Category: All Categories

3rd Sunday of Advent – Gaudete Sunday

adminAll Categories, Faith & Life

The farmer waits for the rain—patient, steadfast, enduring the burning heat of the sun. He tills the soil, prepares the furrows, removes the stones, and lifts his prayer for heaven’s blessing. Saint James exhorts us to imitate this perseverance and trust, urging us to strengthen our hearts, for the Lord is near. The prophet Isaiah announces with joy the coming of the Messiah: “The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom.” This desert symbolizes the barrenness we may experience—moments of deep loneliness or spiritual dryness. A land that cannot bear fruit reflects the emptiness of a life lived without purpose, consumed by selfishness and comfort, sustained merely because the air is free. When we neglect good works, our lives resemble a field without harvest—the fruits the Lord longs to find in us. A life without fruit is squandered before God. Yet Isaiah proclaims hope: “Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak.” The Lord comes to empower us, to enter our hearts and homes, and to guide us forward as pilgrims growing in His love.

Email, RSS Follow
Print

PARISHIONERS WELCOME A STUNNING NEW PIPE ORGAN – A First-Look at the New Pipe Organ in the Cathedral

adminAll Categories, Local

The Macau Cathedral renowned for its simple yet stunning architecture is embracing the digital age — not in its appearance, but in its sound. The Cathedral recently completed the installations of its state-of-the-art pipe organ. After some months being closed for the installations of this church instrument, the Cathedral was reopened last December 7, just a day before the Immaculate Conception and the Christmas festivities ahead. Seeing the beauty of the new pipe organ adding much dignity to the main altar of the Cathedral, an ardent parishioner blurted out with awe:   “Really amazing, it’s been a long time coming. It means a lot to the whole church goers of the Cathedral.” A young Portuguese parishioner also said: “Indeed, Christmas at the Cathedral is set to sound better than ever this year, because the Cathedral  just unveiled its brand-new, world-class pipe organ.” The new pipe organ has indeed inspired awe among the parishioners and even tourists visiting Macau. This massive musical upgrade has been years in waiting and making. The design and planning process stretched over multiple seasons, with organizers meticulously shaping every detail. 

Email, RSS Follow
Print

Tropical Cyclone Senyar in Sumatra – Capuchins- In Solidarity with the Displaced and the Poor

adminAll Categories, World

The worst is over, but the emergency continues. Floods and landslides have swept away entire villages. Many people are homeless. Rescue teams are trying to reach the displaced: for some it is possible, for others not, because the areas remain isolated. This is the scenario still prevailing in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, after the passage of the devastating Cyclone Senyar. In the region, Tropical Cyclone Senyar brought torrential rains, floods and landslides, leaving countless dead and missing, 1.5 million people affected and more than 570,000 displaced.

Email, RSS Follow
Print

IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE FIRE VICTIMS IN HONGKONG – Caritas Macau Mobilizes to Aid Victims of Tai Po Fire

adminAll Categories, China, World

Caritas Macau has raised almost 900 thousand patacas in donations for the victims of the fire at the Wang Fuk Court residential complex, in neighboring Hong Kong.  This sum adds up to the thirty million patacas that the Macau government has offered the authorities of the nearby Special Administrative Region to assist with the building’s refurbishment. 

Email, RSS Follow
Print

2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT – YEAR A – Purging the Evil from Within

adminAll Categories

Every year on the second Sunday of Advent, the liturgy offers us the preaching of John the Baptist. He prepared the people of Israel for the coming of the Messiah. So, also today, he teaches us to welcome the advent of the Lord. Today, as then, the most difficult step to take is to understand the need to get out from where we are settled in, leave the false religious and theological security that we have constructed, and welcome the newness of God’s word.

Email, RSS Follow
Print

1ST SUNDAY OF ADVENT -YEAR A – The Advent of the Heart: A Meditation on Divine Visitation

adminAll Categories, Faith & Life

The language of the Gospel, especially its apocalyptic tones, often strikes a dissonant chord within our modern psyche. We either spiral into fearful speculation about a punishing God and a catastrophic end, or we flatten its profound mystery into a mere moralism about the suddenness of physical death. Both interpretations are a flight from the true, transformative power of the Word, born from a misreading of its sacred genre. Let us remember the fundamental key: the Gospel is, by its very nature, Good News. Any interpretation that breeds anxiety instead of hope, fear instead of conversion, or turmoil instead of peace within the soul is a distortion, moving us away from the heart of God, which is love and salvation.

Email, RSS Follow
Print

PIERRE LOIRET- FROM CHOEUR GRÉGORIEN DE PARIS – Gregorian Chant a Spiritual Treasure of the Church

adminAll Categories, Local

It´s one of the world’s most renowned choral ensembles and it performed in Macau late last month. The Choeur Grégorien de Paris performed, who performed in the 100th Anniversary Concert of the University of Fu-Hen, has included the territory on its Asian Tour. The group sang at Saint Lawrence’s Church and at the Saint Joseph’s Seminary and Church. Author of several books about Gregorian chant, Pierre Loiret is also one of the oldest members of the Parisian ensemble. A former member of the French Navy with a PhD in Economy and Finance, Mr. Loiret told “O Clarim” that Gregorian Chant is not a thing of the past: in Europe there’s a revival being fueled by the younger generations.

Email, RSS Follow
Print

BLACK NOVEMBER IN NIGERIA – The Ongoing Bloody Persecution of Christians in Nigeria

adminAll Categories, World

This November has been particularly harsh for Catholic and Muslim communities in Nigeria.  In the early morning hours of November 17th, “shortly before morning prayers,” an unknown number of girls were kidnapped by armed men who attacked a girls’ school in the northwest of that African country. The gang members attacked the Maga Government Girls’ Comprehensive Secondary School in the Danko/Wasagu district, Kebbi state. After killing the school’s vice-principal, Malam Hassan Yakubu Makuku – who tried in vain to protect the students – and wounding a security guard, the attackers fled to the neighboring state of Zamfara, taking an undetermined number of girls with them. The area where the kidnapping occurred is part of the Emirate of Zuru and is predominantly Muslim. 

Email, RSS Follow
Print