The Diocesan Youth Commission will hold this Wednesday its very first open day with the aim of introducing the new Diocesan Youth Centre to Macau’s population. The Commission wants the facilities, located at Rua Formosa, to become a reference point for the Special Administrative Region’s younger generations.
Often we expect that God will simply give us whatever we ask for in prayer and are disappointed when we do not receive it. But prayer has effects more far reaching than merely having petitions for temporal wants met.
This year the feast of Our Lady of Fátima, celebrated this Sunday in Macau’s northernmost parish, had a special flair to it. Located at a short distance away from Mainland China, the Church of Our Lady of Fátima became the first in the Diocese of Macau to display relics of Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco Marto, two of the little shepherds who witnessed the Cova da Iria apparitions.
There is hope that the Silsilah Dialogue Movement will, by educating the youngest minds, eventually bring reason and peace to the conflicted island of Mindanao.
The Samaritan showed more faith than the Jewish lepers, which signifies that following outward forms of religion with precision is not necessarily a sign of a strong relationship with God. The outcaste Samaritan had more faith than the Jews despite being born in a heretical sect.
It’s no wonder that, in this Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 17:11-19), Jesus is more than willing to heal the ten lepers who shouted from afar: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Jesus became man in order to remove all the barriers that stand between each person and God.
Saint John, in his First Letter (1:8-10) says: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
In Macau’s largest parishes, catechesis classes will mobilize more than 100 children, O Clarim was told by the Diocesan Commission for Catechetical Formation. The number refers only to the Cantonese-speaking Catholic community. In the smaller Portuguese-speaking community, about 130 children – distributed by the Cathedral parish and by Our Lady of Carmel parish – will attend catechesis this year.
The Saint Pius X Music Academy will celebrate its 60th anniversary on October 8th. To mark the occasion, Bishop Stephen Lee Bun-sang will unveil the busts of the school’s founder, Father Áureo Castro, and the school’s patron, Saint Pius X, in the new premises of the institution. The academy has moved lock, stock and barrel to the former building of the Matteo Ricci College, not far from the government headquarters in Macau.
Created by Italian teenager Carlo Acutis, the exhibition was extended until last Friday and, in its second stint, it received more than two thousand visitors, willing to develop a better understanding of the Eucharistic Miracles phenomena and exploring the relationship between Catholic doctrine and contemporary science.