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30th Sunday in ordinary time: Love, the soul of the city
Today’s readings: Exodus 22, 20-26; 1 Thessalonians 1, 5-10; Matthew 22, 34-40. When France was perpetrating acts of violence against the inhabitants of its colonies, Albert Camus wrote: “I wish that I lived in a country where it was possible to...
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A corrupt soul breeds indifference
On Monday, October 16, 2017, the Maltese psyche shook, splitting to its core. A nation’s soul is revealed in the way it treats its victims. There can hardly be a more palpable victim than the one intentionally blasted into burnt pieces of flesh.
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Quotes and news
The Catholic bishops of Nicaragua said that the country is going to municipal elections next Sunday without solving the problems they had highlighted in their statement of September 26, 2012 . The bishops appealed to the people to vote and become...
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29th Sunday in ordinary time: First, good citizenship
Today’s readings: Isaiah 45, 1.4-6; Thessalonians 1, 1-5; Matthew 22, 15-21. The divide between religion and politics, Church and society, has been commonplace since the inception of Christianity as a movement impacting on society and on the...
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‘The poor will always be with you’
We are inclined to think that poverty is often self-inflicted through the sluggish behaviour of people who lack initiative to pull themselves out of the poverty margins, who are only interested in exploiting social benefits dished out of the...
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Quotes and news
The persecution of Christians is worse than at any time in history, according to a new report issued on October 12. The report, entitled ‘Persecuted and Forgotten?’ concludes that the persecution of Christians 2015-17 reached its highest ever...
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28th Sunday in ordinary time: The standpoint changes the perspective
Today’s readings: Isaiah 25,6-10; Philippians 4,12-14.19-20; Matthew 22,1-14. The Scriptures today reflect the epochal change under way in our times. We, the Christian West, always thought we are the centre of God’s universe, while other peoples...
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The joy of simplicity
The first week of October brought with it the religious feast of St Francis of Assisi – the saint who chose the way of poverty and simplicity and in doing so, inspired generations of people of goodwill. Eight centuries after his death, the...
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Quotes and news
‘May the voice of Jesus return in Europe’ was the theme of the final message of the plenary assembly of the Council of European Bishops Conferences (CCEE). The conference gathered in Minsk, Belarus, from September 27-October 1 and relaunched the...
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27th Sunday in ordinary time: The architecture of life
Today’s readings: Isaiah 5, 1-7; Philippians 4, 6-9; Matthew 21, 33-43. ‘Aesthetics’ is a branch of philosophy that explores the nature of art, beauty and taste. It is related to our capacity of judgement where sentiment and taste are concerned.
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Enemies of the people
A transformation of European culture has been taking place since the end of World War II, little by little at first; at a much faster pace lately. Many Europeans have abandoned Christianity and its values to embrace secularism. Secularism is to be...
