The final days before Christmas the Church prays with various scriptural titles for the Messiah. Sister of St. Joseph Ansgar Holmberg colourfully reimagined them. “I decided to paint them for myself, for me to understand them better.”
The ‘O Antiphons,’ Reimagined https://t.co/MEmwOKTXMj
— America Magazine (@americamag) December 22, 2020
"Getting a vaccine, the note [from the Vatican Congregation of the Faith] added, is also a question of promoting the common good.” The note clarifies conflicting reports from some quarters that getting the Covid-19 vaccines may be immoral.
Vatican endorses Covid vaccines: Covid-19 vaccines that use the cells of aborted foetuses are 'morally acceptable' according to the Vatican’s doctrine office. @ctrlamb reports
— The Tablet (@The_Tablet) December 21, 2020
https://t.co/4dfPaZXoeJ
Hey everyone, are you seeing this? It's in the sky and @GoogleDoodles! (And we look pretty cute in it!) @NASAMoon, can you tell what we're seeing? pic.twitter.com/i5PWegwSRm
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) December 21, 2020
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Wiki-image AdventCandles.jpg by “Jonathunder | CC BY-SA 3.0"
On the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe the Catholic Church in Canada observes a National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. This year's focus is “Healing of the Earth.”
A message for the occasion highlights: humans form a single family dwelling on Earth; ecological conversion frees people to care more for Earth; and indigenous citizens teach attitudes and ways of Earth care. The Vatican News post links to the message. This year's Canadian National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples focuses on the theme “Healing of the Earth”.https://t.co/xgPkPtOa6Z
St. Joseph was proclaimed Patron of the Catholic Church on 8 December 1870. To mark its 150th anniversary Pope Francis proclaimed a Year of St. Joseph to extend until 8 December 2021. Vatican News posted about the Year; the post includes a link to the letter of Francis.
#PopeFrancis proclaims a “Year of Saint Joseph” running from today to 8 December 2021.https://t.co/5fJb8NNmwz
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) December 8, 2020
The pandemic has removed things and activities from daily life. Clinging to them prevents choosing wisely to remain healthy. Clinging also denies opportunities to grow, even to notice God’s invitations to more life.
Jesuit Brother Joe Hoover suggested that “when we are asked to do a simple thing that makes sense, like letting things go during a ferocious pandemic, it might be God is preparing us to receive something profound in return.”
Sometimes it is just that simple. Christ often comes in what is common, clothed in what makes sense; in wisdom trite, cliched and earth-shattering. https://t.co/kt3RZiHwCb
— America Magazine (@americamag) December 9, 2020
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ope Francis encouraged judges of Africa and South America that their decisions are poetry for people and for the world.
Vaccines for Covid-19 are on the horizon. Yet vaccines will not fix instantly the pandemic. Replies to three questions posed in this short article can help one appreciate that human effort remains key. Human cooperation with a vaccine will move the world beyond the pandemic.
“We need to restore faith and confidence in our scientists, institutions, and science itself, so that we can minimize vaccine hesitancy and have a successful vaccination program.” https://t.co/T95CSLEC08
— Paul Panaretos (@PDPswim) November 15, 2020
Consequential means stressful. Degrees of feeling stress vary by person. The U.S. Election stresses many even beyond that nation’s borders. Ignatian spirituality can help us regain balance during and after the election. Stressed? Despairing? Freaking out? Here are some Jesuit tools to help you get through the election and its aftermath. https://t.co/1QoZS6Iedq
A traveler’s dictionary is a necessity for many—as necessary as a guidebook. “Jesuit theologian, Josep Giménez [provides a dual purpose guide as he] discusses concepts of heaven, hell and purgatory.” All three converge very strongly on All Souls Day.
The ‘Last Things’: Heaven, Hell and Purgatory: https://t.co/gCiXg6bGq7 #AllSoulsDay
— Thinking Faith (@ThinkingFaith) November 2, 2020
All Saints Day functions for living Christians in various ways. Patron saints come to mind, even though they have their days during the year. Exemplars and models of hope-filled living also glow in the solemnity. Yet no human knows all the saints, a reason that the snippet from the Book of Revelation read at mass is appropriate: during his vision of the heavenly worship the Seer heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and their number was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands [5.11].
The festival of the saints not only spurs on Christians to share in glory. Its more valuable function prepares Christians to endure the cost to reach it. Preparing Christians is a reason relics have been prominent from the beginning. In an archived post at ThinkingFaith Jan Graffius traces the relics of a Roman martyr connected regions of Italy, England, northwestern France and the capital of the United States.
Jan Graffius explains how the physicality of Christian faith contributed to the value placed on relics, and describes how one saint’s relics help us to think about Christian witness. https://t.co/1Nce3GmYqK #AllSaintsDay
— Thinking Faith (@ThinkingFaith) November 1, 2020
Fine journalism has responded to Spain's intense suffering in the pandemic. An article in El Païs considered both transmission and prevention in living rooms, bars & schools. Its graphics are very helpful, and embedded links pepper the article.
In a 12-minute TED Countdown Talk Pope Francis offered 3 actions steps to address climate change. He sounded notes from his encyclicals Laudato Si! and Fratelli Tutti.
This second address in this venue by the Pope was part of the of the TED Countdown Global Launch. The website hosting the video described it as “a visionary TED Talk from Vatican City.”
Austin Ivereigh sees Fratelli Tutti calling us to restore our relationships with others. It completes Francis’ earlier restorative calls: with God—Evangellii Gaudium and with creation—Laudato Si! The video is 4 minutes.
Canada celebrates its Thanksgiving today. Soon Canadians will also go to the polls. In democracies voting is a cherished right never to be wasted. Voting is fraught with compromise, a “blunt instrument,” to use the metaphor of theologian Brett Salkeld: it neither converts candidates nor baptizes issues. Yet many are tempted to think otherwise. Mr. Salkeld:
We do not like to think that the ways our vote exemplified Catholic teaching might not have been perfectly efficacious in manifesting Gospel values in the law of the land, and so we are tempted (and the parties are there to goad us on) to imagine a straight line between our vote and the achievement of the goods we seek, even though politics is much messier than that.
Mr. Salkeld’s essay is well worth reading: its clarity balances its length. A gentle and alert reading rewards with an accurate knowledge and better understanding of Catholic reasoning about the civic right and responsibility of voting.
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Image “Arnaud Jaegers | Unsplash "
Pope Francis’ most recent encyclical takes stock of human relationships in the world. He invites a renaissance in human relationships ([8], [35]), “a new style of life.” Two overviews help reading the encyclical.
