In death, we learn the story of love
My sister and I used to get season’s tickets to the ballet. They brought colour, beauty and music to long winters, and gave us an opportunity to visit. They also took us to performances we wouldn’t normally select, which is how we ended up at a performance of Swan Lake. We had tickets, so we went.
God’s Spirit dwells in us
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (Year A) Nov. 9 (Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; Psalm 46; 1 Corinthians 3:9b-11, 16-17; John 2:13-22)
In ancient Israel the temple was a rich metaphor for the life-giving presence of God. For people of the ancient world, temples were theology books in stone. Their mathematical proportions and symbolic structures were meant to reflect divine and cosmological principles. The temple was often referred to as the navel or axis of the world.
Drawing spirituality from chaste women
Ancient Greece expressed much of its psychological and spiritual wisdom inside its myths. The Greeks didn’t intend these to be taken literally or as historical, but as metaphor and as an archetypal illustration of why life is as it is and how people engage life both generatively and destructively.
Pope urges activists to struggle against 'structural causes' of poverty
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis urged an international gathering of grassroots social activists to struggle against the "structural causes" of poverty and inequality, with a "revolutionary" program drawn from the Gospels.
Pope says official exorcists show church's love for the suffering
VATICAN CITY - Exorcists, assigned to that ministry by their bishops, demonstrate the love and care of the church for "those who suffer because of the work of the devil," Pope Francis said in a message to the International Association of Exorcists.
Pope Francis: ‘Evolution … is not inconsistent with the notion of creation’
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Monday (Oct. 27) waded into the controversial debate over the origins of human life, saying the big bang theory did not contradict the role of a divine creator, but even required it.
Cardinal Pell calls for 'no doctrinal back-flips' at next family synod
ROME - Looking ahead to the October 2015 world Synod of Bishops on the family, Cardinal George Pell said the task for Catholics "over the next 12 months" is to explain "the necessity of conversion, the nature of the Mass," and "the purity of heart the Scriptures require of us to receive holy Communion."
Pope Francis says Pope Benedict was a 'great pope'
VATICAN CITY - Retired Pope Benedict XVI is a perfect example of how intellectual knowledge and scientific curiosity do not lead a person further from God, but can strengthen their love for God and for his human creatures, Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis calls for abolishing death penalty and life imprisonment
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis called for abolition of the death penalty as well as life imprisonment, and denounced what he called a "penal populism" that promises to solve society's problems by punishing crime instead of pursuing social justice.
Reach for the helping hand of hope
All Souls’ Day (Year A) Nov. 2 (Lamentations 3:17-26; Psalm 103; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; Matthew 11:25-30)
How do we go on when our whole world has collapsed?
Retired pope says interreligious dialogue no substitute for mission
VATICAN CITY - Retired Pope Benedict XVI said dialogue with other religions is no substitute for spreading the Gospel to non-Christian cultures, and warned against relativistic ideas of religious truth as "lethal to faith." He also said the true motivation for missionary work is not to increase the church's size but to share the joy of knowing Christ.