Let us reflect on the observations made by the scholar Renata Salvarani who speaking about Baptism, observes that “between the ninth and tenth centuries, the baptismal liturgies underwent some transformations, even significant ones, which can be found both in the normative provisions and in the ecclesiastical practice.”
João de Brito accompanied all these persecutions in south India from outside; he had wanted to suffer those trials with his converts, but they had managed to keep him out from such convulsions, reminding him that the flock might lose some sheep, but it could not be without its shepherd.
In our times, is there such a thing as a “just war”?
As we enter the season of Lent, the Church offers a great number of suggestions for our spiritual progress. One common devotion is the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) which is more commonly referred to as ‘Way of Sorrows’,‘Via Dolorosa’, or simply the Stations of the Cross.
Our faith not only affirms but elevates human dignity because it adds a more important and supernatural reason: “The dignity of the human person is rooted in his or her creation in the image and likeness of God” (CCCC 358). It is this fact that explains why we have the capacity of self-determination, why we are endowed with freedom. The same point of the CCCC continues: “Endowed with a spiritual and immortal soul, intelligence and free will, the human person is ordered to God and called in soul and in body to eternal beatitude.”
Fasting and penance are ways of purification, perfection, and spiritual combat. Jesus, when He let himself be led by the Spirit into the desert to face the temptation of the devil, shows us – gives us – one of the spiritual weapons He used to fight the devil: fasting. Already in the fourth century, St Peter Chrysologus wrote: “Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So, if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy.”
But in darkness, light shines brighter. During the Second World War, St. Maximilian Kolbe was able to witness the power of God’s love even in the most horrific conditions of a Nazi concentration camp, by offering his life in exchange for a fellow prisoner while forgiving his executioners. During the cruel slave trade of the 19th century, the Sudanese St. Josephina Bakhita, a slave who for years endured torture and abuse on a daily basis, converted to Christianity and regained both her freedom and her dignity. As a consequence, she decided to dedicate the rest of her life serving those in need as a nun, with no regrets nor hate for her previous owners.
Temptations conquered help us grow in moral and spiritual strength, in love, in happiness – in holiness. If we overcome them, consolation from God comes: “To everyone who overcomes, I will give permission to eat of the tree of life that is in the paradise of God” (Rev 2:7).
In one of his writings from that year, Brito clearly refers to the enormous difficulties he faced daily: “Such is my relation for the year 1682. It all boils down to this: we have no human support to lean on, kings and princes oppose us, the powerful and learned ones do their best to expel us; and even so, thanks to a special protection of God Our Lord, who keeps us on this earth, we managed to spread His Holy Religion.”
Once we have removed the courageous announcement of our faith that frees, we have remained trapped in the slavery of the dictatorship of relativism, which oppresses.
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