The Wise Men knew something important: they knew that they did not know everything. Socrates taught: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” This is why the wise men asked for directions. They practiced the virtue of prudence.
Category: Faith & Life
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BITE-SIZE THEOLOGY (16) Does the Bible tell us everything we need to know?
Some people think that the Bible suffices to know Christ and his doctrine. This is the belief on sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”). But the Bible itself does not say that it contains everything, that it should be the only rule of faith. In fact, the last chapter of the last verse of Saint John’s Gospel tells us: “But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25).
BITE-SIZE THEOLOGY (158) What elements are needed for a marriage to be valid?
The proximate matter is the mutual giving of the spouses to one another through matrimonial consent. What is matrimonial consent?
BITE-SIZE THEOLOGY (157) Who invented marriage?
It was neither society nor the Church that invented marriage. It was God who planned it, from the moment he created our first parents.
WW2 Polish martyr priest beatified
Macha was arrested in 1941 only for helping those in wartime distress. His humility, faith and spiritual concern for them , were clear in his final letter to his family. “Stay with God! Forgive me for everything,” he said. “I am going before the Almighty Judge who will judge me now. I hope that He will accept me. My wish was to work for Him, but it was not given to me. Thank you for everything!”
Turning misfortune into a blessing for 700,000 children
She had a dream about suffering children in Vietnam as she wrote in her autobiography Nobody’s Children. She then decided to go there to help them, which she did. Despite her poor education and having no connections with sponsors, through hard work and inventiveness, she built up an impressive international charity, the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation. The Guardian article’s fitting title was “Christina Noble: the woman who transformed the lives of 700,000 children,” and, of course, many more since.
Holidays and consumerism
In itself, there is no harm in rejoicing even through a certain consumerism of the Christmas atmosphere, if we speak about the profound reasons why this holiday exists. Yet, as I said, many often overlook these reasons because we don’t find them where they should be. Then we are content to contemplate an absence, as if we put all the gift packages on one side, without ever opening them.
A chain reaction of love
Try to think of it: John felt the Holy Spirit through the body of his mother Elisabeth who received it through Mary who was pregnant with Jesus. Truly, a chain reaction of love. God’s gifts, though a variety of charisms, are for everyone. When we answer with generosity to God who is daily visiting our life, we too can spend our life with lasting enthusiasm and bring Christ to a world which thirsts for love, for meaning and for joy. A vocation which is a call to immediate action, with no delay.
Mary, the first Disciple
Dearest Mother Mary and Saint Joseph, pray for me that I may have the faith you both lived. When questions arise in my heart, help me to respond generously to God as you did. May I trust in all that God has spoken in imitation of each one of you. Jesus, I trust in You.
Saint Joseph leads us to Bethlehem
The “Year of St Joseph” ended this month on the feast day of the Immaculate Conception (December 8), but we keep our eyes fixed on the foster father of Jesus, Guardian of the Holy Family, given the approach of Christmas. We reflect on his increased mystical presence in the Church. It is remarkable that, in the private revelations about St Joseph, both in the apparitions of Our Lady, as to the mystic and devout saints, Heaven is calling for greater devotion by Catholics to the foster father of Jesus and chaste husband of the Mother of God.