As human beings, as citizens of a nation and of the world, as Christians we are committed to work for peace – for inner and social peace! And yet, we look at our world and see wars, violence, division, injustice, and oppression.
In this second column of the monthly series on the theme of ‘Peace’, Fr Fausto Gomez OP reflects on the kinds of peace and the four columns of peace (plus one).
The local branch of the Society of Jesus created a brand-new formation space, conceived so that laypeople can train other laypeople. The newly-created ‘Xavier Hall’ was inaugurated on December 2 by Father Stephen Tong Chak-Iong. The Provincial of the Society’s Chinese Province visited Macau to celebrate Saint Francis Xavier’s feast day with Macau’s Jesuit community.
Expectant waiting needs a good reason because waiting will test our endurance. The ability to wait and pray is a capital that can start us well into a great divine enterprise. Let us begin that enterprise in this Advent season.
Sharing the Gospel with your family is not always as easy as sharing it with a stranger. Conversely, listening to the Gospel message from a family member is not always as easy as hearing it from someone else. Why is that?
St Polycarp was martyred probably in February 155 or 156 AD. According to St Ignatius, Polycarp was a disciple of John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. Moreover, St Ignatius also says that Polycarp was made bishop of Smyrna by the Apostles themselves.
Between the 10th and 15th of November last, the 5th National Missionary Congress took place in Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, an event that brought together 1,200 religious people from all over the country.
As human beings, as citizens of a nation and of the world, as Christians we are committed to work for peace – for inner and social peace! And yet, we look at our world and see wars, violence, division, injustice, and oppression.
Starting this month, O Clarim will publish four monthly columns by Fr Fausto Gomez OP on ‘peace’ from the teachings of the Holy Scripture, Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas, and more specifically, from the social doctrine of the Church. In the first column today, Fr Gomez will delve into the meaning of peace.
We do like closure, don’t we? We have all left a movie or finished a book with a sense of frustration because it did not end adequately. Perhaps, it just stopped without really ending, or left some scenes hanging. Scripture agrees with our frustration. It tells us that as surely as God called human history into being, God will bring it to conclusion. Time ends at the feet of Christ the king of our hearts.
Hell exists, but it is not a place created by God to punish bad people at the end of life. It is a condition of unhappiness and despair resulting from sin. The question, therefore, is not who will be counted as sheep and goats at the end of the world, but on what occasions today do we behave as sheep or as goats? We are sheep when we love our sisters and brothers; we are goats when we neglect them.
St Ignatius was martyred in Rome during Trajan’s reign (98-117), devoured by beasts. It was while he was being escorted by ten guards on his way to Rome that he wrote seven Letters. The most important of these was the one he wrote to the Christian community in Rome. He told them not to do anything to prevent his martyrdom.