Advent chants, choral compositions by great symphonists, and even popular music. On Saturday, December 10th, the Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady will host a special Advent Choral Vespers service, featuring the Diocesan Choir and the Cathedral Schola of Macau. The initiative aims to prepare local Catholics for one of the most fundamental mysteries of the Catholic faith: the Nativity of Jesus.
God allows us to be tempted in order to test our virtue and to give us an opportunity to grow and to earn merit. Nonetheless, He takes our capability into account and supplies us with His grace.
Let us understand the beautiful dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which gives us the gift of Mary, the Theotokos. Her role as the Mother of God is the precise reason why God deigned to bestow upon her the gift of being conceived without the stain of original sin.
Poverty, illness, hunger and joblessness. This is the face of the urban poor whose numbers are growing in the cities of the Philippines. in Caloocan City, the Dehonian priests have been working with laypersons to provide food to the needy, including the children and the elderly. And by merging with their existence, they say they have found a blessing.
Originally, the balls and the lights on Christmas trees symbolized the hope that nature would eventually overcome the cold and darkness of winter, and produce once again fruits and crops for our nourishment. May those fruits of conversion also bring hope and light to a world that is still in a deep moral winter.
When he spoke of God’s wrath, John had no clear idea of how it would manifest. The wrath of God is an image that recurs often in the Old Testament. It is not intended as an explosion of hatred on the victim. It is an expression of God’s love: he is fighting evil, not the person who does it. He does not want to hit the person but to free each one from sin.
The goal of the Christian life is far beyond the reach of our wounded nature, almost humanly impossible. The requirements are extreme. This is why Jesus Christ teaches us that we have to count on Him and on His grace.
Religious tensions could potentially escalate in the Muslim-majority nation of Malaysia with the formation of a new coalition government that includes a fundamentalist political party. This new scenario brings to mind the past tussle over the use of the word “Allah,” which nonetheless ended beneficially for the Christians.
Members of the GELMac organized an annual food drive, collecting food donations at four different local supermarkets last Saturday. The donations were offered to Caritas and helped relieve Macau’s most vulnerable and needy.
Last weekend, 20 people participated in a silent retreat under the guidance of Father Daniel Ribeiro at the Diocesan Retreat House in Coloane. More than just engaging in a period of spiritual reflection, the retreat provided participants with an opportunity for a personal encounter with God.