Tag: Incarnation
The Feast of the Ascension, June 2
On June 2, we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, marking the day on which Jesus was taken up into heaven. According to the Acts of the Apostles, the event began at the Mount of Olives in the presence of the disciples: Jesus physically separated Himself from the Apostles to begin a new way of… Read More ›
Oh Lord, Thy will be done …
Mary knew, as even we poor mortals know, that the perfection of our lives consists in their conformity with the will of God. She had no intention or desire of ever becoming a mother. Nevertheless, when the Archangel Gabriel appeared and announced to her that God had chosen her to be the mother of the… Read More ›
St. Joseph, Fatherhood and Family
Through his complete self-sacrifice, Joseph expressed his generous love for the Mother of God, and gave her a husband’s “gift of self.” Even though he decided to draw back so as not to interfere in the plan of God which was coming to pass in Mary, Joseph obeyed the explicit command of the angel and… Read More ›
The Risen Christ: The Prayer of the Body
Our bodies play an enormously important part in our life in the Risen Christ. The Incarnation has given a sacramental quality to our flesh and blood, so that we can offer an unceasing prayer of the body, which can begin here and never end, sanctifying not only the suffering of the body but its joys… Read More ›
The “Pilgrimage of Faith’
7. I wrote in Novo Millennio Ineunte: “One can never really reach Jesus except by the path of faith” (n. 19). This was the path that Mary followed throughout her earthly life and it is the path of the pilgrim Church until the end of time. The Second Vatican Council placed great emphasis on Mary’s… Read More ›
To Jesus through Mary
2. St Louis Marie proposes the loving contemplation of the mystery of the Incarnation with unusual effectiveness. Authentic Marian devotion is Christocentric. Indeed, as the Second Vatican Council recalled, “Devoutly meditating on her [Mary] and contemplating her in the light of the Word made man, the Church reverently penetrates more deeply into the great mystery… Read More ›
The Family – Way of the Church
… With these words I wanted first of all to evoke the many paths along which man walks, and at the same time to emphasize how deeply the Church desires to stand at his side as he follows the paths of his earthly life. The Church shares in the joys and hopes, the sorrows and… Read More ›
The Holy Spirit and the Church’s Mission
3. The Spirit of God, present in creation and active in all the phases of salvation history, directs all things towards the definitive event of the Incarnation of the Word. Obviously, this Spirit is no different from the one who was given “not by measure” (cf. Jn 3:34) by the crucified and risen Christ. The… Read More ›
In Praise of the Virgin Mother
The whole world awaits Mary’s reply You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting,… Read More ›