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The AP Interview: Pope says homosexuality not a crime
January 25 2023
Soline Humbert
A necessary clarification from Pope Francis https://outreach.faith/2023/01/pope-francis-clarifies-comments-on-homosexuality-one-must-consider-the-circumstances/?_thumbnail_id=4545
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29 Jan 2023 – 4th Sunday, (A)
January 29 2023
Thara Benedicta
Key Message: Suffering is an asset. We will enjoy and realize its benefits once it is gone!! Homily: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" People who do not think themselves higher than others are those who are poor in spirit. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Pride was the single sin which made the once upon Angels to fall from Heaven and become devils. Mamma is the best example of "poor in spirit". Though She was aware that God was in Her womb and She was the one and only Mother of God, She did not consider Herself higher than others. She did not even request a better birth place for Her sweet little baby. She was happy and thankful for whatever She had been blessed with. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" When someone goes through the valley of tears, the world further harasses him saying that they have committed a big sin because a big misfortune has happened to them. They also think that they are cursed and judge that they have committed big sins. But our dear Jesus calls them "Blessed". Next time if someone says that you are suffering because of your sins, please open the Bible and show them Mathew 5:1-12 and tell what Jesus told about you. When you are going through difficult times, realise that God is in full control and He works out everything for our good. Keep saying the same, "My Jesus is in full control, He will make everything end well". He will not allow us to suffer more than what we can bear. He will give us the grace to suffer through. When we come out of difficult situations, we come out as a deeper person in experience with our Saviour Jesus Christ. It will bring anyone closer to God. Even those who do not search for Jesus will search for Him. It can bring a person to His knees. The comfort of our loving Lord is so sweet, that we feel it is worth going through the suffering. We gain good experience with our Lord Jesus if we think in the right direction during our sufferings. Suffering tells us who we are. Suffering will show how much faith we actually have. It is through suffering that one realizes oneself. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy" When we receive mercy from God we will be able to give mercy to others. When we do not receive God's mercy, we will carry a heavy guilt feeling. Though God is longing to forgive our sins, we will be carrying a heavy load of guilt on our back. When we are pushed down with the heavy guilt feeling we will not be able to show mercy to others. Our Lord Jesus explained the mercy of our God the Father using the story of the Prodigal Son. Let us consider the story of the prodigal son. The father forgives the prodigal son and the prodigal son accepts the forgiveness of the father and again enjoys his position as the son/heir of the father. Now one of his friends who had wounded him earlier comes and asks for forgiveness, he will immediately and gladly forgive his friend. On the contrary, if the son has not received the forgiveness of his father and does not enter his father's house, continues to live with his guilt.. In this situation if the same friend asks for forgiveness, he will not forgive but will try to make him feel guilty just like him. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" Can you remember someone, who, when they walk in, the whole room is filled with merry and joy? All the cold war happening in that room vanishes for that moment when that person is present, and all the cold war comes in again when that person leaves the room. They may be undergoing lots of problems, but they will still try to make everyone peaceful and cool. They will have a simple mindset, not a manipulating mindset. When King David manipulated to hide his sin of taking someone else's wife, peace left David's kingdom. Manipulative thinking spreads faster than Covid. Wherever it is, peace will not be able to flourish. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" In an IT project the milestones were not met and the blame game started. All the stakeholders got into the blame game except one of the stakeholders who was a Christian. He just said, "I do not want to blame anyone, but we are not finding the solution to the problem, we are concentrating only to save our jobs". No one was doing the right thing, except the one who had the courage to follow Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus was fighting the battle for him and he won. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" Saint Mary Magdalene whose sins were forgiven by our Lord, was the first person to see Him after He was risen. When she longed for her master with a pure heart, He appeared to her. He appeared to her joyously. Once He forgave her sins, He forgot them too and never remembered again. Let us not feel that our sins are too big for us to see God. Our sins are big, but God's forgiveness is bigger. All we can do is to think good thoughts, speak good words and be motivated to live a pure life. Our final goal is to see God only. For that we do not need multiple degrees or multiple houses or cars. All we need is only a pure heart!! “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" We feel and also witness that the meek are being subdued. But if we observe their life as a whole, they will be recompensed and will enjoy a peaceful life in their old age. There was a proud brother and a humble sister in the family. Both of them are now in their old age, in their eighties. Both were well placed in big organisations. The elder brother was corrupt, rich during his work life. He was also proud because he had more riches. The younger sister though in a similar designation, loved our Lord Jesus, was not corrupt. She lived a life with regular comforts. Both of them retired one after the other. The younger sister's kids were all placed and their families flourished. But the elder brother had lot of financial problems during his old age, lots of health ailments and his kids were also struggling. There was no peace left with him. He comes to Sunday Mass regularly and keeps asking, "Why is there no peace for me in this old age? Why is this suffering for me..?" When we are meek, We can retire from self care. God will take care of us.
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Dublin Review of Books: The Catholic Church
January 23 2023
Sean O’Conaill
Three highly romanticised movies about Sissi were made in the 1950s, apparently to give post-Anschluss Austria a distinctive and also definitely not-Nazi sense of itself. Rene Girard has a fascinating article on her role as a prototype of the dangerously self-conscious and beautiful woman attempting to maintain always an image of slender youthfulness by fasting and ‘working out’ - ‘celebrated’ by the newly emerging print media of that era. He tells us that the earliest diagnoses of what we now know as eating disorders occurred in that era also - a result, he argues, of the mimetic desire aroused by this media phenomenon. Competitive slimness on its face was as dangerous as the ‘fastest gun’ fixation of the contemporary American West. https://www.uibk.ac.at/theol/cover/contagion/contagion3/contagion03_girard.pdf And recently a movie entitled Corsage is reviewed as ‘a feminist dismantling of Sissiolatry’ - by placing its anti-heroine in the Princess Diana territory of the neglected trophy wife who is expected to maintain the mystique of an Empire - and is far from truly happy doing that. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/01/corsage-review-vicky-krieps-mesmerises-as-rebellious-18th-century-royal-marie-kreutzer-elisabeth-of-austria?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other The more celebrated a person becomes the more conflicted the historical ‘take’ it seems - and - often - the greater the suffering of the subject of it all. Assassinated by an anarchist in Geneva in 1898, Sissi was probably as unfortunate to catch the eye of a ‘royal’ as was Diana Spencer - with whose family Sissi also coincidentally spent time when in England. God knows the truth of it all, and is far more merciful than the paparazzi. What Irish foxes may remember of Sissi is another matter altogether.
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Dublin Review of Books: The Catholic Church
January 23 2023
Eddie Finnegan
Oh Sean, I fear your education on Austro-Hibernian Catholic Christendom has been sadly neglected, but I see Joe has got in there before me to mend the gap. "Erin cordially welcomes the Empress" may help. https://www.historyireland.com/erin-cordially-welcomes-the-empresselizbeth-of-austria-hungary-in-ireland-1879-and-1880/ Any empress who gets Maynooth students two free days (Professor Corish says it was three days) surely deserves to have her statue in the middle of Joe's Square.
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The AP Interview: Pope says homosexuality not a crime

29 Jan 2023 – 4th Sunday, (A)

Dublin Review of Books: The Catholic Church

Dublin Review of Books: The Catholic Church

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