At 17.30 this afternoon, at the Altar of the Cathedral of the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Father Francis will preside at a Prayer Celebration for Peace in South Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The following is the homily pronounced by the Pope during the celebration: ...read more

A quick read through the Old Testament may make you think that God is all for war and destruction. Just read Deuteronomy 20:10-18 and you would conclude that war is perfectly OK with God. A read through Genesis 19 about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and you could conclude that even nuclear destruction is ...read more

Love is such a mystery that it can’t be understood in its fullness but it can be understood because we all experience it. Today we address some love questions that you have. After Last week I received two questions that I would like to address. The first came from Nina Giacona, who writes to us ...read more

Two weeks ago we looked at what love is not, based on the wonderful classic by M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled. His book is not a Catholic book; it’s a psychology book (found in the “self-help” section of your bookstore), but Scott Peck was a practicing Christian and the book is very much a ...read more

Join us in prayer for the intentions entrusted to us by Pope Francis. For November 2017, we join the Holy Father in praying for: Christians in Asia – That Christians in Asia, bearing witness to the Gospel in word and deed, may promote dialogue, peace, and mutual understanding, especially with those of other religions. Daily Offering ...read more

This week we are looking at what I’m going to call the Joy of Love or Love Joy. For the last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at love. Last week in particular we saw at a few love myths. Today we go back to where it all began because this Sunday’s Gospel reading is ...read more

In our quest to find out what Jesus meant when he said that we must love God and neighbour, we have to be able to define love. We must also be able to stay away from those “love myths”. There are many definitions of love and many volumes have been written on the subject. If ...read more

“Tres cosas tiene el amor que no se pueden olvidar: Que Dios nos amó primero, que hay que darse por entero y ponerse a caminar.” (Tres Cosas Tiene el Amor, Fernando Leiva) Last time, I mentioned a bit of what Pope Francis said during his trip to the World Meeting of Families in 2015. With ...read more

“When faith… encounters art, it creates a profound harmony because each can and wishes to speak of God, making the Invisible visible” (Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, 18 November 2009) Have you ever looked at a work of art (a painting let’s say of a landscape) and, remembering the wonder of creation, be stirred into ...read more

The last two weeks we’ve been looking at love (part 1 and part 2). Jesus said that the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love neighbour (Matthew 22:36-40). He also said we have to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). Last week we looked at seven qualities of love. Today let’s begin by ...read more