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.”
The Bishop of Macau, Stephen Lee Bun-sang, convened a special prayer novena for the citizens of neighbouring Hong Kong and urged the local Catholics to pray for the end to the Covid-19 outbreak which is devastating the former British colony. Starting this Friday and until March 19th, a prayer released earlier by Pope Francis will be recited in all the local parishes, alongside the Prayer to Saint Roch which has been intoned in Macau churches since the early days of the pandemic.
About fifty children and youth were invited to reflect on the meaning of Lent and how they can integrate Lenten practices in their life. The initiative brought together members of both the Lusophone Scouts Group of Macau (GELMac) and the catechesis group of Our Lady of Carmel parish. The meeting, which was held at the seaside resort of Cheoc Van, introduced the participants to the patron saints of the National Corps of Scouts, the Portuguese Catholic Scouting movement.
The Claretian missions in Macau and Hong Kong launched earlier this month a fundraising campaign to help the thousands of Ukrainian citizens who have escaped the war-torn nation and have taken refuge in neighboring Poland.
The Faculty of Social Sciences and Education of the University of São José (USJ) will promote, on April 23rd, a public lecture on a new model of couple therapy, Congruence Couple Therapy. The talk will explore how congruence – the compatibility between husband and wife – can help treat and solve problems such as alcoholism, gambling addiction or mental health issues.
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.
Bishop Stephen LEE announces that, from 11th March to 19th March 2022, in addition to the Prayer to St. Roch, the following prayer, released earlier by Pope Francis, will be recited in all parishes after public Masses, with the special prayer intention for our brothers and sisters in neighbouring Hong Kong in the midst of the worsening epidemic.
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).